Ontario is considering opening up building official functions to professionals who have been trained and certified in other jurisdictions. A newly launched public consultation asks for input on appropriate equivalents to current requirements to pass a series of technical examinations in order to practice in the province.

If approved, this could help augment the ranks of provincial and municipal employees who are qualified to inspect buildings and sign off on various plans on behalf of authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ). The accompanying regulatory analysis suggests this would eliminate an inter-provincial barrier to professional mobility and could reduce costs for qualifying individuals, who could avoid the fees to write Ontario’s five certification exams.

As well, a larger field of qualified building officials could reduce some municipalities’ reliance on third-party building code expertise. “A local municipality can spend up to three times as much on external service costs when compared to the costs required to directly hire a building official as an employee,” the analysis states.

The consultation is open for comments until Dec. 4. Discussions with stakeholders are also promised.