Innisfil Building Permit

An Innisfil building permit for a new house is not slow to review. The Town says most residential projects are reviewed within 10 business days. What takes time is everything that has to be true before those 10 days begin, because the Town counts from a complete submission, and several of the things that make it complete are not drawings at all.

We are A&R Design Build, based on Commerce Park Drive in Innisfil and building custom homes and cottages since 1973. Planning applications, permits and inspections are part of every build we take on. This page sets out how the Town of Innisfil process works, in the order it actually happens.

The Innisfil building permit fees start with a non-refundable application fee, paid in Cloudpermit before the application can be submitted: $200.50 for a residential project and $351.10 for commercial, industrial or institutional work. That fee is credited against the total. The balance comes from the Town’s building fees by-law, which is reviewed every year, and it has to be paid before the permit is issued.

For a new house, the permit fee is rarely the large number. The Town’s package warns that additional fees and development charges may be required, and on a new dwelling they usually are. A lot grading deposit is also collected with the permit fees on new home construction. On a single in-fill lot, the Town holds it until the Stage 2 lot grading inspection is approved, the engineer who designed the grading has sent a certificate, and the final inspection is accepted.

Our advice is the same on every Innisfil job: get the fee picture from the Town for your specific lot at the start, put every line in the budget, and do not treat the application fee as the cost of a permit.

An Innisfil pool permit is a building permit for the enclosure, filed through Cloudpermit like any other, with a 10-business-day turnaround on a complete submission. In-ground and above-ground pools both need one. The rules come from the Town’s Fence By-law, 075-22, which sets the heights of lawful fences and requires owners of private pools to fence them.

The pool enclosure package asks for a site plan showing every structure on the property, including the house, sheds, decks, the septic system and the pool. The fence must be 1.2 to 1.82 metres high and at least 1.2 metres from the water’s edge, and gates must match the fence height and be self-closing, self-latching and lockable. A hot tub with a locking manufacturer’s cover needs no enclosure.

One point links the pool to the house. If your lot grading has not yet been certified, the Town says permission may be needed from the grading consultant, and it can ask for a grading plan from an OLS or P.Eng if the pool looks likely to affect drainage. On a new build, plan the pool after the grading certificate, not before. Pools are not among the services we list, but on a new Innisfil home we will show you where one could go without disturbing the grading.

You can apply for an Innisfil building permit yourself. The Town accepts drawings from a qualified designer, an engineer, an architect or a knowledgeable property owner, and Cloudpermit is built to be used by homeowners. On a new house, though, the application is the sum of a designer, a surveyor or engineer, a mechanical designer, a truss supplier and often a conservation authority, and somebody has to make those pieces agree before the Town sees them.

On our builds that somebody is us. Planning and permit approvals are a step in our 12-step process, between the 3D renderings and your exterior selections. Laura McAdam leads design, planning applications and municipal approvals for our clients, and the Town’s building staff are at Town Hall, 2101 Innisfil Beach Road, in the same municipality as our model home.

If you are reading up on Innisfil building permits because you have a lot and a plan in mind, bring both to our model home. We will tell you which route the property takes and what the Town will want to see before anything is submitted.