A 1960s brick bungalow at dusk with a cantilevered two-storey cedar addition, its tall windows glowing warm against a deep blue sky
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Room to grow,
drawn properly.

Additions and new houses in Oakville, from the zoning question to the building permit and the build.

See your project's pathOur houses

What are you building?

  1. Check what the zoning by-law allows on your lot

    The by-law sets what can be built where. We read it for your lot before we draw.

  2. Design the addition with the house you have

    What stays, what opens up, and how new rooms meet old ones.

  3. Building permit

    For a house, the city issues or refuses a complete application within 10 days. Weekends and holidays don't count.

  4. Build, with notices to the city at set stages

    The city is told at set stages, from footings and foundations through framing and insulation.

The permit clock, in days.

10daysfor the city to issue a permit for a house or refuse it with written reasons, once the application is complete. Weekends and holidays don't count.Ontario Building Code, O. Reg. 332/12, Division C, Article 1.3.1.3 and Table 1.3.1.3
15–30daysfor other classes of building: 15, 20 or 30 days, depending on the class.Ontario Building Code, O. Reg. 332/12, Division C, Article 1.3.1.3 and Table 1.3.1.3

Houses

  • A skylit open kitchen and living space with oak cabinets, a long concrete counter and a wall of glass onto a snowy garden
    Skylit kitchen additionConcept project, Oakville
  • A new two-storey house with a board-formed concrete base, a cedar upper floor, black windows and a flat roof with a deep overhang
    Concrete base, cedar upper floorConcept project, Oakville
  • The back of a 1960s brick bungalow with a new flat-roofed cedar addition and large black-framed glass doors opening to a stone patio
    Rear addition in cedarConcept project, Oakville
  • An Ontario street of mid-century brick houses at dusk, one with a new cedar and glass second-storey addition lit from within
    Second-storey addition on a 1960s streetConcept project, Oakville
  • A new two-storey house in pale stone and dark timber with warm lit windows and a flat roof at dusk
    A new house in stone and timberConcept project, Oakville
  • A brick house with a timber-clad rear addition, sliding glass doors and a planted roof edge beside a birch tree
    Rear addition with a planted roof edgeConcept project, Oakville
  • A double-height living room with a concrete fireplace wall, oak floor and a long run of black-framed windows onto a garden
    Double-height living roomConcept project, Oakville

These are concept projects drawn to show the kind of work the studio does. They are not finished jobs for clients.

Three people lean over house plans and a cardboard massing model on a wooden kitchen table, one holding a pencil

A project starts at a table.

We sit down with the house you have, a pencil and a tape. You say what the house needs to do. We say what the lot and the by-law allow.

  1. The house and the lot. What you have, what you would change and what the zoning by-law says about the lot.
  2. Drawings and a model. Plans you can mark up and a simple model of the new volume, so the size is clear before it is final.
  3. The path to a permit. A minor variance if the plan needs one, then a complete application to the city.

What each step involves

Start with your lot.

Leave a number or an email and say what you would like to build. The first conversation is about the house you have, what you want from it, and what the by-law allows on the lot.

Or call 905-555-0124 · hello@tarnhill.example

Concept site: this form doesn't send anything.