Guide To Floor Plans & Unit Selection
Understanding floor plans plays a key factor in how we select our offerings. After assessing the project and it's location, we then start studying the different floor plans. There are several things we look for when assessing the future value of a unit. The layout of your unit can drastically change the rental and resale potential.
Floor Plan Symbols & Components
Below is a sample floor plan along with a general legend for industry standards. We've highlighted some key components - hover over them to see more!
Fridge / Freezer Unit
Washer / Dryer Unit (stacked)
Unit Type & Size
Builders will typically give each floor plan a code, this one being K536. The square footage includes only indoor space. The balcony size is expressed as an edition to the interior square footage.
This unit is 536 square feet plus 124 square feet of balcony space.
Fun Fact: What's Considered A Bedroom?
In Ontario, the following must be satisfied for a room to legally be a bedroom. Here a few key components:
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Minimum dimensions of 1.5M each way
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Minimum total square footage of at least 75M & Minimum ceiling heigh of 7ft over at least 75% of the space
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Direct access to sunlight. This is why interior bedrooms are popular in Toronto, as long as they have direct access to sunlight, builders can consider it a bedroom
Key Plate
This a bird's eye view of all the units on 1 floor.
This means this unit type is unit #10 for floors 30-PH and unit #11 for floors 5-29.
For example, the suite number for this unit on the 26th floor is 2611.
Buildings will typically have larger units on the top, changing the keyplate.
Balcony Access
This arrow indicates a sliding door opening to the balcony
HVAC Unit
The units heating / air conditioning unit.
Larger units may have multiple units
Guide to picking the perfect floor plan
1. Useable space over square footage
Purchasers are often drawn to larger floor plans, but bigger isn't always better. When we talk about useable space, we are looking for layouts that reduce long hallways, odd shaped rooms or uneven indents that deem a space unusable. When renting or selling, tenants and purchasers often gauge a unit's size by "how big it feels" rather than it's actual square footage - which is largely driven by how much useable space the unit offers.
Example:
The A-554 unit is technically larger, but because of all the unusable space, you forgo the den offered in the K536 unit. The living space and bedroom are practically the same size, but the efficiency of the K536 floor plan allows for a den which increases the rental and resale value significantly.
The A-554 unit also is awkwardly shaped, making furniture configuration difficult and unpractical. Purchasers and renters are likely to "feel" like the K536 unit is larger when in fact it's the opposite.
Unusable Space:
The square footage is being eaten up by the hallways
Living Space:
By dimensions, the living spaces are relatively the same, yet the shape of this one is much easier to furnish compared to the A-554 unit
2. Natural light is not always correlated with exposure
There is a known hierarchy of exposures: south being the best followed by west, east and north. The preference is due to sunlight. South facing units get sunlight all day. However, in Toronto condos, the amount of natural light is more dependent on the surrounding buildings than the exposure.
A south facing unit with a building right in front of it will be darker than a north facing unit with clear views. It's crucial to consider what existing and future structures are around the project.
Myth: Heritage distinction means your view is protected
Many times when assessing a project's site, they assume that their view is protected if the structure in front of them is deemed heritage by the city of Toronto.
This is false. Builders have built condos on top of heritage structures. The caveat? The external heritage structure is preserved and can be built on top of.
Example:
5 St. Joseph St Toronto, the bottom portion was preserved as heritage. The builder was able to develop upwards.
Heritage building at the base of condo
3. Higher floors & penthouses aren't always better
Builders typically charge a floor premium, the higher you go the more expensive the same units get. Typically this is a uniform amount: $10,00 per floor for example. This is simply because higher floors are more desirable. While there is a return on investment for floor premiums, the return is diminishes the higher up you go.
The units on the top floor are sometimes classified as "penthouses" and denoted with a "PH" before the unit number. While most times these are larger and unique floor plans, sometimes the key plate is exactly same, the units are just labelled "penthouse". Again, the desirability allows the builder to sell these units thousands more merely for the PH distinction. Its important to know if the penthouses in a project are unique. If not, the title most times holds little resale value.
Example:
A unit on the 22nd floor will probably sell for significantly more than the same unit on the 10th floor. However, the resale difference between the same units on the 25th and 37th floor are likely to be negligible assuming there is nothing obstructing the view.
Both pairs of units are 12 floors apart, yet the return on floor premium is better between the 10th and 22nd floor vs the 25th and 37th floor.
All content on this site is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice.