When you need a building permit

Thinking of renovating your home this fall? Want to build a deck before the ground freezes? Before you pick up a hammer or enlist your friends to help consider, first,  whether or not you’ll need a permit.

To help you decide, here’s a little cheat sheet on when you do and don’t need a construction permit.

When you need a permit

While the specifics and details may differ from city to city, most planning departments will require home-owners and property investors to get a permit for the following remodel and renovation jobs:

→ Demolish or remove all or a portion of a building. This isn’t isolated to your home, but also applies to detached sheds and garages

→ When you change a building’s use. For example, if you renovate so that you can use your garage as an office you’ll need a permit

→ When you install, change or remove partition and/or load-bearing walls

→ When you install new doors and windows and you make new openings or change the size of the opening

→ When you build a garage, balcony or deck (however, you won’t need a permit if the deck is roofless and less than 24 inches above the ground and not attached to the home)

→ When you excavate a basement or construct a foundation

→ When you install or modify heating, plumbing, air conditioning systems

→ If you install a fireplace (of any sort)

→ If you install a pool or a fence around a pool

When you don’t need a permit

→ When you replace existing, same-size doors and windows (as long as the doors and windows still fall within your property line zoning restrictions)

→ When you install siding or other exterior cladding to a standard single residential home

→ When you build a roofless deck less than 2 feet off the ground and it’s not attached to your home (or other building)

→ When you build a utility shed under 100 ft2

→ To reshingle a roof, provided there is no structural work or install eavestroughs, provided that drainage is contained on your property

→ To replace or increase insulation, drywall or plaster

→ To damp-proof basements

→ To paint or decorate

→ To install kitchen or bathroom cupboards without plumbing

→ If you erect a fence (unless the fence surrounds a swimming pool)

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