Toronto Building requires mandatory electronic submission of all documents, including all forms, drawings, documents, reports, specifications, calculations and plans (Chapter 363-3.5 of the Municipal Code).
All documents must be submitted to Toronto Building Customer Experience by email.
Re-submissions of plans and drawings must be submitted online, or via SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) where the file size is greater than 2 GB (10 files maximum). Details of the SFTP process are provided below. Submission by fax is not permitted. Re-submission drawings will not be accepted on a USB drive.
Submission Requirements
- All electronic documents, plans and drawings must be submitted in PDF format, version 7 or later.
- Files must be unsecured and not password protected.
- Forms should be completed and signed electronically. All Toronto Building forms are available online in fillable format. Please refer to instructions 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 format) in the same order as the submitted paper document.
- Documents/Drawings containing multiple layers must be flattened to a single layer prior to submission.
- Documents/Drawings must have no comments. Text placed on the PDF as a comment must be flattened or removed. When rendering drawings to PDF, options for saving text as comments must not be selected.
- Submitted PDF files must be a single layer.
- Drawings and Specifications must be in black and white only. Full-colour renderings and photos may be submitted, but only as supplements to a sufficient set of plans.
- Electronically-produced documents, plans and drawings (i.e. dwg, docx) must be converted into PDF format for submission. Printing to paper and scanning it to create a PDF should be avoided.
- The maximum page size is an ARCH E (36″x48″ or 914.4mm x 1219.2mm).
- The scale and page size of the plans/drawings on the PDF must match the scale and page size of the full-sized plans/drawings on paper.
- Documents must be properly labelled. PDF file names for electronic documents should have an abbreviated description of the documents.
- All plans/drawings must include all the information required in Schedule D of Municipal Code Chapter 363 for Building Permit applications, and the Sign Permit and Building Permit Plan Requirements for sign permit applications.
- HVAC and plumbing plans/drawings must be submitted as separate Electronic Documents (PDF format) 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 able to be extracted by the Examiner for issuance of part permits, if necessary.
- 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 an Examiner, an electronic copy of the revised plans, along with a paper copy, must be submitted to the Examiner with the changes clearly labelled and red-lined.
Requirement for Scanning
All scanned documents must meet the following requirements:
- Plans/drawings must be at a resolution that is easily legible on screen, and the pages must not be skewed.
- Scanned resolutions of 1-bit black and white 300 dpi is usually acceptable. For plans/drawings containing fine lines and detail, 600 dpi resolution is required.
- Do not reduce the scanned document size.
- Scanning documents in full colour is only necessary if it contains photographs.
Email/Secure File Transfer
