New Westminster building permits: what 90 days means for trades

01 · The short version

New Westminster issued 79 building permits between July 14 and October 12, 2026, based on the city's open-data feed. Applicants declared about $20.6 million of work across them.

Seven of those permits declared more than $1 million each. Only two added new homes: one laneway house and one duplex.

The pace has been steady. Weekly counts ranged from 2 to 11, with the high in the week of August 17, and since the end of August it has held at 5 to 8 permits a week. The last 30 days alone brought 28 permits and about $7.65 million in declared value.

A note on the numbers: declared value is what the applicant wrote on the permit, not the final cost of the job. Treat it as a size signal, not a budget. The New Westminster feed also doesn't give neighbourhood breakdowns, so this post sticks to counts and permit types.

02 · Most of the work is commercial and renovation

Here is how the 79 permits break down by type:

• Addition / alteration: 31 permits, about $6.7 million declared
• Commercial: 29 permits, about $13.0 million declared
• Demolition: 10 permits (no value declared)
• Other: 7 permits
• Laneway house: 1 permit, $220,000 declared
• Duplex: 1 permit, $650,000 declared

So 60 of the 79 permits were commercial or alteration work, and commercial permits carried well over half of the declared dollars. The last 30 days look the same: 11 commercial permits (about $4.5 million) and 11 additions and alterations (about $2.9 million).

If you're used to chasing new builds, New Westminster asks for a different approach. The jobs are inside existing buildings and existing homes, and the permit can be your first signal that a space is about to be opened up, refitted or finished.

03 · What matched each trade

PermitRadius checks every permit for the trades it is likely to need. One permit can match several trades, so these counts overlap. Over the same 90 days in New Westminster:

• Painting, flooring and electrical: 20 permits each (11 commercial, 7 additions and alterations, plus the laneway house and the duplex), including all 7 of the $1M+ projects
• Demolition and bins: 14 permits (10 demolitions and 4 large alterations)
• Post-build cleaning: 13 permits (7 of them commercial), including all 7 of the $1M+ projects
• Landscaping and roofing: 6 permits each, 2 of them over $1 million

Interior trades have the most to work with here. Twenty matched permits in 90 days works out to one or two a week, which is few enough to follow up on every one properly instead of skimming.

Post-build cleaners should note that the city's largest projects all made their list. Projects that size need cleaning before handover, and the builder is the one to ask about it. Getting on a builder's list for one job is how you hear about the next.

04 · Few new homes, so outdoor trades think renovation

With two new homes in 90 days, New Westminster is not a new-build landscaping market right now. The six permits that matched landscaping and roofing were four large additions or alterations (about $6.0 million declared between them), the laneway house and the duplex.

That is a short list, but a serious one. A renovation big enough to declare seven figures can disturb the yard, the roof or both, and the owner is already spending. For timing on when to reach out, see the new-build landscaping calendar in BC.

The 10 demolition permits are worth watching too. A demolition on its own may not be your job, but it can be an early sign that a rebuild is coming to that lot.

05 · How to work a smaller city's permit list

A city issuing 5 to 8 permits a week rewards a steady habit more than a big push. A few things that help:

• Read the list the day it arrives. At this volume you can review the whole week in a few minutes and pick the two or three that fit.
• Start with the $1M+ projects. There were 7 in 90 days. They are the larger jobs, so they deserve the first call of the week.
• Talk to the builder, not the owner. PermitRadius shows the builder behind each permit. A builder who likes your work can bring you the next job, wherever it is.
• Widen your radius. New Westminster is a small city, so if you serve it you probably work next door too. Vancouver and Surrey are live on PermitRadius; Burnaby and Coquitlam are coming soon.

If you want to know what each field on a permit means and what it doesn't tell you, read BC building permit data, explained for trades.

06 · Try it

See what a weekly New Westminster list looks like on the New Westminster building permits page, or open the live demo with no sign-up. Plans and the 14-day trial are on the pricing page.