Looking for a new semi-detached home near Saint-Bruno so you can live closer to your parents or your grown children? The first idea that often comes up is a multigenerational home near Saint-Bruno: one property, two households, a shared lot. It is not the only way to keep family within easy reach, though.

This article looks at another approach: two separate homes, each one complete, located as close to each other as availability allows. That is how BÉAcité — 50 semi-detached homes built by Maisons Pépin in Vilamo, a Sainte-Julie neighbourhood — describes itself: as an alternative to the intergenerational model. So BÉAcité does not sell multigenerational homes; the idea is for each household to have a place of its own in the same neighbourhood.

You will also find what still needs checking before you commit, and some ideas for setting up a home office.

A multigenerational home near Saint-Bruno: what it involves

A multigenerational home (in Quebec, you will often hear intergenerational) houses two households from the same family under one roof. Each has its own space, but the building, the lot and often the entrance or some rooms are shared. The arrangement has real advantages: you see each other every day, helping out is easy, and the costs of a single property are split.

It also takes a lot of agreeing:

finding a house whose layout works for two units, or converting one;
settling who maintains what and how expenses are divided;
planning for the day one household wants to move on.

In Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, the 2021 census counted 115 multigenerational households, or 1.1% of all households. That figure doesn't tell you how many families would like to live closer together; it only shows that sharing one roof remains uncommon there.

Two households, two homes: BÉAcité's approach

Rather than a multigenerational home near Saint-Bruno, the project answers the same wish to stay close in a different way: each household owns its own semi-detached single-family home, with its own front door, garage, garden-level backyard and private garden. You can be neighbours without sharing a kitchen, living spaces or decisions about each other's house.

The semi-detached bungalow, all on one level

It brings daily life down to a single floor: a 1,006 sq ft main level, a basement of equal size and a 294 sq ft garage. If you are thinking about the years ahead, it is the model to look at first. A residential elevator is also visible in the photos of 435 Geoffrion Street.

The Duo cottage, on two levels

It spreads its 2,018 sq ft of finished living area across two levels and can be fitted with an optional mezzanine. One generation can favour single-storey living, while the other goes for the extra room of a cottage.

Whichever model you choose, the all-inclusive maintenance program applies, so nobody ends up splitting chores between two houses. If keeping up a large lot is what weighs most on your parents, the article on a maintenance-free home near Saint-Bruno looks at that question in detail.

What's left to check before you decide?

The simplest setup would be two neighbouring homes, or even both halves of the same semi-detached building. There is no guarantee, however, that two side-by-side lots will be free when you are ready, or that both halves of one building can be bought together. Two people can help you sort it out:

the sales representative, sales director Eddy Guessous (514-812-9633, call or text; ventes@beacite.com), confirms what remains among the 50 lots on Geoffrion and Bissonnette streets: the four turnkey homes, the customizable homes advertised as ready in about four months, and the twenty or so cottages and bungalows still left to customize;
a notary or another professional handles the legal and financial side of buying as a family: financial help from a parent, buying under several names, co-ownership or an agreement between relatives, estate planning. This article is no substitute for that advice.

Staying close, even a few kilometres apart

Staying close can also look different. If one household would rather keep its house in Saint-Bruno, the gap is modest: roughly 13 km of driving from Saint-Bruno's town hall to Geoffrion Street, or about 17 minutes when the road is clear, taking Rang des Vingt-Cinq. Since 2012, cyclists have had a lane in each direction along it, so dropping by on a bike in summer is an option.

Whether you are better off living in Sainte-Julie or Saint-Bruno is a separate question, covered in an article that compares the two places to live.

Working from home: what the 2021 census measured

In May 2021, 35.2% of Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville's workers did their jobs from home, compared with 21.9% across Quebec and 23.6% in Sainte-Julie. That figure dates from the height of the pandemic: it reflects an unusual period, not today's situation.

Space is rarely in short supply in Saint-Bruno: 40.1% of dwellings have four or more bedrooms, and the average dwelling has 7.7 rooms. In a house like that, a spare bedroom quickly turns into an office. When you move to a new home, it pays to decide from the start where your workspace will go.

Where to put a home office in a BÉAcité home

The Duo cottage's optional mezzanine

On the plan, the mezzanine adds 338 sq ft above the upper floor and raises the model's living space from 2,018 to 2,356 sq ft, for a total of 3,506 sq ft including the basement and garage. Because it sits on its own level, it lets you set aside a place for work without giving up a bedroom. In the photos of 405 Geoffrion, a home that has a mezzanine, it is in fact set up as an office under a high ceiling.

Open, closed or downstairs

Open: in the Duo home at 423, one of the four turnkey homes, the workspace looks onto the house and was designed for remote work.
Closed: the photos of 408 show a room you close with a glass door, with a recessed bookcase, so you can shut yourself in for a call without losing daylight.
In the basement: 858 sq ft on the Duo cottage plan; the home at 423 has a finished basement.

A few included features also matter over a workday: plenty of window area, 9-ft ceilings on the main level and central air conditioning. Ask the sales representative which lots and homes allow the mezzanine and the rooftop terrace, two options on the Duo cottage.

Conclusion

A multigenerational home near Saint-Bruno is only one way to bring two generations closer. BÉAcité offers another: a complete home for each household, with its own garage and yard, in the same neighbourhood if availability allows, and the all-inclusive maintenance program. Before you decide, confirm which lots are free with the sales representative, sort out the legal side with a notary, then visit the Geoffrion Street homes to see where your office would fit.

An alternative to a multigenerational home near Saint-Bruno