Auto & Garages · 6 min read · Last updated
Garage B2 is the class for the everyday mechanical shop: brakes, exhaust, suspension, engine and transmission work, without the body side. It is defined as a motor vehicle repair shop excepting body repairs, and that one exception is the whole difference between B2 and its neighbouring classes. The requirements otherwise mirror the other repair classes, fire inspection included.
The City of Hamilton lists this under its “Establishments” category: “GARAGE B2 - A building or place used as a motor vehicle repair shop excepting body and repairs.”
Who needs this licence?
Garage B2 covers a building or place used as a motor vehicle repair shop excepting body repairs. In plain terms it is the mechanical repair licence: the shop works on the vehicle's systems rather than its panels and paint.
The class boundary is worth taking seriously because it cuts both ways. A B2 shop that begins accepting collision work has moved into what Garage B1 describes, since B1 is the repair class that includes body and fender repairs. A shop that does collision work and nothing else belongs in Garage B3, which is defined for body and fender repairs only.
As with every public garage class, the licence attaches to the premises. If you operate two mechanical shops at two addresses you need a licence for each, and if you buy an existing shop you apply in your own name rather than taking over the seller's licence.
What documents do you need?
Five checklist items, and no shortcuts among them.
The completed business licence application form opens the file. Business registration, corporate profile or master business licence documentation dated within one year of application proves the entity behind the shop is current, and the licence is issued in that exact name.
Zoning verification for the address confirms the use is allowed there. The Criminal Records and Judicial Matters Check, dated within 36 days and issued by the police service board where you live, covers the operator. Third party clearances will not be accepted, so the check has to be ordered from the police service itself.
The scaled plot plan shows the property in full, including structures current and proposed, parking and manoeuvring spaces, exits and entrances, adjacent utility lines, landscaping, fencing, fire hydrants, and the surrounding roads and sidewalks, with a north point marked. Both inspectors who eventually attend will have seen this drawing.
Zoning and premises requirements
The Zoning Verification Certificate is the City's written confirmation that a motor vehicle repair use is permitted at your address. It is a separate application with a separate fee, taken before the licence is issued.
If the same category of business was previously licensed at that address within one year, a Zoning Addendum may be completed instead of a full certificate. That is the usual position when you are moving into a mechanical shop that has been running continuously under another operator.
Zoning is about the address rather than about you, so a favourable certificate for one property tells you nothing about the next one. Repeat the exercise for every location you plan to license.
Inspections and approvals
A new Garage B2 licence requires a fire inspection and a parking inspection. Both are circulated by the Licensing Team once the application has been received, so you are not booking them independently.
The fire inspection is required even though B2 excludes body work. Mechanical repair still involves flammable liquids, waste oil, hot work and compressed gases, and the class is treated on the same footing as the other repair classes for that reason.
The parking inspection reads the site the way your plot plan drew it. For a mechanical shop the practical pinch point is vehicles waiting for parts, so how many can be accommodated on the property, and how they get in and out, is the substance of it.
How much does it cost?
The new application carries a processing fee, the licence fee, a fire inspection fee and a parking inspection fee. HST applies to the processing fee and to both inspection fees; the licence fee is not taxed.
Because the fire inspection fee is the largest single inspection charge, a B2 application opens at meaningfully more than a storage or car wash class. That is worth knowing before you compare a repair shop against another kind of automotive business.
Zoning verification or the addendum is charged separately when required, so the City quotes totals with and without it.
Renewal is the licence fee, with the fire inspection fee returning every three years, and a licence re-instatement fee if you renew late. The City confirms all current amounts from its fee schedule as your application is processed.
How to apply
Confirm zoning for the address before anything else, and describe the work honestly when you do: mechanical repair excluding body work is what B2 permits.
Order your business registration or corporate profile, then book the criminal record check so it will still be within 36 days when you submit.
Commission the scaled plot plan. It is the one item you cannot produce on the day, and an unscaled sketch will not pass.
File the application with the package, pay the processing, licence and inspection fees, and wait for the Licensing Team to circulate the fire and parking inspection requests. Clearing both is what unlocks the licence.
Renewals and staying compliant
Declarations A and B need to be completed at renewal, alongside payment of the licence fee. The declarations are your confirmation that the business, the premises and the operator are as the City has them recorded.
Every third year the fire inspection repeats and its fee is added to the renewal. If you have taken on new equipment, changed how you store waste oil or altered the layout of the shop since the last visit, that is the renewal to prepare for properly.
Renewing late means paying a licence re-instatement fee on top of the licence fee, so treat the renewal date as a fixed business deadline rather than a reminder.
Quick quiz: test what you learned
Three questions, all answered in this guide. Click an answer to check it.
1. What does the Garage B2 class exclude?
B2 is defined as a motor vehicle repair shop excepting body repairs, which is exactly what separates it from B1 and B3.
2. A licensed B2 shop decides to start accepting collision work. What changes?
Body and fender work sits in B1, which covers repair including body and fender, or B3 where that is the only work done, so a B2 licence stops matching the premises.
3. Which declarations must be completed when a Garage B2 licence is renewed?
The repair and sales classes require both Declarations A and B at renewal, unlike classes C, D and E which require Declaration B only.
Skip the paperwork
Tell Permits2Go about your business and it assembles the licence application for you — document checklists, e-signatures and a guided workspace for Hamilton, with more cities on the way.
This guide is general information, not legal or professional advice. Licensing requirements, by-laws and fees change and vary by municipality — always confirm the current rules with the City before you apply.