You bought a new home. What now?

Spring is in the air! It’s the time of year when we often begin spring cleaning, organizing and home maintenance projects. The City of Calgary website is a great place to find a wealth of helpful information. For homeowner information and resources, check out our new web hub, calgary.ca/myhome.

My Home brings together many planning and development aspects that homeowners often have questions about. The resources available can help guide homeowners through maintenance, home renovations, inspections, landscaping, hiring a contractor, electrical work, plumbing and more. This new comprehensive tool is user-friendly and informative. It allows you to easily research project planning information, print permit requirement lists and even book permit application appointments online. If after reviewing the information online you still have questions, contact our staff at the Planning Services Centre at 403-268-5311, Monday to Friday from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Home maintenance
Home maintenance is essential to keeping your home safe, healthy and functioning properly. The Inspection and Maintenance tab on My Home allows you to filter the key elements of home maintenance projects by the frequency they are recommended. For example, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors and dryer vents are items that should be checked frequently. Information on how to check these things is included in each section. Water heaters and backwater valves fall under the “once a year” category, while duct cleaning is less often at every two years. Replacement of carbon monoxide alarms and smoke alarms fall into the five to 10 year categories. Having a maintenance schedule can help alleviate expensive surprises and allow you to anticipate future maintenance projects before they become an emergency.

Home renovations
The home improvement hub on My Home, which can be visited directly at calgary.ca/homeimprovement, lists common renovation type projects, from decks and fences to secondary suites and additions. Selecting a project type from the list provides detailed information about which permits are required and why, as well as associated bylaw and building code considerations. Although descriptions simplified for the average homeowner where possible, a glossary of building and development terms is also included. This is helpful in providing clarity on construction and development terms, with which you may not be familiar. A property information search tool also allows you to check the land use district for your address. This can save you time that you may have previously spent on hold to talk with a planning services representative over the phone.

Web information
We are constantly expanding our website and improving our services to help citizens have simple and accurate access to the information you need to make informed decisions. As a plans examiner, it has been exciting to see how many added services have been developed over the last few years. To date this year, more than 85 per cent of all new single family home applications from home builders have been processed online. Over the next several years, more online services will be made available in permitting, licensing and approval services for homeowners as well. We encourage you to go online today and see how The City is working to serve you better.


About the author
Vanessa Gash has been a plans examiner with Calgary Building Services at The City of Calgary for five years, and is a graduate in Architectural Engineering Technology from College of the North Atlantic. Prior to working at The City, she spent many years in the commercial and residential construction industry in Calgary.