What does the City of Hamilton say needs a permit?
The City's own lists, side by side, for work inside a house (City of Hamilton, Building Permit Application Requirements, read November 5, 2026):
| The work | Permit |
|---|---|
| Finishing or partly finishing a basement, or any unfinished space | Needed |
| Moving rooms or making new ones | Needed |
| Installing or replacing drywall and insulation | Needed |
| Adding or removing walls, load bearing or not, and beams and lintels | Needed |
| New, bigger or moved door and window openings | Needed |
| New or moved plumbing | Needed |
| A walkout basement, a sump pump, a backwater valve or interior weeping tile | Needed |
| New or replaced ductwork, or a wood stove or fireplace | Needed |
| New cabinets, minor millwork, and flooring such as carpet, laminate or hardwood | Not needed |
| Painting or decorating | Not needed |
| Replacing plumbing fixtures in the same place | Not needed |
| Replacing windows at the same size and place, where no fire rating is needed | Not needed |
| Replacing a furnace | Not needed |
| Re-shingling a roof with the same material | Not needed |
A permit means plan review before the work and inspections during it. Who applies for a building permit in Hamilton walks through both.
What happens if a renovation is done without one?
The City lists the consequences, starting with Receive order to comply to obtain a building/demolition permit that may be registered on title
, a stop work order, and fines: Penalties under Section 36 of the Building Code Act indicate maximum fines of $50,000 for an individual, or $500,000 for a corporation for a first offence
(City of Hamilton, read November 5, 2026). Work already closed in may have to be opened up for an engineer or an inspector. An order on title follows the house when you sell it. The City's full list is in building without a permit.
Is electrical work covered by the building permit?
No. Electrical work is reported to the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) separately. ESA: Having a building permit isn't the same as filing an electrical notification. You may need both.
And for anyone you hire: In Ontario, if you hire someone to do electrical work in your home, by law, it must be a Licensed Electrical Contractor (LEC).
(Electrical Safety Authority, read November 5, 2026) JDT's agreement leaves electrical work out unless the scope lists it, so the proposal says who does it.
When does a renovation become something bigger?
When the basement becomes a separate home with its own kitchen and door, it is an additional dwelling unit, with its own permit and rules: see ADUs. When the house needs more room than it has, see additions. Two common ones have their own guides: finishing a basement and removing a wall. On a designated house, heritage properties comes first.
How does JDT run a renovation?
The work is drawn before there is a price, the whole scope is written into one proposal in the order it is built, and you pay in stages as each stage is finished. Hidden conditions behind old finishes, such as rot or water damage, are handled by a written change order if they turn up, never by a surprise on the invoice. The agreements page has the details. The permit rules above are the same whether the job is finishing a basement, a kitchen, a bathroom or the whole house.
How do I start?
Call (905) 818-0106, or send a request with photos of the rooms as they are now and a few words on what you want them to become.