Service Areas
Greater Montréal
Design-Build & Commercial Renovations in the West Island
In the West Island, the first question about your project isn't what you're building — it's who governs the address. Part of the West Island is made up of Montréal boroughs; the rest are demerged independent cities. Two units in the same commercial strip can run entirely different permit processes.
Two kinds of jurisdiction, sometimes on the same street
Some of the West Island is Montréal boroughs — Pierrefonds-Roxboro and L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève — governed by the City's rules. The rest are demerged independent cities: Pointe-Claire, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Beaconsfield, Baie-D'Urfé, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville, and Dorval — each with its own by-laws and its own timeline. A building on one side of a municipal line and a building on the other can sit in the same strip and follow completely separate processes.
The borough side runs on Montréal's rules
If your address is Pierrefonds-Roxboro or L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève, it's a Montréal borough — the 120-day cap, PIIA review, and borough-by-borough variation that shape any Montréal project apply here. For relative ordering only: on 2017 figures, Pierrefonds-Roxboro was among the fastest boroughs on the island at about 22 days, while L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève was the slowest at 75 — 2017 data, shifted since, not a current service level.
2017 data, relative ordering only.
The independent-city side runs on its own by-laws
If your address is one of the demerged cities, you're outside the borough system entirely — its own permit process, its own by-laws, its own timeline, and not the City's 120-day cap. We don't publish per-city timelines or by-law numbers for these, because we won't state them without verifying them; we confirm the specific process for your exact address before designing.
Current as of 2026 — confirm with the municipality.
Why this decides things before you sign a lease
Because the process follows the municipal line, the identical fit-out can be a fast borough file or a slower independent-city one — depending only on which address you lease. That's worth settling before you commit to a space and an opening date, not after. On design: interior modifications outside the Architects Act we carry in full; subject buildings get an OAQ-member architect directing from the outset. Our designers are APDIQ members; we build under our own RBQ licence.
The services behind this
Same services everywhere — here's where they matter most in West Island.
Frequently asked
West Island — permits & approvals, answered.
Is my West Island address a Montréal borough or an independent city?
Two parts of the West Island are Montréal boroughs — Pierrefonds-Roxboro and L'Île-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève — and run on the City's rules, including the 120-day permit cap and PIIA review. The rest are demerged independent cities — Pointe-Claire, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Beaconsfield, Baie-D'Urfé, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Senneville, and Dorval — each with its own by-laws and permit process. Which one governs your address determines the entire path, so we confirm it before designing.
Why would two businesses on the same street have different permit processes?
Because a municipal line can run through a commercial strip. One unit can fall in a Montréal borough, governed by the City's rules and 120-day cap, while the unit beside it sits in a demerged independent city with its own by-laws and timeline. Same street, two rulebooks — which is why the address, not just the scope of work, drives the schedule here.
Do I need an architect for a West Island fit-out?
It depends on the work, not the municipality. Interior modifications that don't change a building's use and don't affect its structure, fire separations, exits, or envelope fall outside Quebec's Architects Act, and a design-build studio can carry them in full. Where a project is subject to the Act, an OAQ-member architect directs that portion of the design from the outset. We identify which applies at the start.
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Direct
(514) 697-1742info@indesignconstruction.caService area
- Montréal
- South Shore / Rive-Sud
- North Shore / Rive-Nord
- Laval
- Vaudreuil-Soulanges
- West Island