Structural Engineering · Toronto
Stamped structural design for Toronto houses and commercial units: underpinning and basement entrances, load-bearing wall removal in prewar and postwar homes, framing for laneway and garden suites, multiplex conversions and engineer’s letters, designed and sealed by our own P.Eng.
What’s included
Structure is the sheet the permit examiner reads most carefully. Ours is designed by the engineer who visited the site, drawn so a framer or a fabricator can build from it, and stamped in-house. In Toronto the package goes to Toronto Building, and it is drawn to that department’s checklist.
Custom homes & additions
Beams, joists, posts and roof framing sized for the spans and loads of the building, balancing strength, efficiency and the architecture.
Foundations & slabs
Footings, foundation walls, underpinning and slabs designed for the soil and the loads above, for long-term performance.
Commercial & industrial
Steel framing for commercial units and industrial buildings, with the beams, columns, joists and connections detailed for fabrication.
Inspections & letters
Evaluation of what is already built: structural inspections, responses to city letters, code compliance reviews and special solutions for hard sites.
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.
08 common situations
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
How it runs
Four steps from a site visit to a stamped set. The engineer who sees the framing is the one who signs the drawings.
We look at what carries what: framing direction, bearing walls, foundation condition and anything the last renovation hid. Photos and measurements go into the file.
Dead, live, snow and wind loads are worked out for the building and the site, and the load path is traced from the roof to the footings.
Members and connections are sized, detailed and drawn so a framer or a steel fabricator can build from them without guessing, then stamped by our P.Eng.
We answer the examiner’s structural comments at no extra charge and, where the permit requires general review, inspect at the stages the city sets and issue the field reports.
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) 990-9179Yes. Toronto Building lists adding or removing walls as a structural or material alteration that needs a building permit. The floor plans for that permit show the structural framing above the wall, and where a party wall is involved, a permit is needed for each property it separates. Where the beam needs an engineer’s design, our P.Eng designs and stamps it.
Yes, if the lot is inside a TRCA Regulated Area. Building anything there needs a TRCA permit, and Toronto cannot issue the building permit until you have it. We design the footings and any retaining structure to the TRCA’s conditions and file both applications together.
Yes. We take on structural engineering across Toronto, including North York and Scarborough, 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 and what you plan to change; existing drawings or previous permits, if any; and photos of the framing, the foundation or the problem area. Send those and we tell you what Toronto Building will ask for before we quote.
Yes. Toronto Building’s residential underpinning guide covers basement entrances too, and for a secondary suite we design the lowered footings, the new opening in the foundation wall with its lintel, and the stair and retaining walls outside it as one set. On a narrow lot, a side-yard entrance is dug close to the neighbour’s foundation, so its depth is worked out with the underpinning rather than after it.
Where the Building Code requires an engineer to design the work and review it in the field, Toronto Building asks for a Commitment to General Reviews form with the application, and the engineer who signs it reviews the work at the stages it covers. For the structure we design, that is our P.Eng. Toronto Building’s inspectors still inspect at the permit stages, and you can follow those on the City’s Building Permit Application & Inspection Status site.
Yes. When an inspector questions a beam, a crack or framing that changed on site, our P.Eng looks at it, writes the letter and stamps repair drawings if a repair is needed. If the repair changes the approved drawings, we submit the revision through the Online Services Portal and answer Toronto Building’s comments on it.
It can. Chapter 813 calls for a permit to injure a private tree 30 centimetres or more across, or any City street tree, and footings, piers or an underpinning dig through its roots can do that. We place the foundation with the surveyed trees in view, using piers or a cantilever to stay clear where that works, and if a footing cannot move we tell you before the drawings reach Toronto Building.
Usually new openings, stairs and exits cut through floors and walls framed for one household, and a check that the joists and foundation can carry the new layout. Toronto allows four units on a lot anywhere in the city, and six in the Toronto & East York District and Ward 23, but a prewar or postwar house was not designed for that, so we inspect the framing and foundation before the unit plans are fixed. Our P.Eng stamps the structural sheets that go to Toronto Building with the rest of the conversion.
Yes: the footings and slab, the wood framing, and the beams and lintels for a one- or two-storey unit. Toronto allows both kinds of suite in the rear yard, but on a lot still zoned under a former municipal by-law we confirm the suite is allowed before designing it. Our Toronto project list includes a 700 square foot two-storey garden suite, permitted through Toronto Building.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the structural engineering questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationIt depends on how deep the floor goes, how much of the wall is underpinned and how close the next house sits. In Toronto, the engineer’s testing that the permit requires, and on some lots a full engineered design, belong in the budget too. Fine Engineering quotes the engineering after a free first consultation.
Underpinning deepens an existing foundation by building new footings beneath the old ones, one short section at a time, so the house stays supported throughout. It is the usual way to lower a basement for more headroom, and it is also used to repair a foundation that has settled. Fine Engineering designs the sequence and the new footings, then reviews the stages the permit calls for on site.
A structural engineer works out how a building carries its loads from the roof down to the footings, then sizes the beams, columns, joists and foundations to carry them safely. On a house that usually means wall removals, additions, underpinning, or a look at cracks and sagging floors. At Fine Engineering the P.Eng who designs the structure also stamps the drawings.
Once 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.
Good to know
In Toronto the reviewer is Toronto Building. Every Toronto lot sets its own terms: the age of the framing, what the last renovation hid and how the load reaches the foundation all shape the design.
We walk the site with the survey, usually within a day or two of the call, before anything is drawn, then file the structural engineering package to Toronto Building’s own checklist.
Toronto has prewar and postwar houses on narrow lots across the inner suburbs, with most recent growth in mid- and high-rise apartments. Postwar houses often carry the main floor on one centre beam with a bearing wall above it, and that is usually the wall an open-concept plan takes out.
Underpinning an existing Toronto house needs a building permit from Toronto Building. The drawings number each stage in the order it is dug and show how far away the neighbouring foundations are and how deep their footings go, which on a narrow lot is often the detail that sets the design.
In Toronto, underpinning must be designed and reviewed on site by a professional engineer when the new foundation goes below the level of an adjacent building’s footing and within the soil’s angle of repose. The same applies past 1200 mm of laterally unsupported height or in clay or silt soil. Below those triggers, an engineer still tests and reports at the first and last stages before Toronto Building passes the inspections.
Toronto reviews lot grading through the building permit; a separate permit applies only inside ravine and natural feature protection areas. On a lot inside one of those protection areas, a dig or regrade for an addition’s footings or a retaining wall that alters the grade needs that permit as well as the building permit.
In a valley with stable slopes, Ontario Regulation 41/24 regulates the land to the stable top of the bank plus 15 metres, and the prohibition on development extends to 30 metres from a wetland. Flood-plain foundations are part of our structural scope in Toronto, so one engineer designs the footings and answers both reviewers.
A commercial alteration in Toronto can need steel: a beam where a bearing wall comes out to join two units, new columns with their footings, or open web steel joists over a new floor or roof area. We design the members and their connections, and the stamped sheets go to Toronto Building with the change of use or fit-out set.
Before the steel is designed, the new use is checked against By-law 569-2013, or the former municipal by-law on properties that still have one. If the zoning will not allow the layout, the steel has to be designed again.
On house-stream projects of two units or fewer, Toronto Building can rely on a professional engineer’s seal to settle Building Code compliance, in whole or in part, and since July 2025 that has included garden and laneway suites. The sealed drawings go in with an Assumption of Responsibility for Engineering Content form, and zoning and applicable law are still reviewed in full.
Under that route the engineer who seals the work takes responsibility for its code compliance. Ours designs and seals the structure, and the architectural and mechanical sheets come from the same office, so the sealed set is one coordinated design.
Contact us
Send us photos and the address and we’ll tell you whether it needs an engineer, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179