Most city permit systems run on two tracks — Toronto and NYC included. Building / general construction permits cover structural work — additions, new builds, changes to the building envelope, anything that requires a zoning review or sign-off from multiple disciplines. Trade permits cover plumbing, drain, HVAC, mechanical, and electrical work. They're reviewed within a single discipline, and they move much faster.
If you're a plumber or HVAC tech scanning permit data for leads, this distinction matters more than anything else. A trade permit can go from application to issued in days. A building permit for a major addition can sit in queue for months while the applicant waits on zoning review, hearings, or structural engineering approvals.
There are two statuses you'll encounter regularly: Application Submitted and Permit Issued. The difference is significant.
Application Submitted means the city has the paperwork. It hasn't been reviewed, approved, or cleared for work. The homeowner is still in a waiting period — and depending on the complexity of the project, that wait could stretch weeks or months.
Permit Issued means the city reviewed it, approved it, and the applicant can legally start work. That's your signal. That homeowner isn't planning to renovate someday — they're planning to renovate now. If they haven't sourced all their trades yet, you have a very short window.
Interior alteration permits without structural changes are among the fastest-moving in the city. Basement finishing, bathroom roughed-in plumbing, kitchen gut-renos — these don't require zoning review, don't touch the building envelope, and don't need a structural engineer on file. They get reviewed and issued quickly, and the work often starts within weeks of approval.
Trade permits for drain, plumbing, and HVAC mechanical are in the same category. A homeowner pulling a drain permit for a basement bathroom is already committed. The money is allocated. The project is real. If the permit is issued, they're looking for a licensed plumber right now, not in three months.
What to deprioritize: new build permits and large addition applications in the early submission stage. These are legitimate future leads, but they're not near-term opportunities. A new build in Etobicoke with a permit application filed this week might not break ground for four to six months. The subtrades won't be sourced until the GC is onboard and drawings are finalized. Chase these if you're planning ahead, but don't expect a call back next week.
If you're running a trade business — plumbing, HVAC, electrical, drain — your daily filter should look something like this: trade permits with "Permit Issued" status first, interior alteration permits with "Permit Issued" status second. Everything else is secondary.
A drain permit issued on a semi in Leslieville on Monday is a homeowner who can start their basement bathroom this month. That's not a cold lead. That's someone who has already done the paperwork, paid the city fees, and is actively looking for a contractor. Your job is just to show up before someone else does.
New builds and large structural permits are worth tracking if you do that kind of work — but understand the timeline. Use them for pipeline planning, not for next week's schedule.
Every city's neighbourhoods have different development patterns. In Toronto, older inner-city wards like Beaches-East York and Parkdale-High Park generate heavy renovation volume on aging housing stock, while Scarborough and North York skew toward new builds and additions. In NYC it's borough by borough — a Manhattan commercial fit-out is a different stream than a Queens or Staten Island residential renovation. Knowing which areas produce the most relevant permit types for your trade saves you time when you're sorting through daily data.
Nova Essentials pulls daily permit data from Toronto and New York City and filters it by trade and area — so you're not sorting through the full feed manually.
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