Become your own project manager. Done By the Book walks you through every step of your construction project — permits, codes, materials, and inspections — with practical answers and real code citations. Built for Canadian homeowners and tradespeople.
How it works
“Basement bathroom.” “Garage heater.” “Deck addition.” That’s enough. You instantly get an answer card: whether you need a permit, your local inspection agency, and what inspectors will check.
One tap opens a guided, step-by-step plan from planning to final inspection — with a materials list and video guides — so you always know what comes next, one stage at a time.
Ask code questions and get answers with clause citations. Work through an inspection checklist that saves your progress. And if an inspection doesn’t go your way, the deficiency decoder explains the note and how to fix it.
What's inside
A step-by-step roadmap for your specific project and city — from planning through rough-in to final inspection, with materials lists and video guides on each step.
Answers cite the code, edition, and section they draw on — and when the app doesn’t have a confirmed source for something, it tells you so instead of guessing.
Knows which code edition applies in your province or territory — and if you set a permit date, answers use the edition that was in force on that date.
Paste (or photograph) an inspector’s note and get a plain-language explanation of what’s wrong and how to fix it, with correction tracking until re-inspection.
The full app — including right-to-left Arabic — so you can work in the language you think in, and share answers with crews and clients in theirs.
Install it to your home screen like a native app (PWA). Your projects stay on your device — no account required.
Install
No app store needed. It's free, installs in seconds, and updates automatically.
Straight answers
Yes — Done By the Book is currently free to use.
No. It prepares you for them — what to expect, what to have ready, and what the code actually requires. Always confirm requirements with your local authority having jurisdiction.
National and provincial plumbing, gas, and building codes, plus Alberta STANDATA bulletins. Answers cite the clause and edition they come from. Topics without a confirmed source are flagged as general guidance rather than guessed.
Your saved projects, checklists, and notes live in your browser’s local storage — there’s no account and no server-side database, and they are never uploaded. Use the Export option in the app to back up. Two exceptions by design: photos, drawings, and PDFs you scan (plan scan, photo check, note decoder) are uploaded and sent to our AI provider to generate your results — don’t include faces, names, or personal information in them. And to improve the app, we collect anonymous usage data: which project types and cities are active, the questions typed into the assistant, inspection notes pasted into the decoder, and project dimensions entered for planning — never your name, your address field, or your saved project files.
We're launching Alberta-first, where our coverage is deepest — the code editions in force, inspection agency contacts, and local advisories. The groundwork for the rest of Canada (all 10 provinces and 3 territories) is already built and rolls out next.
Describe what you're working on and get your answer card in seconds — permits, your local agency, and what inspectors look for.
Start your project — it's free