Up to four units
A zoning change in March 2025 allows up to four units on a property. A basement apartment can be one of them.
Ajax basement renovation contractor
Ajax basement finishing contractors
Ajax now allows up to four units on one property, so a basement renovation here is often a rental unit. Other owners simply want a dry, warm room for the family, and we build both.
Do you need a sump pump in a finished basement?
You need one if water gathers under or beside your basement, and a finished room raises the stakes. Some houses send weeping tile water away by gravity and never had a pit. We check how yours drains before any drywall goes up. If a pit and pump make sense, they go in while the floor is still bare concrete.
A town that began in 1941
Basements under the first Ajax houses
Ajax grew up beside a wartime munitions plant. Around 600 prefab houses went up for its workers, and renters were later allowed to buy them.
Houses put up that fast can hide things below. Low ceilings, patched walls or old drains all shape what a finished room can become.
Newer subdivisions usually give us more height to work with. There the job is mostly insulation, framing, a bathroom and plenty of light.
Old Kingston Road runs through Pickering Village, a heritage district the Town set up in 2013. A wider basement window on a street wall there may need a heritage permit first.
Renting the lower level
What the Town of Ajax offers unit builders
Ajax has made it easier to add a home inside a home. These are the pieces the Town has put in place.
Build More, Get More
This grant pays cash back on a new unit. It arrives after the permit is issued, the work is done and the permit is closed.
A lot checker
The Town teamed up with Resimate on an online map. Type in your address to see how well your lot suits an extra unit.
Two code guides
Building Services offers one guide under the Building Code and one under the Fire Code. Our drawings follow both.
Before you call
Does Ajax publish its own guide to finishing a basement?
Yes, Ajax Building Services lists a guide called Finished basements among its permit handouts.
You will find it on the Town's permits page, next to the guides for additional dwelling units.
Home permits are filed through the Town's online portal. We prepare the drawings and handle the filing with you.
A door at the bottom of the stairs
Add a below grade entrance to an Ajax basement
A rental unit downstairs often needs its own way in. Ajax Building Services keeps a separate guide for below grade entrances, apart from its finished basement guide.
- Permit drawings that show the new stairwell, its retaining walls and the door at the bottom
- A drain at the base of the stairwell, so rain cannot pool against the new door
- Locates of gas, water and cable lines in that side or back yard before any digging
- Inspection requests sent a full day ahead, on the Town's online form or by phone
- The permit number, the address and the inspection code ready each time we call
- A closed permit at the end, which the Build More, Get More grant waits for before it pays
Warm, dry and bright
How an Ajax basement comes together
We start at the concrete, since a cold wall is where damp begins. Insulation and a vapour layer go on before the studs.
Next come the rooms you asked for, framed to the drawings. Plumbers and electricians on our own crew rough in, and the inspector looks before we close up.
Pot lights in a low ceiling sit between the joists. We keep them clear of insulation unless the fixture is rated to touch it.
Drywall, paint, doors, trim and flooring come last. One crew lead stays on your job every day it runs.
Permits and travel
Practical notes for an Ajax job
| Permit office | Town of Ajax Building Services. The Region has no role in a house permit here. |
|---|---|
| How to apply | Through the Town's online portal for homes, or by email to the permit desk. |
| Wiring | Each new basement circuit goes on file with the Electrical Safety Authority for inspection. |
| Distance | About 68 km from Oakville, straight line. Our trucks head out along the 401 or the 407. |
Neighbouring basement pages
Basement finishing in towns beside Ajax
Every picture on this page is an example room, not an Ajax basement from our own jobs.
Sources we checked for this page
- Town of Ajax, construction permits inspections
- Town of Ajax, new online mapping tool shows ajax homeowners potential for additional dwelling units
- Town of Ajax, town of ajax now offering grants for new additional dwelling unit builds
- Electrical Safety Authority website
- Town of Ajax, heritage planning resources