Early accessYou found us early — Done By the Book is free while we finish testing, and the app tells you plainly what's still being verified.
Get your Cold Lake basement permit ready
the first time.
Below: everything Cold Lake asks for, researched from the municipality's own pages. Better: a free tool that reads a photo of your hand-drawn plan and tells you what's missing — before the permit counter does.
Why bother getting it right first
The paperwork is the cheap part
1 in 5
permit applications audited in Toronto were missing required documents at intake — and cities everywhere are cracking down on incomplete files
$1,200–$8,000
what permit consultants and design firms charge to do this thinking for you
$0
to find out if your own drawing is ready — the free tier covers the whole planning stage
Sources: Toronto Auditor General building-permit audit, Feb 2024; published GTA consultant rate guides. Alberta has its own version of the same problem — that's why Cold Lake's list below matters.
The official list
What Cold Lake asks for
Researched from coldlake.com on 2026-07-19. Not yet independently verified — requirements change, and the municipality's own page always has the final say. No fees listed on purpose: fee schedules change, so check the municipality's page for current amounts.
- 1
Building permit application
Asks whether the basement was developed at time of construction — finishing it later is a new, permit-triggering renovation. Includes a homeowner declaration for owners doing their own work on their own home.
- 2
Three copies of plans
Engineer-stamped drawings and schedules where required.
- 3
Floor plan with room and window sizes
- 4
Cross-section drawing
- 5
Property owner permission form — only if you're not the registered owner
- 6
Separate electrical, plumbing, and gas safety code permits
Required for changes or upgrades to those systems; each has a homeowner-declaration option.
- 7
Permit fee
The city's building permit fee schedule bylaw and safety codes fee schedule list amounts.
How to apply
Drop completed applications at City Hall (5513 - 48 Avenue) or email Planning & Development. The city must approve or refuse within 15 days of a complete application; a substantial start is required within 90 days. If the basement will become a suite, Cold Lake runs a secondary suite development incentive program — ask about it.
Here's the part nobody else does
A list is nice. A checked drawing is ready.
Every item above has to actually appear on your drawing — and missing items are exactly how applications bounce. Done By the Book closes that gap in three steps:
Print the free worksheet
A drawing worksheet built for permit drawings — measurement checklist on one side, sketch grid on the other. Pencil and paper. No signup.
Photograph your sketch
Snap it with your phone. The app reads your hand-drawn plan — room labels, dimensions, windows, the works.
See exactly what's missing
A readiness report, item by item, in your municipality's own terms — with where to write each missing thing on your drawing. Fix, re-scan, repeat until it's ready.
Then it walks the whole build with you
The app won't open the construction stage until your permit is issued — on purpose. After that: a stage-by-stage walkthrough in build order, with inspection checkpoints so nothing gets covered up before it's inspected.
And it shops your materials list around
Quantities from your measurements, priced at real stores from their own listed prices — one-stop totals, plus the cheapest-per-item route. On our test basement it found $703 in savings just by splitting the list across three stores.
Who inspects in Cold Lake
The Inspections Group Inc. (contracted by the City of Cold Lake)private accredited agency
Phone: 780-594-4494 · website
Two working days notice before any cover or concealment inspection — and provide safe access
Inspection agencies can change — confirm the current agency with the municipality before booking.
7 money programs may apply to a Cold Lake basement or suite project
Every program on our list is checked against its official page, with the date shown — including the closed ones that ads still sell. Most of them require a permitted, inspected project, which is exactly what this app gets you.
See the verified money listShow up to the Cold Lake counter ready
Sketch it tonight, scan it tonight, and know what's missing tonight. Free to start, works on your phone, in 8 languages — and it never pretends to be the municipality: the final say is always theirs.
Start my Cold Lake project — freeDone By the Book is independent, source-linked guidance for homeowners. It is not affiliated with the municipality and never guarantees approval — it helps you show up prepared. Permits in Alberta are required under the Safety Codes Act before regulated building, electrical, plumbing, gas, and HVAC work.