The Short Answer
The City of Markham runs building permits through ePLAN, a fully electronic portal, with a $100 non refundable pre application fee. A permit is required for additions, interior alterations, finished basements, removing walls, secondary suites and decks attached to the house or more than 600 millimetres above grade. A permit is not required for like for like window and door replacement, roofing, HVAC replacement, kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, painting or fences. Review takes 10 business days for houses and 15 for accessory apartments when the application is complete, and double that when it is not. General residential alterations are priced at $8.43 per square metre.
Want this applied to your own property? Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885.
When You Need a Permit
Markham publishes a clear list. A building permit is required for:
- New detached, semi detached or townhouse construction
- Additions to an existing building
- Interior alterations
- Finished basements
- Removal of walls, which covers load bearing wall removal
- Secondary suites, basement or above garage
- Coach houses and garden homes
- Conversions to three dwelling units
- Detached garages and sheds above the exemption threshold
- Replacing an exterior wall or cladding
Separate specialized permits cover stand alone plumbing work, signs, pool enclosures, demolition and change of use.
Questions About Your Situation?
Every Markham property and every timeline is different. Call the Kaizen Real Estate Team at (647) 370-8885 and speak to a REALTORĀ® who works this market daily.
When You Do Not
This list saves homeowners real money and time:
- Decks under 600 millimetres above grade and not attached to the house
- Interior basement damp proofing
- Plumbing fixture or water heater replacement, like for like
- Furnace or HVAC system replacement
- Electrical work, which falls under the Electrical Safety Authority rather than the City
- Kitchen or bathroom cabinetry
- Painting and decorating
- Maintenance and repairs
- Window or door replacement where the rough opening is not changed
- Roofing and shingle replacement
- Fences, except pool enclosure fencing
- Retaining walls under one metre
- Ground or roof mounted solar panels
One contradiction to know about
Markham publishes two different thresholds for detached accessory buildings. The Building Permit Process page exempts structures under 15 square metres, matching the Ontario Building Code. The by law page on decks and sheds says under 10 square metres. The fee schedule lists a tier for accessory buildings under 20 square metres.
If your shed sits between 10 and 15 square metres, call before you build. Markham's Permit Application Administrator's Desk is 905-475-4870, and the City's own advice is: when in doubt, check it out.
The Process, Step by Step
Markham moved to a fully electronic system. There is no paper application counter for ePLAN submissions.
- Create an ePLAN account at markham.ca/eplanlogin
- Request a new application. A $100 non refundable pre application fee applies
- Upload drawings meeting Markham's published Submission Standards
- Pre-Screen review checks the application for completeness and compliance
- Plans review is conducted electronically, with email notification on completion
- Resubmit revisions through ePLAN as needed
- Approval arrives by email
- Download and print the permit card, placard and one plan set to keep on site
An inactive application may be deemed abandoned after six months. If your project stalls, keep the file moving.
New for 2026: Markham is launching Archistar Zoning AI PreCheck inside ePLAN. It is free, currently optional, and limited to new single detached house permits. It returns a pass or fail zoning report citing the specific by law rule, intended to reduce resubmissions.
What You Have to Submit
- Applicable Law Checklist
- Site plan with a zoning summary and property survey reference
- Architectural, structural and mechanical drawings
- Designer information, including BCIN qualification
- Energy Efficiency Design Summary
- Ontario Building Code Data Matrix for non housing projects
- Applicable permit fees
2026 Permit Fees
Work | Fee |
|---|---|
Pre-application review | $100 |
Minimum residential permit fee | $151 |
General residential alterations and repairs, including finished basements | $8.43 per square metre |
Secondary suite | $22.08 per square metre |
Deck, balcony or porch | $151 each |
Detached garage or carport | $707 each |
Accessory building under 20 square metres | $151 each |
Exterior doors | $498 each |
Stand alone HVAC | $1.47 per square metre |
Plumbing fixture | $22.35 each |
Demolition, single or semi detached | $758 each |
Certificate of Completion | $210 |
Effective for applications submitted after December 31, 2025.
What that means in practice
- A 100 square metre finished basement: 100 by $8.43 is $843, plus the $100 pre application fee, so roughly $943
- An 80 square metre secondary suite: 80 by $22.08 is $1,766, plus $100, so roughly $1,866, before Fire registration fees
- A rear deck: $151 flat, plus $100, so roughly $251
Against the cost of the work itself, permit fees are rarely the reason a renovation does not proceed. Time is.
Neeraj Moolchandani on the Permit That Pays for Itself
Neeraj Moolchandani, REALTORĀ® at Kaizen Real Estate, frames the permit question around resale rather than enforcement. Most homeowners who skip a permit are never fined. What happens instead is that the unpermitted work surfaces during a buyer's due diligence, and the price abatement is many times the permit fee.
The heritage trap Neeraj flags catches Unionville and Markham Village owners in particular. Window replacement and exterior painting need no building permit almost anywhere in Markham. Inside a heritage conservation district both require a heritage permit, which is free but is not optional.
How Long Review Takes
Project class | Complete application | Incomplete application |
|---|---|---|
Houses and small projects | 10 business days | 20 business days |
Accessory apartments | 15 business days | 20 business days |
Small buildings, non housing | 15 business days | 30 business days |
Large buildings | 20 business days | 40 business days |
Complex buildings | 30 business days | 40 business days |
Demolition and sign permits | 10 business days | 20 business days |
These align with the prescribed time periods in the Ontario Building Code. The clock starts at Pre-Screen approval for complete applications, and at estimated fee payment for incomplete ones.
Note the penalty for an incomplete submission: it doubles the review time on a house. Markham names the usual causes as incomplete drawings, zoning non compliance and missing applicable law approvals. Paying a qualified designer to get the package right the first time buys back two weeks.
Inspections
Inspections are booked through Markham's Inspections Portal. For a secondary suite the City lists the sequence as framing, plumbing and mechanical rough in, insulation, fire separations, then occupancy. A typical house project adds a footing and foundation inspection before framing.
Do not cover work before it is inspected. Opening finished walls afterward is the single most expensive mistake in a residential renovation.
Building Without a Permit
Under section 36 of the Building Code Act, 1992, penalties on conviction reach up to $50,000 for an individual on a first offence and $100,000 on a subsequent offence, and up to $500,000 and $1,500,000 respectively for a corporation. Continuing offences can attract daily penalties.
Municipal enforcement tools include an Order to Comply, a Stop Work Order and an Unsafe Building Order.
The consequence Michael John Lau, a REALTORĀ® serving home sellers in Markham, Ontario, sees most often is not a fine. It is a sale. Unpermitted work surfaces during a buyer's due diligence or on the Seller Property Information Statement, and it produces price abatements, insurance complications, lender questions and occasionally a retroactive permit obligation that requires opening up finished work. A $943 basement permit is inexpensive insurance against that conversation.
For an unregistered second suite specifically, Markham warns that failure to register can result in court action, fines and potential tenant lawsuits following property damage.
Zoning, Variances and the Committee of Adjustment
If your project does not comply with the zoning by law, you need a minor variance before the permit can issue.
Start with a Zoning Preliminary Review. It is optional, carries an additional fee, and Building Standards will identify every variance your project needs so you are not surprised later. Contact 905-475-4870 or [email protected].
The Committee of Adjustment is an independent body of six members appointed by Council, hearing minor variance and consent applications twice monthly at 7:00 p.m. A minor variance must satisfy four statutory tests: it must meet the general intent of the zoning by law, meet the general intent of the Official Plan, be desirable for the appropriate development of the land, and be minor in nature.
The process runs about two months from submission to decision. You post a City supplied sign at least 14 days before the hearing, notices go to properties within 120 metres, a verbal decision is given at the hearing and a written decision follows within 10 days. An appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal costs $400 plus a $286 administration fee, plus HST.
Renovating? Know the Return First.
Some Markham renovations return their cost at resale and some do not. The Kaizen Real Estate Team will tell you which is which before you spend.
Heritage Districts: The Rule That Reverses Everything
Markham has four Heritage Conservation Districts: Unionville, Markham Village, Thornhill and Buttonville.
Inside them, the usual logic inverts. A Heritage Permit is required before any external alteration to a property in a district or an individually designated property.
A Minor Heritage Permit covers wall cladding changes, painting, window and door replacement, fence modifications and driveway alterations. Every one of those needs no building permit anywhere else in Markham. Inside a heritage district they need a heritage permit.
A Major Heritage Permit covers new dwellings in heritage districts and residential additions on designated properties.
The good news: Minor Heritage Permits are free. The important news: a heritage permit is separate from and in addition to a building permit, so an addition in Unionville needs both. Contact [email protected].
Contacts
- Building Standards: 905-475-4858, [email protected]
- Building Counter and zoning: 905-475-4870, [email protected]
- Committee of Adjustment: 905-475-4721, [email protected]
- Heritage: [email protected]
- Markham Fire, secondary suite registration: 905-415-7521
- Address: 101 Town Centre Boulevard, Markham, Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.