Almost every address here is in a city with its own building department and its own fee bylaw. Rural pockets go to Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley Regional District or the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.
In BC, building permits are issued by local governments, not the Province. The province has 161 municipalities and 27 regional districts. A municipality runs its own building department. Outside municipal boundaries, in rural electoral areas, the regional district is usually the permit authority, if it offers building inspection there at all. So the first question is always: which local government is your address in? Check your property tax notice, or type the address into our Permit Finder. Electrical and gas permits are separate and come from Technical Safety BC.
| Permit authority | Covers | Official page and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cities, townships and districts (Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, New Westminster, White Rock, Langley City, Langley Township, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Squamish and others) | Land inside municipal boundaries | Each runs its own building department and fee bylaw. See the city guides below. |
| Metro Vancouver | Electoral Area A communities, except the University of British Columbia and the University Endowment Lands | Metro Vancouver: Electoral Area A building permits. Phone 604-432-6200, under Building Administration Bylaw 1043. |
| Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) | FVRD electoral areas | FVRD: building. Since March 1, 2026 all applications go through the myFVRD online portal. Building@fvrd.ca, 604-702-5016. |
| Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) | Electoral Areas A, B, C and D | SLRD: building permits. Applications go through Cloudpermit; building@slrd.bc.ca. |
Stepped fees, the Vancouver Building By-law and DCLs.
Fees, the My Permits portal, SSMUH and inspections.
Fees, MyPermit, SSMUH and the flood plain.
Bylaw 17850 fees, applications and inspections.
Fees, slopes and the Tri-Cities.
Fees, E-Apply, heritage and inspections.
Bylaw 2554 fees, intake appointments and hillside rules.
Bylaw 2837 fees and the credited application fee.
Bylaw 4616 fees, eApply, ALR, septic and wells.
Contacts, the status tracker and ALR farm buildings.
Schedule B fees with a worked example, $75/hr revisions and expiry rules.
Bylaw 3185: $11 per $1,000, processing fees and inspection booking.
Project guides: Vancouver deck and secondary suite.
Apprenticeship, Red Seal and trade certification are run province-wide, so the same rules apply here as anywhere in BC. To find foundation programs and intakes at colleges near you, start with the BC trades seat finder. Then see how to register an apprenticeship, the Red Seal guide, BC trade salaries and apprentice funding.
Jobs that need a licence or certificate instead of an apprenticeship follow the same rules everywhere in BC. See the licensed and certified jobs index.
This page relies on the official pages below. Rules, fees and processes change, so check the authority before you apply or spend money.
Links checked November 1, 2026. Found an error or a broken link? Report it.