Building Design near you

Each route can take a project from first sketch to permit, but they're organized differently and carry different legal limits. In Ontario and Quebec, the size and type of the finished building decide whether an architect is required, as our architects page explains. Within those limits, the choice depends on how complex the project is and how you want to hire the builder.

Most designers work in stages, each ending with a review where you approve the direction before more detailed work starts. Jumping ahead feels faster but usually means redrawing later.

Energy decisions are cheapest while wall thickness, window area and orientation, roof shape and the heating system are still open. Natural Resources Canada's EnerGuide Rating System lets a builder have the plans evaluated first: an energy advisor working with a service organization uses energy simulation software to estimate how much energy the house will use once it's built. When the house is finished, the advisor returns to confirm the planned upgrades were built and to run a blower door test, and the house receives an EnerGuide label and a report.

Code compliance comes into it too. Toronto's new-house permit guide asks for an energy efficiency design summary showing how the house meets the Ontario Building Code's energy efficiency requirements, by either a prescriptive or a performance method, so energy choices need to be settled before the permit set is final.

Designing for accessibility doesn't have to look institutional. CMHC's guidance on low- and no-cost accessibility changes, written for existing homes, points to lever handles, clear paths of travel with extra manoeuvring room at doorways, grab bars, a sink usable standing or seated, visible stair edges and motion-detecting lights at the entrance. In a new design, most of those ideas cost little when they're drawn in from the first concept.

The budget belongs in the program, not in a surprise when bids arrive. Floor area, the number of corners and roof lines, long spans and walls of glass, basement depth, site work and the level of finishes drive construction cost far more than design fees, and every one of them is decided on the drawings.

Design to a target floor area before refining the look, and treat design development as the last inexpensive moment to cut. Keep a list of scope that could come later, such as a finished basement, a deck or a detached studio, so there's room to adjust when prices come in high without redesigning the house itself.

Canada's Copyright Act treats plans and drawings as artistic works and protects a building itself as an architectural work. The author is the first owner of the copyright, except that work made by an employee in the course of the job belongs to the employer unless they've agreed otherwise. In practice, the design firm or independent designer usually owns the copyright in your house plans, and what you receive is permission to use them.

That permission comes from your contract. The Act says an assignment of copyright, or a licence granting an interest in it, is valid only in writing and signed by the owner, so ask for a clause stating whether you can build the design more than once, hand the files to another professional to finish or revise, or reuse them for a future addition. With a design-build firm, ask whether you can take the drawings to another builder if you don't sign the construction contract, and on what terms.