Many of our Vancouver home renovation clients don’t realize that their reno might require a building permit from the city where their home is located.
Before planning your renovation, you may want to get familiar with the types of building permits that apply to renovations in your city. Applying for permits can be confusing and time-consuming for homeowners who haven’t been through the process, which is why we help with this aspect of a renovation.
However, building permits add to the cost of a renovation and can affect the timeline.
Do you need a building permit for your Vancouver home renovation? Here’s how to know.
Renovation building permits for Greater Vancouver
The City of Vancouver has easy-to-understand guidelines on their website for people to know whether they need a permit for their renovation.
In general, you need a permit for:
- New construction, such as building a garage or carport, even if these are allowed in your zoning
- Erecting temporary buildings
- Additions to existing structures
- Moving existing walls
- Making structural changes to your home
- Moving or installing new plumbing
- Moving or installing new electrical lines
- Moving or installing new gas lines
Which permit do you need?
Your renovation project manager can help you learn which permit(s) you need for your renovation. We can help you apply for these permits as well.
Vancouver home renovations that do not require a permit
Permits are not required for most minor renovations, such as:
- Replacing fixtures and finishes inside the home
- Painting your home’s exterior
- Repairing your home in a way that doesn’t affect the building’s structure or envelope
How long do permits take?
Your city needs some time to process and approve your permit application.
The length of time this takes depends on the type of permit, and the city where your home is located. The best way to know how long your permit takes is to call your City Hall and ask for the building department. Your renovation project manager can also give you a good idea of the permit timeline.
What about for Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Surrey and other cities?
Every city in Greater Vancouver has slight variations on their permit types, rules, zoning and permit approval timelines. It’s always best to call ahead and ask about the permit types, timelines and costs for your city.
What happens if you don’t get a permit?
If you don’t get a permit when one is required, and start the work anyway, you could be risking a stop work order. This is a legal requirement to stop all work on the project until the issue is resolved – it also often means removing any changes, and redoing the work once a permit is obtained. Stop work orders cause major delays, are expensive to resolve, and are frustrating for homeowners!
To conclude…
We always recommend getting the right permits for your renovation. Doing so gives you the peace of mind of knowing the work was done right, has been professionally inspected and is approved by the city according to current code and regulations.
In addition, permits and inspections significantly reduce the risk of poor workmanship by contractors or trades! So they’re worthwhile, every time.
