Every week we talk to investors who started their project with the cheapest drafter they could find. Most of them are calling us because something stalled: the drafter stopped answering, the City sent back 30 comments nobody can explain, or the “$500 job” has quietly turned into $4,000 in extras. The drawings were never the expensive part. The delay was.
This post isn’t about telling you to overpay. It’s about changing the question you ask. Not “who is cheapest?” but “who will get this permit issued, and stay with me until it is?”
The Drawing Is Not the Product. The Permit Is.
A set of drawings is just the starting point. What you’re actually buying is a permit in hand, issued without months of back-and-forth, on drawings a contractor can price and build from.
Between submission and issuance, a lot happens:
- Examiner comments. Almost every conversion gets at least one round. Someone has to read them, understand the code intent behind them, revise the drawings and respond in writing.
- Consultant coordination. Structural, HVAC, energy efficiency and sometimes fire protection all have to line up with the architectural drawings. If they don’t, the City catches it.
- Zoning questions. Parking, unit count, setbacks and lot coverage can all surface mid-review.
- Phone calls and meetings. Sometimes the fastest fix is a 10-minute conversation with the examiner — if your designer is able and willing to have it.
The $500 quote usually covers the drawings. It rarely covers any of the above.
The Real Math: What a Cheap Quote Actually Costs
Let’s use a simple example. You own a $1.2M property you’re converting to a fourplex, financed at roughly 5%. That’s about $5,000 a month in interest alone — before property tax, insurance, utilities and lost rent.
Now say your permit takes three extra months because of poor drawings, slow responses and repeated resubmissions. That’s $15,000+ in carrying cost, plus three months of rent you didn’t collect, plus a contractor who may have moved on to another job.
Saving $2,000 on design fees to lose $20,000 in time is not a saving. It’s the most expensive line item on your project.
Five Questions to Ask Before You Hire Anyone
1. Will this person stay through the whole process?
Permits don’t end at submission. Comments often come back weeks later, and resubmissions can take a few rounds. Ask directly: “Is responding to examiner comments included? How many rounds?” A designer who disappears after submission leaves you holding a file nobody else wants to pick up mid-stream.
2. Are they easy to reach?
Call them before you hire them. Email them a question. How long did it take to get an answer? That is exactly how long it will take when the examiner has a question and the clock is running. Responsiveness during the sales process is the best it will ever be.
3. Can they talk code with the City?
This is the one most investors never think about. Conversions are full of judgment calls: fire separations, egress, existing conditions, Part 11 compliance alternatives. Examiners respond to designers who understand the code intent and can explain their approach clearly and professionally. A designer who can only redraw what they’re told will revise and resubmit, over and over, until something sticks.
4. Will the price stay the price?
Ask for the scope in writing. Specifically, ask whether these are included:
- Site visit and measured existing drawings
- Zoning review
- Responding to examiner comments (and how many rounds)
- Coordination with engineers and other consultants
- Revisions you request after the design is approved
- Calls or meetings with the City
The cheapest quotes are often cheap because they exclude almost everything on that list. Then the extras start: $300 here for a revision, $500 there for a resubmission. The snowball builds, the relationship sours, and you’re too far in to switch.
5. Did they give you the full picture — including the other consultants?
A designer who understands your project will tell you upfront what else you need. Depending on the job, that can include:
- Structural engineer (beams, removed walls, openings, new loads)
- HVAC designer (heat loss/gain calculations and duct design for each unit)
- Energy efficiency compliance (SB-12)
- Fire protection or sprinkler designer
- Ontario Land Surveyor (survey or topographic information)
- Geotechnical engineer, arborist or civil engineer on larger or new-build projects
If nobody tells you this at the start, you’ll find out from the examiner’s comment letter — after you’ve already lost weeks.
Verify Before You Sign
You can check a lot of this yourself in under an hour:
- Check their qualifications. In Ontario, a designer submitting permit drawings must be qualified (BCIN) or be a licensed architect or engineer. Look them up on the province’s public registry and confirm their category covers your building type — houses, small buildings and large buildings are separate categories.
- Ask for two or three recent, similar projects in your municipality that reached permit issuance. Not renderings — issued permits.
- Ask your network. Other investors, contractors and realtors know who answers the phone and who gets permits issued. Reputation in this industry is built project by project, and it travels.
Red Flags We See All the Time
- A flat fee with no written scope
- “Permit guaranteed” or “we know someone at the City”
- No site visit — they’ll “work from your photos”
- No mention of engineers or other consultants for a multi-unit conversion
- They don’t ask about zoning, existing unit status or parking
- You only ever reach them by text, and only at night
None of these automatically means bad work. Together, they usually mean a long, expensive permit process.
How Rojas Empire of Design Approaches This
We’re not the cheapest option, and we’re upfront about that. Here’s what you get instead:
- A written scope that spells out what’s included, from site visit to approved permit — including responding to examiner comments.
- A full consultant breakdown at the start, so you know every engineer and report your project needs before you commit.
- Experience talking with examiners and inspectors across dozens of Southern Ontario municipalities, so comments get resolved, not just redrawn.
- One team that stays on your file from the first site visit until we email you the approved permit.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a designer is not a purchase. It’s a partnership that lasts months. Make the choice the way you’d make any other investment decision: on track record, communication, scope and references — not on the lowest number in your inbox.
If you’re comparing quotes right now, send them our way. We’ll walk you through what each one actually includes, even if you don’t end up hiring us.
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