How to Get a Building Permit in Calgary
How to get a building permit in Calgary: the development permit first, the ePermit application, 2025 fees, timelines, and inspections.
Starting out in Calgary
How to Start Things in Calgary
Everything below is about Calgary itself: City business licences, permits, and food-business rules. Alberta-wide guides live on the Alberta hub instead. Start with the three Calgary rules that trip up new businesses, then browse the guides.
Starting out in Calgary: three rules worth knowing
Food and alcohol businesses always need a Calgary licence
Every Calgary business that prepares, sells, or allows on-site consumption of food or alcohol requires a City business licence. You apply once: the licence types your activities need — Food Services–Premises, Alcohol Beverage Sales, an outdoor patio — are generated as part of the application rather than filed for one by one.
Source: City of Calgary: Open a restaurant or brewery (calgary.ca)
Several licence types, one fee: the highest
Calgary's licence fee bundles base, fire, planning, and building-safety components for each licence type. When a business needs several types at once, the fee is calculated on all the approvals required and you pay the highest applicable total, once — not a stack of full fees. Home-based businesses skip the fire inspection and planning approval fees, but they need a Home Occupation permit instead.
Source: City of Calgary: 2026 Business Licence Fee Schedule (calgary.ca)
Your licence expires one year from the day it's issued
A Calgary business licence runs one year from its issuance date, not to a fixed calendar date. The City mails a renewal notice about 45 days before the licence expires, so the renewal lands well before the deadline if your mailing address is current.
Source: City of Calgary: Open a vaping or tobacco retailer business (calgary.ca)
Free tools
No tools built for this city yet. The guides below cover the ground.
Guides that apply in Calgary
The guides and tools below are about Calgary itself: its own licences, permits, and programs. Province-wide and Canada-wide guides live on their own hubs.
How to Start a Bakery in Calgary
Open a bakery in Calgary: work out the City licence types from seating, takeaway, and production, clear location approval, then pass the Alberta Health Services plan review and inspection.
How to Start a Catering Business in Calgary
A Calgary caterer needs a City of Calgary business licence with location approval and an Alberta Health Services inspection of the kitchen. Catering trucks fall under mobile food services, home cooking for events takes a Food Service — Premises licence, and food must be prepared in an AHS-approved kitchen.
How to Start a Coffee Shop in Calgary
A Calgary coffee shop needs a City Food Services – Premises business licence with location, fire, and Alberta Health Services approvals, plus a grease interceptor cleaned at least every four weeks.
How to Start a Food Truck in Calgary
Start a food truck in Calgary: the Full Service Food Vehicle licence at $953 new, the Alberta Health Services food handling permit, the $2 million insurance, and where a truck may and may not trade.
How to Start a Restaurant in Calgary
Open a restaurant in Calgary: location approval under the Land Use Bylaw, the City Food Services licence, the AHS food handling permit, and the AGLC Class A liquor licence.
Trade Schools in Calgary
Trade schools in Calgary with verified apprenticeship classroom instruction: SAIT and the Piping Industry Training School, the trades each covers, and where to confirm current intakes.