Draw My Basement Services

Yes. Finishing a basement requires a building permit when you're creating finished living space involving regulated construction. If you’re creating a rental unit, additional requirements apply, including fire separation, proper exits and emergency escape provisions, along with its own cooking, dining, sleeping, washroom and laundry facilities.

A finished basement for personal use is extra living space for the same family living in the home. A legal basement apartment is a separate rental unit with its own sleeping, cooking, dining, washroom and laundry spaces. It also has many more safety requirements, including fire separation, proper exits, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and more to help keep everyone safe in an emergency.

Once your building permit is issued, construction should start and the required inspections should begin within six months. If no inspections are booked within that time, the permit may expire. If you need more time, you may be able to request an extension from your local municipality before the permit expires.

The best way to get an accurate cost is after the basement design and scope of work are complete. For a quick ballpark, you can budget around $40–$60 per sq. ft. A basic finish may be closer to $40 per sq. ft., while higher-end materials and finishes can bring the cost closer to $60 per sq. ft. or more.

If your home is less than five years old, creating a basement rental unit may require a separate heating, cooling and ventilation system. The Ontario Building Code 2024 does not allow return air from one dwelling unit to be circulated into another, and the new unit must meet applicable mechanical ventilation requirements. A proper HVAC design, including heat loss, heat gain and ventilation calculations, may be required as part of your basement permit design.

We can typically prepare and submit your basement permit drawings within one week. We can move even faster for urgent projects, but we also give you time to review the design and discuss it with your family. Once submitted, municipalities typically take around 4–6 weeks to review and issue the permit.

Our deliverables include permit-ready architectural, structural and HVAC drawings, as required for your project. We can submit the permit application and handle municipal review comments on your behalf at no additional charge, so you can relax while your application is under review until the permit is issued. After the permit is issued, your contractor is responsible for scheduling the required inspections as construction progresses. We’re always available to answer questions during construction.

We combine exceptional customer service, in-house engineering and cutting-edge technology to take your project smoothly from measurement to permit. We use high-precision laser scanning for millimetre-level accuracy, design in 3D, and can provide realistic renders or even a VR walkthrough upon request. With structural and mechanical expertise in-house, we can handle challenging conditions such as lintels, beam modifications, low clearances, HVAC and ventilation without unnecessary outsourcing. Most importantly, we stay responsive, work fast and handle municipal comments and revisions until your permit is issued. And when it comes to our service, our Google reviews say it all.