Plumbing
Under the Ontario Building Code, the person who is issued a permit is required to provide notification to the Building Standards department when various stages of construction are ready to be inspected. Several inspections are required.
Preliminary meetings: These may be requested by the permit holder or, in some cases, may be required by the building inspector. Preliminary meetings provide an opportunity to discuss the project prior to the start of construction. These meetings can be scheduled with the Building Standards department.
Not all stages of inspection will apply to every project. Please call the Building Standards department to clarify which stages of construction require inspections.
The following inspection categories apply to small, large and complex buildings:
Site services (water services, fire mains and outside sewers): An inspection is required before backfilling of water service, sanitary and storm sewers. The required piping colour codes are: white for storm sewer and green for sanitary sewer.
Water service: An inspection is required before backfilling of water service mains.
Building drains (inside drains): An inspection is required before covering the plumbing located below the floor slab.
Plumbing rough-in (interior above-ground plumbing): An inspection is required before covering drains, vents and the water distribution system. The inspection will require testing of the systems to be conducted in the presence of the inspector.
Plumbing final: All plumbing is complete. All fixtures are installed and operational prior to occupancy, and water meter is installed.
Read more about how to schedule an inspection for a construction project.
Does the property have a septic system? Find out if the system requires a Provincially-mandated onsite sewage inspection.
Additional Resources
- Build Right Ontario
- Code of Conduct for Building Officials (PDF)
- Ministry of Municipal Affairs
- Ontario Association of Architects
- Ontario Building Code
- Ontario Building Code Act, 1992
- Ontario Building Officials Association
- Ministry of Labour
- Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change
- Professional Engineers of Ontario
- Tarion