For Toronto homeowners · Free

Can you build a garden suite
in your backyard?

Type your Toronto address. We pull your real lot from the City’s GIS, apply every rule in Bylaw 89-2022, and tell you in 30 seconds — with a feasibility PDF you can hand to a builder.

Free. Takes 30 seconds. · Toronto residential lots only. · No sign-up required.
Real City of Toronto cadastral data
Sourced to Bylaw 89-2022
Altus 2026 + CMHC ADU costs
Toronto, by the numbers
~140
Toronto neighborhoods covered — from Riverdale to Etobicoke
100%
Bylaw 89-2022 envelope rules applied live as you size your suite
$80K
CMHC Secondary Suite Loan at 2% — pre-calculated in your report
~30s
Address → real lot polygon → first feasibility number
How it works

Three steps. Thirty seconds.

No drawings. No consultations. No fees.

01

Type your address

We pull your actual parcel from the City of Toronto’s cadastral GIS and your house outline from the official 3D massing dataset. Real measurements, not estimates.

02

See your envelope

Our engine applies every Bylaw 89-2022 rule — rear/side setbacks, 5 m dwelling separation, height ramp, soft-landscape minimum — and draws the exact buildable shape.

03

Get your feasibility PDF

A 7-section report you can email to your builder, bank, or spouse. Cost band, permit timeline, compliance check, and a directory of Toronto contractors.

748
Toronto garden suite permit applications since 2022
81%
Approval rate among fully reviewed applications
$280K
Typical project value (700 sqft × $400/sqft)
$40K
Maximum dev-charge savings under Bill 23 (under 100 m²)
Source: City of Toronto Garden Suites Zoning By-law Review and Monitoring Report, May 2025 · Altus 2026 Canadian Cost Guide · CMHC ADU cost data 2024
For architects & design-build firms

Branded feasibility PDFs for every client meeting.

Pro and Studio plans unlock branded white-label PDF reports, the Permit Prep Package (site plan, statistics, fee estimate, submission checklist), and unlimited reports per month. Land more design fees by walking clients through a polished feasibility study in the first meeting.

See plans
FAQ

Questions homeowners ask first.

Is this really free?

Yes. The feasibility check is free. The PDF report is free. We don’t collect your data to resell it.

Optional paid services (architect/builder matching, premium reports) exist on top, but the feasibility tool itself stays free.

How accurate is the envelope?

We use the actual cadastral lot polygon from the City of Toronto’s open GIS service, plus your house footprint from Toronto’s 3D massing dataset. We then apply every dimensional rule in Bylaw 89-2022.

The envelope is correct to ±30 cm. That’s good enough to know whether your lot qualifies, but a licensed Ontario Land Surveyor is still needed for permit-stage drawings.

What if my lot is too small?

About 15% of Toronto garden suite applications are refused, mostly due to lots that fail the 5 m dwelling-separation rule or the soft-landscape requirement. Our tool flags those up front, so you don’t pay $25K for a feasibility study just to learn your lot won’t work.

What’s the difference between a garden suite and a laneway suite?

Both are accessory dwelling units (ADUs). A laneway suite faces a public laneway (governed by separate Toronto Bylaw 89-2018). A garden suite sits in a rear yard without laneway access (governed by Bylaw 89-2022). This tool focuses on garden suites; laneway support is on our roadmap.

How long does a project usually take?

Toronto end-to-end: 14–22 months from first call to occupancy. Roughly 4–6 months of design + permit, then 8–14 months of construction. The PDF report breaks this into 8 named phases.

30 seconds. Free.

Find out if your backyard qualifies.

No sign-up. No sales call. Real cadastral data + every rule in Bylaw 89-2022.

Building something larger than a backyard suite? Try SiteYield.ai (developer tool) →