What It's Actually Like to Build a Custom Home in North York

We finished two custom homes in Willowdale West this past year, and we break ground on a third on Old Yonge Street in the next few weeks. Three houses within a few streets of each other.

That concentration isn't an accident, and this is the article explaining why. It is also the honest version rather than the brochure version, because the things that make North York worth building in are the same things that make it harder than a new subdivision.

What the lots give you: wide frontages, real depth, and mature trees planted when the streets were laid out. That's room to place a house properly instead of squeezing it onto whatever the setbacks leave you. On a narrow lot the house is largely decided before you start: it goes up, and the stairs land wherever they fit. On these lots you can put the stairs where they belong and bring light in from more than one direction.

What the Lots Cost You

• Mature trees mean protection zones, arborist reports, and a piece of the lot you cannot use for anything, before a shovel moves.
• Established streets mean the Committee of Adjustment. A design that fits the land it's on usually needs at least one minor variance, and that's two to four months.
• Infill means neighbours. You're building ten feet from people who live there now, which shapes site access, staging, and sequencing.

And why people want to be here: the 401 and 404 within minutes, a straightforward drive to downtown, Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill, and the subway running down Yonge. A quiet residential street with the city right there with it.

None of the difficulty is a complaint. It's the job here, and knowing it going in is most of what keeps a build on schedule.