Where we build · Toronto, City of Toronto

Custom home builder and renovation contractor in Toronto

Toronto building work starts with the zoning review. The lot is 25 feet wide, the neighbour's wall is a few feet from yours, and the by-law sets how far up and how far back you can go. Savino Construction reads the zoning before a line is drawn, so the second storey or the addition you want is the one the city will approve.

Toronto in detail

Toronto, on the ground.

Most Toronto jobs are additions, second storeys and whole-home renovations on century semis and postwar houses, plus laneway and garden suites where the lot qualifies. Custom homes happen on tear-down lots where the old house has reached the end of its life and the land is worth more than the building on it.

Toronto Building issues the building permit. Ravine lots, heritage listings and anything past the zoning envelope add a step, and that step is where a schedule usually slips. We build the review into the plan instead of finding it later. [Kam confirms typical Toronto permit timing.]

Permit office

City of Toronto

Toronto Building issues the permit, and any design outside the zoning envelope goes to the Committee of Adjustment first, so the zoning check comes before the drawings are final. [Link to the Toronto building permit page and typical processing time.]

Housing stock

What the lots allow

Toronto's stock runs from 1890s brick semis downtown to 1950s bungalows at the edges, on lots that are rarely wider than 30 feet.

Projects here

[n] in Toronto

[Kam confirms how many Savino projects have been built in Toronto and which ones can be shown.]

Questions from Toronto

Often, yes. The shared wall is the engineering question: the new floor loads onto a party wall the neighbour also owns, so the drawings have to show how the load is carried without touching their side. We check the by-law height limit for the street before you commit to drawings.

It needs to sit on a public laneway, with a route for a fire hose from the street and enough lot depth for the setbacks. Garden suites cover lots without a lane. We check the lot against the by-law before you spend anything on drawings.

It depends on whether the design fits the zoning envelope. A design inside the by-law goes through as a building permit; one outside it goes to the Committee of Adjustment first, which adds months. [Kam confirms typical Toronto permit timing.]