Mandatory Electronic Submission Effective November 7, 2011:

Toronto Building requires the mandatory electronic submission of all documents including forms, reports, specifications, calculations and plans (Chapter 363-5 of the Municipal Code). FASTRACK applications are exempt from mandatory electronic submission requirements, however electronic submission is preferred.

All Documents shall be submitted at a Toronto Building Customer Service location on a rewritable DVD.

Re-submissions of documents and plans / drawings can be submitted by email or via SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) when it exceeds 10mb and up to 300mb (10 file maximum). Submission by fax is not permitted.

In addition to electronic submissions and re-submissions, two sets of paper plans / drawings are still required until the transition to full electronic processing is complete.

For Zoning Certificates, Preliminary Plan Review and Alternative Solutions, only one set (11" X 17" preferred) paper plans / drawings are required in addition to electronic submissions.

For security reasons, USB Drive ('Key') or Flash Media is not allowed at this time.

Helpful Links

• Electronic Service Delivery Commonly Asked Questions (Q&A)
• Examples on how digital files must be named and organized
• Instructions on how to create an electronic signature
• Toronto Building Forms
• Download Adobe Reader X (Free Download)

Submission Requirements:

The following are the submission requirements for all documents and plan / drawings.

• All electronic documents and plans / drawings must be submitted in “Portable Document Format" (PDF), version 7 or later.
  • Without passwords and restrictions,
  • All Toronto Building forms are available online in fill-able format. Forms should be completed and signed electronically. Please refer to instructions here on how to create an electronic signature. Acrobat Reader X (10) is required to add multiple signatures to forms.
  • Plans / drawings with multiple pages and sets must be combined into a single electronic document (PDF) in the same order as the submitted paper document, and
  • The scale and size of the electronic PDF plans / drawings must match the scale and size of the paper plans/drawings.
  • Documents must be properly labelled. PDF file names for Electronic Documents should have an abbreviated description of the documents (Click here for examples).
• All plans / drawings must include all the information required in Schedule D of Municipal Code Chapter 363 and for sign applications, the Sign Permit and Building Permit Plan Requirements.
• HVAC and plumbing plans / drawings must be submitted as separate electronic documents (PDFs) for each mechanical permit application and plumbing permit application.
• Electrical/emergency lighting/fire alarm, sprinkler and other fire safety systems must be submitted as part of the building permit set.
• Shoring, foundation and other structural plans / drawings must be included in the building permit set and enabled to be extracted to issue part permits if necessary by the examiner.
• Fire Schematic Layout, which includes floor plans and cross-section(s) indicating all fire resistance ratings and fire separations as required by the Ontario Building Code, shall be included as part of the submission.
• Where a submission is being made to address a deficiency identified by a plan examiner, an electronic copy of the revised plans, along with a paper copy, must be submitted to the plan examiner with the changes clearly labelled and bubbled.

Requirement for Scanning:

Electronic documents and plans / drawings (i.e. dwg, .docx,) must be converted directly into a PDF for submission. Hand drawn plans and manual calculations must be scanned. The use of a scanner to convert an electronically produced document should be avoided. Scanned documents that are prohibitively large may be rejected. Any scanned document must meet the following requirements:

• Scanned plans / drawings must be at a resolution that is easily legible onscreen and pages must not be skewed.
• Scanned resolutions 1-bit black and white 300 dpi is usually acceptable. For plans / drawings containing fine lines 600 dpi resolution is required.
• Do not reduce the scanned document size, as it renders the document slow to open.
• Scanning the documents in full colour is only necessary if it contains photographs.

E-mail / DVD / SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol):

• Only re-submissions are currently accepted by email. Initial submission of all applications must be made in person. Documents submitted by email must not exceed 10mb.
• Large documents can be submitted via SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) provided they do not exceed 10 files and 300mb in total number and size.
• DVD must be re-writable and will be used to deliver the final issued documents.