Deck Permit Toronto

Most deck projects require a permit from the city. Each municipality has different requirements for what is needed to obtain a deck permit. Generally, if your deck is over 2 feet in elevation and/or is over 108 sq. ft. in size, it will require a building permit. Building Department contact information is provided on this page, to help you get in touch with your municipality to obtain further information.

Not getting a building permit from the city can mean fines, costly repairs or in some cases,complete re-construction. Regardless of whether you are building a deck yourself or are getting it done professionally, in most cases you need a deck construction permit.

Since getting a permit involves preparation of a detailed set of drawings, city fees ($100), and inspections by a qualified city inspector at three stages of deck construction – most deck contractors try to avoid it. In the end, it is not the contractor, but the homeowner, who is left to deal with the consequences. It is the homeowner’s responsibility to obtain a deck building permit and not the contractor’s.

DecksToronto Inc. provides a permit preparation service to all residents in the Greater Toronto Area. Our prices are far more reasonable than those of architects and designers because our sole specialty is deck permits. See Permit Drawing Preparation Service for more details.

If you choose to prepare the deck permit drawings yourself and take care of this process on your own, we have gathered some valuable information for you below.

Please see below the list of Building Department in the Greater Toronto Area:

If you need the address for your building department, please click the corresponding municipality link at the bottom of this page.

Once you talk to your municipality and make sure that your deck complies with all the zoning requirements for your project, you need to produce drawings for the city and fill out all the required forms.

Building Permit Application form for deck construction for the province of Ontario is available for download here:

Building Permit Application Form.pdf

Along with these forms, you will need to submit drawings for your project. You will need to ask your building department for samples of drawings that need to be produced, information from building code required to design your deck and any other standard drawings that may be attached to your permit application.

Generally, the following drawings are required:

• Backyard plan showing proposed deck, lot lines, existing buildings and all the required setbacks. A recent survey of your backyard is required for this drawing.
• Frame layout plan. A detailed drawing showing footing location and size, beam location and size, joist location and size as well as other important framing details (i.e. blocking, stair stringers, deck posts etc)
• Front view of the deck. On this view it is important to show your house, height of deck, stairs, height of railing, depth of concrete footings.
• Cross section view. Cross section view shows mainly how the deck is attached to the house, how the beams are attached to the post, how the joists are attached to the beam and how the posts are attached to the footings.
• Side view of the deck. This drawing should show the elevation of railing privacy screen or railing, stairs as well as the other relevant details.
• Standard Drawings. Standard drawings can include pre-made details’ drawings that are relevant to your project, such as railing details, railing post attachment details etc.

Most commonly, all drawings need to be prepared using the CAD software. Once you have your drawings ready and the applications filled out, you can go to the building department to apply for your permit. In most cases, the wait times are around 1-2 hours.