How is the Ottawa building permit fee worked out for a renovation?

For alterations in Ottawa, the City's fee schedule sets the permit fee at $12.75 per $1,000 of construction value, with a minimum fee of $117.

Construction value is the base the fee is calculated on, and the City defines it to include materials, labour, overhead and professional fees for the project. The minimum of $117 applies where the calculated fee would otherwise fall below it.

What counts as construction value

The figure is not just the contractor's invoice for labour and materials. Overhead and any professional fees, such as drawings prepared for the permit application, are included in the value. When you are putting together a budget, the permit fee itself is a line item on top of that construction value, not part of it.

A few things worth knowing before you apply:

• The owner and the builder are equally responsible under the Building Code Act for making sure a permit is obtained when one is required.
• Projects that do not need a permit, such as new flooring or replacing kitchen or bathroom cabinets where the plumbing fixtures stay in place, still have to meet the Building Code and zoning rules.
• Heritage-designated buildings and properties in a Heritage District Overlay are not exempt from permit requirements even for work that would otherwise be exempt.
• For do-it-yourself work, the CRA lists building plans and permits as eligible expenses under the Home Accessibility Tax Credit; for work done by a contractor, ask the CRA how permit costs are treated.

If you are unsure whether your specific project needs a permit, the City of Ottawa's Building Code Services can tell you. Some accessibility work, such as widening a doorway or moving a wall for a main-floor bedroom conversion, is on the City's permit list. Others, such as grab bars, ramps and stair lifts, are not on either the required or the exempt list, so it is worth asking before work starts. Work done before a permit is issued, where one is required, is a problem the owner and builder share.

The most useful question to put to any contractor before you sign is: ask them to show you, line by line, what they have included in the construction value figure they used to calculate the permit fee, and what costs in their quote sit outside that figure.