Before You Buy | Due Diligence

Development Lot Due Diligence Checklist

A lot can look perfect on paper and still lose money. The reason is usually a site condition you did not check. Soft soil, a protected tree, an easement on title, thin servicing. Any one of them can quietly erase the return. This is the checklist to work through before you remove conditions, not after.

The Six Checks, Before You Remove Conditions

Soil and geotechnical

Find out what is under the surface before you commit. Old fill, peat, or bog soil is soft, so the building may need a deeper or stronger foundation. Sandy soil near water can shift. And past use, like an old gas station or dry cleaner, can leave the soil contaminated and force a costly cleanup. Each of these moves your foundation and site cost, sometimes by a lot.

Who checks it: A geotechnical engineer bores test holes and reads the soil. For contamination, an environmental consultant runs a site assessment.

Protected trees

Walk the lot and note every mature tree, on the lot and near the property line. Vancouver has a tree bylaw that can stop you from removing a protected tree or force you to keep space around its roots. A single big tree in the wrong spot can shrink your building footprint and change how many units fit. Trees on a neighbour lot can reach over the line too.

Who checks it: A certified arborist measures each tree, checks it against the City tree bylaw, and tells you what you can and cannot remove.

Easements and rights-of-way

Order the title and read every line on it. An easement or a right-of-way gives someone else the right to use part of your lot, for a sewer line, a shared driveway, or utility access. You usually cannot build over that strip. If the easement sits where your building needs to go, it can cut a unit or block the design.

Who checks it: A real estate lawyer pulls the title, reads the registered charges, and explains what each one blocks.

Servicing capacity

Confirm the lot can actually take the extra homes you plan to build. Water and sewer lines have limits, and a multiplex adds load. The electrical side matters just as much: BC Hydro needs enough transformer and service capacity nearby, and upgrading it can be slow and costly. Do not assume the pipe and the power in the street are big enough.

Who checks it: A civil engineer checks water and sewer capacity with the City. Your electrical consultant or BC Hydro confirms the power supply.

Grade and lane drop

Look at how the land slopes. A flat lot builds cheaply. A steep slope, or a deep drop from the street down to the rear lane, adds retaining walls, extra foundation, and design work. This is easy to miss from a listing photo. Stand at the front and the back and see how far the ground falls.

Who checks it: A land surveyor shoots the exact grades and gives you a topographic survey the design team can build from.

Title and survey review

Pull the current title and a recent survey together. The survey shows the true lot lines, the setbacks, and anything that crosses a boundary, like a fence or a neighbour structure. The title shows who has a claim on the land. Together they tell you the real, buildable shape of the lot, which is often smaller than it looks.

Who checks it: A land surveyor prepares the survey. A real estate lawyer reviews the title and closes the purchase.

When to Walk

You do this work while you still have conditions on the deal, because that is your only chance to change course without cost. If a check turns up a real problem, like soil that needs a much stronger foundation, a protected tree that cuts a unit, an easement across the build area, or servicing that cannot take the load, price it in honestly. If the new cost breaks the deal, walk. A lot you pass on costs you nothing. A lot you buy with a hidden problem costs you for years.

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Best For

✓ Buyers who check soil, trees, title, and servicing during the condition period.
✓ Lots on stable soil, with clean title and enough water, sewer, and power.
✓ People willing to walk when a check turns up real, unpriced cost.

Usually Fails When

✕ You remove conditions before the geotechnical, arborist, and title reviews are back.
✕ You assume the pipes and the power in the street can take the extra units.
✕ You ignore a protected tree or an easement that reshapes the build.

What To Verify Before Spending Money

→ Soil, contamination, and grade from a geotechnical engineer and surveyor.
→ Protected trees against the City tree bylaw, confirmed by an arborist.
→ Every charge on title and the true lot lines, confirmed by lawyer and survey.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I do this diligence? +

Before you remove conditions on the purchase, never after. Once your conditions are gone, the lot is yours with all its problems. Use the condition period to check soil, trees, easements, servicing, and title. If something serious turns up, you can walk away or renegotiate while you still have the right to.

Which of these is the most expensive to get wrong? +

Soil and contamination usually carry the biggest surprises. Soft ground, like peat or old fill, can force a much stronger foundation. Contaminated soil can trigger a full cleanup before you build. Both can change the whole math on a lot that looked clean on paper, which is why a geotechnical and an environmental check come early.

Do I really need all these different experts? +

For a multiplex, yes. Each one checks a different risk: the geotechnical engineer reads the soil, the arborist reads the trees, the surveyor reads the lot lines and grades, and the lawyer reads the title. Skipping one is where hidden cost hides. The fees are small next to the cost of a wrong build.

Can protected trees really stop my project? +

They can reshape it. Vancouver protects mature trees under its tree bylaw, so you may not be able to remove a large tree, and you may need to keep clear space around its roots. That can move your building and change how many units fit. Have an arborist confirm what you can remove before you finalize the design.

Is a multiplex on one lot, or do I need to assemble several? +

A Vancouver multiplex is a single-lot project. Each qualifying lot is developed on its own, so you do the diligence on one parcel. Land assembly, buying several lots together, is a different and larger play. Confirm the zone and unit rules for the exact parcel against the City of Vancouver record.