How Much Does a Building Permit Cost in Canada?

Figures quoted from the City of Calgary’s published schedule, checked 23 July 2026.

“How much is a building permit?” is nearly always the wrong question — but it’s the one people ask, because it’s the only number with an obvious answer.

The permit fee itself is usually modest. What surprises homeowners is everything that has to exist before the permit can be issued, and everything the municipality charges alongside it. This guide separates the two.

How building permit fees are calculated

Municipalities use one of two methods, sometimes both:

A rate per square metre of construction. Common for new floor area, with different rates by construction type.

A percentage of construction value. Common for renovations and alterations, calculated against the declared value of the work.

Most municipalities also add a base or application fee on top, and in Alberta a Safety Codes Council fee of 4% is levied on the permit fee.

Here’s what that produces in practice. The City of Calgary publishes its secondary suite permit costs directly:

Two things worth noticing. Registering the suite is free — the barrier to getting a suite onto the register is paperwork, not money. And legalising an existing suite costs less than half of a new one, with the City giving an approval timeline of approximately seven days for that review.

The City of Toronto publishes its own fee schedule, calculated on the work proposed, with the rate set per type of work. Toronto also offers Express Building Permits, Preliminary Zoning Reviews, and pre-approved garden and laneway suite plans — all of which can reduce time and cost.

The point of showing these numbers: a few hundred dollars is not what makes approval expensive.

What else you pay alongside the permit

This is the substance, roughly in order of size.

Drawings and design. Permit-ready drawings for a suite conversion are a professional service, and for anything beyond the simplest project you’ll need them. This is typically the largest single approval-stage cost.

Survey. A current real property report or survey is commonly required, particularly for anything in the rear yard where setbacks matter.

Engineering. Structural engineering where you’re altering load paths, underpinning to gain ceiling height, or building a second storey. Increasingly common for backyard housing.

Studies and reports. Arborist reports where protected trees are involved — routine in mature Toronto and Vancouver neighbourhoods, not exceptional. Grading and drainage plans. Geotechnical work where soil conditions warrant it.

Trade permits. Electrical and plumbing permits are separate from the building permit, and generally require licensed trades.

Servicing and connection fees. Where water, sewer or electrical capacity has to be upgraded or extended, this can dwarf everything else on the list.

Development charges. In Ontario, the single largest item where they apply — though for a second or third unit they’re waived, which is covered below.

Development cost charges (DCCs/DCLs). The B.C. equivalent, applied unless exempted.

Why costs differ so much by province

The permit fee varies modestly between municipalities. The total varies enormously between provinces, and the reasons have nothing to do with permits.

Ontario — highest total, with a large exemption. Development charges per residential unit are among the highest in Canada, particularly across the GTA. But under Bill 23, the second and third units on a lot are exempt from development charges and parkland dedication. So a homeowner adding a suite largely sidesteps the biggest number — while a fourth unit may not. Our development charges guide covers this in detail.

British Columbia — DCCs plus PST. Municipalities levy development cost charges unless exempted, and the statutory exemptions are narrow — units no larger than 29 m², or permits for work not exceeding $50,000. Municipalities may waive charges for a secondary suite and many do, but it’s a local decision rather than a provincial entitlement. On top of that, B.C. charges 7% PST on many construction inputs, which isn’t an approval cost but is a real cost difference.

Alberta — neither. No Ontario-style per-unit development charges on infill suites, and no provincial sales tax. Permit and inspection fees apply, plus the 4% Safety Codes Council levy, and that’s largely it. This is why Alberta’s baseline cost of adding a unit is materially lower — a structural advantage worth more than any grant programme.

Permit cost for a suite vs a fourplex

The permit fee scales with the work, but not dramatically — Calgary’s published figures run from about $200 to about $1,300 across suite types.

What changes materially at fourplex scale is everything else:

• Drawings and engineering become substantially more involved
• Servicing — four units need water, sewer and electrical capacity a single-family lot was never sized for, and upgrading at the street is expensive and slow
• Development charges in Ontario — the fourth unit doesn’t get the automatic exemption the second and third do
• Studies — more likely to be required, and more of them
• Fire and life safety requirements step up at higher unit counts

And one thing moves in your favour: at four or more units, a project can qualify for the federal GST rental rebate, which relieves the GST — and in Ontario the provincial portion of HST too — on qualifying new rental construction. That’s a saving a duplex or triplex cannot access.

So the permit is a rounding item at both scales. The decision-relevant costs sit in servicing, development charges and tax treatment. Our financing page covers how projects at each scale get funded.

How to get a real number

Four steps, and they cost nothing:

1. Find your municipality’s fee schedule. Every municipality publishes one. Calgary’s is linked above; Toronto’s is on the City’s building permit fees page. Look up the specific type of work you’re proposing.
2. Check whether development charges apply. In Ontario, second and third units are exempt — confirm your unit count. In B.C., check your municipality’s DCC bylaw for a secondary suite exemption. In Alberta, confirm local fees.
3. Get a quote for drawings. This is the real approval-stage cost and it’s the one you can shop.
4. Ask about servicing early. Whether your existing water, sewer and electrical connections carry the added unit is the largest single unknown, and finding out late is the expensive version.

A useful check: if someone quotes you an “approval cost” that doesn’t separate the permit fee from the drawings, studies and charges, ask for the breakdown. The components behave very differently and only some of them are negotiable.

Get a real cost for your own project

The permit fee is the easy number. What decides your budget is the drawings, whether servicing carries the added unit, and whether development charges apply — all of which can be established before you commit to anything.

HouseLyft’s free property assessment covers what your lot permits and where the cost drivers sit. Our planning and permits page covers the approvals stage. If your project is defined and you want it costed properly, get qualified.