TORONTO PROPER - dECK bUILDERS AND ONE OF A KIND STRUCTURES
Deck Builder & Pergola Builder in Toronto
I have been a deck builder and pergola builder in Toronto since 1984, well before GardenStructure existed as a company. The first few years were fabrication work for other firms: veterinary clinics, hospitals, hydro duct work. We made components at the shop and transported them to site, which taught me something about this city early. The most efficient way to build in Toronto is to do as much work as possible somewhere else.
Crossing Toronto after 5am and before 9pm takes an hour or two, sometimes more. That is true no matter which direction you are going and no matter where you live in the city. We solved it by prefabricating at the shop: privacy screens, railing sections, stair stringers, anything that could be cut and pre-assembled before it hit a residential street. Fewer deliveries, shorter installation windows, less disruption to your street. That approach has stayed with us for 40 years.
My early Toronto work was concentrated in Royal York, Baby Point, Rosedale, and Forest Hill. Most of it was done for landscape designers, and most of it I won’t show out of respect for those designers’ client relationships. The one exception is the work I did with Elisabeth Tschoppe, a designer, a collaborator, and a good friend. Rest her soul. Her projects are featured in this portfolio with care.
Working alongside designers like Elisabeth in Forest Hill and Rosedale over a decade sharpens how you think. Those clients don’t hire on price. They hire because they believe you understand what they’re trying to achieve. That standard followed me out of those neighbourhoods and it applies on every project we take on today.
Today, GardenStructure designs every Toronto project. Our Guild builder in the GTA constructs it locally under his own name and licence. You get a designer with 40 years of Toronto experience and a builder who knows the city.
My design standard is the same in Toronto as everywhere else we work ; 50-year commercial-grade durability. The drawings, the fastener schedules, the material specifications. Built once, built right.
What We Build in Toronto
Outdoor Structures for Toronto Properties
Deck Builder in Toronto
Custom cedar and composite decks for the full range of Toronto lot types. Elevated decks, ravine lot applications, rooftop decks, and multi-level designs. Engineered connections and TRCA-compliant permit drawings included.
Pergola Builders in Toronto
Custom pergolas in cedar, Douglas fir, and pressure-treated lumber. Freestanding and house-attached. Heritage conservation districts, ravine overlays, and standard City lots all handled with the appropriate permit package.
Cedar Fence Experts in Toronto
Privacy fencing, decorative cedar fencing, and boundary fencing for Toronto lots. Permit-compliant designs including height restrictions near ravines and rear lot lines. BCIN-qualified drawings where a designer’s stamp is required.
Cabanas and Pool Houses in Toronto
Pool cabanas and outdoor room structures. Engineered for year-round use. Full electrical and plumbing rough-in available. City of Toronto zoning requirements for accessory structures addressed from the design stage.
Trelliswork & Privacy Screens in Toronto
Garden trellises, privacy screens, and decorative trelliswork. Custom-designed for Toronto’s established residential neighbourhoods. Fabricated off-site for clean installation on tight urban lots with minimal disruption.
Garden Structure Design & Plans Only
Renderings and architectural drawings and permit-ready plans for owner-builders and contractors. City of Toronto Building Division submissions. TRCA applications for ravine and valley land properties. Available remotely via DesignYourReno.com.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, NOT A SALES PITCH
What 40 Years Building in Toronto Teaches You
Toronto builds come with layers that most contractors outside the city are not set up to handle. Here is what we account for on every project.
City of Toronto Building Permits
The City requires permits for attached decks, elevated decks over 600mm, pergolas attached to the house, and any structure within the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection overlay. Getting drawings right on the first submission matters. Resubmissions cost weeks. We have been through the Toronto Building Division process many times and we know what they need to see.
TRCA Jurisdiction on Ravine Lots
If your property backs onto a ravine, valley, or watercourse, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has jurisdiction over part of your lot. That means a TRCA permit on top of the City permit, setback requirements from the top of bank, and restrictions on what can be built and where. We confirm TRCA jurisdiction before any design work begins, not partway through.
Mature Tree Protection Bylaw
Toronto’s Private Tree Bylaw protects trees with a trunk diameter above 30cm. Work within the drip line requires a permit, and some trees cannot be touched regardless of the circumstances. We design around significant trees from the start rather than treating them as a problem to solve mid-project. A deck built to avoid a protected tree is better than one that creates a permit problem two weeks in.
Heritage Conservation Districts
Parts of Forest Hill, Rosedale, and other established Toronto neighbourhoods carry heritage overlays. Structures visible from the street may need to be sympathetic to the existing architecture. We know which areas this applies to and we design for it. This is not a barrier. It is a condition we have worked within on Toronto projects for four decades.
Tight Urban Lots and Off-Site Fabrication
A 30-foot lot with a ravine at the back and a neighbour six feet away on each side is a standard Toronto project type, not an edge case. Off-site fabrication, staged delivery, and careful scheduling make these builds work without turning the street into a construction zone. When components arrive pre-built, the working footprint is smaller and the whole project is less of an event for your neighbours.
The Neighbourhoods We Know Best
Royal York, Baby Point, Swansea, Rosedale, Forest Hill, Lawrence Park, Moore Park, Leaside, The Beaches, Etobicoke, Riverdale, North York, and Scarborough. We were working in most of these areas before GardenStructure existed as a company. That history is in the work, not in a brochure.
How We Work in Toronto
We Fabricate Off-Site. It Has Always Been Faster.
Just to drive across Toronto proper after 5am and before 9pm, it can take an hour or two. It really doesn’t matter where you live in the city or where you’re going. You will spend that time moving through it. Most contractors absorb that time silently and build the cost somewhere into the project. We built a different way from the start.
From the early years we fabricated components at the shop and transported them to site. Privacy screens, railing sections, stair stringers, anything that could be cut, assembled, or pre-finished before it touched a residential street, we built off-site. Less time in traffic with a truck full of raw lumber. Fewer deliveries blocking your street. Shorter installation windows at the property. Timelines that are actually reliable.
This is also why we can work cleanly on tight lots. When material arrives pre-built rather than raw, the mess is contained and the disruption to your neighbours is measured in days rather than weeks. We figured this out in the early 1980s doing fabrication work for other companies, and we never stopped doing it that way.
A note on parking: If your property doesn’t have sufficient off-street parking for a crew and a materials delivery, there is a project premium to cover that cost. This is disclosed upfront and included in the quote. Somebody has to pay for parking in Toronto. Better to know that at the start than to discover it in the final invoice.
RECENT WORK
Projects in Toronto
COMMON QUESTIONS
Barrie & Simcoe County Build Questions
Yes. GardenStructure has been building decks and pergolas in Toronto since 1988, starting in Royal York, Baby Point, Rosedale, and Forest Hill. We design every project and build through our Guild builder in the GTA. Every design meets City of Toronto permit requirements, and where TRCA jurisdiction applies, we prepare the Conservation Authority submission as well.
In most cases yes. The City of Toronto Building Division requires permits for attached decks, elevated decks above 600mm, and structures within the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection overlay. Properties near ravines also fall under TRCA jurisdiction, which is a separate permit layer with its own submission process and timeline. We produce drawings for both from the start of the project. Getting the package right on the first submission avoids weeks of back-and-forth with the City.
Yes. Ravine lots need TRCA permits in addition to City of Toronto permits. There are setback requirements from the top of bank, mature tree protection bylaws that restrict work within the drip line of significant trees, and on some properties slope stability considerations as well. None of these are dealbreakers, but they all need to be factored into the design before anything goes to the City or TRCA. We confirm jurisdiction on every Toronto site before producing a single drawing.
Barrie gets hard winters. Frost depth reaches 1.2m to 1.5m in Simcoe County. For decking surfaces, composite performs well against freeze-thaw cycling and reduces long-term maintenance. For structure, properly treated ACQ lumber or Western Red Cedar with hot-dipped galvanized or stainless fasteners. We spec materials for longevity, not for the lowest initial price.
Yes, and for 40 years. These were among the first neighbourhoods we built in before GardenStructure was formally established. For a decade I drove into Forest Hill and Rosedale three days a week and spent the other two prefabricating parts at the shop. I know those streets, those lots, the heritage overlays, and what a client in those neighbourhoods expects from a designer. That is not something you develop without having actually worked there for a long time.
GardenStructure designs every Toronto project and produces permit-ready drawings. Our Toronto-area Guild builder constructs it under his own name and licence, carrying his own liability insurance and WSIB. You deal with a local builder who knows the city, backed by GardenStructure’s design standard and 40 years of Toronto project experience. All design work and project photography remains in the GardenStructure portfolio. We oversee the project as the builder sends photography – This 2026 hybrid supervised process is the most efficient for Toronto.
We prepare the permit drawings — everything the City of Toronto building department needs to issue approval. Submitting the application and managing the back-and-forth with the city is the owner’s responsibility. Having professional drawings prepared correctly the first time is the best way to avoid revision requests that add weeks to the timeline.
GardenStructure.com
3835 Crossland Road
Elmvale, ON L0L 1P0
(705) 717-2970 Simcoe County & Georgian Bay
(416) 951-9998 Toronto & GTA
info@gardenstructure.com
Monday to Friday: 8am to 6pm
Saturday: By appointment
Free phone consultations available · Barrie, Simcoe County & Georgian Bay
