Residential Permits
Building permit drawings for renovations, legal basements, additions, garden suites and custom homes, measured, drawn and stamped by one P.Eng and BCIN team in Richmond Hill. We file the application and answer every city request at no extra charge.
What’s included
Four kinds of residential work come through our door most often. Each gets the same package: measured drawings, a zoning and code review, structural design where it is needed, and a submission we stand behind until the permit is issued.
Interior & exterior
Opening up a floor plan, removing a load-bearing wall, adding a deck or porch, putting in a pool, or taking down a tree the by-law protects.
Rental income
A basement apartment the city will approve: ceiling height, fire separation, egress, a compliant separate entrance and HVAC designed for two units.
New floor area
Rear and side additions, second storeys, detached garden suites and full custom homes, with the zoning check done before the first line is drawn.
Stamped in-house
Beams, posts, footings and framing sized and stamped by our own P.Eng, so the structural sheet sits in the same package as the architectural one.
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, one team. The engineer who measures the house is the one who signs the drawings.
We walk the house, measure what exists and talk through what you want. The first consultation is free, and we tell you then which permits apply.
Before drawing, we check the lot against the zoning by-law and the plan against the Ontario Building Code, so nothing goes to the city that will bounce back.
Architectural, structural and mechanical sheets are drawn in one office, cross-checked, and stamped by our P.Eng and BCIN designers.
We file the application, track it, and answer every examiner comment at no extra charge until the permit is in your hand. If you want us to build it, the same team carries on.
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) 990-9179If you are creating a separate apartment, adding a bathroom, changing structure or cutting a new entrance, yes. A basement finished as extra living space for the same household sometimes does not, depending on the municipality and the scope, but unpermitted plumbing or structural work becomes a problem at resale. We check the local rule before you spend anything.
Each municipality sets its own permit fees, separate from our design fee, and they are usually based on floor area or construction value. We tell you which fee schedule applies before we submit. Our own quote covers the drawings, the application and the city comments.
No. Work that needs a permit waits until it is issued. Starting early risks a stop-work order, fines, and having to open up finished work for inspection. Stripping non-structural finishes is sometimes allowed, but ask us first.
We do. The package goes to the municipality under our BCIN and P.Eng credentials, we track it, and we respond to examiner comments at no extra charge. You sign as the owner and we handle the rest.
Ours. The BCIN designer on our team files the Schedule 1 designer information form, which Toronto Building’s guides require from every designer who is not an engineer or architect, and our P.Eng seals the structural sheets where the Code calls for an engineer.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the residential permits questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationA permit to cut a new exterior door into a basement, usually with a stairwell dug beside the house. It covers the structural opening in the foundation wall, the guard and drainage for the stairwell, and the fire and egress rules for the unit it serves. Fine Engineering designs separate entrances as part of legal basement packages across the GTA.
Not always. Architectural drawings show a design. Permit drawings are the version an examiner can check against zoning and the Building Code, with dimensions, construction details and engineering where the work needs it. A concept plan is a useful start, and the code detail goes in before it is filed. Fine Engineering draws permit sets from its own site measurements.
Drawings of the house as it stands, the proposed floor plans, elevations and sections, and a site plan showing setbacks and lot coverage. Structural drawings come in where the work touches the structure, and HVAC, plumbing or electrical sheets where the scope needs them. Fine Engineering prepares the whole set with the completed application form and files both with the municipality.
Ontario qualifies designers in these Building Code categories: House; Small Buildings; Large Buildings; Complex Buildings; Building Structural; HVAC House; Plumbing House; Plumbing All Buildings; Building Services; Detection, Lighting and Power; Fire Protection; and Onsite Sewage Systems. The province’s QuARTS public registry lists each designer with their categories. Fine Engineering’s engineer holds BCIN qualifications in Small Buildings and in structural and HVAC design, alongside a P.Eng licence.
Often, yes. The opening needs a beam sized for the load above, posts under each end and a path that carries the load down to the foundation. The Building Code’s span tables cover some simple cases, but once the beam falls outside them, a licensed P.Eng has to design and stamp it. Fine Engineering prepares the engineering and the permit drawings together.
Not reliably by looking at it. A wall that runs across the floor joists, sits over a beam or another wall below, or stands near the middle of the house is more likely to carry load. Only the framing above and below confirms it, which is why Fine Engineering checks the structure on site before designing any removal.
Good to know
Ontario’s Building Code Act says no one may construct or demolish a building until the chief building official has issued a permit. The Act reads construct broadly, as anything in the erection, installation, extension or material alteration or repair of a building, which is why a wall coming out or a basement unit going in can need a permit even when the house gets no bigger.
The municipal building department enforces that rule, and the drawings it asks for depend on the job.
A property owner may prepare their own permit drawings if they have the drafting skills and know the Ontario Building Code. Otherwise a qualified designer must prepare them: someone with a BCIN, or a member of the Ontario Association of Architects or Professional Engineers Ontario.
On our sets, each beam on the structural sheet is checked against the opening it spans on the floor plan.
Once a complete application meets the Building Code’s criteria, the municipality has 10 business days to issue a house permit or refuse it with all its reasons. For a complex building such as a hospital, the period is 30 business days. The clock only runs on a complete application, so the zoning and code check is done before anything is filed.
If a refusal comes back, we revise the sheets, answer each point and resubmit.
Municipalities such as Toronto keep a building permit open until every required inspection is done and the permit is officially closed.
Under the Building Code Act, the chief building official may revoke a permit if work has not seriously started within six months of issuance, or if work is substantially suspended or stopped for more than a year. The Act says may, so a permit does not lapse on its own. We prepare the drawings an old or open permit needs before it can be closed.
Contact us
Tell us what you’re planning at home and we’ll tell you which permits apply, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179