"As-of-right" sounds like it should mean "quick." It doesn't. It means your project complies with zoning, so you skip the rezoning process. Everything after that still has to happen, and in Toronto that's where the time goes.
Here's a realistic picture of the timeline, and what actually moves it.
The Real Bottleneck Isn't Zoning
When we looked at the data on Toronto multiplex applications, the pattern was clear. The zoning policy is working — applications are coming in steadily since the 2023 changes. What isn't working is permit review. Projects that already comply with zoning are waiting far longer than the policy intended.
This is a process problem, not a policy problem: review bottlenecks, inconsistent interpretation of code requirements, and departments that weren't resourced for the volume the zoning change created.
For someone holding land and paying interest on it, that distinction is academic. What matters is that "as-of-right" doesn't currently mean what it sounds like, and you should plan accordingly.
What Our Timeline Actually Looked Like
On FAMILY 1, the sequence ran like this:
April 2025 — site acquired. An as-of-right lot in an established neighbourhood.
Within four months — Committee of Adjustment approval and building permits in hand.
September 2025 — ground broken.
April 2026 — units framed, windows going in.
Fall 2026 — first residents move in.
Total: 12 to 18 months from acquisition to occupancy. Four of those months were approvals.
We want to be straightforward that four months is faster than typical. It wasn't luck.
What Made It Fast
We knew exactly what we were building before we committed. Most projects treat design as something that begins after closing, which hands the city a set of drawings that then need revision — and every revision is another round trip. We go into an acquisition with a full understanding of what we're building and how we're going to achieve it. We're productizing our designs so that drawings can be developed ahead of acquisition rather than after it, which is where most of the avoidable delay sits.
We used the Committee of Adjustment deliberately, not reflexively. A hearing adds time, so the question is whether what it unlocks is worth it. Used carefully, minor variances let us reduce construction cost and improve how the homes actually live — without taking on the risk or the timeline of a rezoning. What we don't do is pursue variances out of habit, or chase an envelope so aggressive it invites a fight.
What to Budget If You're Planning One
If you're evaluating a project, we'd suggest planning for approvals to take longer than four months unless you've done the preparation above. A more typical range on a straightforward as-of-right multiplex is several months to permits, with construction running roughly nine to fourteen months after that depending on scale and site conditions.
Build carrying cost into your model explicitly. It's the most commonly omitted line in multiplex proformas we see, and on a project that slips six months it's not a rounding error.
The Part That Should Change
Toronto opened the door to this housing and then didn't resource the path through it. Every month a compliant project sits in review is a month a family doesn't have a home, and a month of cost that makes the next project marginally less likely to happen.
Individual builders can work around this — we do, deliberately. But workarounds aren't a substitute for a permit system that matches the ambition of the zoning policy sitting on top of it.
If you own a property and want to understand its realistic timeline, get in touch. To follow the build as it happens, join our waitlist.