Before you weigh a new semi-detached home near Kirkland against what you already know, it helps to agree on the terms. In Kirkland, when people talk about a house joined to another, they usually mean a townhouse; semi-detached homes are rare there.

This article compares the two formats — townhouse or semi-detached near Kirkland — on things you can measure: how many walls are shared, how many sides are open, the yard, the garage and the living space. It doesn't compare projects, only two ways of building an attached home.

Two official definitions

Quebec's language office, the Office québécois de la langue française, defines both in its real estate brokerage vocabulary. In plain terms:

a semi-detached house is a single-family house attached to one other house, most often by a shared wall;
a townhouse (row house) belongs to a continuous row of more than two adjacent houses, connected to one another by shared side walls.

The Office adds that once more than two semi-detached houses are joined, you're looking at a row. In English, "townhouse" and "row house" mean the same thing; in French, the Office prefers "maison en rangée" to "maison de ville", which it considers an anglicism. The distinction isn't just about vocabulary: it changes how many neighbours you share a wall with, and that's what the rest of this article looks at.

In Kirkland, townhouses far outnumber semi-detached homes

Statistics Canada's 2021 Census paints a clear picture of Kirkland's housing:

555 townhouses, or 8.3% of homes, more than three times their share across Quebec (2.6%);
70 semi-detached houses, or 1.1% of homes;
detached houses making up 86.6% of the total.

In Sainte-Julie, the proportions flip: 5.8% semi-detached, or 675 homes, and 1.0% townhouses. So if you live in Kirkland and are thinking about an attached home, the townhouse is likely the format you know best. A semi-detached home deserves a closer look, because it's laid out differently.

On the construction side, the Town of Kirkland says it has reached a saturation point in the space available for new building. The new housing announced there is mostly condos, rental units, townhouses and lots for building your own house.

Townhouse or semi-detached near Kirkland: how many shared walls and open sides?

The first difference is how many neighbours are attached to the house. A semi-detached home shares one wall, with one other house. A townhouse in the middle of a row shares two, one on each side; only the end units have a single shared wall.

That has a direct consequence: a semi-detached home has three open sides, while a mid-row townhouse has just two, front and back. And open sides are where the windows go. BÉAcité homes have large windows in every room, 9-foot ceilings on the main floor, and the dining room can get a cathedral ceiling as an option.

Whether you're touring a townhouse or a semi-detached home, ask the same simple question: how many rooms get daylight from two directions?

The yard and the lot

At BÉAcité, each semi-detached home has its own garden-level backyard and private garden, handed over with complete landscaping. Several lots have no neighbours behind them, and a pool or spa is possible there. Landscaping is included on delivery; after that, the all-inclusive maintenance program takes over, and the sales director can give you the details.

For a fair comparison, look at the yard of the townhouse you know: how wide it is, how deep, what you see at the back. Then, during your visit, ask which lots on Geoffrion and Bissonnette streets have nothing behind them. The site plan of the 50 lots also shows the project's two parks and its retention pond.

The garage and the driveway

Every BÉAcité home has a single garage and a double driveway. On the plans, the garage measures 294 sq ft for the semi-detached bungalow and 292 sq ft for the Duo cottage. It has an outlet for charging an electric car.

That matters when you live in Kirkland: according to the 2021 Census, 88.6% of the town's commuters travel by car. Whatever format you're looking at, check where the household's cars will go, how many there are, and whether charging is planned for.

Room for a Kirkland household

Kirkland households are large: 2.9 people on average, compared with 2.2 across Quebec, and 44.3% are couples with children. The housing reflects it, with 63.3% of the town's homes having four or more bedrooms.

A BÉAcité semi-detached home comes in two main formats:

the semi-detached bungalow, all on one level: 1,006 sq ft on the ground floor, over a basement of the same size;
the Duo cottage: 2,018 sq ft of living space over two levels, plus an 858 sq ft basement, or 2,356 sq ft with the optional 338 sq ft mezzanine.

The plans also show a more compact Urbain model, with 1,622 sq ft of living space. The bungalow, all on one level, keeps day-to-day living on a single floor above its basement. According to the 2021 Census, the primary household maintainer was 55 or older in 59.2% of Kirkland households: if you're planning for the long term, a one-level layout is worth a look.

Two of the turnkey homes, 405 and 423 Geoffrion Street, each have three bedrooms, and 423 has a finished basement. When you visit, count the rooms your household needs today, and five years from now.

The format is only part of the decision; timing is another. Depending on whether you want to move in right away or choose your finishes, read our article on picking a turnkey or pre-construction home near Kirkland. And to see both models in person, our guide covers visiting a model home from Kirkland, on a weekday or by appointment.

Conclusion

Townhouse or semi-detached near Kirkland: the difference comes down to a few facts. One shared wall instead of two, three open sides instead of two, a garden-level backyard, a garage and a double driveway. The townhouse remains the most common attached format in Kirkland; the semi-detached home, rare locally, is well represented in Sainte-Julie. The surest way to judge is in person: the sales office at 435 Geoffrion Street welcomes you Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and by appointment in the evening or on weekends.

Townhouse or semi-detached near Kirkland: what changes