Pick a city, enter construction value, get a planning estimate of the main building-permit fee. Formulas come from our verified city guides. Official schedules and invoices still win.
Independent planning tool only. This site is not the city, the province, or a building department. Numbers below are planning estimates encoded from formulas already published in our city guides. They are not a quote, invoice, or guarantee. Confirm every figure with the official municipal fee schedule or estimator before you budget, apply, or spend money. Fee bylaws change. Incomplete applications change the bill. DCCs/DCLs, plumbing, electrical, gas, damage deposits and development permits are usually extra.
Choose a city with a calculable formula (Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo, Richmond, Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam, Saanich, Langford, Cowichan Valley renovations, Abbotsford, White Rock, Kelowna, Kamloops) or Duncan, a link-out city where we show the published fee figures as text and link to the official fee sheet. The City of Langley is listed separately from the Township of Langley; its figures were checked on October 9, 2026. The Township of Langley is listed separately from the City of Langley; its figures were checked on October 9, 2026. White Rock’s figures were checked on October 9, 2026. Every other city’s figures were checked against its official bylaw or fee page on October 5, 2026; Surrey was re-checked and New Westminster added on October 9, 2026.
If your invoice has lines you do not see in the estimator, that is normal. The estimator is the main building-permit ladder only — unless a city’s guide documented an application fee we could verify.
There is no single provincial building-permit price list. Each local government sets fees under its own fees-and-charges bylaw. Some use a flat percentage of construction value (Victoria’s 1.40% is the cleanest example). Some use stepped per-$1,000 rates that fall as the job gets bigger (Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Langford, Nanaimo). Surrey adds a flat up-front payment by value band on top of its per-$1,000 ladder. Abbotsford, Kelowna, Kamloops and Surrey publish construction-value ladders in their bylaws, and the tool now calculates them exactly as published (our arithmetic from the published schedule; confirm with the City).
That is why a $60,000 kitchen-and-structure renovation can land in different brackets depending on the address. Victoria charges a percentage on construction cost excluding plumbing and electrical. Vancouver ignores percentages entirely and walks a stepped table. Saanich collects a tiered application fee up front, but it counts toward the per-$1,000 permit fee rather than adding to it. Langford’s application fee is already inside the Appendix A total. Comparing cities with a vague “budget 1–2%” rule is how people underfund the permit line and then blame the counter.
Fees also change on January 1 in many Metro Vancouver cities, and mid-year when a fees bylaw is amended. The rules in this tool were last checked on the review date shown at the top of the page. If your project is months out, re-read the current schedule before you lock a pro forma.
Cities do not all define construction value the same way, but the pattern is blunt: it is the cost of the work the permit covers, as accepted by the building department — not your wishful bid, not assessed value, and not the mortgage draw. Soft costs, appliances, and furniture usually sit outside. Some cities deem value by floor area ($/m² tables) when your declared number looks low. Lowballing to shrink the fee is a common way to get reassessed, delayed, or accused of misrepresentation.
Victoria is explicit that plumbing and electrical value is excluded from the 1.40% base. Other cities usually want the full cost of the work in the construction-value field and then bill plumbing separately by fixture. Read the city note under the estimator when you pick a jurisdiction.
Victoria fee waiver (verified on 2026-10-05). The City of Victoria’s Development Fee Waiver Bylaw No. 26-020, s.4, sets the building permit fees in Schedule A of Building and Plumbing Regulation Bylaw 17-113 (items a–f: the application fee, the permit fee, the higher fee for work started without a permit, and extension, plan-revision and re-inspection fees) to $0, along with plumbing permit fees (items h–m), City electrical permit fees (Schedule E of the Electrical Safety Regulation Bylaw) and land-use application fees (Schedule A of the Land Use Procedures Bylaw). Under s.3 it applies to complete applications received after its adoption on January 29, 2026, up to and on the day it is repealed; s.5 repeals it 12 months after adoption (the City gives January 29, 2027). It is not limited to housing. The excavation deposit (Schedule A item g) is not waived, and charges under bylaws the waiver does not list, such as development cost charges, are not covered by it. If your permit will be issued after the repeal date, confirm with the City whether the fee is still $0. The estimator shows Victoria’s normal Schedule A fees, labelled as the fees that apply outside the waiver, with the $0 waiver line beneath them. Bylaw 26-020 (PDF)
Coquitlam: confirm with the City. Schedule D Table 1 of Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 5484 gives each value row a base fee and a fee per $1,000 of estimated construction, and the City publishes no worked example, so it can be read two ways. Reading A applies the row’s rate to the whole value; the estimator uses this reading (by our arithmetic, $60,000 = $510.70 + 60 × $13.70 = $1,332.70). Reading B applies the rate only to the value above the row’s start ($60,000 = $510.70 + 10 × $13.70 = $647.70). The estimator shows both figures. Schedule D also lists the application fee as $106.70 “or 50% of the issuance fee” without saying which applies; the estimator shows $106.70.
For brand-new houses, construction value is often driven by a city valuation schedule rather than your builder’s contract. For renovations, expect the city to compare your number to recent similar files. If you are not sure what to enter, ask the building department how they want value declared before you hit submit — that five-minute call is cheaper than a revised fee letter.
| City | Mode | What we encode | Official source (verified) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | Formula | $100 application + 1.40% (ex. plumbing/electrical); sealed-plans reduction; work-without-permit toggle. These fees are $0 under the Development Fee Waiver Bylaw No. 26-020 s.4 for complete applications received after January 29, 2026, up to and on the repeal date (s.3, s.5; the City gives January 29, 2027); the estimate shows the normal fees. Verified 2026-10-05. | Bylaw 17-113 Sched. A, s.15(3); City fee sheet (Sept 3, 2026); verified 2026-10-05 |
| Vancouver | Formula | 2026 stepped per-$1,000 table; plumbing/DCL listed as often extra | 2026 Schedule of Fees, Building By-law Part A s.1(a); verified 2026-10-05 |
| Nanaimo | Formula | Bylaw 7336 bands; plumbing/suite/access/bond → city calculator | Bylaw 7336 (consol. June 1, 2026), Building Inspection fees; verified 2026-10-05 |
| Richmond | Formula | Bylaw 8636 ladder for all other building types + plan-processing credit | Bylaw 8636, Building Regulation schedule (2026 rates); verified 2026-10-09 |
| Surrey | Formula | Schedule A s.A.1 ladder ($64 for the first $1,000, then $15.00 / $11.74 / $10.64 per $1,000) + the non-refundable initial payment by value band, credited at issuance; deposits/DCCs extra | Bylaw 17850 Schedule A, s.A.1 and s.B and Fees Summary (eff. Apr 14, 2026); verified 2026-10-09 |
| Burnaby | Formula | 2026 base + per-$1,000; 20% application fee (credited toward the permit); optional RP reduction. New Bylaw 14850 rates apply from January 1, 2027 and are not used yet | 2026 Schedule of Building Permit Fees; Bylaw 13658 s.14(4); verified 2026-10-09 |
| New Westminster | Formula | Schedule A ladder ($18.50 per $1,000 or fraction to $50,000; $16.40 to $150,000; $14.40 above; $169 minimum) + the separate non-refundable $169 application fee; the 50% plan review fee is credited, so it does not change the total | Fees and Rates Bylaw No. 7683, Schedule A (2026); verified 2026-10-09 |
| Coquitlam | Formula | Schedule D Table 1 (without RP) + application fee. Two readings are possible: the estimator applies the rate to the whole value (reading A) and also shows the marginal-band figure (reading B); no official worked example, so confirm with the City | Bylaw 5484 Schedule D, Table 1 (eff. Apr 1, 2026); verified 2026-10-05 |
| Saanich | Formula | $100 for the first $1,000, then $13 / $10 per $1,000; tiered application fee counts toward it | Bylaw 9529 Appendix A, s.1–2; verified 2026-10-05 |
| Langford | Formula | Appendix A cumulative scale; application fee included | Bylaw 1160 Appendix A, Part B s.1 (consol. June 1, 2026); verified 2026-10-05 |
| Cowichan Valley (CVRD) | Formula | 1% for renovations and commercial, industrial or institutional projects (not new houses) | Bylaw 4433 Schedule A; verified 2026-10-05 |
| Abbotsford | Formula | Schedule G s.4(a) ladder ($100 to $10,000; $9.40 per $1,000 or portion to $50,000; $470 + $7.30 to $500,000; $3,755 + $6.00 above); s.3(a) application fee by type, credited at issuance (s.3(b)); link to the City’s official estimator. Registered-professional amounts not modelled. | Bylaw 1532-2006 Schedule G s.3, s.4(a); verified 2026-10-05 |
| City of Langley | Formula | Schedule 4 ladder ($200 to $10,000; $200 + $10.56 per $1,000 or part to $50,000; $576 + $10.23 to $100,000; $1,088 + $9.63 to $500,000; $5,286 + $10.00 above), applied exactly as published (it is not continuous at $50,000 and $500,000), + the application fee by type ($200 house work, $170 multi-family or commercial alteration, $2,200 new multi-family or commercial), credited at issuance (Building Bylaw 2498 s.11.6). RP reduction, double fees and taxes not modelled. | Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 2837, Schedule 4; verified 2026-10-09 |
| Township of Langley | Formula | Schedule 18 ladder ($52.50 to $1,000; + $9.75 per $1,000 or fraction to $50,000; + $10.00 to $1,000,000; + $9.50 above; $100 minimum) on the value you enter. The Township sets value from its own per-m² Valuation Schedule. No separate application fee is listed. Sustainable Construction Fee, energy review, file records, engineering review, RP reduction and bonds not modelled. | Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 4616, Schedule 18; verified 2026-10-09 |
| White Rock | Formula | Schedule A ladder ($234 to $1,000; $234 + $20 per $1,000 or part to $100,000; $2,214 + $16 to $250,000; $4,614 + $13 above) + the separate non-refundable application fee by type ($227 alteration or addition to a home, $840 new house or houseplex, $480 multi-family or commercial alteration), added to the total. CRP reduction, double fees and other new-building application fees not modelled. | 2026 Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 2554, Schedule A; verified 2026-10-09 |
| Kelowna | Formula | Schedule A s.1 ladder ($175 to $10,000; $175 + $9.55 per $1,000 or portion to $100,000; $1,034.50 + $8.05 to $500,000; $4,254.50 + $7.20 above), each rate on the value above its band start. Application fee not stated in Schedule A, so not included. Posted consolidation dated March 1, 2021: confirm with the City. | Bylaw 7245 Schedule A s.1 (consol. Mar 1, 2021); verified 2026-10-05 |
| Kamloops | Formula | Schedule C s.4 permit fee ($20 per $1,000 or part to $10,000; $200 + $7 per $1,000 or part above) plus the $175 non-refundable application fee, shown separately because Schedule C does not say it is credited. Confirm in ePermit. | Bylaw 44-14 Schedule C (consol. July 29, 2025); verified 2026-10-05 |
| Duncan | Link-out | Published fee sheet shown as text; check jurisdiction first | City fee sheet (undated); verified 2026-10-05 |
No. Abbotsford runs its own official estimator. Our tool applies the Schedule G s.4(a) ladder of Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 1532-2006 exactly as published and credits the s.3(a) application fee at issuance, as s.3(b) says. That is our arithmetic from the published schedule, so confirm the figure in the City’s estimator, which the result links to. The registered-professional reduction and the $95 and $712.50 registered-professional application fees on the City’s fees page are not modelled. For every city, our calculator is an original planning tool based on the published schedules cited in our guides.
Use it as a rough planning figure only. Lenders and sellers will not treat this page as an official quote. Get the figure from the city’s fee schedule, estimator, or intake staff once the scope is fixed.
Because Vancouver does not use a percentage for the building-permit line. The 2026 schedule is a stepped per-$1,000 charge. Applying Victoria’s 1.40% (or a blog’s “1–3%”) to a Vancouver job will mis-price the permit — sometimes high, sometimes low — and still miss DCLs and development-permit fees.
Usually no. Victoria excludes plumbing and electrical from the percentage base and still requires separate trade paths. Nanaimo and Vancouver list plumbing as extra. Electrical and gas are often Technical Safety BC (Victoria issues its own electrical permits). The estimator calls those out under “often extra” or “confirm on city calculator.”
Victoria’s guide documents a double-rate scenario on the first $20,000 of construction cost. The estimator exposes that as an optional penalty toggle so you can see the planning hit — it is not advice to start without a permit. Other cities have their own stop-work and fee-uplift rules; read the city guide.
Kelowna (Building Bylaw No. 7245, Schedule A s.1) and Kamloops (Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 44-14, Schedule C) are calculated from their published construction-value ladders. Kelowna’s Schedule A does not state an application fee, so none is added, and the consolidation the City links is dated March 1, 2021, so confirm the current figure with the City. Kamloops adds its $175 application fee separately because Schedule C does not say it is credited. By our arithmetic, a $60,000 job is $652.50 in Kelowna and $550 plus the $175 application fee in Kamloops. Duncan stays link-out: we show its undated fee sheet as text. Surrey is now calculated from Building Bylaw No. 17850, Schedule A, with the non-refundable initial payment shown as credited; by our arithmetic a $60,000 job is $949, with $150 paid up front. Surrey’s fees page no longer links its own estimator.
Rules are drawn from our city guides’ verified fee sections. Bylaws can change without updating this page the same day. Always confirm with the official source linked under the result.
This guide relies on the official pages below. Rules, fees and processes change, so check the authority before you apply or spend money.
Links checked October 5, 2026. Found an error or a broken link? Report it.