Site Engineering & Land Development
Grading plans, drainage design, site alteration permits, pool and landscape design and minor variance packages, prepared by a P.Eng so the water goes where the city wants it and the project clears review.
What’s included
A site plan is reviewed by a different department from the building permit, against its own criteria. We design the lot to those criteria first, then take it through the reviewer who applies them.
Drainage & runoff
Existing and proposed elevations, swales and drainage patterns for a lot, with runoff calculations and sediment control, for building permits, pools and site alteration.
Backyards
Pool permits and the grading that goes with them, plus driveways, pergolas, porches and outdoor living areas designed to code.
Earthworks
Approvals for excavation, cut and fill, major landscape changes and the accessory structures that go with them, under the municipal site alteration by-law.
Committee of Adjustment
Site layouts and development plans checked against the zoning by-law, with the minor variance drawings and the coordination with authorities a project needs when it asks for relief.
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 from the survey to the approval. We design the site so it drains, then take it through the department that reviews it.
We start from a topographic survey of the lot, walk it, and note where water goes now: downspouts, swales, the neighbours’ grades and any catch basins.
Lot coverage, setbacks, hard-surface limits and the site alteration by-law are checked before the design, so the plan meets the rules it will be reviewed against.
Proposed elevations, slopes and swales are set so runoff stays on your lot and reaches the street or a storm connection, with calculations where the city asks for them.
We file the grading plan with the building permit or the site alteration application, respond to the reviewer’s comments at no extra charge, and coordinate with the conservation authority where one is involved.
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.
Start a project like thisSite 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.
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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) 990-9179It depends on the municipality. Some require a professional engineer’s seal, while others also accept a surveyor or another qualified designer. Our grading plans are prepared by a licensed P.Eng, and we confirm the local requirement before starting.
A permit under a municipal site alteration by-law for changing the grade of a property: excavation, filling, removing soil or regrading. It is separate from the building permit and usually needs a grading plan and erosion control measures. Most GTA municipalities have such a by-law, and each one sets which jobs it covers.
That water from your lot does not run onto the neighbours’. Reviewers look for proposed grades that direct runoff to the street, a rear catch basin or a storm connection without crossing a property line. It is the single most common reason a grading plan is sent back, and it is what our designs are built around.
You need one when the project misses a zoning rule, such as a setback, a height or a lot coverage limit, by an amount the Committee of Adjustment can treat as minor. Check the setback first, because Ontario now reads minimum setbacks at 90 per cent on many serviced urban lots. The application involves drawings, public notice, a hearing and an appeal period. We prepare the drawings and coordinate it.
The authority’s own map is the first check: each conservation authority has to publish maps of its regulated areas and review them at least once a year. If the lot is mapped, or sits near a watercourse, valley or wetland, we confirm on site and ask for a pre-submission consultation, which the authority must hold when an applicant requests one. The authority and the city then review the same grading plan.
Fine Engineering’s construction side can coordinate the site work on projects we build. On design-only projects, the grading plan goes to your pool builder, landscaper or excavator, and we stay available for questions during construction.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the site engineering questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationThere is no flat price, because the work changes with the lot. The size and slope of the property, how much of it the project regrades, whether the city wants runoff calculations or a stormwater note, and whether a conservation authority is involved all change the scope. Survey and municipal fees are separate. Fine Engineering quotes after a free first consultation.
Compare the two sets of elevations first. Existing grades come from the topographic survey, and proposed grades are the finished levels the plan sets. Arrows show which way surface water runs, swales carry it along the lot, and the fall between spot elevations shows whether it drains away from the house. Fine Engineering will go through a plan with you on a free first call.
Often, yes. Ontario lets each municipality require a permit for filling, removing topsoil or changing the grade, and many GTA municipalities use that power for backyard work that moves soil or changes the drainage. Some instead review the grading with a building permit, or exempt minor landscaping. Fine Engineering checks the local by-law and prepares the application.
Widening a driveway usually needs permission from the municipality, because zoning by-laws limit driveway width and the share of the front yard that can be hard surface, and the curb cut belongs to the city. Repaving the same footprint often does not. Fine Engineering reviews the by-law and prepares the site plan where one is needed.
A basement with a full-height door to the rear yard, made possible by grading the yard down to the basement floor level. It changes the lot’s drainage, so municipalities generally require a grading plan with it, and some also require a site alteration permit. Fine Engineering designs walkout grading with the structure and the permit set.
Zoning decides what can go on a lot: the use, height, setbacks and coverage, under the municipal zoning by-law. A building permit decides how it is built, under the Ontario Building Code. The permit review checks zoning too, and a design that misses a zoning rule needs a minor variance before the permit can be issued. Fine Engineering reviews both before drawing.
Good to know
Ontario’s Municipal Act lets a local municipality require a permit to place or dump fill, remove topsoil or change the grade of land, and to attach conditions such as grading plans. Each GTA municipality uses that power its own way. Some issue a stand-alone site alteration permit for a pool or a regraded yard, while others keep the by-law for larger sites and review house lots with the building permit.
The Act exempts fill and grading that a site plan, subdivision or consent approval already requires as a condition. Whichever route applies, the Ontario Building Code sets one test for every lot: the building has to be located, or the site graded, so that water will not accumulate at or near the building and will not adversely affect adjacent properties.
Under section 45(1) of the Planning Act, a Committee of Adjustment may approve a minor variance only if, in its opinion, the variance is minor, is desirable for the appropriate development or use of the property, and maintains the general intent and purpose of both the zoning by-law and the official plan. Those are the four tests, and the variance drawings have to make the case for each one.
Neighbours receive notice of the application and can be heard at the hearing. The right to appeal is narrower: since November 28, 2022, the Planning Act lets only the applicant, the Minister, specified persons and public bodies appeal the committee’s decision. A neighbour who objects has to do it at the hearing, so the drawings filed with the application are what both sides respond to.
On a parcel of urban residential land outside the Greenbelt Area, Ontario now deems a zoning by-law’s minimum setback to be 90 per cent of the stated distance. Some prescribed areas are excluded. The rule comes from Planning Act subsection 34(1.4) and took effect through O. Reg. 545/06 on November 21, 2025.
Urban residential land means land in a settlement area where residential use is permitted, on municipal sewage and water. On a lot like that, an addition or a garage that falls a little short of a setback may not need a minor variance at all. We confirm the reading with the municipality’s zoning examiners before anyone applies to the Committee of Adjustment.
Section 28 of Ontario’s Conservation Authorities Act prohibits development activity in hazardous lands, wetlands, river or stream valleys, and shoreline areas at risk of flooding or erosion within a conservation authority’s area, unless the authority issues a permit. O. Reg. 41/24 counts site grading and the placing or removal of fill as development activity, so a regraded yard can need that permit with nothing being built.
An apparent valley with stable slopes extends to the stable top of the bank plus 15 metres, and development within 30 metres of a wetland falls under the same prohibition. In TRCA’s area the permit must be in hand before the municipality issues a building permit. TRCA and the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority are due to merge on a transition date of February 1, 2027 or later.
Contact us
Send us the survey and what you’re planning and we’ll tell you what the city will need, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179