Most trades that pull permits in Toronto are working through a general contractor. The GC manages the homeowner relationship, coordinates the schedule, and handles the quote. The subtrade shows up when told to. The homeowner rarely knows who's doing the plumbing rough-in until the GC introduces them.
Drain work is different. A plumbing permit in Toronto is almost always filed directly by the plumbing contractor — not the GC. The permit applicant is the master plumber, and the work address is the homeowner's property. There's no intermediary between the permit data and the person writing the cheque.
Toronto's open permit data includes the work type, the civic address, the permit status, the application date, and a description field that usually specifies the scope — "replace interior drain stack," "install new basement drain," "sanitary lateral replacement," and so on.
That scope description matters. A sanitary lateral replacement on a detached house in East York is a $15,000–$30,000 job. A drain stack replacement in a Leaside semi is a different conversation than a floor drain installation in a Scarborough basement. The data gives you enough to walk in knowing what the homeowner is dealing with — which is more than most contractors have when they make contact.
A re-roofing permit or a deck permit can sit for weeks between filing and the homeowner picking a contractor. Drain work doesn't wait. When a homeowner has a failed sanitary lateral or a collapsed stack, the urgency is real. They've already called someone. They may have a temporary fix in place. The permit gets filed fast, and contractors get shortlisted fast.
The useful window on a plumbing permit lead is typically 48 to 96 hours from the application date. After that, the homeowner has almost certainly spoken to two or three contractors and is moving toward a decision. Getting the data the same day or the next morning isn't a convenience — it's a prerequisite for the lead being worth anything.
Interior plumbing permits — fixture additions, rough-ins for a basement bathroom, gas line relocations — often happen inside a larger renovation where a GC is coordinating everything. The permit may be filed by the plumber, but the homeowner is talking to the GC, not taking cold calls from subtrades.
Drain and sewer work is typically standalone. A homeowner on Woodbine Avenue whose clay sanitary lateral has failed isn't doing a renovation — they have an emergency. There's no GC in the picture. They need a drain contractor, they need one fast, and they're not loyal to anyone yet. That's exactly the situation where showing up first, with accurate information about their specific problem, wins the job.
The description field isn't always detailed. Some plumbing permits are filed with generic language — "plumbing alterations" — that doesn't tell you much beyond the address and the fact that work is happening. You'll need to make a judgment call on those based on neighbourhood and property type.
The data also won't tell you whether the homeowner has already signed with someone. That's what speed is for. A permit filed yesterday that you're calling on today has a much higher chance of being an open opportunity than one filed six days ago. Filtering by application date and working the fresh permits first is the only sensible approach.
The downtown core — King West, the Annex, Leslieville — has older housing stock and generates drain permit activity. But the postwar housing in North York, the mid-century semis in Scarborough, and the bungalows in Etobicoke and Rexdale generate significantly more drain replacement volume per square kilometre. These are houses with 60- to 70-year-old clay laterals and cast iron stacks that are failing on a predictable schedule.
A drain contractor covering North York and Scarborough alone will see more plumbing permit activity in a month than most roofers see in a season. The geography of the work matches the geography of the permit data — and the permit data tells you exactly where to go.
Nova Essentials pulls from Toronto's open permit data every day and sends you new drain and plumbing leads by neighbourhood, with the work type and application date included. Seven days free, $29/month after.
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