House

Building a house

House permit applications require substantial information to be processed.

If you are not designing your own home, you will need the services of a qualified designer.

If you are not acting as the general contractor on your home, you will need to enroll the dwelling with Tarion (new home warranty).

All work on your drawings must conform to the standards set out in the Ontario Building Code, any applicable municipal by-laws, and other applicable laws.

We recommend that you contact a building inspector early in your design process. To meet with an inspector please call 613-386-7351, ext. 128 to make an appointment.

Inspections

To book an inspection, please contact the Development Analyst by email or by phone at 613-386-7351, ext. 128.

What do I need to apply?

We provide a complete permit application package for your home, whether you're planning to build a new rural house or a new urban house (on municipal water and sewer service).

New rural home application package

New Urban home application package

Before we can issue a permit to build your new home, we require the following:

Completed Application
Copy of Deed and Survey
Two complete sets of plans, one copy provided in paper and one copy provided in an electronic version 11" by 17" (PDF format) indicating the following:
- Foundation plan
- Floor plans including if basement is to be finished
- Building elevations
- Cross section view indicating dimensions, heights and construction materials
- Truss layouts of both roof and floor (if engineered floor joists are to be used)
- Site plan indicating the following:
  - Lot dimensions and lot area
  - Location of house (with measurements) relative to property lines, road, other structures, septic system, well, municipal and/or private easements and rights-of-way and overhead power lines
  - Location, width, and type of driveway and distance separation from fire hydrant and property lines
  - Location is proposed water and sewer services
  - Dimensions and height of all structures and % of lot coverage
  - Location of retaining walls
  - Location of any watercourses, drainage, ditches, culverts and other waterbodies including high water mark, top of bank and 1:100 year floodline contour (if available) with wave uprush limit.
  - Address and street name
  - Sight triangle (applicable on corner lots)
Health Unit approval (for rural areas); 613-354-3357
Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority approval (properties along or near water); 613-546-4228
Ministry of Transportation approval (properties that face provincial highways)
Entrance permit from the Loyalist Township engineering department, or the County of Lennox and Addington (properties that face county roads); 613-354-4883
Grading plan in combination with the plot plan, showing the final:
- Entrance/driveway gradient
- Lots grades as shown on the approved lot grading plan and all proposed building apron elevations (at each corner of the foundation wall), all swales and gradients (including intermediate elevations and drainage arrows indicating the direction of surface runoff, walkout elevations)
- Building grade elevations (all elevations to be geodetic datum)
- Finished floor elevation
- Underside of footings elevation
- Top of foundation wall elevation
- Finished garage floor elevation
New Home Warranty Form to be filled out
Heat Loss calculations and duct design
Completed “Statement Regarding Required Inspections” form
Engineered details must be certified/stamped by a Professional Engineer (must be licensed in Ontario)
If the house is not designed by the homeowner, completion of Form 1 by a registered qualified designer (unless prepared by a licensed Professional Engineer or Architect)
Energy Efficiency Design Sheet completed and signed

How much will it cost?

There are a number of fees and deposits that go into making up the cost of a building permit for a new home. To estimate the permit portion of the fee, please visit our Building Permits page.

Rural dwellings

The Potable (drinkable) Water Policy is to ensure that the water distribution system in a building shall convey potable water as required by the Ontario Building Code.

This policy applies to buildings with potable plumbing that do not use a municipal water system as their source of water. Most often that means that your home is served by a private well for drinking water.

If the potable water policy applies to your property, before a final inspection/occupancy will be granted, proof of potable water will be required.

For more information on private wells and septic, please visit our Private Well and Septic page.