Building a Home in Richmond, BC: Local Rules and Permits

On June 24, 2024, Richmond Council rezoned single-family and duplex lots to allow more than one home per lot, as the provincial law Bill 44 requires. The city's maps list 25,803 lots moved into a new zone called RSM, for small-scale multi-unit housing (Bylaw 10573) and 277 duplex-zoned lots whose zoning was amended.

As of the zoning text on richmond.ca, which lists amendments through June 8, 2026, a lot can hold up to 3 homes if it is 280.0 m² or smaller and up to 4 homes if it is larger. A lot larger than 281.0 m² that lies wholly or partly within 400.0 m of a prescribed bus stop (a stop with daytime service every 15 minutes or better) can hold up to 6 homes.

Under the same text, a six-home project needs either a payment to the city's affordable housing reserve or at least one affordable housing unit. That unit is rented at 10% below the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation average market rent for Richmond.

The RSM height limit is 10.0 m and 2.5 storeys, raised from 9.0 m by Bylaw 10631 on March 24, 2025. Buildings may cover 45% of the lot. A lot may hold at most two buildings larger than 10.0 m², one behind the other.

Two groups of lots follow other rules. The Province gave Richmond until December 30, 2030 to apply the rezoning in the Steveston area bounded by Steveston Highway, No. 1 Road, Chatham Street and 7th Avenue, because the city is still replacing sanitary sewers there. Lots in a Transit-Oriented Area, which is land within 800 m of a rapid transit station or 400 m of a bus exchange, are covered by a separate provincial law, Bill 47. Richmond has identified five, all around Canada Line stations.

Richmond's flood protection page reports 49 km of dikes and 39 drainage pump stations. The dikes are at an elevation of 3.5 metres today, and the city plans to raise them to 4.7 metres.

Flood Plain Designation and Protection Bylaw No. 8204 designates all land in the city as flood plain. In a building used as a home, a business or a store of goods that flood water can damage, the floor must sit at or above the flood plain construction level (the minimum floor height for the area) shown on the bylaw's Schedule B map. The City's flood plain map sets a minimum construction level for each area, so ask the City for the level that applies to your lot. Where a level applies, a covenant (a legal note on the land title) records it, according to city guideline PL-8, revised March 29, 2010. The bylaw text includes amendments through April 10, 2012, so ask the city for your lot's level.

Bylaw 8204 names local areas with their own rules: Area A, Steveston Village, Terra Nova and West Cambie, and Burkeville. The Richmond Museum records that Burkeville, on Sea Island, was completed in 1944 with 328 houses for aviation workers and their families.

Costar Construction lists Richmond among the areas it serves. Its services include multiplex homes (small-scale townhouse projects on a single lot), custom homes, kitchen and bathroom renovations, and commercial and tenant improvement work (fitting out leased space).

Costar's portfolio includes the Richmond Bowcock Custom Home at 8611 Bowcock, Richmond (see the Richmond Bowcock Custom Home project). Costar's scope was construction and management.

According to the winners list of the Canadian Home Builders' Association of BC, Costar Construction Inc. won the 2024 Georgie Award for Best Multiplex Home for its project It Takes Two.

A new house or multi-home project needs a building permit from the city's Building Approvals Department. Form PL-62, revised May 5, 2026, covers new single-family, two-family and small-scale multi-unit homes. The city accepts multi-unit applications electronically only. Its MyPermit portal, used through a MyRichmond account, lists Single Family Dwelling and Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing among its online permits.

In most cases you need only a building permit. According to the city's planning bulletin, revised April 9, 2026, a development permit (a separate city approval) may also be required for a project of from 2 to 6 homes in an environmentally sensitive area, when a two-storey building extends into the required rear yard, or in the Arterial Road Land Use Policy Area (except for a single home or a home with one suite).

As of its May 5, 2026 revision, PL-62 asks for:

Building-22, the city's secondary suite bulletin revised July 28, 2025, describes a secondary suite as an accessory, self-contained home inside the main house. The suite cannot be in a detached building or sold as a separate strata lot (a separately owned unit). It may take up at most 40% of the home's floor area and at most 120 m², with a minimum of 33.0 m² in a single detached house.

As of September 25, 2026, the city's Bill 44 page says Richmond allows at least one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit, such as a coach house or granny flat, per lot. In the zoning bylaw, the general coach house zone (Section 8.3) now reads "Intentionally blank" beside Bylaw 10760, dated June 8, 2026. Two site-specific zones remain: ZS12 for Broadmoor, and ZS20 for Burkeville, where the coach house must sit above a detached garage with rear lane access and measure from 33.0 m² to 60.0 m².

Costar's website lists its laneway home and legal suite service in Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster. For a Richmond suite or coach house, ask Costar during the consultation.

Costar offers a complimentary one-hour project consultation at your property or at its Vancouver office, 104 - 338 W 8th Ave. Book it on the booking page or use the contact page, info@costarconstruction.com or 236-997-0026.