What does a full HVAC design package cost in Orillia?

A complete BCIN-stamped package — CSA F280 heat loss/gain, equipment sizing, mechanical drawings, MVDS and Schedule 1 — starts at $695, typically delivered in 3-5 business days. A standalone heat loss report starts at $395.

What design temperature do you use for Orillia?

-25C, the Orillia OBC January 2.5% value from SB-1 (Climate Zone 6) — colder than Barrie (-24C), approaching Muskoka (-26C), and far below the GTA (-18C).

Do you handle the MVDS ventilation requirement?

Yes. The Mechanical Ventilation Design Summary is mandatory under OBC 2024 and is included in every package — HRV/ERV selection, airflow rates and the completed MVDS form, BCIN-stamped.

Is the package submitted to Simcoe County or the City?

To the City of Orillia Building Department. Orillia is a separated city and runs its own building department.

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HVAC Design & Mechanical Drawings — Orillia

Orillia publishes no mechanical checklist, which means the requirement usually arrives after you have applied. Here is what they will want, and the design temperature your calculation has to use.

Quick Answer

A Orillia permit package starts from the SB-1 design temperature of -25 °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.

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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.

Orillia: -25 °C (-13 °F) — January 2.5% design temperature January 1%: -27 °C · Degree-days below 18 °C: 4,260

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.

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Building in Orillia? Full HVAC package in days.

Upload your plans and we produce the complete BCIN-stamped mechanical design at the correct -25°C Zone 6 design temperature, ready for the City of Orillia Building Department.

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Building in Orillia: what changes the design

Orillia sits between Lake Simcoe and Lake Couchiching, and it is one of the colder design points in Simcoe County. A furnace or heat pump that is fine in Toronto can come up short here on a January night. That is why we never copy a GTA design into an Orillia permit.

Most of what we see in Orillia falls into three groups: century homes near the downtown core getting gutted and re-done, newer subdivisions on the edges of the city, and cottages along the lakes and up toward Severn and Ramara being turned into year-round homes. Each one needs a different approach to ducts and venting.

In older Orillia houses the hard part is usually the ductwork, not the furnace. Plaster walls and tight floor joists leave little room for proper returns upstairs. We plan the trunk and branch routes on the drawings so your installer is not guessing on site.

Common Orillia projects we design for

Gut renovations of older homes near downtown
Cottage to year-round conversions on Couchiching and Simcoe
Additions where the existing furnace may not keep up
Basement apartments and second units

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 Orillia examiner looks for

The building department wants a CSA F280 room-by-room heat loss at the Orillia design temperature (-25 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.

Permit-Ready in 48 Hours

Building in Orillia? Get the Permit Package.

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.