Feasibility is the unglamorous step between "the zoning allows four homes" and "this project should proceed." It is also where families are saved from expensive mistakes. Most Port Moody lots pass the zoning check. Far fewer pass all five checks below, and the difference is worth knowing before any money moves.
Check 1: what the rules allow
Lot size and transit distance set the ceiling: three, four, or six homes. This takes an afternoon against the City's zoning map, and it is the least likely check to fail in Port Moody, where roughly 3,709 lots qualify for four units. The numbers are laid out in reading what your lot can hold.
Check 2: what the lot can physically carry
Paper permission then meets physical reality. Shape matters, because setbacks consume narrow lots quickly. Grade matters, because slopes add engineering and cost. Trees matter, because Port Moody's retention rules can reshape a site plan around a single significant cedar. Water matters most of all, because creeks and ravines carry riparian setbacks, protective no-build buffers that can meaningfully shrink a buildable area. These conditions rarely kill a project outright. They shape it, sometimes from four generous homes into three better ones.
Check 3: servicing, the invisible check
Every new home needs water, sewer, storm drainage, and power. Streets built decades ago to serve one house per lot sometimes need upgrades to serve four, and that cost belongs in the math from day one. This is the check homeowners most often skip, because it is invisible from the sidewalk, and it is among the most common sources of late surprises in SSMUH files.
A feasibility answer is not a yes or a no. It is a map: here is the ceiling, here is what shrinks it, and here is what it costs to learn more. Good maps produce calm decisions.
Check 4: what sits on title
Some Port Moody properties carry restrictive covenants, old agreements registered on title that can limit what may be built regardless of zoning. Bill 44 did not erase them; a single-dwelling covenant must be discharged before a multiplex can proceed. Easements and rights-of-way live on title too. A title search is inexpensive insurance and belongs early in every file, before anyone falls in love with a floor plan.
Check 5: the numbers
Finally, the economics: land value, construction cost, financing, and what the finished homes are worth. This is where possible becomes sensible, or does not. The owner does not have to be the builder. Some develop, some partner with a builder, and some sell to one at a price that reflects the potential. The paths are compared in sell, build, or stay. Whichever path, the numbers should work at today's costs, not a hopeful version of them.
Running the screen
The first four checks are desk work against a specific address, and they frame the fifth. A feasibility study runs the full screen at no cost and with no obligation. Some of the most useful ones end with "keep the house, this lot does not want a multiplex," an answer worth exactly as much as an encouraging one.
Common questions
What makes a Port Moody lot well suited to a multiplex?
The friendly profile is a standard-size or larger lot, reasonably flat and regular in shape, without protected trees in the buildable area, clear of creek setbacks, with adequate servicing and a clean title. Few lots check every box; the question is whether the missed boxes are design factors or dealbreakers.
Can trees stop a multiplex in Port Moody?
They can shape one significantly. The City's tree rules require significant trees to be assessed, and healthy protected trees generally need retention or approved replacement. A tree in the wrong location rarely ends a project by itself, but it can change the layout and the budget.
Does Bill 44 override covenants on title?
No. Private restrictive covenants registered on title are separate from zoning and survive Bill 44. A single-dwelling covenant has to be discharged before a multiplex can proceed, which is why a title search belongs at the start of feasibility rather than the end.
What does a feasibility study cost?
The one offered through this site is free. It reads the zoning ceiling, physical constraints, servicing flags, and title questions for a specific address, and frames whether the numbers deserve a deeper look. The answer is provided either way, encouraging or not.