Planning a home renovation in Toronto
Plan a home renovation in this order: work out what the house needs, set a budget that carries a contingency and the soft costs, hire a contractor, finish the design and every selection, pull the permit, build in stages, then close out with a deficiency list and your warranty paperwork. Most of the money you save or waste is decided before anyone is on site. First Place Homes has renovated more than 100 Toronto houses since 1997. This is the order Harvey works through with a homeowner.
Deciding what to renovate first
Start with water. Then structure. Then the systems buried in the walls. Finishes last.
The room you are most excited about is rarely the one to spend on first. If the basement takes water every spring, the kitchen waits. A finished room built over a leak is a room you buy twice.
Water. Roof, flashing, grading, window and door seals, a wet basement, a leaking shower pan.
Structure. Sagging joists, a beam a previous owner took out, a cracked footing, a porch pulling away.
Systems. Knob-and-tube wiring, an undersized panel, clay drain tile, brick walls with no insulation.
Layout and finishes. The kitchen, the bathroom, the floors, the paint.
One honest exception. If the house is dry and sound and the systems have been done, renovate the room that is making your life difficult. You live there.
Setting a budget you can defend
Check your number against real quotes before you fall for a design. Get two or three written and itemized early in the process. A budget built from a magazine spread is not a budget.
Then add two things almost nobody budgets.
A contingency. Money you have already decided to spend on a problem you have not met yet. Every Toronto century house hides something: a notched joist, a splice buried in a ceiling, a soil stack that has to come out, a floor nowhere near level. Agree the figure before you sign and keep it in its own column, so it does not become the tile budget.
Soft costs, which rarely appear on a contractor's quote:
Drawings and an engineer's stamp if the structure changes
City permit fees and a survey if you are adding floor area
Appliances, unless written into the scope
Window coverings, forgotten on every single job
Storage, moving and a permit if the bin sits on the street
Rent if you move out and the restaurant line if you stay
Paint and repair in the rooms beside the work
HST, if a quote was written before tax
Shortlisting and interviewing contractors
Get three. Find them through neighbours who have had work done on a house like yours and through trades you already trust.
Ask each one for a City of Toronto renovation contractor licence, a liability insurance certificate, a current WSIB clearance certificate and two references you can phone. Then ask who runs the site day to day, how many jobs they run at once, who pulls the permit and how a change gets priced.
Price all three on the same drawings and the same written scope. Quotes built on different assumptions are different projects. Full guide: how to choose a home renovation contractor.
What to expect at a first consultation
Ours is free, by phone or video first, then in the house. Bring rough measurements or a floor plan, photos, a short list of what is wrong, your budget range and your timing. Say the budget out loud. A builder who knows the number can tell you what it buys.
You should get back what is realistic, what the house is likely hiding, a range and at least one thing Harvey tells you not to spend money on. A price given on the spot with no measuring is a sales call.
The design phase is where you change your mind cheaply
Our design phase runs 2 to 4 weeks. Use it hard. Moving a wall on a drawing costs an hour. Moving it after the drywall is up costs a change order and a week. We produce 3D renderings for kitchens and bathrooms and that is the moment to say you hate the island.
Finish every selection before demolition: tile, fixtures, lighting, hardware, paint, cabinet finish. One open decision stops a trade and a stopped trade holds up the two behind it. Long-lead items get ordered here.
What a written scope and schedule should contain
A room-by-room description of the work, with the drawings referenced
What is included and what is excluded, both written down
Allowances with a number against each, so quotes can be compared
Who supplies and who installs appliances and fixtures
Permits, drawings and engineering: who files them and who pays
Disposal, containment, site protection and clean-up
Payments tied to completed stages
A change order process: priced and signed before the work happens
Warranty terms and what happens at close out
A start date, stage dates, working hours and site access
Builds run 4 weeks to 4 months depending on scope, with permit review on top when the work is structural. More in how long does a renovation take.
Living through it
You can usually stay through a single bathroom if there is another one in the house and through a kitchen if you set up a temporary one properly: a fridge, a kettle, a folding table and a sink you can reach.
Full-floor work is harder. Ask where the dust barriers go, whether there is negative air behind them, which washroom the crew uses and how many days you will be without heat or water. Moving out costs money and shortens the build, because the crew is not rebuilding containment every morning.
The renovation checklist, in order
Write down what is wrong with the house
Water first, then structure, then systems, then finishes
Budget, contingency, soft costs
Shortlist three contractors and check their paper
Free consultation and a site visit
Design, drawings and selections, 2 to 4 weeks
Engineering if the structure changes
Permit through your City of Toronto district office
Build in stages, with inspections
Deficiency walk-through, close out, warranty documents
Talk it through before you spend anything
Harvey will look at your house, tell you what he expects to find behind the plaster and tell you what to skip. That conversation costs nothing. Get a free consultation or call Harvey at (416) 489-4083. More on our Toronto home renovation page.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I start with a home renovation?
Start with what the house needs before what you want. Deal with water, then structure, then the systems in the walls and put finishes last. Once the house is dry and sound, renovate the room that is making daily life difficult.
What is the renovation process from start to finish?
Scope, budget, contractor, design and selections, permit, build, close out. Design with us runs 2 to 4 weeks and builds run 4 weeks to 4 months depending on scope, with permit review on top for structural work.
What costs do people forget to budget for?
Drawings and engineering, permit fees, appliances, window coverings, storage and moving, paint in the rooms beside the work and eating out or moving out while the job runs.
Do I need drawings for a home renovation?
You need them for any permit and you need them to compare quotes. Without a drawing set and a written scope, three contractors will price three different projects.
Can I live in my house during a renovation?
Usually yes for a single bathroom or a kitchen, if containment is done properly and you have a temporary kitchen. Full-floor work with stretches of no heat or water is much harder and moving out often shortens the build.