01Additions
We needed more room but didn’t want to leave the street. The second storey went on over the summer, and from the sidewalk you’d think the house was always built that way.
Whole homes · 04 · More house, same lot
Home Additions in Cambridge
Home additions in Cambridge, at the rear or on a second storey, are finished to match the house. Siding, trim, windows and roof follow what is already there, so the addition does not look added on later.
- Licensed builder
- WSIB
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
What’s included
What’s included
in an addition.
Rear and second-storey additions, and everything that joins the new rooms to the old ones: structure, roof, services and the outside.
Rear additions
Built out into the yard on new footings, sized to the setbacks and the coverage the lot has left.
Second-storey additions
Another floor goes on top of the house when the structure below, foundation and framing, is shown to carry it.
Tied into the existing structure, roofline and systems
The addition’s services, roof and framing tie into the house’s own. Water sheds off the roof, and pipes, wiring and ducts carry on as one house.
Exterior matched to the house
Windows, siding, trim and roof are chosen to match the house. The new rooms then do not look tacked on afterward.
How it runs
The whole frame,
stage by stage.
Whole houses and rooms alike follow the same order: five stages, each answered for by one builder.
- 01
Permits
A regulated lot adds Conservation Halton. A building permit always applies, a zoning clearance when needed.
- 02
Structure
Footings where it goes out, then framing tied into the house and roofline.
- 03
Trades
Plumbing, HVAC and electrical are brought into the new rooms on one coordinated schedule.
- 04
Finishes
Inside gets finished. Outside, siding, trim and windows are made to match the house.
- 05
Handover
Inspections run stage by stage to the final one, then you get the new rooms.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
Before framing begins, the builder settles four things at the join.
Whether the foundation and framing already there can take the new load is settled before the new rooms are drawn.
Nothing covers the join’s framing until the inspector has seen it, and the new roof crosses the seam to meet the old one.
Trades, coordinated by the builder around the inspections, carry pipes, ducts and wiring on across to the addition from the old rooms.
Siding, trim, windows and roof are matched to what is already on the house, so the new rooms do not look added on later.
Start with a call.
Client reviews
Their house,
their words.
Whole homes and single rooms, in the words of the people who live in them.
02Whole home
We put off the whole house for years because we couldn’t picture living through it. Akram walked us through every stage before it started, and each week went the way he said it would.
03Kitchens
The crew covered the floors and cleaned up at the end of every day, which mattered with two kids at home. The new kitchen is the room everyone ends up in now. Worth every week of takeout.
04Custom homes
Building a new house was the biggest decision we’ve ever made, and it never felt rushed. We walked the site most Saturdays and always knew exactly where things stood.
05Basement apartments
We turned the basement into a unit for my mother-in-law. She has her own entrance and her own kitchen, and we still get Sunday dinners. The paperwork I was dreading turned out to be the part I thought about least.
06Bathrooms
One bathroom is a small job for a builder, but they treated it like the whole house. The tile lines up, the door finally closes properly, and they finished the week they said they would.
07Knockdown & rebuild
Our old bungalow wasn’t worth saving, so we took it down and built new on the same lot. They kept the neighbours in the loop from demolition to the final walk-through. We love coming home to it.
08Basements
The basement used to be storage and a furnace. Now it’s a family room the kids actually want to be in. A clear quote, no surprises, and the site was swept every night.
09Whole home
We bought an older house knowing it needed everything. Akram was straight with us from the first visit about what was worth keeping. Every room is new to us now, and it still feels like the house we fell for.
10Kitchens
Third builder we spoke to, and the only one who returned every call. When we changed our minds about the island halfway through, they made it work without any drama.
01 / 10
Projects
Selected work,
inside and out.
A new house, a bungalow, a bath, a basement and a kitchen are all finished: three rooms and two whole homes.
01Whole-Home Renovations
A bungalow, renewed in limewash.
Limewashed brick, cedar under the eaves, windows floor to ceiling and an oak door onto a limestone forecourt.
01 / 05
Gallery
From the street
to the basement.
Tapping a picture shows it whole. Each service is here, from street to basement.Kitchens, bathrooms and basements follow the street views of whole homes. Open a picture to see all of it.
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13 pictures: Whole homes · Kitchens · Bathrooms · Basements
Service area
Within an hour
of Burlington.
Towns we build in
- 01BurlingtonHaltonHome base
- 02HamiltonHamiltonby Hwy 403, 15 min, 18 km by road, approximately
- 03OakvilleHaltonby the QEW, 20 min, 24 km by road, approximately
- 04AncasterHamiltonby Hwy 403, 25 min, 28 km by road, approximately
- 05MiltonHaltonby Hwy 407, 30 min, 30 km by road, approximately
- 06MississaugaPeelby Hwy 407 and Hwy 403, 30 min, 41 km by road, approximately
- 07CambridgeWaterloo Regionby Hwy 8 and Hwy 5, 45 min, 51 km by road, approximately
- 08KitchenerWaterloo Regionby Hwy 6 and Hwy 401, 55 min, 72 km by road, approximately
And anywhere else inside the line.
Common questions
Common questions
in Cambridge.
What Cambridge homeowners ask about home additions: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
In Cambridge the first costs are the approvals. A building permit applies once a structure passes 10 square metres or has plumbing in it, so almost every addition is drawn and reviewed first. A lot beside a river, wetland or valley slope may add a conservation permit, and a lot in a source protection area adds a compliance notice. After that the price follows whether the addition goes out the back or up, its footprint and what the old structure can carry. No figure is posted here.
A duration is not stated up front. In Cambridge the drawings are reviewed and the permit issued before the footprint is staked, and any conservation or source protection step lands in that same stretch. Then each City inspection, from the footings on, is called in a day ahead once its stage is ready.
Yes. Cambridge asks for a building permit once a structure is bigger than 10 square metres or carries plumbing, which takes in an addition of almost any size. Depending on the lot, a conservation authority permit, a source protection notice and a tree permit may be needed beside it, and Hanna Homes coordinates the City application.
Only if the property sits in a vulnerable area of a source protection area. Waterloo Region screens permit and planning applications there, and the package must carry a Notice of Source Protection Plan Compliance or a Section 59 Notice. A Risk Management Plan may also be required, which adds a step before the permit is issued. Hanna Homes checks the address before the drawings are final.
The address is compared with the conservation authority’s regulation limit first, which decides whether a conservation permit joins the City’s. Then come the setbacks and coverage the zoning by-law allows, and any tree 20 cm across or more near the footprint, since removing one needs a permit.
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Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Cambridge ask.
What people in Cambridge search before home additions, answered for the town.
The approvals the lot triggers: the City permit, the conservation authority’s regulation limit, a source protection notice where one applies, and a tree permit. Hanna Homes works through them while the drawings are still on paper, then runs the permit and books the inspections.
The package gains a second approval. A home addition in or near rivers, streams, wetlands, steep slopes or floodplains needs a conservation authority permit beside the City’s, which adds time before construction. A second storey is the other option, and the address lookup shows which approvals still apply.
It can, but touching it needs a permit. Cambridge requires one to remove, cut down or injure a tree 20 cm across or more, so the footprint and the way in for machines are drawn with it in mind. Hanna Homes notes such trees when the lot is checked, before the plans are final.
Good to know
Good to know
about home additions in Cambridge.
What changes the work in Cambridge: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Home addition in Cambridge: the City permit, then the river and the region
Almost every addition in Cambridge is permitted work, because a building permit applies once a structure passes 10 square metres or has plumbing in it. The drawings are prepared and reviewed before the footprint is staked, which makes the permit the first stage of an addition and not an afterthought.
Near water, a second approval can apply. The Grand River Conservation Authority regulates land in or near rivers, streams, ponds, wetlands, steep slopes and floodplains, and an addition there needs its permit as well as the City’s, which adds time before construction. A property inside a source protection area carries a further step: screening by Waterloo Region and a compliance notice in the permit package.
House additions in Cambridge: the plans the City reviews before staking
Out the back, the addition has to fit the lot’s setbacks and coverage; upward, the structure below has to carry the new floor. The plans the City reviews show the footprint or new storey, how it joins the existing structure and roofline, and the services. The electrical, plumbing and HVAC are extended by trades the builder coordinates.
The lot is checked before pricing: its address is compared with the conservation authority’s regulation limit, so an owner learns early whether a conservation permit applies. A tree 20 cm across or more near the footprint is noted at the same time, because removing one needs a City permit.
What the lot adds to the cost and schedule of a Cambridge addition
Cost follows the footprint or the storey being added, what the existing structure can carry, the systems extended into the new rooms and the approvals the lot brings. Siding, trim, windows and roof are matched to the house, so the exterior is part of the price and not a later project.
Timing begins with drawings and approvals, which come before the footprint is staked, and continues with inspections requested at 24 hours’ notice as each stage is ready.
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The other whole-home jobs we take on, with the same builder from the first call to handover.
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Licensed builder
Burlington, Ontario
15+ years
Building
300+ houses
Completed