The City of Steinbach will now take small deposits when building permits are pulled to ensure construction and lot grading is fully completed.

Mayor Earl Funk says council decided to revisit their Lot Grading, Building Elevation Establishments, and Building Completion Policies because the town's administration has been dealing with quite a few outstanding work orders.

"A resident comes in, takes a permit and for some of the smaller jobs, there was no deposit required. Let's say someone comes in and builds a deck for $3,000 and never finishes it, or maybe they finish it but they don't get the final approval. All these outstanding work orders, they become a burden for our staff so by collecting upfront, a small deposit that is refundable once we do the inspection, we are hoping that that will police itself now."

In the future, Funk notes they will also require deposits from those developing commercial, industrial, and multi-family residential properties to make sure site servicing and drainage work is all completed.

"Drainage is very very important because we are flat and the more we build and the more our lots become imperviable, that water does not soak in, where does that water go so we have got to make sure that water is not causing hardship for the neighbour."

In the Residential Construction Completion policy, the deposit will have a flat rate of $500 when the project is valued at $3,000 or more. Meanwhile, the value of the lot grading and site servicing deposit for commercial, industrial, or multi-family residential projects is set at 1% of estimated construction cost subject to a minimum of $3,000 and a maximum of $20,000.