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Carriage Homes · Kelowna & the Okanagan
A carriage home adds living space, family flexibility, and lasting value to your property. The hard part isn't building it. It's knowing what your lot actually allows. That's where we start.
What it is
A carriage home, sometimes called a coach house, is a complete, self-contained second dwelling on the same lot as your main house. Its own entrance, its own kitchen, its own bathroom and living space. Unlike a secondary suite tucked inside the main home, a carriage home stands on its own.
That independence is the point. It's private enough for a tenant, comfortable enough for aging parents or adult kids, and flexible enough to change roles as your family does. One property, two homes, and a smarter use of land you already own.
Start here
Recent provincial housing legislation opened the door to carriage homes and suites on far more lots across BC than even a couple of years ago. But what's allowed still comes down to your specific property and municipality, and the details vary from one lot to the next. Carriage homes go by many names: laneway home, coach house, garden suite, or ADU. Same idea, and the same rules apply.
Province-wide changes mean many single-family properties can now add a second dwelling that couldn't before. The "can I even do this?" answer is "yes" far more often than it used to be.
Zoning, lot size, setbacks, servicing, parking and height all shape what's buildable on your property, and they differ by municipality. The rules are new and still settling.
You don't need to become a zoning expert. We check your specific property against the current rules and tell you, plainly, what's possible. Before you spend on design.
West Kelowna, Vernon and the North Okanagan, and Kelowna each handle this differently, and the rules keep evolving. That's exactly why we start every project the same way. Send us your address and we'll tell you what's possible on your lot.
The real numbers
Build cost depends on size, site and finish. We'll give you a real range once we've seen your property. But there are other costs most homeowners don't see coming, and we'd rather you hear about them from us up front.
Development cost charges and permit fees. Municipalities charge fees on new dwellings, and for carriage homes these can be substantial. Often more than people expect. They're calculated differently in every city, they change over time, and there are sometimes incentives or reductions that come and go.
We build the full, current cost picture for your property and municipality into your feasibility check, so you're making the decision with real numbers in front of you, not finding out later.
How we work
We don't take a deposit and start drawing. We start by finding out whether your project is even worth pursuing, so you never spend on a design that can't be built.
We check your zoning, lot size, setbacks, servicing and the real cost picture, and tell you whether a carriage home makes sense on your property.
If it's a go, we develop the layout and working drawings in-house. Designed around how you'll actually use the space and what your lot allows.
We handle the development permit or rezoning and the building permit, so you're not navigating City Hall on your own.
One builder, start to finish. We stay hands-on through to the final walkthrough, and build it to last, not just to pass.
Why people build them
The best carriage homes are designed to change roles over the years. That flexibility is exactly what makes them such a sound decision.
Kelowna fee snapshot · September 2026
Kelowna currently has a temporary 25% reduction on development cost charges in effect, running August 4, 2026 through September 30, 2028. If a carriage home is on your horizon, building inside that window meaningfully lowers your city fees. Rates and programs change; we confirm the exact current numbers for your property in your free feasibility check.
Common questions
“Josh came out to visit the site and assess the project and agreed to take it on when many others couldn't be bothered to respond with a quote or look at the scale of my project. He's been incredibly helpful in finding solutions to hiccups along the way and attentive in communication. Questions are answered openly and transparently, with a lot of flexibility in working together to achieve my desired outcomes. I'll be working with North Grove Homes again.”
Free feasibility check
No cost, no obligation. We'll look at your zoning, lay out your options with real numbers, and tell you whether a carriage home makes sense on your lot.