Programme · For owners of ER-3 lots Halifax and Dartmouth as of 24 October 2026
The Centre Plan's ER-3 zone allows a building of up to eight units on a single lot, as of right, the number set by the lot's area. Every lot it covers is on this map.
Tap a lot for its address, its area and what the zone allows on it.
Fig. 01 · Every ER-3 lotStill frame
14,774 lots, each with its address, its area and the units the zone allows on it; 12,246 of them are 600 m² or more. No owner, value or sale on any lot. Source: the municipality's parcel and zoning records and the provincial assessment roll. As of 24 October 2026.
What your lot allows
HRM's ER-3 table: four units with a backyard suite under 375 m², then one more unit at 375, 450, 525 and 600 m². Frontage, setbacks, height and coverage still apply, so the count is the zone's answer, and the reading of a lot is the lot's.
The zone allowsup to 8
600 m² · the handle wakes with the page
Source: HRM's ER-3 density table, April 2024, in force for the permits the record holds; the count is what the zone allows by area, and one lot's own reading answers for that lot. measured As of 24 October 2026.
Sell, or build
A builder pays for a lot what leaves him his margin after the building's sale; an owner who already holds the lot keeps that upside. Whether it is worth the build is arithmetic on three numbers, and where it says sell, it says sell.
The controls wake when the table of results has loaded; shown, the starting point: a lot worth $600,000, leased at $2,000, in Dartmouth. Source: the desk's engine, every combination of lot value, rent and area run in advance; two of the eight at CMHC's affordable rent, the builder's price, design and legal lines held fixed inside everything-in. inferred As of 15 October 2026.
Sixteen months
Two firms for about sixteen months, one insured loan from the first draw to the long mortgage, and the fee paid from the refinance at the end, not before.
Stops are built in: the lender, the builder's template, the permit or the commitment can each say no, and so can you, at no cost before the contracts at the end of the first month. As the builder has run it twice; its last six went from the lot to a finished building in ten months. inferred the builder's two last schedules · as of 15 October 2026.
An eight on an ER-3 lot is built as of right, so the building permit is the one approval it waits for; the planning row in the figure is the discretionary path a by-law-compliant project skips.
The wait is measured from the municipality's own record, by the median, and half of the cases behind it took longer.
| Stage | Cases | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Planning approval — development agreement | 110 | 366 days |
| Building permit — new 5+ unit building | 259 | 78 days |
| Discretionary path, both stages | — | ~15 months |
Source: what HRM permits actually take — Helio’s measured read of HRM’s permit and planning records. Medians as of June 2026; half of the cases behind each one took longer.
What has been built
Two of them stand on ER-3 lots: the six at 80 Cannon Terrace and the eight at 46 Primrose Street, each permit on the municipal record, each lot's area and the units it allowed beside it, and the buildings themselves at kulak.ca. The walk through the six is below.
80 Cannon Terrace, Dartmouth
Where to check: the permit on HRM's record, by its number · the deed on the provincial register · kulak.ca. measured As of 15 October 2026.
46 Primrose Street, Dartmouth
Where to check: the permit on HRM's record, by its number · the deed on the provincial register · kulak.ca. measured As of 15 October 2026.
Fig. 05 · The walk through the six21 frames · swipe, or the arrows · photographs: Kulak Construction, 15 October 2026
80 Cannon Terrace from the street: three storeys, six units, finished 2026
The side from the street, with the houses of the street behind
The rear: the parking court, the retaining wall and the fence
A finished two-bedroom: the kitchen, with the window to the street
The kitchen: stainless appliances, white cabinets, the stone-look splashback
The kitchen run, with the dishwasher and the range
From the kitchen to the unit door
The kitchen from the living room
The living room, looking to the kitchen
The living room and its window
The living room and the kitchen together
The hall to the bedrooms
The hall, with the bathroom ahead
The first bedroom
The first bedroom: the wardrobe and the window
The first bedroom, from the door
The second bedroom
The second bedroom: the wardrobe
The bathroom: the glass shower, the vanity
The bathroom: the vanity and the light
The laundry closet: a stacked washer and dryer, and the water heater
What can go wrong
An eight on a single lot is a large thing to ask of anyone: an insured mortgage of about two million dollars, two firms for about sixteen months, and a fee. This is what we would want to know in your place.
The owner's cash during the build rises.The building's price is stated in the contract on signed drawings; changes the owner orders are priced at a stated rate; unforeseen ground by a stated rule with a cap.
Interest runs on; the lease-up slips a season; the rent test moves.The builder's own crews and its last two schedules; a completion date in the contract with the cost of lateness set against the builder; draws only against inspected work.
The lender sizes the mortgage to the signed leases, so the loan is smaller and the owner's cash left in larger.The calculator shows the downside at the rent you choose; nothing obliges anyone to start before the builder's eight has leased.
About $30,000 of the owner's cash per tenth of a point.The window is from the decision to the lender's commitment; a lock can be bought.
The owner's cash during the build moves from one figure to the other.The broker settles the rule before anyone signs; the calculator shows both.
The project stops before it starts.The contracts are conditional on both; the owner owes the design and application costs to that point, about $45,000 to $60,000, and nothing to the builder.
About three months' delay.As of right under the Centre Plan; in the builder's experience the appeals were dismissed; the schedule allows for it.
About $150,000 more on an eight if the proposal passes.A permit is assessed under the schedule in force when it is issued, as we read Halifax Water's rule.
Its balance joins the owner's cash during the build.Read from the register before anything is signed.
Nothing starts until the house is empty.We do not approach a tenanted house; the law on ending a tenancy for demolition sets the date.
The worst case on this list.The lender's draws mean the money is advanced only for work done; the lien holdback; builder's risk insurance during the build; the warranty; the contract's terms for completion by another contractor; and, if the owner's lawyer asks for it, a bond or letter of credit.
The loan reverts to full recourse and forty years.two units of eight at the affordable rent, reported annually; the commitment is the owner's to keep and simple to keep.
The sale price is lower than the numbers show.No one is obliged to sell; the loan is amortized over fifty years and the building covers it at the signed rents; the timing stays the owner's.
The owner is advised by people paid when they build.The fee is stated and paid last; we say when selling is better; we earn nothing on a sale unless separately engaged; the builder's own lots are its own; the owner's lawyer and accountant read everything before signing.
Start
Pick it on the map, or type the address. The reading reaches you by e-mail within one business day: what the lot allows, what a building on it costs everything in, what you would put in and own, and whether the numbers say build or sell.
Helio reads the lot, brings the financing through a broker and stays on the file to the day the units lease. Kulak Construction designs the building to its template and builds it with its own crews at a price stated in its contract. Neither takes a share of your building, and nothing is paid before the contracts.
902 707 5183 · Lloyd Liu answers it himselfNothing on this page is a promise of rent, value or return.
Sources: Kulak Construction's own record; the parcel register; CMHC MLI Select, as published; the Centre Plan, as published; arithmetic on the figures named in the sentence; Halifax Water's regional development charge schedule. As of 12 October 2026 to 15 October 2026.