Laneway House vs. Multiplex: Which Is Right For You If You Want To Age In Place?

For many homeowners who want to age in place or generate rental income, building a laneway house is often a more affordable and faster option than building a multiplex, such as a triplex or fourplex. It is also far less disruptive to daily life: you can remain in your primary home during construction, whereas building a multiplex requires demolishing the existing house and relocating until construction is complete.

If you build a laneway house and add a secondary suite to your home, you have essentially created a triplex - at a fraction of the cost, time, and effort required to build a new triplex. This approach can also be more environmentally friendly because it preserves the existing building.

The trade-off is density: a multiplex may allow up to 1.0 FSR (floor space ratio), meaning you can build floor area equal to 1.0 times your lot area. On a typical 4000 sf lot, you can build 4000 sf of floor area. Compare that with the laneway house option: 0.6 FSR for the main house plus 0.25 FSR for the laneway house, for a total of 0.85 FSR, or 3,400 sf of total floor area.

And this point may be the most important for some: the attachment they have to the house they've lived in for a long time, and being able to keep that, is priceless.