How to get a Renovation Permit in BC (Step-By-Step)

Getting started with a building permit for a home renovation. For a successful home renovation, the very first step is to define your scope of work and your budget. What are your goals? For example, is it to make your basement into a secondary suite for some extra income? adding some an extra room for your growing family. Or perhaps it's extending your deck for those summer gatherings. Or it could be as simple as an interior renovation, giving that open concept kitchen you always wanted.

Knowing what you want to achieve will guide the entire process. I do want to point out that cosmetic renovations such as painting or flooring, small fixes do not require a building permit. The next step is you want to visit your local city hall's building department and request a copy of the original house drawings. There may be multiple records available. So, I recommend getting them all as it's relatively cheap. If no original drawings are available, you'll need to perform an a-built

measuring. Depending on your scope of work, such as if you're expanding beyond the footprint of your house, a survey may be also required. We'll touch more on those subjects later on in this video. The next step is to purchase a land title. The land title is a document required in most applications as it gives information such as if you have a right of way or a covenant. This can be done by visiting ltsa.ca. You create a profile, enter in your information, pay a small fee, and the land tit will be sent to your email.

I'll put the link down below. You can also do this step for you as an optional service. Once you have the original drawings and the land title and your scope of work defined, send them over to us. We'll check if your desired renovation would comply with local zoning bylaws to see if the renovation is even feasible. We don't want you to spend your hard-earned money on something that the city won't approve. If there are issues, we'll guide you on how to adjust your plans to meet

regulations. But if everything is in order, we'll send you a detailed quote letting you know the cost. We also put a list of pros and cons so you can weigh those out. We'll show you which drawings are included and what other professionals you may need. A question you may often have is what happens behind the scenes. We'll review the original drawings which include important details like a site plan which gives us your current setback, building calculations will let you which let us know your home's lot coverage and square

footage. Please note that the maximum allowable square footage of today may not be the one that was approved back in the day. Therefore, if you're planning to add some square footage based on the previous calculation, that may not always be possible. Next, we'll review the land title. This gives us details such as if your property has a right of way or covenants. To explain what a right of way means is there may be a section on your property that this even though the city recognizes it's your property,

you may not be allowed to build over that area. Often a right of way is used to grant access to essential services like plumbing or utility that the city may need to access in case of an emergency. So while it's your property, certain restrictions apply and construction over these areas are typically prohibited. A covenant is a legal agreement or restriction placed by the property owner or the city or another authority. It can limit how the land can be used or developed. For example, you may not be

allowed to build over a certain height. Specific Architectural styles or material may be required, or you may be restricted from the subdividing the property. Covenants are typically in place to protect aspects of the land or neighborhood like environmental factors or preserving a specific aesthetic. Once we put all this information together, it helps us determine if the proposal would comply with local zoning bylaw. We also check against the BC building code to make sure that everything meets

safety and construction standards. We look at the construction assemblies for energy efficiency and fire separation. One interesting thing that I want to mention is the BC energy step code which came into effect by the end of 2018. This act requires you to bring on board an energy advisor to evaluate your project and make sure it meets the new energy efficiency standards. In my experience, this often means upgrading things like wall assemblies, window types, and your mechanical system. This is to reduce your home energy

consumption. This is very similar to what BC did with the BC carbon tax. The as BC wants to get rid of the gas due to its high carbon emissions. They also want to stop allowing homes to be built that waste too much energy because of poor design or workmanship. Now, when it comes to fire separations, this is a critical factor, especially when you're building a secondary suite. The suite needs to be fully fire separated from the rest of the home. As I personally seen cases where unpermitted suites have led to severe

fire damage, here's the kicker. If you didn't pull a permit, the insurance company can void your coverage. That's a lesson no one wants to hurt learn the hard way. Now, on to the topic of fires, we look at spatial calculations, which is your permitted glass area on the sides of your home. If you have too much glass area on the sides of your home, not only is it a privacy concern to your neighbors, but the real reason that it's important is because in the event of a fire, it ensures that there's not too many glazed

openings, which can help the fire spread to the neighboring properties. And finally, we look at stairs. We ensure the proposed stairs meet the rise and run, landings, and width meet code. We often see that our client sketches, they don't allow enough space for a staircase. Since the 2012 provision of the BC code, winder style staircases aren't permitted, which I personally think is a good idea as I remember when I was a kid running up and down the stairs and often bailing. Fortunately, those stairs were carpeted.

Let's look at as-built measuring and why it matters. As-built measuring is needed when the city has no original drawings of your home or business or if there has been significant changes since the last building permit set of drawings. A significant change is anything that's hard to mark on existing on an existing set of drawings. We use a lidar scanner that takes 360° photos and scans the rooms. This method is efficient, reducing what used to take me 8 hours to do down just to three. It also minimizes

human error. Please note as-built measuring is different from a land survey. While we focus on the interior of the building, a certified land surveyor handles the exterior. The survey will measure the property's boundaries, grades, and in case of a renovation, the exact location of the house relation to the lot. By now, you know, zoning and building codes are not an easy feat. The building code alone are two binders, 4" thick. But if you ask a carpenter, he's going to say it's only 3-12".

Don't try to tackle this on your own. Leave it to the expert. We offer a feasibility study for every project because each one is unique and needs to have an tailored approach. Whether you're homeowner, business owner, or contractor, we're here to make sure your project runs smoothly from start to finish. Now, let's conclude the presentation with five frequently of our most asked questions. One, do I need an Architect? In most cases for residential renovations for custom homes, you don't

need an Architect unless your proposal has more than five dwellings for TIs sometimes, as dictated by the Architect Institute of British Columbia, which is covered earlier in this video. Two, can a designer request the original drawings on my behalf? Yes, but the designer needs to prove that they have authorization from the owner. Three, can the designer apply for the permit on my behalf? Yes, but the designer needs to be listed as the agent for your project, which means they will be responsible for all

inspections and outcomes throughout the entire process. For both legal and practical reasons, it's usually better for the owner or contractor to apply for the building permit. As they're involved in the project from start to finish four, after applying for the permit, how long will it take for me to get my permit? The typical turnaround time for a building permit is 4 to 8 weeks after submitting your application. However, in busy periods, especially in cities like Vancouver, it can take up to 12 weeks.

Five, what will my project cost be? I'll cover project costs on a future video. However, I cannot give you exact costs of your construction as prices between materials and contractors can vary widely. But I can help you understand what is required to build in 2025, which may impact your budget. And since you made it this far into the video, I'll tell you this. The biggest cost in any construction is typically the finishes. I hope you found this video helpful. And if you have any questions specific to

your project or want to learn more about our process, feel free to reach out by phone, email, or send us a text to the number on the screen. Hope this video has cleared up any uncertainties you have about getting started with a building permit. This was your host, Edward Vega.