The floor outside
Decks & railings
Pressure-treated and composite decks with guards that meet the code’s height and load rules.
- Deck framing & spans
- Guard & stair design
- Composite or wood decking
- Lighting rough-in
Decks & Porches · Aurora, York Region
Decks & Porches in Aurora
Decks and porches in Aurora, drawn, permitted and built by our crew: footings, ledgers, guards, covered porches and rear canopies. Before any digging we check the yard against Zoning By-law 6000-17 and the tree bylaw, then file the set with the Town of Aurora Building Division through CityView.
- Building
designs - 200+
- Years of
practice - 10
- Trusted
partners - 20+
- Recent project
- London · 570 sq ft porch
- Municipality
- Aurora, York Region
- Permit office
- Town of Aurora Building Division
- From our office
- About 30 minutes
What’s included
Scope: what we take on, and what each part includes.
Outdoor structures fail at the ground and at the house: footings that heave and ledgers that rot. We design both properly, then build what we drew. In Aurora the package goes to the Town of Aurora Building Division, and it is drawn to that department’s checklist.
Front and back
Covered porches
Roofed porches tied into the house, with posts, beams and footings designed for the roof and its snow load.
- Roof framing & tie-in
- Posts & beams
- Footings below frost
- Ceiling & finishes
Shade without walls
Rear canopies
Freestanding or attached canopies over patios and decks, engineered for wind uplift as well as snow.
- Canopy structure
- Wind & snow loads
- Attachment to the house
- Drainage off the roof
Below the surface
Footings & structure
Footings sized for the load and dug below frost, with the ledger flashed and fastened so water stays out of the house.
- Footing size & depth
- Ledger & flashing
- Frost protection
- Utility locates
The package
When you need it, and what you get.
Find your situation below. If it’s there, this is the service, and the card underneath is everything you get from our one office.
You need this when
05 common situations
- Deck feels looseIt moves when you walk on it
- Covered porchKeep the front door out of the rain
- Shade over the patioWithout building a room
- Built without a permitThe city wants drawings
- One contractorDrawings, permit and build
- Not sure it applies?Tell us about it on a free call and we’ll say whether this is the right service.
What you get
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
- Site visitMeasured on site
- Permit drawingsPlan, elevation, section, footings, guards
- Structural designP.Eng stamp where the span needs it
- Building permitFiled and followed to issue
- Utility locatesBefore anyone digs
- ConstructionOur crew, footings to finishes
- Inspections & close-outThe permit closed when it’s done
How it runs
Process: 4 steps from first call to sign-off.
Four steps, with the footing inspection setting the pace.
Site visit
We look at the grade, the wall the structure will attach to, the access for materials and how you want to use the space.
Design & permit
Drawings for the permit, with the structure sized in-house, filed with the city and answered at no extra charge.
Build
Locates, footings, framing, decking or roof, guards and stairs, inspected at the footing and framing stages.
Finish & close out
Railings, lighting and finishes, the final inspection, and the permit closed.
- Property address
- Photos of the yard and the wall the structure would attach to
- Rough size, and whether you want it covered
- A survey, if you have one
- Any city letter about an existing deck
Case files
Our Projects: real permits, real builds, real value added.
Open any file for the scope, the disciplines involved, what we delivered and what the owner came away with.
- Files
- 08
- Municipalities
- 07
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.
- Location
- Toronto
- Area
- 700 sq ft
- Sector
- Residential
- Disciplines
- Architectural · Structural
Delivered
- Architectural drawings
- Structural framing design
- Zoning review
- Building permit application
New living space on a lot the owners already had.
Start a project like this
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.
- Location
- Richmond Hill
- Area
- 2,700 sq ft
- Sector
- Residential
- Disciplines
- Structural · Architectural
Delivered
- Load-bearing wall removal
- Beam & column design
- Permit drawings
- Renovation coordination
An open layout where the load-bearing walls used to be.
Start a project like this
A code-compliant second unit with its own entrance, fire separations between the units, HVAC design and the full permit package.
- Location
- Vaughan
- Area
- 1,100 sq ft
- Sector
- Residential
- Disciplines
- Architectural · Mechanical · Fire safety
Delivered
- Separate entrance
- Fire separations
- HVAC design
- Full permit package
A legal second unit that brings in rent and adds property value.
Start a project like this
A new build taken from the client’s sketch to occupancy, with the architectural, structural and mechanical design done by one team.
- Location
- Haldimand County
- Area
- 1,750 sq ft
- Sector
- Residential
- Disciplines
- Architectural · Structural · Mechanical
Delivered
- Architectural design
- Structural design
- Mechanical design
- Permit drawings
Built to the client’s own plan, with one team answering for every discipline.
Start a project like this
A two-storey garden suite laid out to get the most usable space from the footprint, designed and permitted as a rentable unit.
- Location
- Richmond Hill
- Area
- 1,250 sq ft
- Sector
- Residential
- Disciplines
- Architectural · Structural
Delivered
- Layout planning
- Architectural drawings
- Structural design
- Permit application
Rental income and a higher property value.
Start a project like this
A dental office converted into a supermarket. Interior renovation, a new plumbing system and fire separations upgraded to the Ontario Fire Code.
- Location
- Kitchener
- Area
- Dental → grocery
- Sector
- Commercial
- Disciplines
- Architectural · Plumbing · Fire safety
Delivered
- Change-of-use permit
- Interior renovation drawings
- New plumbing design
- Upgraded fire separations
A dental office reopened as a supermarket, compliant with the Ontario Fire Code.
Start a project like thisA custom covered porch that turns the front of the house into usable outdoor space. Addition design and structural drawings for the permit.
- Location
- London
- Area
- 570 sq ft
- Sector
- Residential
- Disciplines
- Architectural · Structural
Delivered
- Addition design
- Structural drawings
- Permit application
More usable outdoor space and added home value.
Start a project like this
Site grading to manage drainage and prepare the land for a new driveway, drawn as a grading plan for the site alteration permit.
- Location
- Guelph
- Area
- 11,700 sq ft
- Sector
- Site
- Disciplines
- Site engineering
Delivered
- Grading plan
- Drainage design
- Driveway extension layout
- Site alteration permit
Drainage handled and the land ready for a new driveway.
Start a project like thisPhoto plates
Project Gallery: from the framing to the finished room.
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
Drawing Samples: sheets from real permit sets.
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.
- Sector
- Residential
- Discipline
- Architectural · Structural
- Location
- London, ON
- Scale
- —
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
Where We Work: within 90 minutes of Richmond Hill.
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.
Our office
Service area
Completed project
Drive time, off-peak
Municipalities we serve
46 across 8 regions
York Region
- Richmond Hill (completed project)Office
- Vaughan (completed project)
- Markham (completed project)
- Aurora
- Newmarket
- King
- Whitchurch-Stouffville
- East Gwillimbury
- Georgina
Toronto & Peel
- Toronto (completed project)
- Mississauga
- Brampton
- Caledon
Halton
- Oakville
- Burlington
- Milton
- Halton Hills
Durham
- Pickering
- Ajax
- Whitby
- Oshawa
- Clarington
- Uxbridge
- Scugog
Simcoe & Dufferin
- Barrie (completed project)
- Innisfil
- Bradford
- New Tecumseth
- Orillia
- Wasaga Beach
- Collingwood
- Orangeville
Waterloo, Wellington & Brant
Hamilton, Niagara & Haldimand
- Hamilton
- Grimsby
- St. Catharines
- Niagara Falls
- Haldimand County (completed project)
Kawarthas & Northumberland
- Peterborough
- Kawartha Lakes
- Port Hope
- Cobourg
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
FAQ: decks & porches in Aurora, answered.
Anything we haven’t answered here, we’ll answer on a call. The first consultation is free.
(416) 990-9179Possibly. Aurora has a site alteration by-law of its own, and we confirm with the Town of Aurora Building Division whether it reaches a house lot before the deck is drawn. If it does, fill brought in to level the yard for the deck needs that permit as well as the building permit.
If the lot is inside the regulated area of the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA), yes. Ontario Regulation 41/24 counts building or enlarging a structure as development activity, so a deck near a watercourse, a wetland or a valley in Aurora can need an LSRCA permit before the Town of Aurora Building Division issues the building permit. We check the authority’s mapping against the survey before the footings are located.
Yes. We take on decks & porches across Aurora, including Aurora Heights and Regency Acres, about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office. The first consultation is free, by phone or on site.
Three things to start: property address; photos of the yard and the wall the structure would attach to; and rough size, and whether you want it covered. Send those and we tell you what the Town of Aurora Building Division will ask for before we quote.
Online, through the Town’s CityView Portal. We upload the deck drawings with a site plan that places the deck on your survey, and the Town of Aurora Building Division checks both against the Building Code and your lot’s zoning before it issues the permit. Any question from the examiner comes to us, and the corrected sheets go back through the same portal.
Only in some cases. A footing hole close to a tree cuts roots, which counts as injuring it under Bylaw 5850-16. If it is a heritage tree, or the lot is in the Northeast Old Aurora district, the permit comes first; on other lots the bylaw lets two larger trees a year be injured or removed without one. Either way, we space the footings to miss the main roots where the frame allows.
Possibly, once the Town has had its say. A front porch changes the face of the house, and Northeast Old Aurora is the heritage conservation district Aurora has designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, so we take the design to the Town before the permit drawings are finished. We ask about a rear deck there too, since the designation may reach it, and the building permit itself goes in through CityView.
Yes. Your lot’s zone in By-law 6000-17 sets the yards a deck has to respect, and the Town of Aurora Building Division checks them before it issues the permit, so a deck that meets the Building Code can still be refused on zoning. An old deck on a postwar house west of Yonge may have gone up before those yards existed, and its replacement is drawn to the current ones.
Yes, at each stage the deck permit lists. Requests go through CityView, and on decks our crew builds, we book every visit as the work reaches it. Keep the approved drawings on site, because the inspector from the Town of Aurora Building Division checks the deck against them.
Yes, and we draw it as part of the unit, not as a separate deck job. Under Registration By-law 6660-24 a basement unit is an Integrated Unit, and when its way in crosses a deck, landing or stair, that structure and its guards go on the unit’s drawings. The Town of Aurora Building Division then reviews the entrance and the unit as one set.
Searched & answered
People Also Ask: what Aurora searches about decks & porches.
Short answers to the decks & porches questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationUsually, yes. Each municipality sets its own line. The GTA rules we work with go by the deck’s height above the ground, and some also count any deck fastened to the house. A roofed porch fastened to the house needs one under each of them. Cities word the rule differently, so Fine Engineering checks your municipality’s own wording before a deck is drawn.
Start with drawings and, in most cases, a permit, then build from the ground up. Once the permit is issued, call for utility locates, dig the footings to the depth your soil needs and call in each inspection the permit lists as that stage is reached. Then come the framing, the decking, the guards and stairs, and the final inspection. Fine Engineering draws and builds decks across the GTA.
As part of the deck, on the same permit drawings. The stringers are cut to the drawing and fastened to the deck framing, and the guard rule that applies to the deck applies to the open sides of the stair too. Fine Engineering draws the stair, its stringers and its guard on the permit set.
Either the main roof carries down over the porch, or a lower shed roof hangs off the house wall. Both put new roof and snow load on the house, so the join needs flashing and the existing wall and roof framing has to carry it. Fine Engineering checks that framing before the porch roof is drawn.
For a permit, the zoning by-law decides. Zoning is applicable law, so a permit is only issued for work that complies with it. If a covered porch would take the lot past what its by-law allows, the owner makes the porch smaller or gets a minor variance first. Fine Engineering reads the by-law for your lot, including how it treats a roofed porch, before the porch is drawn.
Most often because water crosses a property line, the ground slopes too gently away from the house, or the swales and elevations do not tie into the survey. Reviewers also return plans that lack erosion control, or an engineer’s stamp where one is required. Fine Engineering designs grading to each municipality’s own criteria and revises the plan to answer the reviewer’s comments.
Good to know
Deck permits in Aurora
In Aurora the reviewer is the Town of Aurora Building Division. Every Aurora lot sets its own terms: the height above grade, the wall the deck fastens to and the soil under the footings decide the design before anything is dug.
We walk the site with the survey, usually within a day or two of the call, before anything is drawn, then file the decks & porches package to the Town of Aurora Building Division’s own checklist.
Deck building across Aurora Heights and Regency Acres
Housing in Aurora runs to established postwar neighbourhoods west of Yonge seeing infill rebuilds, with newer subdivisions in the Bayview secondary plan areas to the east. On an infill rebuild, the deck can go on the new house’s permit set rather than being filed later on its own. A deck replaced on a postwar house may predate today’s guard rules, so the new one is drawn to the current code.
Decks on graded lots in the Bayview subdivisions
The newer houses in the Bayview secondary plan areas went up on lots graded for the whole subdivision, so the ground behind each house is shaped to carry water away along set routes. A deck sits right over that path. We keep the footings out of any swale and leave the ground under the deck sloping the way the lot was graded, so runoff does not end up in a neighbour’s yard or against your foundation.
Rear canopies on Aurora’s postwar houses
A covered porch or rear canopy hangs its roof load, snow included, on the wall it attaches to. On a postwar house west of Yonge, we check that wall and the footing under it before we size the ledger and beam, and where the old framing cannot take the load, the canopy stands on posts and footings of its own. Its drawings go to the Town of Aurora Building Division with the rest of the deck set.
Contact us
Footings deep. Ledger flashed. A deck that stays put.
Send us a few photos of the yard and we’ll tell you what the permit needs, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179