01Basement 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.
Rooms · 08 · A second unit, made legal
Legal Basement Apartments in Hamilton
Legal basement apartment in Hamilton, built by one licensed builder for an owner adding a second unit to their own house. The unit has a kitchen and bathroom of its own, separate from the home above.
- Licensed builder
- WSIB
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
What’s included
What a second
unit takes.
One part after another, a finished basement is made into a second dwelling.
A separate entrance
A door and stair of its own, placed where the zoning allows an entrance, so nobody walks through the house above.
Its own kitchen and bathroom
Both plumbing and electrical serve the unit alone, and the drains and supply lines run clear of the floor above.
Fire separation, smoke alarms and egress windows
A rated separation between the two units, interconnected smoke alarms, and bedroom windows large enough to leave through.
Permits and inspections for a legal unit
Zoning must allow the lot. A building permit, inspections at stages and a separate electrical permit are needed.
How it runs
One bay of it,
stage by stage.
Five stages run in the same order on a room or a whole house, and one builder is accountable for each.
- 01
Permits
Zoning gets looked at ahead of the building permit, since not every lot qualifies.
- 02
Structure
Framing is where the walls and ceiling that sit between the units become fire separations.
- 03
Trades
The house above stays separate: supply lines, drains and shut-off valves are run, then the unit’s wiring.
- 04
Finishes
Alarm wiring runs through both units, and the bathroom, kitchen and floors come next.
- 05
Handover
Move-in comes after the final inspection, when the permit is closed.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
What a second unit asks of a builder, settled first.
The schedule is built around the final inspection. A unit can’t be lived in until it passes, and that puts a tenant’s date second.
The unit gets its own fire separation, its own plumbing and its own electrical permit, as a dwelling does, instead of a kitchen added to a finished basement.
Planning and inspection both treat interconnected smoke alarms and the fire separation as a pair, so neither becomes an afterthought.
A street-facing elevation may have no more than one exterior entrance, which puts the separate door ahead of the stair and grading.
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.
05Additions
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.
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.
Two whole homes and three rooms, each one finished: a bungalow, a new house, a kitchen, a bath and a basement.
01Whole-Home Renovations
A bungalow, renewed in limewash.
Windows run floor to ceiling, brick is limewashed, with an oak door to a limestone forecourt and cedar under the eaves.
01 / 05
Gallery
From the street
to the basement.
Each service has pictures, from street to basement. Any one opens whole with a tap.Whole-home street views lead, with kitchens, bathrooms and basements after. Any picture opens to show it whole.
Seen one
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you like?
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 Hamilton.
What Hamilton homeowners ask about basement apartments: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
The water line can move it first. Hamilton requires adequate servicing to be approved before the building permit is issued, and a larger water service or meter may be needed. After that come the entrance and any excavation, the kitchen and bathroom, and the fire separation. A price needs those answers first.
The servicing approval has to come before the permit, so it is the first wait. A heritage-designated house cannot be permitted until its Heritage Permit is approved, which adds another. Then the entrance, framing, trades, fire separation and the inspections at set stages. No duration is quoted yet.
A building permit, after servicing approval. New or relocated plumbing is permit work on Hamilton's list, and a designated property also needs a Heritage Permit first. Even a unit that meets the zoning rules must still meet the Ontario Building Code and Fire Code. Hanna Homes handles the permit file and books the inspections.
Two things together: zoning that allows the unit, and construction that meets the Building Code and Fire Code. On the build side that means a private way in, a kitchen and bath for the unit, a fire separation from the rooms above, smoke alarms wired to each other, and windows or doors big enough to escape through. Hamilton allows one second unit in a single-detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling; more than one stays illegal.
No. The City says second units in duplexes and triplexes remain illegal, and so does a second unit beyond the first in a single-detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling. Those checks come before design, along with the entrance and the servicing.
Still have a question?
Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Hamilton ask.
What people in Hamilton search before basement apartments, answered for the town.
Yes, in a single-detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling, if it meets the zoning, the Building Code and the Fire Code. Duplexes and triplexes cannot have one.
Yes. The Building Code expects a way out a person can actually use, which in a basement means an egress window or door, and inspectors check it.
The unit is built to the Code and inspected. Its trade-off is the work: servicing approval, a permit, a separate entrance and a fire separation before anyone moves in.
Good to know
Good to know
about legal basement apartments in Hamilton.
What changes the work in Hamilton: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Legal basement apartment permits in Hamilton
Hamilton requires an additional dwelling unit to have adequate servicing approved before the building permit is issued, so the water service is looked at first, and a larger service or meter may be needed. The building permit then follows, with inspections at set stages. Meeting the zoning rules is not enough on its own: the unit has to satisfy the Ontario Building Code and Fire Code too. New or relocated plumbing is also permit work on the City's list. A heritage-designated house cannot be permitted until its Heritage Permit has been approved.
Secondary suite in Hamilton: what the job includes
A secondary suite gets a private entrance, reached by a stair down at the side or back of the house, or by a walkout if the grade allows. A full kitchen and a bathroom serve it, and the plumbing, electrical and ventilation behind them are coordinated by the builder. A fire separation divides the suite from the house above, the smoke alarms are interconnected, and egress windows or doors give a way out. The licensed builder is about 15 minutes away in Burlington and coordinates the trades and the inspections.
Basement second unit in Hamilton: cost and timing
What moves the cost is the entrance and any excavation outside, the kitchen and bathroom, the fire separation, and the approvals. In Hamilton the servicing step adds a line the others do not: a larger water service or meter, if the City asks for one. Time starts with that approval and the permit behind it. The build then runs in order, entrance and framing, trades, separation and alarms, then inspection at set stages. A unit is legal to rent only once those are passed.
Other services
Other services,
same builder.
The other rooms we take on, with the same builder from the first call to handover.
All services
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Planning a unitin your basement?
Tell us about the house and who the unit is for, and we start with whether the lot and the zoning allow it.
Licensed builder
Burlington, Ontario
15+ years
Building
300+ houses
Completed