How long does it take to go from buying a lot to moving in?
There is no guaranteed answer. The building scheme fixes the outer limits: construction must start within six months of design approval, everything but landscaping within eighteen, landscaping within twenty-four. Design review itself is deemed approved after 30 days if nobody answers. Everything between those marks depends on your architect and builder, as of September 4, 2026.
What is fixed, and what is guesswork?
Two different kinds of number appear in any build schedule, and they should never be mixed. The first kind is registered against the title of your lot in Statutory Building Scheme CB466252 or written into the purchase agreement. Those dates bind you, and missing them has consequences. The second kind is how long things usually take: how long an architect needs, how long a municipality takes to turn a permit around, how long a foundation takes in February. Nobody has published a Bowen Island figure for any of those that we could verify, so where we give one it is labelled.
Everything below marked building scheme or purchase agreement comes from the disclosure statement and is a deadline. Everything marked typical, unverified is a planning assumption with no source behind it. The site previously said a custom home takes 12 to 18 months from building permit to occupancy on Bowen. We could not find a source for that, so it appears here only as an unverified assumption.
The sequence, step by step
- Offer accepted. Contract of purchase and sale on the developer's form, with the disclosure statement delivered to you.
- Deposit, Within 7 days after the Vendor accepts the offer. 10% of the purchase price, paid to Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP, the Vendor's Solicitor, in trust. None - the deposit is held in a non-interest-bearing trust account.
- Rescission, 7 days. Under section 21 of the Real Estate Development Marketing Act a purchaser may rescind the contract by serving written notice on the developer or the developer's brokerage within 7 days after the later of the date the contract was entered into and the date the purchaser received the Disclosure Statement. If a purchaser rescinds, the deposit must be returned promptly.
- Completion. Title transfers on the date set by the purchase agreement. GST, property transfer tax, the $3,500 design review fee and your conveyancing costs are settled here.
- Design. Engage an architect or designer and prepare the plans and specifications the design guidelines call for. Three to nine months is a common range and is typical, unverified.
- Design review, 30 days. No improvement may be started and no building permit may be applied for until the owner has (a) given the Approving Authority the plans and specifications required by the Design Guidelines, (b) had them reviewed for general conformity with the Guidelines, (c) obtained written Approval, and (d) covenanted in writing with the Approving Authority to carry the construction through to completion in accordance with the Approval. The Municipality will not issue a building permit until it receives written confirmation from the designated design review consultant that the plan conforms.
- Building permit. Bowen Island Municipality issues building permits. Applications go to building@bimbc.ca in PDF, or through the provincial Building Permit Hub; the Municipality has moved to fully digital submissions. Building department: 604-947-4255 ext. 1. The $1,500 water connection fee is payable to the Municipality before the permit is issued.
- Site work. Driveway, clearing, septic field and foundation. Tree felling and blasting are confined to the winter window described below.
- Construction. Framing to finishing, on the deadlines in the table below.
- Occupancy. On issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy by Bowen Island Municipality.
A month-by-month view
Month 0 is the day your offer is accepted. The ranges in the first column assume a purchaser who moves promptly at each stage; the third column is what actually binds.
| Months | What happens | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Offer accepted; deposit of 10% within 7 days; 7-day rescission right runs from the later of the contract date and the date you received the disclosure statement | Purchase agreement; Real Estate Development Marketing Act s.21 |
| 0–3 | Completion and title transfer; GST, property transfer tax, the $3,500 design review fee and conveyancing paid | Purchase agreement sets the date; the 0–3 window is typical, unverified |
| 1–12 | Architect engaged, survey, geotechnical and septic design, plans and specifications prepared | Three to nine months, typical, unverified |
| +1 month | Design package to the approving authority; deemed approved if it does not respond within 30 days of a complete package | Building scheme. Approval is valid 24 months |
| next | Building permit application to Bowen Island Municipality, with the design consultant's written confirmation of conformity; $1,500 water connection fee paid first | Municipality. No processing time is published |
| within 6 months of approval | Construction must start, or the approval expires and has to be applied for again | Building scheme |
| within 6 months of the driveway access permit | Driveway complete | Building scheme |
| within 12 months of the building permit | Exterior of the principal building complete | Building scheme |
| within 18 months of approval | All improvements complete except landscaping | Building scheme |
| within 18 months of the building permit | Front yard landscaping complete | Building scheme |
| within 24 months of approval | All landscaping complete | Building scheme |
| at the end | Certificate of Occupancy issued and you move in | Municipality |
Deadlines from the disclosure statement consolidated to the Fourth Amendment, dated April 23, 2025. Nothing in this table is a commitment by the developer about how long anything will take.
The season that governs everything
Tree felling and removal must be scheduled between 16 August and 1 February, and blasting, if it cannot be avoided, in the same window - both to avoid bird nesting season. The Municipality may impose its own seasonal restrictions on construction and tree cutting. Plan the schedule around this.
Read that alongside the six-month start deadline and the shape of a sensible schedule appears. Approval granted in spring puts your clearing window at the far end of the six months; approval granted in late summer lets you clear immediately and pour before the rain sets in. Talk to your builder about which side of August you want approval to land on.
What happens if a date is missed?
The building scheme has teeth. Miss the start-of-construction, substantial-completion or landscaping deadlines and the approval expires, and a fresh application is required. If construction is suspended for more than 30 days the owner must meet the approving authority and agree a completion schedule; if the delay looks likely to exceed 12 months the approving authority may rescind the approval and require the site to be restored and re-vegetated. The approving authority may also require a damage deposit before granting approval.
What to do next
Get the disclosure statement and the design guidelines before you write an offer, and read the deadlines above with your builder in the room. We send both the same day as a tour, along with the site plan and the current price list.
Get the Info Package Book a tour
This is not an offer for sale. Any such offering may only be made with a disclosure statement. E.&O.E.