The Ontario Building Permit Application: What “Complete” Actually Means

The provincial Application for a Permit to Construct or Demolish (filled out fully), a complete drawing set (site plan, floor plans, elevations, sections, plus structural, energy, and mechanical where they apply), the permit fee, designer information with a BCIN or your declared homeowner exemption, and any parallel approvals your lot triggers – septic, conservation authority, entrance permit, or a Tarion confirmation for a new home. The city reviews all of it as one package, and “complete” means none of those required pieces is missing.

It is the legal trigger for the review clock. The Building Code gives the city a fixed window to review once the application is complete – about 10 business days for a house, 15 for a small building, 30 for a large one. But the clock only starts when they judge it complete. An incomplete package can be refused before review even begins, and it effectively sits until you resubmit. Completeness is the single biggest thing you control for speed.

Once complete, roughly 10 business days for a house, 15 for a small building, and 30 for something complex – the city must issue or refuse with reasons inside that window. Counting design, zoning, assembling the package, and any deficiency back-and-forth, a simple job often runs 4 to 8 weeks start to finish and a new home 12 to 20. The fastest applications are the boring ones: complete, clear, zoning cleared, no surprises.

Yes – homeowners can be the applicant, and for simple work some municipalities accept owner-prepared drawings under the Building Code’s homeowner-design exemption, which you declare on the form. Being the applicant does not lower the bar, though: the drawings must still be scaled and code-compliant, the fees paid, and the parallel approvals in hand, and you carry the responsibility. For additions, structural work, and new builds, a qualified designer usually saves more time than it costs.

Most municipalities use an online portal – Cloudpermit, CityView, or a city e-services system – and a few still accept email for small jobs. You upload the completed application, the drawing set, and the supporting documents, and pay the fee. Submit legible PDFs with consistent sheet names and clean revisions. Some towns run a quick completeness screen before the full review; clearing that screen is what starts the statutory clock.

The permit fee itself, set by your municipality and usually based on construction value or floor area, plus any add-ons for plumbing, HVAC, or decks. The fee covers plan review and inspections. The bigger budget items are often outside the permit fee – development charges (which on a new dwelling can be many times the permit fee), surveys, engineering, and energy documents. Run the Ontario building permit cost calculator for a ballpark before you file.

Almost always a missing piece, not a design flaw: a blank on the form, an unpaid or miscalculated fee, a drawing sheet missing (often the section or a dimensioned site plan), no designer information or declared exemption, missing energy or heat-loss documents on a new build, or a parallel approval (septic, conservation) not yet in hand. The fix is to supply the missing item and resubmit – the review clock then starts. A package review before you file catches these.

Yes – that is what we do. We prepare the permit-ready drawing set, fill out the application, sort the energy and parallel approvals, and pre-check the whole package against your town’s submission standard so it lands complete the first time. We have filed these across Simcoe County and Georgian Bay for 45 years. Use the “Get your plans drawn” button or book a package review and tell us what you are building.