Upping one storey dwellings has been a popular project among small developers for years and has intensified as urban real estate in established neighbourhoods become more and more scarce.
After researching what real estate agents call the comparables (selling prices for similar houses in the area) the developer of this project discovered that if he built a 2700 square foot house next to the 2300 sf house that recently sold for 1.4 million he should have no problem getting at least that much for his. He purchased this corner lot for $560k and estimates a construction cost of ~350k, which makes the project very profitable if he can sell for anywhere near a million and a half.
The house sits close to its north facing lot line between the house wall and the neighbouring church parking lot seen above. In observance of fire regulations the city would not include in the construction permit, permission to put windows in the new wall to be built there. Nevertheless, the original wall already had windows in it so since those fire regulations do not apply to existing construction, windows are gained by incorporating the old wall into the new structure; in fact, they can even modify those window openings (i.e. make them bigger) to suit the new house design. The purchaser is acting as his own contractor and has assembled a team of 4 or so trades people while specialized trades will be contracted as needed. They’ve expanded the foundation and framed-in and sheathed the four walls of the new structure, their next major task will be to put the roof on so they can protect the interior. They probably have their windows and doors on order and will be able to work in a heated space once those are installed.
Posted by David
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