BC Building Code
Permit Drawings

Under the BC Building Code and municipal bylaws, a Building Permit is legally required prior to beginning new home construction, secondary suite additions, commercial tenant improvements, load-bearing wall removals, structural alterations, or any change in building occupancy. Minor cosmetic work like painting or non-structural cabinet replacement generally does not require a permit.

Building without a permit is unlawful and can result in Stop-Work Orders, double-fee penalties, daily municipal fines, and mandatory remediation or demolition orders. If you have been served with an enforcement notice or bought an 'as-is' property with unauthorized work, follow our step-by-step DIY Stop Work Order Resolution Guide to freeze penalties and start the retroactive approval process.

At Canadian Blueprint, we charge strictly based on the real technical hours and specific drawing sheets required for your project. Straightforward condo partition alterations represent our lowest fee tier, while complex additions, commercial assembly spaces, and multi-unit multiplexes require specialized elevations, cross sections, and code coordination. We conduct a free upfront feasibility review, sign a multi-page agreement detailing every deliverable, and lock in a guaranteed fixed project fee with 50/50 payment milestones and included municipal plan checker revisions. Explore our Transparent Scope & Pricing Hub for full service breakdowns.

A complete municipal permit drawing set in BC includes a site plan with zoning setbacks, dimensioned floor plans, 4-way exterior elevations, cross-sections showing wall and roof assemblies, structural engineering schedules where required, and spatial separation calculations under Part 9 or Part 3 of the BC Building Code.

The timeline for obtaining a Building Permit can vary depending on the complexity of the project and the workload of the local government. A simple permit might be approved in 2-6 weeks, while a permit for a new house can take anywhere from 3 to 12 months. Working with Canadian Blueprint can help by preparing an intake-complete application checked against the building code and zoning in scope.

The first step is gathering your property's existing records: for residential renovations and commercial tenant improvements (TIs), request the original building drawings from your municipal building department; for new custom builds, obtain a legal property survey. Send those along with your proposed scope of work (SOW) and address using our contact form above. We will conduct a free feasibility review of your zoning bylaws and BC Building Code parameters, then provide a guaranteed fixed-fee quote and timeline. (If existing plans are unavailable, we also provide precision 3D LiDAR site measuring to generate as-built base plans).