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 Oakville
Legal basement apartment in Oakville means a second unit made to meet the rules for a dwelling: fire separation from the house, smoke alarms wired through both units, and bedroom windows large enough to climb out of.
- Licensed builder
- WSIB
- Years building
- 15+
- Houses completed
- 300+
What’s included
What a second
unit takes.
A finished basement becomes a second dwelling part by part, as set out here.
A separate entrance
Nobody has to cross the house above: the unit has its own door and stair, set where the zoning permits an entrance.
Its own kitchen and bathroom
The unit has its own plumbing and its own electrical. Its drains and supply lines are not shared with the floor above.
Fire separation, smoke alarms and egress windows
The two units are divided by a rated separation, smoke alarms are interconnected, and the bedrooms have windows big enough to exit.
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.
Whole houses and rooms alike follow the same order: five stages, each answered for by one builder.
- 01
Permits
Qualification varies by lot, so zoning is checked before the building permit.
- 02
Structure
Framing goes up, with the walls and ceiling between the units built as fire separations.
- 03
Trades
Drains, supply lines and shut-off valves go in apart from the house above, then the unit’s wiring.
- 04
Finishes
Floors, kitchen and bathroom go in after alarm wiring is carried across both units.
- 05
Handover
Nobody moves in before the final inspection closes the permit.
Why Hanna Homes
Why one builder
for all of it.
Up front, a builder settles what a second unit expects.
Work is scheduled toward the final inspection. Until the unit passes it, nobody can occupy it, and the tenant’s date takes second place.
Like any dwelling, the unit has a fire separation, plumbing and an electrical permit of its own. Putting a kitchen into a finished basement would not give it those.
The fire separation and the interconnected smoke alarms are planned together and inspected together, so neither is an afterthought.
Only one exterior entrance is allowed on each street-facing elevation, so the separate door is placed first and the stair and grading follow 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.
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.
Every service is covered, street to basement. A tap on any picture shows it whole.Whole homes from the street, then kitchens, bathrooms and basements. Open any picture to see it whole.
Seen one
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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 Oakville.
What Oakville homeowners ask about basement apartments: what it costs, how long it takes and what the city asks for.
The entrance moves it most. An egress door with walk-up stairs needs construction drawings from an engineer or BCIN-qualified designer and exterior excavation, and that digging meets Oakville's rules on protected trees and on grades at the lot line. Then come the kitchen and bathroom, the fire separation and the approvals.
Two approvals are needed: the building permit and a separate zoning certificate of occupancy approval, which the Town requires on top of it. A tree removal permit, where a tree is in the way of the entrance, adds lead time. Then come the build and the inspections. No duration is quoted before the approvals are mapped.
A building permit, plus a separate zoning certificate of occupancy approval for the accessory apartment. A bedroom brings an egress window or door requirement, a walk-up entrance needs drawings from an engineer or BCIN-qualified designer, and a tree of 15 centimetres or more needs its own permit to remove.
Often, when the entrance is a walk-up stair at the side or back. That is exterior excavation, and it has to leave the land draining and match grades at the lot line, which can mean swales or retaining walls. A lot near a regulated creek or ravine may also need Conservation Halton's permission first.
Yes, in the sense that matters: Hanna Homes coordinates the trades and answers for them on one schedule, so you do not hire them separately. The fire separation and the smoke alarms are part of the build, inspected under the permit.
Still have a question?
Get a free estimatePeople also ask
Before you build,
people in Oakville ask.
What people in Oakville search before basement apartments, answered for the town.
The Town's accessory apartment guide asks for a bedroom, a kitchen, a living area, a washroom and access to laundry facilities, and combined spaces are permitted. The unit also needs its own zoning approval.
The unit is approved and inspected, which is the point. The price of that is paperwork and building: a zoning approval, a permit, and often an entrance dug outside.
Not automatically. Oakville asks for a separate zoning certificate of occupancy approval, so zoning is checked before drawings are finalized, along with the lot's trees, grading and conservation status.
Good to know
Good to know
about legal basement apartments in Oakville.
What changes the work in Oakville: the rules, the houses and the ground.
Legal basement apartment permits in Oakville
Oakville requires a separate zoning certificate of occupancy approval for an accessory apartment, on top of the building permit. Zoning therefore has its own track, and it is checked before the drawings are finalized rather than after. The building permit side carries its own details. A bedroom in the basement requires an egress window or door, and an egress door with walk-up stairs needs construction drawings from an engineer or BCIN-qualified designer. Both are designed before the application goes in.
Secondary suite in Oakville: what the job includes
The Town's guide says an accessory apartment needs a bedroom, a kitchen, a living area, a washroom and access to laundry facilities, with combined spaces permitted. That list sets the floor plan before design starts, and the plan then adds the private entrance, the fire separation and the egress openings. The licensed builder behind the unit is Hanna Homes, based in Burlington and about 20 minutes from Oakville. The builder coordinates the trades, and the work is inspected at set stages under the permit.
Basement second unit in Oakville: cost and timing
Three Oakville rules attach to the entrance. A tree of 15 centimetres or more across at chest height needs a removal permit. Changed grades must not impair drainage, and grading along a property line must meet the existing grades, which can mean swales or retaining walls. Conservation Halton's permission applies near creek valleys, steep slopes and the shoreline. Each adds cost or lead time before the first stair is cut, so they are looked at when the lot is first visited. The kitchen, bathroom and fire separation follow, and the zoning approval and permit run alongside.
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