Just to let everyone know that I passed my first Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing exam (about what designers need to know concerning the legalities of the Ontario Building Code, building permits, and the building inspection process). I’ll be a registered designer yet! Yay!
:: bounces up and down with joy ::
does the happy dance
yay!
Woooooo hooooo!!!
::Joins in the bouncy happy dance::
Congrats!
GT
Good job! Any interesting statutes or loopholes to be aware of?
Well done.
If this was your first exam…how many to go?
A “cottage” is defined as a structure not intended for uear-round habitation. It does not need all the systems, such as plumbing or sewer, that a regular house requires–but if they are there, they must meet code.
Also, you can get away with all kinds of stuff if you live on a farm.
Thanks!
One more at a minimum, about the construction of houses. It will be more difficult. I can take additional courses on things such as plumbing and sewerage and pass their exams to add additional qualifications.
There are also technical courses that cover the ‘how to’ of designing, not just the building-code end of things–I need to take some of those. But they are not needed for the Building Code qualification; the designer qualification system acknowledges that I could have gotten knowledge elsewhere, such as at architecture school or through experience on a construction site.
Sunspace, well done!
Keep us up-to-date as you progress, and good luck with it!
Congratulations! runs through with flailing and waving about of arms, pops champagne cork, mwah
Congrats ! Must have been lots of studying, no?
:: sings festive song with backing vocals of three cats ::
Oh, OK, so if I ever move to the center of the known universe I might be able to get you to build my house?
Congratulations. Enjoy your victory! 
So you’ve got your General Legal and you’ll be writing Houses? It might be wise to consider writing Houses and Small Buildings. This will give you the option to submit work for other types of structures such as sheds, garages, small offices, etc.
I actually know a few guys who’ve written and passed all of the sections (about 12 of them). It boggles my mind that anybody can wade through so much labyrinthine bureaucratese and stay sane, let alone pass multiple exams.
Anyways, congratulations! If you ever need a good structural/architectural draftsman, I’m always available for freelance work 
Yay Sunspace! Congrats!
It’s always cool to see someone going after what they really want. (Well, unless they’re a stalker or something – that can be a little creepy. But you know what I mean.)
Congratulations. That must be such a relief. I mean, constipation can be a real. . .
Never mind.
(Seriously, congratulations and good luck with the rest of it.)
Congratulations! 
Congrats.
Is this equivalent to a PE in structural engineering in the US?
Congratulations! May the good news keep on coming.
Thanks, everyone! Hodge, I plan to write the Small Buildings exam. I’ve already had the Small Buildings course, but in the process discovered that it only covered the areas that the House course didn’t, as far as the exam was concerned. I was hoping that it would include the House material, as the exam does.
Pygmy Rugger, no, this is nowhere close to a P.Eng qualification. The exams only cover knowledge of the building code, and are aimed at building officials, people who have worked in construction and gained practical experience, and so on. The architects and engineers have their own qualifications.
You still have to actually know how to design things. I plan to design extremely-simple single-storey buildings according to techniques laid out in handbooks, and then have my designs reviewed and stamped by an architect and/or engineer if needed… while reviewing and relearning the things I did learn in architecture school, and taking technical courses. (I am not actually an architect.)
This is kind of the back door into doing what I want to do–I thought I’d have to go back to architecture school.
Nava, right now, my designs will be compliant only with the Province of Ontario’s building code.
Designs will have to be checked and possibly altered to be made compliant with other jurisdictions. I understand that in Quebec, for instance, a designer must be an architect or engineer; there is no third choice as in Ontario.
So, for the next couple of years at least, after I open for business, you will have to build your house in Ontario, or do serious work to adapt the design to Switzerland or Spain or wherever you are. Eventually, I hope that will change.