8 Details You Don‘t Want to Miss While Doing Construction in Toronto (I)
Whether in business or in life, a good relationship with your neighbours can avoid many problems. However, it is not a quick process if you renovate your home or store and may even cause inconvenience to your neighbours.
In our last article, we introduced the Building Permit that you must apply for before you start renovating your store, restaurant, or your home.
In this post, JY Construction will introduce some details that you can pay more attention to during the renovation to maintain a good relationship with your neighbours even during the construction period!
Working together as “Good Neighbours”
Renovating and refurbishing your home can contribute to the health, vitality and value of your community. However, if a building project is not properly planned and managed, it can have a detrimental impact on your neighbours.
Whether you are a property owner or a construction professional, you want to make sure that your building project does not have a bad impact on yourself and your neighbours.
As a property owner, you are ultimately responsible for any construction project on your land. As a construction professional, you can limit unnecessary disruptions and create a positive image for your business by being considerate of the neighbourhood. Working together as good neighbours, you can run a project successfully and safely.
Some examples of construction:
- Building a terrace, balcony or garage
- Renovating an office, store or building
- Making new openings or changing the size of windows and doors
- Constructing a new building
- Demolishing or removing all or part of a building
Communicate with neighbours
It is important that you keep your neighbours informed of your building plans. Before you begin work on your building project, you should:
- Tell your neighbours what your plans are by writing a letter or visiting them in person.
- Tell them how long construction will take.
- Provide them with a way to contact you if they have concerns about the project or if there is an emergency.
- Post your building permit in a conspicuous place in your house.
When neighbous are well informed about your project, they tend to be more understanding and supportive.
Site Clean Up
You should collect and remove waste on a regular basis. Prompt clean up of garbage and construction waste keeps the site from becoming a health and safety hazard and an eyesore.
Remove any mud that flows onto city streets and sidewalks. If mud removal is a serious concern, trucks should be hosed down before leaving the site. You should immediately flush and/or sweep any roads that have large mud buildup.
Failure to keep your site clean of construction debris may result in fines under City Bylaws.
Dumpsters, Construction Bins & Hoardings
Before beginning a demolition, renovation or construction project, you will need to obtain a Street Occupation Permit if you are using an area beyond your construction limits (sidewalk, roadway or public driveway).
Please call 311 or email 311@toronto.ca for information on contacting your local permit office.
Noise Control
The Noise Bylaw (Chapter 591, City of Toronto Municipal Code) permits only allow the operation of construction equipment from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, with no construction noise allowed on Sundays and legal holidays (amending bylaw 505-2006).
Even during periods when construction is allowed, noise levels should be reduced as much as possible out of consideration for neighbours. This is an important part of being a good neighbour.
Although these may seem like small details, you can not only maintain the relationship with each other, but also avoid unnecessary troubles by thinking more for your neighbours and community.
Our professional construction team at JY Construction can also help you get through the construction period of your store, restaurant, or house with their years of experience.
In the next article, JY Construction will introduce the remaining 3 details that you should pay attention to when renovating or refurbishing your house or store.