House 2024 and Small Buildings 2024 are two of the Ontario Building Code qualification exams that designers and building officials pass to qualify in a class of buildings. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) writes them and Humber Polytechnic schedules and delivers them. Each is 70 multiple-choice questions with four options, in three hours, open book, and the pass mark is 70 per cent of the whole paper, with no minimum for any topic. The fee is $150 per exam. Both have tested the 2024 Building Code since March 30, 2026, and passing Small Buildings also qualifies you for House.
Try 14 free BCIN questionsGet all 550 – $99
01What is a BCIN, and who needs these exams?
A BCIN (Building Code Identification Number) is simply the number MMAH gives you when you open an account in its QuARTS registration system. Anyone may write the Building Code exams; there is no education or experience prerequisite. To be qualified you pass the exams for the work you will do, then register with MMAH and pay its annual fee.
MMAH's page on becoming a registered building practitioner lists who must be qualified and registered: chief building officials, managers and supervisors, inspectors (plans examiners included), certain designers (independent designers and design firms), on-site sewage system installers and registered code agencies. The designer rules in the Building Code Act, 1992 reach anyone who prepares designs or code-compliance opinions that go to a chief building official with a permit application, but they do not apply to licensed architects or professional engineers, and Division C of the Building Code exempts some cases, such as an owner designing their own building.
For designers and inspectors, a qualification pairs a legal exam, such as General or Designer Legal/Process, with at least one technical exam for the class of building you will design or inspect. House 2024 and Small Buildings 2024 are the technical exams for houses and for the small buildings designed under Part 9. Under the Code's qualification rules the exams nest: passing Small Buildings qualifies you for both the House and the Small Buildings classes. Someone who passed the 2012 version of an exam does not have to pass the 2024 version.
02What is the House and Small Buildings exam format?
Humber's Examination Format page gives the same format for every Building Code exam:
- 70 multiple-choice questions, each with four possible answers, of which you choose the best one;
- every question carries equal weight;
- three hours, open book.
The exams were 75 questions until July 4, 2023, when they dropped to 70 to give more time for each question. MMAH has described its questions as being of three kinds: direct response, calculation-based and scenario-related. It publishes a study guide (syllabus) for each 2024 exam, listing the Parts, Sections and Articles it covers, but no weights by topic, no question counts and no sample questions.
You write online, either at home or at an office under live remote proctoring through Meazure Learning, or at an Ontario college test centre. Remote sittings need a desktop or laptop with Chrome, a webcam and no second monitor, and allow no breaks. Paper sittings are kept for areas without adequate internet, approved paper requests and the French exams.
03How are the exams scored?
The pass mark is 70 per cent of the whole paper, 49 of 70 questions. Humber's format page gives no minimum for any section or topic, so a strong part of the Code can make up for a weak one.
Results are released by MMAH, not Humber: you get an examination results notification by email and can see your score in QuARTS, within 14 business days. If you think a question was flawed, Humber's appeals page allows an appeal within five business days, and it says plainly that a mark just under the pass line is not in itself grounds for one. MMAH may award marks on a successful appeal and gives Code references for questions challenged without success.
04What can you bring into the exam?
Both exams are open book. Humber's Candidate Protocol (revised March 31, 2026) and FAQ allow:
- the 2024 Building Code Compendium, Volumes 1 and 2, in hard copy and/or as the PDF Humber links at the start of an online exam (your own PDF copy is not allowed);
- MMAH's Code and Construction Guide for Housing;
- a non-programmable calculator and blank paper.
Highlighting, tabs and minimal annotations in your books are allowed; writing in them during the exam is treated as misconduct. Humber does not say which amendment level its exam PDF carries, and the Compendium has been amended several times in 2026, so if your hard copy is older, know where the 2026 changes fall.
05How do you register, and what does it cost?
The exams are on demand. You register and pay through Humber at least seven days before you want to write; Meazure Learning then sets up your account, usually within one to three business days, and you schedule your own sitting within a year. Some test centres open bookings up to two days ahead. You need your BCIN, so open a QuARTS account with MMAH first.
The fee is $150 per exam, set in Division C of the Building Code. You can cancel at least seven days ahead for a $50 administration fee; inside seven days no changes are allowed, and a no-show forfeits the fee. Exam fees may qualify for the tuition tax credit. MMAH's registration fees, once you have passed, are separate.
06What happens if you fail?
You can write the exam again: Humber's policy is that a candidate who fails registers again and pays the fee again. Humber's pages give no waiting period between attempts. Because the pass mark is on the whole paper, look at which units cost you the most marks, not only at the total, before you book the rewrite.
Revealing the content of any exam question or answer is misconduct under Humber's Examination Policy, with a fail and a report to MMAH. Study from the Code and the syllabus, not from anything offered as remembered exam content.
07What do the House and Small Buildings exams cover?
MMAH's syllabi list what each exam covers. House takes in Part 9 (with some exceptions), slices of Parts 3 to 7, 11 and 12, and several supplementary standards, among them SB-1 climatic data, SB-2 and SB-3 fire ratings, SB-7 guards, SB-9 soil gas and SB-12 energy efficiency for housing. Small Buildings takes in the whole of Part 9, more of Part 3, including its special Sections on self-service storage, pools, tents, signs and rack storage, slices of Parts 4 to 7, and SB-10. To study them, TicketPrep's bank groups the shared material into seven units of our own. They are our reading of the syllabi, not MMAH's breakdown, which it does not publish.
Unit A: Compliance, administration and general requirements
Division A on what the Code governs and which Parts apply, defined terms, and the objectives and functional statements behind each requirement; Division B Part 1 and the general sections of Part 9; Division C on design, permits, occupancy before completion, inspections and alternative solutions; Part 11 for existing buildings; and Section 9.41 on a change of use.
Free unit A practice questions: Compliance, Administration and General Requirements →
Unit B: Fire protection, fire safety and sound
Section 9.10, from building size for fire purposes and construction types to fire separations, closures, spatial separation, flame spread, fire alarm and detection, smoke alarms and firefighting access, with the Part 3 provisions and the SB-2 and SB-3 methods it relies on, and sound transmission in Section 9.11.
Free unit B practice questions: Fire Protection, Fire Safety and Sound →
Unit C: Rooms, glazing, doors, stairs, guards and means of egress
Room and ceiling heights, hallways and doorways, glass, windows, doors and skylights, stairs, ramps, landings, handrails and guards (with SB-7), and Section 9.9 on means of egress, with the Part 3 rules on horizontal exits and fire escapes.
Free unit C practice questions: Rooms, Glazing, Doors, Stairs, Guards and Egress →
Unit D: Structure, site, foundations and masonry
Materials and grades, structural requirements and loads, SB-1 data and the Part 4 references, excavation, dampproofing, waterproofing and soil gas, drainage, footings and foundation walls, slabs, columns, crawl spaces, masonry and ICF walls, chimneys and fireplaces.
Free unit D practice questions: Structure, Site, Foundations and Masonry →
Unit E: Wood-frame construction, building envelope and finishes
Section 9.23 framing and Section 9.24 steel studs, roof-space venting, insulation, air and vapour barriers, the Part 5 references, roofing, cladding, stucco, interior finishes and flooring, garages and carports, and cottages, log construction and park model trailers.
Free unit E practice questions: Wood-Frame Construction, Envelope and Finishes →
Unit F: Building services, energy and water efficiency
Plumbing facilities and the Part 7 references, ventilation and carbon monoxide alarms, heating and air conditioning, lighting outlets and electrical facilities, and energy and water efficiency in Part 12, SB-12 and SB-10. Ventilation and SB-10 are on the Small Buildings syllabus only.
Free unit F practice questions: Building Services, Energy and Water Efficiency →
Unit G: Part 2 and Part 3 provisions for small buildings
Farm buildings, occupant load and classification by occupancy, height and area, hazardous areas, service facilities, barrier-free design, health care and food premises, and the special Part 3 Sections. Almost all of it is on the Small Buildings syllabus only.
Free unit G practice questions: Part 2 and Part 3 Provisions for Small Buildings →
08Which Building Code edition do the exams use?
The 2024 Building Code, O. Reg. 163/24, which came into force on January 1, 2025 and is built on the 2020 National Building Code with Ontario's amendments. Humber held the last exams on the 2012 Code in mid-March 2026, ran no exams for two weeks, and started the 2024 exams on March 30, 2026. MMAH said the 2024 Code includes a new Part 2 for farm buildings and revisions to Parts 3, 7 and 9, and that exam questions would reflect them.
The Code has been amended several times since, in 2026 alone by O. Reg. 110/26, 119/26, 242/26 and 325/26. MMAH has refreshed past exams after amendments on its own schedule and has not announced when the 2024 exams will take these in. The next edition, to follow the 2025 national codes, has no date yet.
The Building Code text is not ours to reproduce: the national code text belongs to the National Research Council of Canada, and MMAH's Compendium is licensed for non-commercial use. Nothing on this page reproduces it, and our questions cite Article numbers and explain each requirement in their own words.
09How should you study for an open-book Code exam?
Three hours for 70 questions is about 2 minutes 34 seconds each. Many questions are scenarios that need two or three Articles read together, so the time goes to finding things, not to recalling them.
- Tab the Compendium early. Tab Part 9 by Section, then the Part 3, 4, 5 and 12 pieces your syllabus names, the supplementary standards (SB-1, SB-2, SB-3, SB-7, SB-12, and SB-10 for Small Buildings) and Division C. Use the same copy, or the same layout, that you will use in the exam.
- Read the stem for the building first. A house, a house with a secondary suite and a small apartment building often get different answers to the same question, and so do Part 9 and Part 3 buildings.
- Practise the look-up, not just the answer. When you get a question wrong, find the Article in your own copy and read the whole Sentence, exceptions included, before you move on.
- Time a full sitting. Work at least one 70-question set in three hours with only the materials you will use, and note which units cost you marks.
10How does TicketPrep's BCIN practice test work?
Our bank has 550 original questions on the 2024 Building Code, 400 Standard and 150 Advanced, written for both exams: 483 are on the House syllabus and 549 on Small Buildings. Every question has four options and one correct answer, explains all four, and records the Division and Article it was written from. None is an exam question, and MMAH publishes no sample questions for the 2024 exams.
The timed mock exam is 70 questions in three hours, for House or for Small Buildings, scored against the 70 per cent pass mark and broken down by our seven units. MMAH publishes no weights by topic, so the draw is ours: for House 4, 12, 9, 18, 22, 4 and 1 questions from Units A to G, and for Small Buildings 4, 11, 8, 15, 17, 7 and 8. One $99 BCIN Exam Pass covers both exams and the two Legal/Process exams.
You can read five questions on the BCIN exam practice test page and ten more on the free questions page, with ten more on each unit page, and try 14 free in the quiz for each exam.
11Questions people ask
- How many questions are on the BCIN House and Small Buildings exams?
- Each is 70 multiple-choice questions with four options, in three hours, open book, according to Humber Polytechnic's examination format page. Every question carries equal weight.
- What is the pass mark for the BCIN exams?
- 70 per cent of the whole paper, which is 49 of 70 questions. There is no minimum for any section or topic.
- Is the BCIN exam open book?
- Yes. Humber allows the 2024 Building Code Compendium, Volumes 1 and 2, in hard copy or as the PDF it links at the start of an online exam, MMAH's Code and Construction Guide for Housing, a non-programmable calculator and blank paper.
- How much does a BCIN exam cost?
- $150 per exam. Cancelling at least seven days ahead costs a $50 administration fee; inside seven days no changes are allowed. To rewrite, you register and pay again.
- Does Small Buildings cover House?
- Yes. Under the Building Code's qualification rules, passing Small Buildings qualifies you for both the House and the Small Buildings classes. House covers houses only.
- Does MMAH publish practice exams for the 2024 BCIN exams?
- No. MMAH publishes a syllabus for each exam, listing the Code provisions it covers, but no sample questions and no weights by topic. Practice questions from other sources, ours included, are not exam questions.
12Sources
- Humber Polytechnic: Ontario Building Code Examinations, Examination Format: 70 multiple-choice questions with four answers, equal weight, three hours, open book, 70 per cent pass; online at home or office, or at a test centre. Accessed October 28, 2026.
- Humber Polytechnic: Candidate Protocol: the allowed materials (2024 Compendium, Humber's PDF only, the Code and Construction Guide for Housing, a non-programmable calculator, blank paper) and conduct rules, revised March 31, 2026. Accessed October 28, 2026.
- Humber Polytechnic: Registration: on-demand registration at least seven days ahead, scheduling through Meazure Learning, the $150 fee and the cancellation rule. Accessed October 28, 2026.
- Humber Polytechnic: Appeals: appeals within five business days and what is not grounds for one. Accessed October 28, 2026.
- Humber Polytechnic: Examination News: the move to the 2024 Building Code exams on March 30, 2026 and the delivery changes of 2025. Accessed October 28, 2026.
- Ontario (MMAH): Study guides for 2024 Building Code examinations: the House and Small Buildings syllabi (published January 12, 2026, updated January 21, 2026). Accessed October 28, 2026.
- Ontario (MMAH): Become a registered building practitioner: who must be qualified and registered, the BCIN, the exam requirements by practitioner and the nesting of exams. Accessed October 28, 2026.
- e-Laws: O. Reg. 163/24, Building Code: the 2024 Building Code in force January 1, 2025. Accessed October 28, 2026.
The exam rules were read on Humber Polytechnic's Ontario Building Code Examinations pages and Candidate Protocol and on MMAH's pages on October 28, 2026. Where Humber or MMAH does not state a figure, such as how many questions any topic gets, we say so instead of filling it in. The unit summaries are our own reading of the syllabi and the Code, and no Building Code text is reproduced on this page. MMAH and Humber are the final word on the exams; if you find something here out of date, tell us.
Related: BCIN exam practice test · Free BCIN exam practice questions · BCIN Legal/Process exam guide · All guides
13Practice for this exam
TicketPrep BCIN practice tests cover the House 2024 and Small Buildings 2024 syllabi across our seven units, every answer is explained, all four options, and every mock is scored against the 70 per cent pass mark. You can try 14 sample questions for each exam with no account. One BCIN Exam Pass is $99 one time for 120 days and covers all four BCIN exams, House, Small Buildings and the two Legal/Process exams, and All-Access at $119 includes it along with every other exam on TicketPrep.
Ten free questions per trade, no account: free practice questions. How our questions are written and checked: how our questions are made.