Home Renovations in Burnaby, BC

For anything beyond minor works, yes. The City of Burnaby requires a permit for any construction project that includes the excavation, erection, enlargement, alteration, removal, fire repair or demolition of a building or structure, including accessory buildings. Minor works such as replacing fixtures, cabinets and flooring, painting inside, or minor non-structural repairs outside don't need one. The City sorts permitted work into alterations, additions and restorations. Source: City of Burnaby, Home Improvement Permits, verified September 2026.

An alteration changes an existing building without creating floor area, such as interior or exterior changes, adding a bathroom, moving walls or adding a secondary suite. An addition is any change to the footprint or increase in floor area, including expanding garages, awnings, patio covers, fences, retaining walls, decks and hot tubs; an attached garage is an addition, while a detached garage or a new accessory building counts as a new building. Both are applied for online, and the City notes that an addition may also need a development permit. Source: City of Burnaby, Home Improvement Permits, verified September 2026.

Under Burnaby's Noise or Sound Abatement Bylaw, construction, alteration or repair work may run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays or statutory holidays. The exception is the registered owner and occupier of a home in a residential district, who may have alteration or repair work done on that home, personally or through a contractor, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays and statutory holidays. The City can vary the hours by written permit where compliance is impractical. Source: City of Burnaby, Noise or Sound Abatement Bylaw 1979, section 15, verified September 2026.

Only for a protected tree, but a renovation lowers the bar. Burnaby's Tree Bylaw protects conifers of 30.5 cm and broadleaf trees of 45.7 cm in diameter or more on an ordinary lot, but on a property with a development application, which the bylaw defines to include a building or demolition permit application, it protects any tree of 20.3 cm or more. Cutting down or damaging a protected tree needs a tree cutting permit, replacement trees are a condition of those permits, and the City's bird nesting season runs March 15 to August 15. Sources: City of Burnaby, Burnaby Tree Bylaw 1996, sections 2 and 3, and Tree Removal & Replacement, verified September 2026.

For additions and alterations to an existing single-family home or duplex, the City's intake checklist asks for a current land title search with any restrictive covenants, an owner's undertaking signed by all owners, records of any existing City permits and drawings for the house, and drawings that comply with the BC Building Code and the R1 district of the Zoning Bylaw in its entirety. Structural drawings sealed by an engineer are needed where structure changes, and a heritage and archaeology checklist where the property is flagged. Source: City of Burnaby, R1 Additions and Alterations submission checklist (revised July 2026), verified September 2026.

On top of the alteration list, the City's checklist asks an addition for a reduced site plan, a streamside development permit before the building permit if the property is in a streamside protection area, a geotechnical report if it is flagged for floodplain or slope instability, and an engineer's checklist and diagram of clearances from existing BC Hydro overhead lines. Adding a dwelling unit also brings Energy Step Code documents. Source: City of Burnaby, R1 Additions and Alterations submission checklist (revised July 2026), verified September 2026.

Those are restorations. The City says repairs to a building damaged by fire or another disaster may need a building permit, and repairs to roofs, foundations and structure require one. Restoration permits are applied for in person at City Hall, and they are one of the few applications Burnaby still takes and issues on paper. Sources: City of Burnaby, Home Improvement Permits and General Building Information, verified September 2026.

Burnaby now issues residential building permits digitally, but the applicant must print the City-issued permit and keep it posted in a conspicuous place on site for the duration of the work, and keep a full-size colour set of the City-approved, stamped drawings on site at all times for inspections. Source: City of Burnaby, General Building Information, verified September 2026.

On our projects, a bathroom renovation runs 4 to 8 weeks and a basement finished as a recreation room 6 to 10 weeks, measured from demolition. That is our own clock; the Burnaby permit pages we read give no processing time for renovation permits, and since July 1, 2026 some projects need a development permit before the building permit can be submitted or issued. Source: City of Burnaby, General Building Information, verified September 2026.

Yes. Kyrax Developments Ltd. holds BC Housing Residential Builder Licence #57802, in good standing, as a General Contractor and Developer. On a Burnaby renovation that means a single contract for the whole job: we pull the permits, coordinate the trades and book the inspections, and permitted work is inspected the same as any other licensed scope of work. Verify the licence on the BC Housing Licence Registry.

Yes. Bathroom renovations in Burnaby covers the City's trade permits for a bathroom, and basement suites in Burnaby covers the suite rules in the new Zoning Bylaw.