Interior Renovations
Kitchens, bathrooms and whole-floor layouts, designed, permitted and built by one team. When a wall comes out, the beam that replaces it was sized by the same office that is doing the work.
What’s included
Most interior work we build starts with a wall someone wants gone. The rest follows from that: the beam, the systems behind the drywall, the finishes, and the inspections in between.
The wet rooms
New layouts, plumbing moved to suit them, and the ventilation and electrical brought up to code while the walls are open.
Rooms combined
Combining rooms, widening openings and moving a stair so the main floor works as one space.
Engineered in-house
The beam, its posts and the footing under them designed and stamped by our P.Eng, with shoring in place before a stud is cut.
Behind the drywall
Systems updated while the walls are open: supply and drains rerouted, ducts resized, circuits added.
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.
06 common situations
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
How it runs
Four steps, one contract. The office that draws the beam is the one that installs it.
We look at the house, listen to what you want changed, and tell you which walls carry load and what the permit will cover.
Layout, structural and mechanical drawings come from one office, then go to the city. We answer examiner comments at no extra charge.
Our crew does the demolition, structure, rough-ins and finishes. When something unexpected turns up behind a wall, the engineer decides on site.
Framing, plumbing, electrical and final inspections are booked as each stage is ready. You get the closed permit with the keys.
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) 990-9179The parts that change the building rather than its surfaces: a wall moved or taken out, new or relocated plumbing, a widened opening or a change to a fire separation. Paint and new cabinets in the same layout usually need no permit. We sort the scope into permit and no-permit work at the walk-through, so the price covers both.
If the fix changes what the permit drawings show, we revise the drawings before that part of the house is closed in, so the inspector checks the work against the right set.
It depends on the scope and on the permit. A main-floor rework with a new beam and moved plumbing waits for the permit first, while work that needs no permit can start once the scope is agreed. We give a schedule with the quote and update it as the city responds.
From a scope written after the walk-through. Design and permit fees are itemized separately from construction, and the first consultation is free.
Yes. We build from their drawings and add the structural and mechanical engineering where it is needed. If you would rather deal with one team, we take the whole thing from sketch to final inspection.
Often, if the kitchen or a bathroom can stay in service and the dust can be contained. A full main-floor rework is easier to live away from. We say which at the walk-through.
Plumbing, yes: we draw it into the building permit with the layout and the structure. Electrical runs on its own track, because in Ontario almost all electrical work needs a separate permit from the Electrical Safety Authority. We coordinate that permit with the licensed electrician on the job.
Yes. The first step is finding out where the permit stands, which inspections passed and what is still open. We measure what was built, check it against the approved drawings and carry the inspections on from there.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the interior renovations questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationIt takes out or widens the walls between rooms, most often between the kitchen, dining and living areas, to make one open main floor. A wall that carries the floor above can still come out once a beam is sized to carry its load. Fine Engineering designs the structure and builds the opening.
Not for new cabinets, fixtures or plumbing in the same layout. Structural work needs drawings that show the structure, and where the Professional Engineers Act calls for an engineer’s design, the city will not issue the permit without one. Fine Engineering’s P.Eng designs any beam the new layout needs.
The price follows what the basement has to become. Open space finished for the house is mostly framing, insulation, drywall and floors. A bathroom with no rough-in under the slab adds plumbing, and moving a post adds structure. A second unit costs more again, with the fire separation, exit and 1.95 m ceiling a suite needs. Fine Engineering prices it from what the first site visit finds.
Start by settling what the space is for, because that decides the permit. Living space for the household usually needs none unless the plan changes the structure, the plumbing or the heating. Any of those, or a second unit, goes on a building permit first. The layout then works around the posts and drains already there. Fine Engineering draws that layout and files the permit.
Usually a whole floor, or the whole house, taken back to the framing and rebuilt: a new layout, structural changes where walls move, plumbing and ducts rerouted and new wiring, then insulation, drywall and finishes. Fine Engineering starts from the house measured as it stands, so the new plan fits the framing already in place.
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.
Good to know
Under Ontario’s Building Code Act, no one may construct a building without a permit from the chief building official, and to construct includes the material alteration or repair of an existing building. On an interior renovation, that means walls moved or removed and openings cut or widened. It means plumbing too, because the Act treats plumbing as part of the building.
The drawings for that permit can come from the owner, if they have the drafting skills and know the Building Code. Otherwise Ontario requires a qualified designer: someone with a BCIN, or a member of the Ontario Association of Architects or Professional Engineers Ontario. Our team holds a P.Eng licence and BCIN qualifications in Small Buildings, Structural and HVAC, so the layout and the beam are drawn in one office.
Before you hire or pay anyone to draw your renovation for a permit, the province’s Citizen’s guide advises checking that they are on the QuARTS public search registry of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The registry lists every registered practitioner and the categories each one qualified in. Ontario has twelve, including House, Small Buildings, Building Structural and HVAC House.
Read the categories as well as the name: structural and HVAC design have categories of their own, separate from House, so ask which ones the designer holds. An engineer is checked on the Professional Engineers Ontario register instead. On our jobs the P.Eng who sized the beam is on site when it goes in.
Contact us
Tell us what you want changed and we’ll tell you what it involves, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179