TorontoBuilding PermitsEvery building permit
Homeowner's Guide to Building Permits
Published by City of Toronto
This is the City of Toronto’s document, as published on its website on 20 October 2026. The municipality may have changed it since: check the current version at the source. Legal notice
- Type
- Guide
- Published by
- City of Toronto
- Also called
- Homeowner's Guide
- For
- homeowner
- Building types
- All building types
- Pages
- 25
- Agencies
- City of Toronto Transportation Services · Toronto and Region Conservation Authority · Committee of Adjustment
- Instruments
- Ontario Building Code · Toronto Municipal Code · Planning Act
Overview
Toronto Building's illustrated guide for first-time applicants, carried on the City of Toronto's when do I need a building permit page. Twenty-five pages follow a residential project through its five steps: checking zoning, drafting plans or hiring a qualified designer, applying, calling inspections, and closing the permit. Along the way it lists work a permit covers, the tree, heritage, street and Conservation Authority approvals that run beside it, the Committee of Adjustment's four tests, Residential Fastrack, fee and refund scales, and the mandatory inspection stages.
What it covers
- Why are building permits necessary?
- When is a building permit required?
- How do I get a building permit?
- How do I make an application?
- How do I book an inspection?
- Work that requires a building permit
- Getting your permit
- Toronto Building customer service locations
- Other municipal approvals
- The Committee of Adjustment
- Drafting your plans
- Obtaining a property survey and preparing your lot grading plan
- Cross section
- Elevations
- Floor plans
- HVAC design
- Roof plan
- Residential Fastrack
- The different types of building permits
- Building permit fees
- Refunds
- Plan review process
- Zoning review
- Building code review
- Inspections
- Tips to follow during construction
- When to call for an inspection
- When will the inspector arrive?
- Required inspections for building, plumbing, and mechanical permits
- Closing your permit
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