Get professional help with navigating building permits
A home renovation is a great way to increase the value, not to mention the enjoyment, of your home.
BILD has the resources and information to ensure that your next renovation project sets you up for success. Have a professional renovator help you with the building per- mit process on your project.
Building permits are granted by municipalities and are considered a formal permission for the construction, demolition or alteration of a home. Each municipality has its own set of regulations, but most major renovations, such as those where structural walls or plumbing components are altered, require building permits.
Getting a building permit is a process that a professional renovator can help you with, speeding up a process that already takes several weeks or even months. In some municipalities, such as Toronto, it can take up to 46 weeks to receive a permit. This means homeowners can be waiting close to a year to receive a building permit to begin a project. These delays can discourage homeowners from renovating their homes or lead them to begin projects without the necessary building permits. These must be obtained before you begin renovating. Failure to do so can result in fines of $200 to $27,000.
BILD has the best interests of the renovation industry and the consumer at heart when it comes to home renovation. Our organization is in constant communication with municipal governments across the GTA to speed up the building permit process. We have asked municipalities to handle applications concurrently, introduce a separate stream for renovations for Committee of Adjustment applications (these committees are made up of citizen members who hold public hearings on applications for minor variances, permission and consents) and define service standards.
When researching a general renovation contactor, we encourage you to choose a RenoMark renovator. As well as providing peace of mind about their credentials, they must adhere to a strict code of conduct. They’re required to have written contracts for all jobs, have a minimum of $2 million in liability insurance and provide a two-year warranty on all work.
A RenoMark renovator will be able to assess your project and explain whether a building permit is needed, and what it will take to obtain one.
Keep in mind that some renova- tions require the help of professionals such as architects, structural engineers or electricians. Your renovator is the project manager to bring in the right people, get the necessary drawings and submit the application to the municipality on your behalf.
You can find a RenoMark renovator at renomark.ca, which features a searchable database of professional renovators, trade contractors and custom builders. If you’re a renovator in the GTA looking to get involved with the RenoMark program, email us at membership@bildgta.ca.
Over the next few weeks, my renovation-focused columns will provide information and resources on identifying your project needs, how to choose a renovator and how to understand what happens if your project requires a variance to an existing municipal bylaw. And be sure to visit the Destination Renovation feature exhibit at the GTA Home and Reno show, running Feb. 16-19, to learn more about renovating with confidence. Dave Wilkes is president and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), the voice of the home-building, land development and professional renovation industry in the GTA. Follow BILD at twitter.com/bildgta, facebook.com/bildgta and bildblogs.ca.