Mechanical & Electrical · Richmond Hill, York Region
HVAC, plumbing and electrical design for Richmond Hill: heat-loss calculations for the 1980s to 2000s subdivision houses and the new builds near Mill Pond, heating and plumbing for the added units By-law 143-24 allows, and mechanical drawings filed with the City of Richmond Hill Building Division.
What’s included
Mechanical and electrical sheets are drawn from the same plans as the structural ones, in the same office. Ducts do not fight beams for joist space, and the examiner reads one coordinated set. In Richmond Hill the package goes to the City of Richmond Hill Building Division, and it is drawn to that department’s checklist.
Heating & cooling
Heat-loss and heat-gain calculations, equipment sizing and duct layouts that meet the Ontario Building Code and get through permit review.
Supply & drainage
Water distribution, drain, waste and vent layouts, fixture placement and hot-water sizing for houses, second units and commercial fit-outs.
Power & lighting
Load calculations, panel schedules and lighting and alarm distribution, coordinated with the mechanical loads and the building permit package.
Life safety
Fire alarm, sprinkler, emergency lighting and exit-sign design for occupant safety and code compliance, drawn with the permit set so the fire department reviews one package.
The package
Find your situation below. If it’s there, this is the service, and the card underneath is everything you get from our one office.
07 common situations
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
How it runs
Four steps that run alongside the building permit, not after it. The mechanical sheet is drawn from the same plans the structural sheet is, so nothing fights for the same joist space.
We take the architectural drawings, the insulation and window specifications, and for an existing building a look at the mechanical room and the panel.
Room-by-room heat loss and gain to CSA F280, plumbing fixture units and electrical demand, so equipment is sized to the building rather than to a rule of thumb.
Ducts, pipes and circuits are routed against the structure, and clashes are resolved on paper before a trade finds them on site.
Sheets are stamped and submitted with the permit; we answer the examiner’s mechanical comments at no extra charge and stay available to the installing trades during construction.
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.
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.
Delivered
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.
Delivered
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.
Delivered
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.
Delivered
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.
Delivered
A dental office reopened as a supermarket, compliant with the Ontario Fire Code.
Start a project like this
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.
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.
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) 990-9179Plan on it for a new house, an addition or a second unit. Ontario’s Building Code requires a house’s heating to be sized from a calculated heating load, and the City of Richmond Hill Building Division reviews the application against that Code, so the heat-loss figures and the duct design go in with it. The electrical side goes elsewhere: in Ontario that permit comes from the ESA.
Not for work inside the house. A TRCA permit covers filling, changing grade and building in its Regulated Area, and on a Richmond Hill lot inside that area it has to be issued before the building permit. So when the HVAC or electrical design rides on an addition or a new unit there, the TRCA approval sets the footprint we design to and the date the permit can follow.
Yes. We take on mechanical & electrical 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: architectural drawings, or our own permit set if we are preparing it; insulation, window and door specifications, if known; and photos of the mechanical room, existing ducts and the electrical panel. Send those and we tell you what the City of Richmond Hill Building Division will ask for before we quote.
That depends on the scope, and the City of Richmond Hill Building Division is the office that decides. New heating for an added unit under By-law 143-24, or ductwork redesigned for an addition, goes in with the building permit and its heat-loss calculation. For a like-for-like equipment swap we confirm with the Building Division before you book the installer, and the electrical connection is an ESA permit in either case.
It can, if the heat-loss figures for both units show the furnace and ducts can carry the extra load, and we can lay out supply and return runs that serve the basement on their own. Under Ontario’s Code, a suite that takes heated air from a fuel-burning furnace also needs carbon monoxide alarms, and we show them on the drawings that go to the City of Richmond Hill Building Division with the By-law 143-24 unit.
It can. Tree Preservation By-law No. 19-25 asks for a permit before a protected tree is injured as well as before it is removed, and a trench through its roots for a gas line, a water service or a buried electrical feed to a unit over the garage can count. We route the services on the site plan around the trees from the survey, and where a route cannot avoid one, we raise the tree permit before the drawings go to the City of Richmond Hill Building Division.
Yes. For a fit-out or a change of use we design the heating, ventilation and exhaust, the fire alarm and emergency lighting layout and the exit signs, and file them with the architectural set on the Richmond Hill Permit Portal for the City of Richmond Hill Building Division. A new occupancy can call for more ventilation or a sprinkler review, so we work that out from the change of use analysis before any equipment is chosen.
The calculations and drawings are the same as anywhere in Richmond Hill, and they go to the City of Richmond Hill Building Division in the usual way. What changes is the outside: for a house in the Gormley Heritage Conservation District, we place new vents, an outdoor condenser or a new meter with the district in mind and check with the City before any of them goes on a wall facing the street.
We upload them to the Richmond Hill Permit Portal with the rest of the set, so the heat-loss calculation, duct design and plumbing layout sit on the same application as the architectural and structural sheets. When the City of Richmond Hill Building Division comments on a mechanical sheet, the revised drawing goes up against that application, and you can find it under My Work.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the mechanical & electrical questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationA room-by-room calculation of the heat a building loses in winter and gains in summer. Ontario’s 2024 Building Code requires a house’s heating system to be sized from a calculated heating load, using good engineering practice such as CSA F280, and the same applies to cooling where it is installed. Fine Engineering’s calculations set the equipment size and the airflow to each room.
The size comes from a heat-loss calculation, not from the square footage alone: insulation, windows, air leakage and orientation change the answer by a lot. Oversized furnaces short-cycle and cost more to run. Fine Engineering calculates the load and specifies the equipment for the permit.
From the heat-loss and heat-gain figures. Each room’s load sets the airflow it needs, the airflow sets the size of each branch and trunk, and the whole layout has to work within what the furnace or air handler’s fan can push. The runs are then routed around joists and beams. Fine Engineering draws the duct layout and sizing that go in with the permit.
A total of what a house or unit will draw: heating, cooking, laundry and any new load such as an EV charger or a heat pump. Worked out under the Ontario Electrical Safety Code, it shows whether the existing service and panel can carry the work or need upgrading. Fine Engineering prepares it for second units, additions and commercial fit-outs.
Yes, an electrical permit from the Electrical Safety Authority, which also inspects the installation. A building permit is not usually required for the charger itself. If the panel is near capacity, the service may need upgrading first, and a load calculation from Fine Engineering shows whether it can carry the charger.
Drain, waste and vent: the piping that carries wastewater away and lets air into the system so traps hold their seal. Every fixture needs a properly sized drain and a vent path, and the layout is shown on the plumbing drawing the city reviews. Fine Engineering designs DWV layouts for houses, second units and commercial fit-outs.
Good to know
In Richmond Hill the reviewer is the City of Richmond Hill Building Division. Every Richmond Hill lot sets its own terms: the age of the mechanical room, the panel’s spare capacity and whether the ducts can reach a second unit decide the design before equipment is chosen.
We walk the site with the survey, usually within a day or two of the call, before anything is drawn, then file the mechanical & electrical package to the City of Richmond Hill Building Division’s own checklist.
Richmond Hill’s housing runs to single-detached subdivisions from the 1980s to 2000s, with older village lots near Mill Pond seeing custom rebuilds, so an older house and a newer one a few streets apart can need quite different mechanical work. We size the equipment and check the panel for the house in front of us, from its own heat loss, rather than from its age or the last furnace’s rating.
Richmond Hill allows up to three additional units on a lot, four dwellings in all, and no more than two of them in an accessory building such as a unit over a garage. That is one more than the provincial minimum of three, and each added unit needs its own heat-loss calculation, ventilation and a heating layout the City of Richmond Hill Building Division can follow.
More units put more load on one electrical service. Our load calculation shows whether the existing Richmond Hill service can carry the added kitchens, laundry and heating, and the wiring for the new units goes to the ESA for its own permit and inspection, separate from the building permit the City of Richmond Hill Building Division issues.
Richmond Hill also requires the lot to be on municipal sewage works and drinking water, so the plumbing drawing shows how each new unit ties into those services and where its drains run.
The older village lots near Mill Pond are where Richmond Hill sees custom rebuilds, and a new house there is designed to the current energy rules from the start. Ontario’s 2024 Building Code asks a new house lived in through the winter to beat the 2012 Code’s efficiency levels by at least 15 per cent or to follow Chapters 1 and 3 of SB-12, and its heating has to be sized from a calculated load.
We choose the compliance path once the wall, window and insulation specifications are known, then size the furnace or heat pump, the ducts and the ventilation from that house’s own numbers, so the City of Richmond Hill Building Division receives one coordinated mechanical set.
Ontario Regulation 41/24 counts site grading and the placing or removal of material as development activity. A trench for a new water, gas or electrical service can therefore need a conservation permit on a regulated lot, even when the work inside the house needs none.
Which authority depends on where the lot drains. Oak Ridges and Lake Wilcox drain to Lake Simcoe and fall under the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, while other regulated Richmond Hill lots go to the TRCA, and we route new services with those regulated limits marked on the site plan.
Contact us
Send us the drawings and we’ll tell you what the city will want for mechanical and electrical, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179