York Region · About 30 minutes
Permit drawings, engineering and inspections in Aurora, on postwar rebuilds west of Yonge and in the newer Bayview subdivisions, checked against Zoning By-law 6000-17 and filed with the Town of Aurora Building Division.
P.Eng · BCIN · Aurora
Six services under one P.Eng and BCIN team, each with its own Aurora page: what it covers, who reviews it here, and what to send to start.
Renovation underway
Renovations, legal basements, additions and custom homes, measured, drawn and taken through the city.
City requests
Handled at no extra charge
Office fit-out
Change of use, alterations and new commercial builds, kept compliant with zoning by-laws and the Ontario Building Code.
Reviewed for
Zoning + Ontario Building Code
Roof trusses
Wood, concrete and steel design stamped by a licensed P.Eng, from a single beam to a full framing package.
Stamped by
Licensed P.Eng (PEO)
Ductwork & lighting
HVAC, plumbing and electrical design, coordinated with the permit package so the trades build from one set.
Deliverable
Permit-ready MEP drawings
Driveway & grading
Grading, drainage and site alteration approvals for driveways, pools and full lot regrades.
Deliverable
Grading & site plans
Front entrance
Pre-purchase and pre-renovation inspections read by an engineer: structure, mechanicals and code, not just surfaces.
Inspected by
Our engineering team
Design · permit · build
We draw it, permit it and build it. When something unexpected turns up behind a wall, the engineering call gets made on site.
Walnut kitchen
Open up a floor plan, rework a kitchen or bathroom, and update the systems behind the walls.
Recent project
Richmond Hill · 2,700 sq ft
Basement suite
Turn a basement into a legal second unit that earns rental income and adds property value.
Recent project
Vaughan · 1,100 sq ft
Suite framing
Detached backyard suites for family or rental income, from the zoning check to the finished build.
Recent project
Richmond Hill · 1,250 sq ft
Addition framing
Additions and new units tied into the existing structure, with the beams, columns and mechanicals worked out first.
Recent project
London · duplex unit
Rear deck
Decks, porches and canopies designed to code, with footings sized for the load.
Recent project
London · 570 sq ft porch
Finished exterior
Custom homes with the architectural and engineering work coordinated by one team.
Recent project
Haldimand County · 1,750 sq ft
Case files
Open any file for the scope, the disciplines involved, what we delivered and what the owner came away with.
A compact two-storey suite in a Toronto backyard. Architectural and structural drawings, zoning review and a framing package that makes every square foot count.
Delivered
New living space on a lot the owners already had.
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Structural walls came out and rooms were added to open the plan. Beam and column design, permit drawings and renovation coordination through to final inspection.
Delivered
An open layout where the load-bearing walls used to be.
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A code-compliant second unit with its own entrance, fire separations between the units, HVAC design and the full permit package.
Delivered
A legal second unit that brings in rent and adds property value.
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A new build taken from the client’s sketch to occupancy, with the architectural, structural and mechanical design done by one team.
Delivered
Built to the client’s own plan, with one team answering for every discipline.
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A two-storey garden suite laid out to get the most usable space from the footprint, designed and permitted as a rentable unit.
Delivered
Rental income and a higher property value.
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A dental office converted into a supermarket. Interior renovation, a new plumbing system and fire separations upgraded to the Ontario Fire Code.
Delivered
A dental office reopened as a supermarket, compliant with the Ontario Fire Code.
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A custom covered porch that turns the front of the house into usable outdoor space. Addition design and structural drawings for the permit.
Delivered
More usable outdoor space and added home value.
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Site grading to manage drainage and prepare the land for a new driveway, drawn as a grading plan for the site alteration permit.
Delivered
Drainage handled and the land ready for a new driveway.
Start a project like thisPhoto plates
Additions, basements, kitchens, new builds and commercial fit-outs. Drag a row to scrub through it, or open any photo full size.Tap any photo to see it full size.
21 platesResidential, commercial & new build
The drawing set
Framing schedules, wall assemblies, dimensions and a city review stamp, as issued. Client title blocks are trimmed off to protect the people we drew them for.
Drawing set
Sheets in this set
Sheet title
Existing basement plan
The existing house recorded before any design: beams, joists and bearing walls.
Drawing no.
2 of 5
Service area
From the office we cover the whole GTA, north to Barrie and Orillia, east to Peterborough and Cobourg, west to Kitchener and Brantford, and down through Niagara.
46 across 8 regions
York Region
Toronto & Peel
Halton
Durham
Simcoe & Dufferin
Waterloo, Wellington & Brant
Hamilton, Niagara & Haldimand
Kawarthas & Northumberland
Past the 90-minute line
We've also completed projects in London and Strathroy. Farther out than that? Call (416) 990-9179 and ask.
Permits filed with municipalities including
Before you call
Anything we haven’t answered here, we’ll answer on a call. The first consultation is free.
(416) 990-9179The Town of Aurora Building Division. Aurora is a lower-tier municipality in York Region, which handles regional roads and servicing but not house permits. We submit under our own BCIN and P.Eng credentials and stay on the file until the permit is issued.
Yes. Aurora regulates excavation, filling and regrading under its own by-law, separately from the building permit, so a pool, a walkout or a regraded yard can need its own application with a grading plan. We prepare and file it.
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA) covers Aurora. It regulates work near watercourses, valleys, wetlands and floodplains, and its permit comes before the Town of Aurora Building Division issues the building permit. We check the regulated-area mapping for a Aurora lot at the zoning stage.
All of it, including Aurora Heights, Regency Acres, Town Park and Bayview Northeast. Aurora is about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office, and the first consultation is free.
Comprehensive Zoning By-law 6000-17, which the Town of Aurora Building Division reads every permit set against. Before we draw anything, we find your lot’s zone in it and write down the setbacks, height and lot coverage that zone allows. If the design cannot meet one of them, we settle the variance before the permit application goes in.
Online, through the Town’s CityView Portal, which takes the application form and the drawings for the Town of Aurora Building Division. Zoning is part of that review, so we check the design against By-law 6000-17 before anything is uploaded. On jobs where we prepare the drawings, we file the application for you as well.
Yes. CityView shows the status of your application from the day it is filed, and once the permit is issued the same portal takes the inspection requests. When the Town of Aurora Building Division sends comments on the drawings, we answer them and upload the revised sheets there.
It depends on the tree and where the lot is. Aurora’s Private Tree Protection Bylaw 5850-16 asks for a permit before a heritage tree comes down, and before any tree is removed inside the Northeast Old Aurora Heritage Conservation District. Elsewhere, trees of 20 cm diameter or less need no permit, two larger trees can go in any 12 months without one, and larger lots get two per quarter hectare. If a project would take a tree, we count it against those limits before the site plan is final.
Up to three, counting the house, on a lot with a detached house, a semi or a rowhouse, under Aurora’s Registration By-law 6660-24. Only one of the extra units can be a detached Ancillary Unit in the rear or interior side yard; any other goes inside the house or is attached to it. Each unit is registered with the Town as well as built under a permit from the Town of Aurora Building Division.
Aurora has designated one district under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, Northeast Old Aurora, so the question is whether your address falls inside its boundary. We confirm that with the Town, along with what the designation asks of your project, before the building permit application goes to the Town of Aurora Building Division.
Searched & answered
Short answers to what homeowners, builders and business owners search most, from deck permits to change of use.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationOnce a complete application is in, Ontario’s Building Code gives the municipality 10 business days to issue a house permit or refuse it with reasons. Larger and more complex buildings get a longer period. The count only starts when nothing is missing, so an absent sheet or an unresolved zoning issue holds it back. Fine Engineering checks zoning and code before anything is submitted.
The application form, the drawings the Building Code calls for, and every other approval the project depends on. Zoning counts as applicable law, so a needed minor variance has to be granted before the permit can be issued, and a lot in a conservation authority’s regulated area may need that authority’s permit first. Fine Engineering assembles the whole package, with the designer’s registration details on the drawings.
Most often because the plans do not show that the work meets the Building Code or applicable law, such as the zoning by-law. A permit is also withheld when the law requires an engineer’s or architect’s design and the drawings lack one, or when the builder of a new home is unlicensed. The refusal must state its reasons, and Fine Engineering revises the set to answer each one.
Stop work and start on the drawings. A stop-work order usually means construction began without a permit or departed from the approved plans. Getting out of it takes a permit application that shows what was built and what is proposed, then whatever inspections the city asks for. Fine Engineering prepares those drawings and replies to the city’s letters.
A municipal inspector visits at set stages to confirm the work matches the permit drawings and the Building Code, and nothing gets covered up until its stage has passed. Footings and framing are typical stages. The final inspection is the one that lets the permit close. On its own projects, Fine Engineering’s drawings are the set the inspector checks against.
It can be revoked, which has much the same effect. The Building Code Act lets the chief building official revoke a permit when work has not seriously begun within six months of issue, or has been halted for over a year. A permit whose inspections were never finished stays open on the property. Fine Engineering can draw what an old permit still needs so the city can close it.
About Aurora
Aurora’s housing runs to established postwar neighbourhoods west of Yonge seeing infill rebuilds, with newer subdivisions in the Bayview secondary plan areas to the east. Across Aurora Heights, Regency Acres, Town Park and Bayview Northeast that mix decides what a permit package has to show, and we measure it on site rather than assume it.
Aurora is about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office, so site visits, measured surveys and inspections are part of the routine rather than a special trip.
The Town of Aurora Building Division issues the building permit; York Region handles regional roads and servicing, not house permits. Grade changes are covered by Aurora’s own site alteration by-law.
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA) regulates lots near watercourses, valleys, wetlands and floodplains in Aurora, and its permit comes before the city’s.
Aurora’s zoning rules are in Comprehensive Zoning By-law 6000-17, which Council approved in June 2017 after the first full review since 1979. The postwar houses west of Yonge were approved under earlier rules, so an addition or a rebuild there is drawn to the current zone, even where the old house never met it.
Registration By-law 6660-24 gives two ways to reach three units on a lot with a detached house, a semi or a rowhouse. One is the house plus one or two Integrated Units, inside it or attached. The other is the house, one Integrated Unit and one Ancillary Unit: a detached unit in the rear or interior side yard that the by-law describes as portable, such as a garden suite, laneway house or tiny home.
Whichever mix you choose, our drawings label each unit by type, so the permit set and the Town’s registration describe the same house.
Bylaw 5850-16 covers injuring a tree as well as cutting one, so work that damages roots, such as a footing or a service trench, can fall under it along with removal. That matters most in Northeast Old Aurora, the town’s one Part V heritage district, where a single tree needs a permit. We mark the trees near the work on the site plan and keep the digging clear of them where the design allows.
Nearby
Contact us
Tell us what you’re planning and we’ll map the path from idea to permit to construction.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179