The processes of trying getting our house addition approved

Dec 2023

I farm in Bayham township and about five years ago built an extension to our farm house for a workshop with an apartment on the second floor above by going through the proper channels at the Bayham office . The idea seemed at the time to have many merits. We could offer accommodation to visitors and hire farm help and in the workshop I would have a decent place to do machine shop work and woodworking for the farm equipment repair and construction. This idea occurred just before I was diagnosed with leukemia which doctors determined that I probably would not survive. While I was still living I decided to continue my extension to the house and build a pole barn as well to house my machinery for the farm, and all from my hospital room with my computer from Victoria hospital in London and later at the princess Margaret hospital in Toronto over about 8 months in hospital.

The process of constructing the house addition at 7363 Coyle rd, straffordville

1) In about 2018 The building inspector for Bayham was Bill Knifton who was good to work with and was frequently able to make good suggestions, answer all of my questions and suggest solutions. We initiated the process of building the addition to our house with contractors for the framing, electrical and plumbing. Things went very well but the work on the addition dried up as I was no longer able to physically or financially finish work until January 2023.

The plans were drawn up by a professional and approved by Bayham Township.

2) After 5 years of recovery from the leukemia diagnosis and a stem cell transplant I was able to continue the house extension in early 2023.

3) Most of the physical structure had been completed. Unfortunately Bill Knifton decided to retire and Chris Peck took over just as I was able to continue the work.

4) About January 2023 Chris looked the situation in the house extension and made many good suggestions. Chris thought that there was no need to have the house connected to the workshop.

5)The original plan had the staircase from the second floor open to the workshop and the door was also to be used as a exit to the workshop.

Chris felt there was no need to have the ceiling shop dry walled with 5/8's fire rated drywall if we dry walled the staircase that came down from the apartment on the second floor with a drywall enclosure on the inside and a firewall 5/8ths drywall on the outside of the staircase. He felt that with the fire alarm system which is connected to the house, apartment and workshop the firewall drywall on the staircase and solid floor there was no need to put dry wall on the 10 ft ceiling of the workshop. He also wanted the walls of the workshop insulated and covered with Plastic which was odd since we rarely use heat in the workshop preferring to work without heat but we put in the insulation and put the vapour barrier on just to get his approval. We also put a few more sheets of drywall on around the wood stove which also rarely gets used if at all.

6)Chris Peck did take exception to the insulated chimney pipe which needed to be extended above the roof line which I did with his approval,also the kitchen sink drain plumbing was incorrectly done which was fixed and the vent on the hot water tank needed to be extended to the floor and all doors needed to be put on which was done.

7)Chris said I needed to lower the main door to the workshop which was made to allow the entrance of the forklift to the workshop so I lowered it so now the fork lift is no longer be able to access the workshop which makes life difficult to move heavy equipment in the workshop.

8)The original plans called for an entrance to the house from the workshop with a door to the rear bedroom of the house and in the process it became no longer necessary and was approved by the inspector at the time.

9)Chris was suddenly replaced by Paul Hillenaar. Chris Peck did sign the apartment was OK to Occupy so I hired a farm worker who lived in the apartment.

10)About April 2023: Chris Peck did the final inspection and said the apartment on the second floor was OK to occupy and we allowed a farm worker to assume residence and work for us.

11)Next we had Paul Hillenaar as the Bayham building inspector for a month or so who was very helpful and encouraged me to build a small apartment in the north barn. His many suggestions were very helpful but unfortunately before long he informed me that he was no longer hired by Bayham and that I was on my own with Building inspectors from Malahide.

12)Now I was without knowing what was going on with inspections or where we were at or what was needed. Things like the sewage system which had been previously found to compliant, suddenly now there was no record it it having been officially passed. This again took a long time and frustration but with the proper documentation and my costs has passed inspection at the bureaucratic level.

13)With Paul Hillenaar suddenly leaving, Paul Scott Sutherland came over to review the situation in the north barn apartment and I felt that he would be good to work with but this changed suddenly when Shane Hughes working under Scott Sutherland visited. He told me that I should have hired a contractor and he decided that there was many things that did not meet specifications in the previously “OK to occupy” apartment above the workshop and he had the authority to have contractors come in and change things at my expense and that I should not have waited five years to work on the project. He had no idea of the illness I had undergone nor the time it took to recover from a stem cell transplant, nor the year in hospital nor the lack of finances after having to hire a lot of work on the farm during my illness since I was incapable of working for a couple of years while in recovery.

I felt that Shane Hughes from Malahide really had no experience in actual building with any of the required regulations, was not interested in finding solutions and was only concerned with the codes and numbers and showing his authority and power to demand things be done by another contractor if he wants to. I was not impressed with this attitude nor ability to be helpful.

14)Shane Hughes really upset and depressed me by impressing on me with his authority and how he has the authority to get things removed from the apartment in the house addition at my expense, such as the Evacuated tube system which was at the moment not working since I took out the evacuated tubes for the winter. Our hot water for our house and apartment comes in the winter from our cook stove and electrical hot water tank in the house in the winter and the evacuated tube system is used in the summer and was not functional at this time. WE do have a functioning large water heater as an alternative if needed. Shane also wanted the numbers from our insulated stove pipe on the building, and the ceiling of the shop was to be dry-walled with 5/8 fire-rated drywall. There was no discussion possible. This is not the way to encourage good relations and safety practices and only encourages people to make changes without informing the Building inspectors nor be able to get informed opinions from experienced building inspectors.

15)Many of the regulations in the building codes also seem very counter to our goals of lessening our fossil fuel dependence. With all of the emphasis on store bought certified items that dictate use of electricity, such as air ex-changers, Bathroom ceiling fans, certified appliances, stoves and all else. There is little chance on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. All of this could easily be done by myself without purchasing store bought items. I have designed planes, supervised construction of them, designed and fabricated wing spars in carbon for our aircraft and served as test pilot for them. All I needed was someone like Bill Knifton who had a good understanding of the processes of the various aspects of the building code and requirements to be met rather than just numbers stamped on an piece of fossil fuel derived hardware.

16)When I started farming I wanted to be self sufficient , organic and free from fossil fuels but as I go into the future of farming and regulations they all unfortunately point to the more use of fossil fuels. There is also a growing use of the internet for everything associated with the farm. Getting emails is now very difficult for me since the amount of Spam and fraud is unbelievable. On line difficulties are common such as our bank accounts which were hacked and I lost a lot of money from fraudulent access to my account. Our emails have also been compromised and now I spend a lot of time going through my spam accounts looking for important notices from government agencies. The internet service is also unreliable and slow using the Eastlink phone lines. And now Malahide building inpsections with Scott Sutherland have informed me that all building inspection services are now run by a computer program but I have not been able to access.

The tremendous amount of things required in the building inspections code only promotes more use of energy defeating our need to reduce fossil fuels.

I am now in a state that I distrust the building inspectors and their decisions and doubt that what they say gets actually recorded. It was a relief that the most recent inspector Johnathon Weir did a final inspection.

I have spent over $250,000 on trying to get these building approved and feel the differing building have caused me untold anxieties and more than $50,000 in excess expenses, loss of any farm help and with little progress towards getting the apartments approved. Even the loss of income from the apartments has hurt us financially.

Below is the inspection summary that I was originally sent with the OK to occupy by Chris Peck.

The another inspection summary

Final inspection summary Dec 18 2025. Note ok to occupy by Chris Peck Mar 6 2023 still there but permit is now closed so I presume I can have a farm worker again.