Contractors in Ottawa are pushing back against a new bylaw for landscapers who do hardscaping work.
As of March 1, 2026, contractors that perform work on outdoor structural elements likes driveways, walkways and decks are required to be licensed by the city.
For contractor Phil Devine, a carpenter by trade with Ottawa Deck Builders, the new licensing requirements don’t make sense.
“After I’m done building a deck, they can’t sit in dirt. They need to sit in stone. The second I’m putting a stone in or relaying stones from an existing deck or from an existing landing, I now legally can’t do it myself,” said Devine.
The licensing also comes with several new rules, including an annual licence fee of $441 and a licence expiration date of Oct. 31. After that, licences would be valid from Nov. 1 until Oct. 31 of the following year.
Company decaling on work vehicles must also come with lettering at least 15 centimetres in height.
In a statement to CTV News, the City of Ottawa says it introduced the new licensing requirements to “create a consistent framework for hardscaping businesses operating in Ottawa, with a focus on public safety, consumer protection, and fairness across the industry.”
“By-law and Regulatory Services recognizes that this is a new requirement, and officers are taking an education-first approach as the program is implemented. Officers continue to work with business owners to help them understand the requirements and ensure compliance,” the city said.
Staff say the Oct. 31 expiration date is meant to align with snow-clearing contracts.
“The October 31 date is not intended to shorten the working season as licenses are valid for 12 months. Rather, it’s the annual licence renewal date, which also aligns with the annual expiration for snowplow contractor business licenses,” said Samantha Montreuil, interim manager of Public Policy Development Services, in a statement. “During consultations, staff heard that many hardscaping businesses also provide snow removal services, and aligning the renewal dates allows businesses to renew both licences at the same time rather than through separate processes. In the first year, the hardscaper licence fee is prorated to reflect the October renewal date.”
Trickle-down effect
The new hardscaping requirements will also have a trickle-down effect to consumers and homeowners looking to have projects done.
David Johnson is a landscaper who does hardscaping work that had plans to open his own sub-contractor business this year. He says he now won’t be able to because of the expenses involved in decaling his vehicles, on top of purchasing equipment.
“I was hoping to be able to do the smaller projects for larger companies that don’t have the time or don’t have the capacity to handle the smaller stuff,” Johnson said.
He says without subcontractors being able to come in at the last minute on jobsites, there will be higher costs and longer waits for customers.
“There’s going to be a lot less of those small one man shows going around doing those subcontracting jobs for these larger companies, which means these larger guys are going to have to either turn down the work or charge a lot more for it,” he said.
“I don’t see the need for it. Everything’s been working fine up until this point. It just seems like a needless barrier,” adds Dan Black, a general contractor with Dynamic Building Improvements Inc.
‘We’re going to have to stop work’
Black says that on any given jobsite, projects involve many different trades. If hardscaping becomes one of those tasks now, it might not be worth it for the homeowner to go through with the project at all.
“Normally, we would just go ahead and do it. A little bit of interlock here, a little bit of asphalt patching there. Now, we’re going to have to stop work, bring in a licensed hardscaper and it’s going to jack up the price,” he said.
Despite the deadline having past at the start of the month, Jonathan Gilman with Ottawa Interlock Repair says many contractors are delaying the licensing process in hopes that there will be changes to the rules.
“I was just at the Home and Garden show this past weekend talking with dozens of hardscapers and I think I’m the only one who has my paperwork submitted,” said Gilman.
Along with the new requirements, Gilman says liability for projects is now falling on the last contractor to work on a site, rather than the homeowner.
“If I see some unpermitted landscaping that’s in trouble and needs to be fixed, I’ll just fix it back to its original standard,” said Gilman.
“Now, I don’t want to get involved because the city’s now putting it on the hardscaper, whereas normally I would take the risk if the customer wanted to have his problem fixed. It used to be on the consumer, it’s your property.”
The city says it currently has received 38 active licences and 18 are pending.
Correction
A previous version of this article incorrectly suggested the licence expiry would prevent work in November and December. In fact, licences would be renewed every November and be valid for 12 months, according to the City of Ottawa.
