HVAC Design & Mechanical Drawings — Collingwood
Collingwood will not issue a permit for a new dwelling until the mechanical package is in. Here is exactly what the municipality asks for, what the design temperature is, and what it costs to have it done.
A Collingwood permit package starts from the SB-1 design temperature of -21 °C (Table 2). It includes the CSA F280-12 heat loss and heat gain, ventilation design data for OBC 9.32, duct design and layout, and the Energy Efficiency Design Summary, reviewed and sealed by a BCIN-registered designer. Heat loss and gain from $395; the full mechanical package $695; 48 hours from complete plans.
What Collingwood actually asks for
From the municipality's own permit checklist:
- Heat Loss / Heat Gain Calculations and Furnace make / model
- Mechanical Ventilation Form
- Energy Efficiency Design Summary (EEDS) Form - Prescriptive Method
- Energy Efficiency Design Summary (EEDS) Form - Performance Method
Schedule 1: Not named. Requires designer name, registration number, BCIN, signature and stamp on the drawings.
Verify on the municipality's own page →
Checklists change. Check the current one before you submit — and if the letter you received names a document you have never heard of, send it to us and we will tell you what it is.
The design temperature
Every number in a heat loss calculation depends on the outdoor temperature the house is designed for, and the province sets it — not the designer.
Collingwood: -21 °C (-6 °F) — January 2.5% design temperature January 1%: -23 °C · Degree-days below 18 °C: 4,180
Source: Ontario Building Code SB-1 (2024), Table 2 — Climatic Design Data. Basis: listed in SB-1.
A calculation run at the wrong design temperature is wrong by roughly the amount the temperature is wrong by, and it is one of the commonest reasons a reviewer sends a package back. If you are comparing quotes, ask which design temperature the designer is using before you compare anything else.
What each document actually is
| Document | What it is |
|---|---|
| Heat loss and heat gain calculations | The room-by-room load. Everything else is sized off this. |
| Formula sheet | The working behind the numbers, so a reviewer can follow them. |
| Thermal load calculator | The envelope assemblies and areas the loads were built from. |
| Air leakage calculator | The infiltration assumption, stated rather than buried. |
| Residential ventilation summary | The OBC 9.32 ventilation design, on the HRAI summary form. |
| Duct design and layout | Supply and return sizing, register locations, cfm per room. |
| Energy Efficiency Design Summary | How the house meets SB-12, prescriptive or performance. |
| Radiant in-floor design | Loop layout, spacing, manifolds and lengths. |
| Hydraulic load calculations | Flow and head for a hydronic system. |
Who is allowed to sign it
You hire a qualified designer. They complete the Schedule 1 Designer Information Form with their BCIN and take responsibility for the design.
You are the owner, building on your own lot. Ontario Building Code Division C, Article 3.2.5.1.(3)(b)(i) exempts an owner who designs a house they own from the designer qualification requirements. You can file the documents yourself. The calculations still have to be correct — the exemption is about who may design, not about the standard the work has to meet.
Tell us which applies and we will tell you what you need before you pay.
What it costs
| Includes | Price | Turnaround | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heat loss and heat gain | Room-by-room loads, worksheet, design conditions, equipment sizing basis, assumptions, seal page | $395 | 48 hours |
| Full mechanical package | The above plus ventilation design, duct design and layout, EEDS, and radiant layout where applicable | $695 | 48 hours |
Forty-eight hours from complete plans and payment. If the building department asks for a correction to something we got wrong, we fix it and reissue at no charge while your application is open.
See a complete sample package →
Common questions
Do I need all of these documents? Not always. A heat loss calculation alone satisfies some permits; a new dwelling with a hydronic system needs close to the full list. Send the plans and we will tell you which.
The department has already asked and my build is held up. That is the most common reason people call. The 48-hour turnaround exists for exactly that.
My HVAC contractor says he will size it. He may be right about the equipment. The building department still needs the documents, and the Code requires equipment capacity to be based on the calculated design heat loss.
I'm adding a basement apartment, not building a house. Different job: no drawings, an existing furnace, and a check that it can carry both units. Here is how that works → The design temperature and the checklist above apply to it just the same.
Does an ICF or high-performance house change the answer? Same procedure, different inputs. The result usually comes out substantially lower, and more of the difference comes from air sealing than from the wall's R-value. We run that comparison on every job.
Start
Send your plans — we'll tell you what you need before you pay →
Building in Collingwood? Full HVAC package in days.
Upload your plans and we produce the complete BCIN-stamped mechanical design at the correct -21°C Zone 6 design temperature, ready for the Town of Collingwood Building Department.
See the PackageGet a Free QuoteBuilding in Collingwood: what changes the design
Collingwood is on the Georgian Bay shoreline, in the snowbelt below Blue Mountain. The bay keeps the design temperature a bit milder than Barrie or Orillia, but the wind and the snow load make a real difference to how a house behaves in winter.
A lot of Collingwood work is second homes and chalet-style builds with big glass walls, vaulted great rooms and lofts. Those rooms are where HVAC designs go wrong. Hot air rises into the peak, the floor stays cold, and the owner blames the furnace. The fix is in the design: supply placement, returns up high and down low, and often radiant in the floor.
We also do a steady stream of infill rebuilds and additions in the older parts of town, where the existing system was sized decades ago by rule of thumb.
Common Collingwood projects we design for
- Chalets and vaulted great rooms near Blue Mountain
- New custom homes and infill rebuilds
- Additions on older homes
- Radiant floors in walkout basements
What to send us
- Floor plans and elevations, or a clear sketch with room sizes
- Window sizes and type (or the window schedule)
- Your fuel: natural gas, propane, oil, electric or heat pump
- Anything special: radiant floors, a garage or shop, a second unit
What the Collingwood examiner looks for
The building department wants a CSA F280 room-by-room heat loss at the Collingwood design temperature (-21 C), equipment sized from that number, a duct or piping layout, ventilation that meets the code, and the designer's BCIN on Schedule 1. Miss one and the permit comes back. We send it all together so it goes through the first time.
Have plans ready? Send them in and we will call you back with a price. Want the background first? Read what a full HVAC design package includes.
Upload your floor plans and we deliver a BCIN-stamped CSA F280 heat loss report from $395, or the complete HVAC permit package — mechanical drawings, MVDS, Schedule 1, BCIN stamp on every page — from $695. Delivered in 48 hours, accepted by every Ontario building department. Free quote within 24 hours, no obligation.
- CSA F280 at your municipality’s design temperature
- MVDS & Schedule 1 included
- BCIN stamp on every page
- 48-hour delivery, province-wide
- Free quote in 24 hours — or call 705-533-1633