Home Additions in Oakville

The Town of Oakville Building Department handles the zoning check, the permit and the inspections; Halton Region looks after regional roads and servicing. Oakville also has a site alteration by-law, so if the addition comes with regrading beyond the house, we check with the Town whether that work needs a permit of its own.

If the lot is inside the regulated area of Conservation Halton, yes, and the Conservation Halton permit comes before the Oakville building permit. Beside a valley with stable slopes, the regulated area runs to the stable top of the bank plus 15 metres, which can decide how far back an addition goes.

Yes, if it fits the zoning, and that is the first thing we check. Oakville has two zoning by-laws in effect: Zoning By-law 2014-014 applies south of Dundas Street and north of Highway 407, and Zoning By-law 2009-189 applies between Dundas Street and Highway 407. Whether the lot sits between Dundas Street and Highway 407 decides the by-law, and we measure the addition against that one’s setbacks, height and coverage. A design that misses one by a little goes to the Committee of Adjustment as a minor variance, ahead of the permit.

Each district sets its own requirements, so the first question is whether your house is in one of them. Oakville has four heritage conservation districts: Old Oakville, First and Second Street, Trafalgar Road, and Downtown Oakville. For a house inside one, we ask Oakville what that district requires of an addition and design to it.

Yes. We take on home additions across Oakville, including Old Oakville and Bronte, within an hour of our Richmond Hill office. The first consultation is free, by phone or on site.

Three things to start: property address and a survey, if you have one; what you want to add and where; and photos of the side of the house and the yard where it would go. Send those and we tell you what the Town of Oakville Building Department will ask for before we quote.

It can, because digging the new foundation reaches the roots of any tree near the back of the house. Oakville’s Private Tree Protection By-law 2017-038 asks for a permit before a private tree with a trunk 15 cm or more across at breast height is injured, so we locate those trees on the survey while the footprint can still move. The addition can then step around a tree, or the tree permit goes in while the Town of Oakville Building Department reviews the set.

Once the Committee of Adjustment has approved it. The Building Code treats zoning as applicable law, so an addition that misses a setback or height limit in Zoning By-law 2014-014 or 2009-189 cannot get its permit from the Town of Oakville Building Department while the variance is outstanding. We draw the permit set during the variance process, and it goes up to ePlan as soon as the approval comes through.

What the house can carry and what the zoning allows. Our P.Eng checks the footings and walls that will take the new floor, and we measure the added height against Zoning By-law 2014-014 or 2009-189, whichever covers your lot. For a 1980s Glen Abbey house or a 2000s house north of Dundas, the original permit drawings, if you still have them, show how the walls and footings were built.

On a lot under Zoning By-law 2014-014, yes, if the house is detached, semi-detached, linked or a townhouse, since section 4.1.2 allows attached units in all four. An addition is part of the house, so the unit counts as attached: the house can hold two of those, or one if a garden suite already uses the lot’s detached unit. We draw the fire separation and the unit’s own exit into the addition, and the unit goes to the Town of Oakville Building Department on the addition’s set.

An old survey can work if nothing on the lot has changed since it was drawn; otherwise a new one is the starting point. Setbacks and lot coverage under Zoning By-law 2014-014 or 2009-189 are measured from it, and the surveyor also fixes the position of every tree Private Tree Protection By-law 2017-038 could cover. We can arrange the survey if you need one.