Permits & Legal Suites
Calgary Basement Permits in 2026: What the City's Numbers Show
By ReImagine Builders · September 29, 2026
We analyzed City of Calgary building permit data from 2021 to 2026. Here's how many basements Calgarians are developing, which communities lead, and why winter is as busy as summer.
Every basement development in Calgary needs a building permit, and every permit the City issues is public. So we went through the City of Calgary's open permit data from 2021 to August 2026 to answer a few questions homeowners ask us all the time. How many people are actually finishing their basements? Where? And is there a "right" time of year to do it?
Here's what the numbers show.
About 1,000 Calgary basements got a development permit in the first 8 months of 2026
From January to August 2026, the City issued 1,022 basement development permits for existing homes. That's basements being finished for the family: rec rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms, home gyms and offices. It's almost exactly the same pace as 2025.
| January to August | Basement development permits |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,497 |
| 2022 | 1,634 |
| 2023 | 1,402 |
| 2024 | 1,352 |
| 2025 | 1,051 |
| 2026 | 1,022 |
The number was higher a few years ago. Part of the change is likely that more homeowners now build a legal suite instead (more on that below), but the permit data alone can't tell us why.
Half of all basement permits are issued between October and March
Many homeowners assume basements are a spring project. The permit data says otherwise. Averaged over 2021 to 2025, exactly half of Calgary's basement development permits (49.9%) were issued between October and March.
That makes sense: a basement is an indoor project. Snow and cold don't stop framing, drywall or tile, and a basement you start in the fall is ready to enjoy through the winter.
On our standard 13-week build, a basement that breaks ground in mid-October is move-in ready by mid-January. That date goes in your contract, and if we run late, $500 comes off your final bill for every week, with no cap.
Where Calgarians are developing their basements
These communities had the most basement development permits from January 2025 to August 2026:
- Mahogany: 142
- Cranston: 108
- Legacy: 96
- Evanston: 83
- Auburn Bay: 79
- Tuscany: 61
- Walden: 59
- Carrington and West Springs: 54 each
- Cornerstone: 51
Most are newer communities. That fits what we see: many homes are sold with the basement unfinished, and a few years in, the family needs the space. If you're in one of these neighbourhoods, a lot of your neighbours have been through the same decision. Wondering whether to finish now or wait? See Should You Wait to Finish a New Home's Basement?
Legal suites now outnumber regular basement developments
The biggest change in the data is legal secondary suites. Below-grade suite permits in existing homes jumped from 892 (January to August 2023) to 1,814 in the same months of 2024, and reached 1,970 in 2025.
In January to August 2026, the City issued 1,577 suite permits against 1,022 basement developments. About 6 in 10 basement permits are now for suites.
If you're thinking about a suite, the permit and code requirements are different from a regular basement. Our legal basement suite page walks through them.
What this means if you're planning your basement
- The permit is normal, not optional. Over a thousand Calgary homeowners have gone through it this year. It protects your resale value and your insurance. Learn when you need a permit and how the process works. When you build with us, we pull and manage the permits for you.
- Fall and winter are good times to start. Half of Calgary's basement development permits are issued between October and March.
- You're not the only one on your street. In newer communities especially, finishing the basement is one of the most common projects there is.
Thinking about your own basement?
We've developed more than 1,000 Calgary basements since 2011. Oscar, our lead designer, will come see your space, design it around how you want to use it, and show you photorealistic renderings of your actual basement before you commit. Book a free site visit.
About the data: counts come from the City of Calgary's open [Building Permits dataset](https://data.calgary.ca/Business-and-Economic-Activity/Building-Permits/c2es-76ed) (data.calgary.ca). They include permits for "Basement Development" and "Below Grade Suite" in existing homes (permit type: Residential Improvement Project), counted by the date the permit was issued, with cancelled permits excluded. They cover permits issued to every contractor and to homeowners, not only ReImagine Builders. Data pulled September 29, 2026.