An Ontario home builder's website has to show the HCRA licence itself, easy to find and easy to read, under HCRA Directive 4. Everything else on your builder website, from model specs to "net zero" and warranty lines, has to be true and backed up, under the builders' Code of Ethics and section 74.01 of the Competition Act.
Buyers are told to check your licence and your record in the Ontario Builder Directory, and then they want your real homes and what they cost. This is general information, not legal advice. We build websites for Ontario builders and renovators, so read it knowing we sell the thing we're describing.
What does an Ontario builder's website have to show by law?
The licence itself. Ontario Regulation 626/20 s.4 requires it on your website, and Directive 4 from HCRA, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, in effect since 1 February 2021, sets the standard: "the licensee must ensure the licence is easily located on website and easily readable by the public." No other document or image may replace it.
On our reading, a licence number in the footer or an "HCRA licensed" badge doesn't meet the rule on its own. Put an image or PDF of the licence on its own page, check it reads on a phone, and link it from every footer, with the number beside it. If you sell through a separate vendor company, show its licence too, and replace each image when a licence is renewed or changed. With no website, the rule applies to your main social media page.
Renovation-only firms are mostly outside this: HCRA's Do I Need a Licence? page says "renovations or upgrades to an existing home do not make the home 'new'", but a builder of a custom home on the owner's land "must be licensed as a vendor (seller) and builder." If your site offers new builds, you need the licence.
Why do buyers look you up before they call?
Because HCRA tells them to. In a February 2025 release about a builder's conviction, HCRA wrote: "An important first step in selecting a reputable builder is to check the Ontario Builder Directory." The homeowners in that case hired him from an ad that used "a home he didn't build as an example of his work." He was convicted of building without a licence and presenting himself as licensed, fined $75,000 and ordered to pay $194,122 in restitution.
The Ontario Builder Directory is HCRA's public list of licensed builders and vendors, where buyers check your licence and record. Look yourself up, then link your record beside the licence.
On what makes a buyer call, the best Canadian figures are from a 2015 CHBA and Avid Ratings study that surveyed more than 12,000 recent new home buyers: 90% rated the builder's website important in their final decision, and 89% said the same of online reviews. On a custom builder website, that means a page per model or build type with real specs and price ranges, a page on building on the buyer's own lot, the steps from first meeting to keys, and reviews.
What can't my website say?
Anything untrue about the home, its features, its benefits or its price. The builders' Code of Ethics is O. Reg. 245/21, in effect since 1 July 2021, and HCRA explains it in Advisory 1, its Guide to Good Conduct. Under section 17, HCRA's Advisory 1 says, licensees must "be clear and truthful when describing a new home including its features, any benefits and prices", and that covers advertising by anyone acting for you. Advisory 1 says section 18 means you can't present a price as "fixed or approved by the HCRA, Tarion Warranty Corporation or any government authority", apart from charges one of those bodies sets.
In our reading, a web agency writing your copy is acting for you, so the words are still yours. Keep the proof for each claim yourself.
How we'd apply that:
- Gallery. Only homes your company built, labelled with the town and year. Homes your team built at a previous company don't count. If a client doesn't want their town shown, write "private client, Simcoe County".
- Renderings and AI images. Label renderings "artist's concept" and photos of upgraded models "shown with optional upgrades". Fine print doesn't fix a misleading picture.
- Model pages. Square footage and inclusions should match your agreement of purchase and sale, and a "standard features" list has to be true at the price shown.
- Reviews and awards. Use only real reviews, link each one to where it was posted, say if you gave anything for it, and name the award and the year.
- "From" prices. Drip pricing means showing a price and adding compulsory fees later. The Competition Act's s.74.01(1.1) treats a price nobody can pay because of fixed compulsory fees as misleading, unless the fee is only one that federal or provincial law imposes on the buyer. Put anything your agreement adds on closing, such as utility connections or development charge increases, in the price or beside it, and ask your lawyer about the exception. If the price is HST included, net of rebates, say what a buyer who doesn't qualify pays.
Tarion wording that's safe to use
Start by taking down any "Tarion-registered" badge. HCRA licenses you; Tarion enrols each home and backs the warranty, and Tarion isn't a membership. A plain line works: "Licensed by HCRA (licence #...). Our homes are enrolled with Tarion." Tarion won't finalise a builder's application to qualify for enrolment until HCRA has issued a valid licence, and you can't start building a home before Tarion confirms its enrolment.
For the warranty, use Tarion's words from its freehold warranty document: "This warranty is provided to you by your builder and backed by Tarion." For freehold homes it covers workmanship and materials for 1 year, water leaks, building systems and cladding for 2, and major structural defects for 7, up to $400,000. If you offer your own warranty, such as a 10-year or "lifetime" promise, give it its own section and say it's yours, not Tarion's.
Tarion's contract homes page matters for custom builders. When the owner owns the land and hires a builder who supplies all the labour and materials, Tarion calls it a contract home, with the statutory warranty and a backstop for financial loss of up to $40,000. A project management contract, Tarion says, is "indicative of an owner-build scenario", and "Owner-built homes do not have statutory warranty coverage."
The two bodies use "owner-built" differently. For CRA's HST rebate below, it covers a person who builds, or hires someone to build, a home to live in, so a house you build under contract can be owner-built for CRA and still a contract home with Tarion cover.
Can I call my homes "net zero"?
Yes, if you can prove it. CHBA's Net Zero Labelling Program says "A Net Zero Home produces as much energy as it consumes" and labels homes Net Zero or Net Zero Ready, so the proof is the modelling and any third-party label behind the claim. An airtight house isn't proof. Name the label on the model page and don't call a Ready home net zero. Never promise zero bills, which depend on who lives there.
For "energy efficient", give the energy rating and say whether it's for the model as designed or a home as built. Use ENERGY STAR only on homes that carry the label, and if you say "better than code", say which code.
Under s.74.01(1)(b), (b.1) and (b.2) of the Competition Act, a performance or green claim about a home needs "an adequate and proper test", and one about your business, such as "we're a green builder", needs "adequate and proper substantiation", meaning evidence that holds up. Bill C-15 removed the "internationally recognized methodology" wording from the business test in March 2026, Osler reports, but the burden of proof is still yours.
Should I mention the HST rebate on my site?
Yes, if you write "may qualify", list the conditions, link the government pages, date the line and promise no amount. Ontario says "Eligible buyers could save up to $130,000 through our temporary expanded Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) relief." That has two parts:
- CRA's Ontario enhanced new housing rebate. With the existing Ontario rebate, up to $80,000 of the 8% provincial HST, for a primary residence, on agreements with a builder signed from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
- Ontario's new home affordability payment. Up to $50,000, less any federal HST rebate claimed. The buyer has to qualify for the CRA rebate first.
Both phase out the same way. Full relief runs to $1 million, then a flat amount to $1.5 million, then partial relief, and nothing at $1.85 million or more.
For a custom home on the buyer's own lot, CRA Notice 346 says the rebate of up to $80,000 covers owner-built homes, including one the owner hires a builder to build. Construction has to begin in the same window, the home has to be "substantially completed before 2030", and its fair market value then has to be "less than $1,850,000". As of 8 November 2026, Ontario's page doesn't say whether its payment covers owner-built homes. Don't put $130,000 on a custom build; ask CRA before you put any number on it.
Two sites, by what's on them
Two builds of ours show what pages a builder website can carry. They aren't examples of the rules above. Starlit Homes, a London, Ontario home builder, had a 4-page site it built itself; in four weeks we grew it to about 38 pages: 17 core pages, 12 model pages built from one list, and 9 articles. Jarvis Contracting, an Ajax design-build renovation firm working since 2007, has 8 job films with transcripts, 17 project pages, 14 guides and a pricing page with 2026 ranges before HST. More is on our construction page.
Does AODA apply to my website?
Probably not as law, if you run a small firm. Ontario's website rule, O. Reg. 191/11 s.14, has required organisations with 50 or more employees in Ontario to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), with a few exceptions, since 1 January 2021. Businesses with 20 or more employees do file an accessibility compliance report by 31 December 2026. The standard is still worth meeting, and our AODA website compliance checklist has the checks.
The deadline is 31 March 2027
That's when the HST relief window closes. For a home you sell, the agreement has to be signed by then; for a home on the buyer's own lot, construction has to begin, and signing isn't enough. If you use the deadline in your marketing, give the conditions with it. Single-detached building is holding up, too: CMHC counted 1,060 single-detached starts in Ontario centres of 10,000 or more in September 2026, against 868 a year earlier.
A checklist for this week
Go down this with whoever runs your site. "Required" means a rule says so; "Advice" is ours.
| What to check | Required or advice | Where it comes from | How to check your site |
|---|---|---|---|
| The licence itself, easy to find and readable | Required | HCRA Directive 4; Ontario Regulation 626/20 s.4 | From any page, can a buyer reach an image or PDF of the current licence and read it on a phone? |
| Each licensed company's licence, kept current | Required; keeping it current is our reading | Ontario Regulation 626/20 s.4 | Is a vendor company's licence shown too, and is each image the latest? |
| Your Ontario Builder Directory record linked | Advice | HCRA's advice to buyers, Feb 2025 | Does the directory record match what your site says? |
| Only homes you built; renderings labelled | Required; the labels are advice | Code of Ethics ss.12 and 17 (HCRA Advisory 1) | Could you name the town and year for every photo? |
| Features, benefits and prices described truthfully | Required | Code of Ethics s.17 (HCRA Advisory 1) | Does each model spec match your agreement? |
| No prices shown as "fixed or approved" by HCRA, Tarion or government | Required | Code of Ethics s.18 (HCRA Advisory 1) | Is "HCRA", "Tarion" or "government approved" anywhere near a price? |
| "From" prices you can actually pay | Required | Competition Act s.74.01(1.1) | Is every fixed charge in the price or stated beside it? |
| Real reviews, linked; awards named and dated | Advice | Our advice | Does each review link to where it was posted? |
| Warranty in Tarion's words, yours kept separate | Advice | Tarion freehold warranty document | Does any line call Tarion a membership or registration? |
| Contract home and owner-built kept apart | Advice | Tarion contract homes page; CRA Notice 346 | Does the site say which homes carry the Tarion warranty? |
| Net zero, green and performance claims backed | Required | Competition Act s.74.01(1)(b), (b.1), (b.2) | Which label, model or test result backs each claim? |
| HST relief stated with its conditions | Advice | CRA Notice 346 (rebate); ontario.ca (payment) | Does the line say "may qualify", give dates and link both pages? |
| WCAG 2.0 AA | Required at 50+ employees; advice below | Ontario Regulation 191/11 s.14 | Can you use every page with a keyboard alone, and does text stay readable zoomed to 200%? |
Check your site against this list, or send it to us for the free 24-hour audit.
How we checked: we read the HCRA, Tarion, CHBA, Justice Laws (s.74.01 text current to 19 October 2026), CRA, Ontario and CMHC pages linked above on 8 November 2026, and took the effect of Bill C-15 from Osler. We'll check them again by 1 April 2027, after the HST relief window closes.