Toronto & Peel · About 30 minutes
Permit drawings, engineering and inspections for Toronto houses and businesses, checked against By-law 569-2013 or a lot’s former municipal by-law and filed through the City’s Online Services Portal.
P.Eng · BCIN · Toronto
Six services under one P.Eng and BCIN team, each with its own Toronto 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) 990-9179Toronto Building. We submit under our own BCIN and P.Eng credentials and stay on the file until the permit is issued.
Not as a separate permit. In Toronto grade changes are reviewed with the building permit by Toronto Building, and a grading plan is expected for a new house, a large addition, a pool or a walkout. Toronto reviews lot grading through the building permit; a separate permit applies only inside ravine and natural feature protection areas. We draw it with the permit set.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) covers Toronto. It regulates work near watercourses, valleys, wetlands and floodplains, and its permit comes before Toronto Building issues the building permit. We check the regulated-area mapping for a Toronto lot at the zoning stage.
All of it, including North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke and East York. Toronto is about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office, and the first consultation is free.
Online, through the City’s Online Services Portal, which some permit types have to use. Toronto Building does not treat an application as complete until its zoning review has produced a Zoning Applicable Law Certificate, so on most projects that certificate comes first and the full drawing set follows. When we prepare the drawings, we make the application and upload the set for you.
On the City’s Building Permit Application & Inspection Status site, which shows where an active application stands and the inspections recorded against it. When we file for you through the Online Services Portal, we follow the file there ourselves and call when Toronto Building issues the permit or sends comments.
For most of the city it is By-law 569-2013, the city-wide zoning by-law. Some properties, including lots in North York and Etobicoke, are still zoned under the by-law of the municipality they belonged to before amalgamation, and the two do not always allow the same things. We confirm which one covers your address before anything is drawn, because Toronto Building reviews the permit against that one.
Yes, if the trunk is 30 centimetres or more in diameter at 1.4 metres above the ground, and you need the same permit to injure it, under the Private Tree By-law in Chapter 813 of the Municipal Code. City street trees are protected at any size. On a lot inside a ravine and natural feature protection area, Chapter 658 covers the trees instead, and neither permit is part of the building permit from Toronto Building.
Up to four, as a multiplex, anywhere in the city, and up to six in the Toronto & East York District and Ward 23. Units can also be added as a secondary suite inside a detached, semi-detached or townhouse, or as a garden suite or laneway suite in the rear yard. How many fit on your lot is then a question for By-law 569-2013 or the lot’s former by-law, which we answer from the survey before you commit to a plan.
Only if the address is within one of the districts the City has designated under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, such as Riverdale, Harbord Village, Wychwood Park or Teiaiagon-Baby Point. Some are divided, like the Cabbagetown districts or Rosedale South and North, so we check the address against the district boundary rather than the neighbourhood name. For a house inside one, we find out what the district asks of exterior work before the elevations go to Toronto Building.
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 Toronto
Toronto’s housing runs to prewar and postwar houses on narrow lots across the inner suburbs, with most recent growth in mid- and high-rise apartments. Across North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke and East York that mix decides what a permit package has to show, and we measure it on site rather than assume it.
The 700 square foot two-storey garden suite on our project list is in a Toronto backyard, designed and permitted through Toronto Building with the zoning review and framing package done in one office. Toronto was among the first GTA municipalities to allow garden suites as-of-right.
Toronto Building issues the building permit. Grade changes are reviewed with the building permit rather than under a separate site alteration permit.
Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) regulates lots near watercourses, valleys, wetlands and floodplains in Toronto, and its permit comes before the city’s.
A-101 · Two-Storey Garden Suite, 700 sq ft. New living space on a lot the owners already had.
On a narrow prewar or postwar lot, the side yards, the height limit and the rear yard usually decide how many units fit before the city-wide maximum does. Each unit, whether a secondary suite, a laneway suite or one floor of a fourplex, is drawn to the zoning that governs the lot, and the set shows Toronto Building how each one is separated from the others and how its occupants get out.
Lots still zoned under a former municipal by-law need a closer look, because the garden suite permissions Toronto wrote into By-law 569-2013 in 2022 do not reach them. We settle the by-law first and the unit count second.
Two chapters of the Municipal Code protect trees in Toronto. Chapter 813 covers private trees above its size threshold and every City street tree, and Chapter 658 covers ravine and natural feature protection areas, where it also controls placing fill and changing the grade.
Neither one is part of the building permit. We mark the protected trees from the survey at the first visit, and when an addition, a garden suite or a regrade cannot keep clear of one, we raise the tree or ravine permit with you while the design can still move.
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