New Custom Homes in Richmond Hill

A building permit with architectural, structural, mechanical and energy-compliance drawings and a grading and servicing plan, plus any minor variance or conservation permit the lot triggers. The City of Richmond Hill Building Division issues the building permit and, at the end, the occupancy permit, and inspects the build in between. Richmond Hill’s Site Alteration By-law 47-25 applies to pools and residential regrading, with a grading plan by an engineer or surveyor. Building a new house regrades the lot, and our P.Eng prepares that plan from the start. We also confirm with the City of Richmond Hill Building Division whether the house needs the site alteration permit.

If the lot is in a TRCA Regulated Area, yes. Oak Ridges and Lake Wilcox in the north drain to Lake Simcoe and are under the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority. We check which authority maps the lot before anything else. Building anything in a TRCA Regulated Area takes a TRCA permit, and Richmond Hill will not issue the building permit until it is in hand. TRCA issues its permits in the owner’s name: the permit is yours, even though we prepare what it reviews. We confirm the issuing body when we apply, because TRCA is due to merge with the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority on February 1, 2027 or later.

That depends on the rules of the Gormley district. The first step is to check the lot against its boundary. The City of Richmond Hill names the Gormley Heritage Conservation District as its first Heritage Conservation District under the Ontario Heritage Act. It came into effect on December 13, 2009 and covers the village core of Gormley. For a lot inside it, we confirm with the City of Richmond Hill Building Division what the district asks of a new house before the design is fixed.

Yes. We take on new custom homes across Richmond Hill, including Oak Ridges and Mill Pond, about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office. The first consultation is free, by phone or on site.

Three things to start: lot address and a survey, if you have one; your sketch, brief or a plan from another designer; and whether the lot is serviced or needs a well and septic. Send those and we tell you what the City of Richmond Hill Building Division will ask for before we quote.

They can set the edges of the footprint. Richmond Hill’s Tree Preservation By-law 19-25 needs a permit before a private tree 15 cm or more in diameter at 1.4 m above the ground is removed or injured, and demolition, excavation and the service trench can all injure one. On a rebuild near Mill Pond we put every surveyed tree on the site plan before the house is placed, so you know early which ones the design keeps.

Up to four on the lot: the main house plus three additional units under By-law 143-24, with no more than two of them in an accessory building such as a garden suite or a unit over a detached garage. The lot has to be on municipal water and sewer, and each unit needs a building permit from the City of Richmond Hill Building Division. We lay out the options for your lot at the first consultation.

Yes. Taking the old house down needs a demolition permit from the City of Richmond Hill Building Division before any of it is removed, and we apply for it alongside the new house’s permit. On the older village lots near Mill Pond, we also check the existing water and sewer connections before demolition, because the new house, and any units in it, may need larger ones.

Yes, and it is worth doing before the offer is firm. We find out which zoning by-law governs the lot, since CZBL 93-25 is still under appeal in places, whether it falls inside the Gormley Heritage Conservation District, whether the TRCA or the LSRCA maps any of it, and whether it has municipal water and sewer. Those answers tell you how large a house the lot allows, which approvals come first and whether added units are possible.

Yes. A new house application carries more attachments than most: architectural, structural and mechanical drawings, the energy compliance design and the grading plan. Once we file it with the City of Richmond Hill Building Division, you can open every one of them by logging in to the portal and going to My Work, then My Permits/Plans/Licensing.