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 Milton
Legal basement apartments in Milton go through permits and inspections like any dwelling. Inspections come at each stage, and the unit is not occupied until the final inspection has closed the permit.
- Licensed builder
- WSIB
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
What’s included
What a second
unit takes.
What turns a finished basement into a second dwelling, one part at a time.
A separate entrance
The unit’s own door and stair go where zoning accepts an entrance, so it is reached without going 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
Inspections come at stages. A building permit is for a lot zoning permits, plus an electrical permit of its own.
How it runs
One bay of it,
stage by stage.
Whole houses and rooms alike follow the same order: five stages, each answered for by one builder.
- 01
Permits
The zoning check comes first, because some lots don’t qualify. The building permit follows.
- 02
Structure
As the framing rises, the units are divided by walls and a ceiling built as fire separations.
- 03
Trades
The unit’s wiring follows shut-off valves, supply lines and drains, run independently of the house above.
- 04
Finishes
Alarm wiring runs through both units, and the bathroom, kitchen and floors come next.
- 05
Handover
Moving in waits for the final inspection to close the permit.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
A builder settles first what a second unit calls for.
The schedule runs toward the final inspection, because a unit cannot be occupied until it passes, and a tenant’s date comes second.
The unit is a dwelling, not a finished basement with a kitchen put in: its fire separation, plumbing and electrical permit belong to it alone.
The smoke alarms, which are interconnected, are planned and inspected side by side with the fire separation, so neither gets added late.
The separate door comes first, since an elevation facing the street is limited to one exterior entrance, with the stair and grading laid out after it.
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.
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.
An oak door opens to a limestone forecourt, with cedar under the eaves, limewashed brick and windows floor to ceiling.
01 / 05
Gallery
From the street
to the basement.
Tapping a picture shows it whole. Each service is here, from street to basement.Whole homes from the street, then kitchens, bathrooms and basements. Open any picture to see it whole.
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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 Milton.
What Milton homeowners ask about basement apartments: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
The entrance and any excavation behind it, the unit's own kitchen and bathroom, and the fire separation between the two homes are what move the price, and Milton asks for the separation details on the drawings before it reviews the permit. The lot also has to be eligible, so zoning is checked first. No figure is quoted ahead of that.
The zoning check and the drawings come first, then the permit review, then construction and its inspections. Milton adds a last step: the unit must be registered with the Town once construction is complete, so the job does not end at the final inspection. If the lot is in a Conservation Halton regulated area, that permit is part of the wait.
A Town of Milton building permit for the unit, whose application must show wall, ceiling and fire-separation construction details, and registration of the unit with the Town afterwards. A lot in a Conservation Halton regulated area needs that authority's permission too, because adding a dwelling unit counts as development there.
Whether the lot qualifies. Milton allows up to four residential units on an eligible urban lot, counting the main house, so a basement unit is one of up to three additions, and zoning can limit its location, size and parking. Settling parking and unit size first avoids drawings that the zoning then rejects.
No. The Official Plan, adopted on June 22, 2026, supports intensification and attainable housing, and that favours adding units inside existing lots. The Town's eligibility and zoning checks still decide each property, so the lot is confirmed before anything is drawn.
Still have a question?
Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Milton ask.
What people in Milton search before basement apartments, answered for the town.
A plain finish adds rooms to the house. A unit makes a separate home within it: its own entrance, kitchen and bathroom, a fire separation from the house above, and registration with the Town. It also depends on the lot being eligible, which a finish does not.
It can. Conservation Halton counts adding a dwelling unit to a building as development in its regulated areas, so a lot inside one needs that permission as well as the Town's building permit.
Zoning can affect the unit's location, its size and its parking. Those are checked against the lot before design begins, so the drawings are not redone later.
Good to know
Good to know
about legal basement apartments in Milton.
What changes the work in Milton: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Legal basement apartment permits in Milton
Milton allows up to four residential units on an eligible urban lot, counting the main dwelling, so a basement apartment is one of up to three additional units. Zoning can affect where the unit sits, how big it is and what parking it needs, and all of that is checked against the lot before design begins.
Source: Town of Milton: build an ARU
Secondary suite in Milton, drawn for fire separation
Its own entrance comes first: a side or rear door reached by a stair, or a walkout where the grade allows. Inside are the unit's own kitchen and bathroom, with plumbing, electrical and ventilation sized for a second household. Fire separation, smoke alarms wired together and egress windows complete it.
Milton's application must show wall, ceiling and fire-separation construction details, so the assemblies between the unit and the house are designed before permit review, not worked out on site.
Source: Town of Milton: build an ARU
What a basement second unit in Milton costs and when it ends
The price follows the entrance and any excavation behind it, the unit's own kitchen and bath, and the fire separation between the two homes. Eligibility and the drawings come first, which is why they are settled before a number is.
Milton requires the unit to be registered with the Town once construction is complete, so the timeline ends at registration, not at the last inspection. Adding a unit in a Conservation Halton regulated area also needs that authority's permission, which can add a wait before the building permit.
Source: Conservation Halton: permitting
Other services
Other services,
same builder.
The other rooms we take on, with the same builder from the first call to handover.
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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