Get your Foothills County basement permit ready
the first time.
Below: everything Foothills County asks for, researched from the county'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 Foothills County's list below matters.
The official list
What Foothills County asks for
Researched from foothillscountyab.ca on 2026-07-18. Not yet independently verified — requirements change, and the county's own page always has the final say. No fees listed on purpose: fee schedules change, so check the county's page for current amounts.
- 1
Building Permit Application
A four-page carbon-paper form filled out with a Foothills County representative — this one is done in person.
- 2
Letter of Authorization — if you're not the registered land owner
- 3
TWO copies of construction plans
Preferred scale: quarter inch to the foot (minimum three-sixteenths). Floor plans must show existing AND proposed.
- 4
Floor plans
Each room's use and size, total area being developed, smoke alarm and CO detector locations, mechanical room door size, bedroom window locations and sizes (egress), any new fireplaces, and details of structural changes.
- 5
On private sewage and adding bedrooms?
The system must be examined by a certified private sewage installer or designer first.
- 6
Engineering — if required
- 7
Permit fee — paid at time of application
Schedule on the county's page.
How to apply
Apply in person at the county office, Monday to Friday before 4:00 pm — the form is completed with a county representative. Processing is about two weeks.
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 city'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 Foothills County
Foothills County Building Servicesmunicipal
Phone: 403-603-6216 · website
Book inspections by phone at 403-603-6216
7 money programs may apply to a Foothills County 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 Foothills County 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 county: the final say is always theirs.
Start my Foothills County project — freeDone By the Book is independent guidance for homeowners, built with certified Alberta safety codes officers. It is not affiliated with the county 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.