Renovation planning & costs
Know what your renovation budget covers—and what it needs to cover.
Enter your home's approximate size, select the work you are considering, and see a starting budget range. Compare published planning guidance and see how real renovation decisions fit together.
Published planning ranges
Start with the kind of renovation you are considering. Refinishing a staircase, renewing a kitchen and changing a bathroom layout are different projects, even when they are part of the same home.
These are Strataline's published planning ranges. Use them to establish the scale of the work, then confirm the specification, existing conditions and inclusions for your property.
| Work you are considering | Planning range | What the range describes |
|---|---|---|
| Standard stair refinishing A straightforward staircase refinishing scope. | $3,500–$6,500 | A straightforward staircase refinishing scope. |
| Large or curved stair refinishing More substantial stairs, landings, access or detail. | $6,500–$10,000 | More substantial stairs, landings, access or detail. |
| Stair refinishing with upgrades Refinishing coordinated with repairs, painted components or railing changes. | $8,000–$15,000 | Refinishing coordinated with repairs, painted components or railing changes. |
| Cosmetic kitchen renovation A finish-led update rather than a full custom redesign. | $15,000–$30,000 | A finish-led update rather than a full custom redesign. |
| Mid-range kitchen renovation A more substantial renovation with selections and scope agreed for the room. | $30,000–$75,000 | A more substantial renovation with selections and scope agreed for the room. |
| Custom or layout-changing kitchen Bespoke work or a changed arrangement with broader coordination. | $75,000–$175,000 | Bespoke work or a changed arrangement with broader coordination. |
| Complete bathroom, established layout A complete renovation without the scope of a major layout change. | $18,000–$38,000 | A complete renovation without the scope of a major layout change. |
| Custom or layout-changing bathroom More complex layouts, specifications and custom work. | $38,000–$75,000+ | More complex layouts, specifications and custom work. |
All figures are in Canadian dollars. Confirm inclusions and HST in your written quote. These are planning ranges, not tax-inclusive offers or fixed prices for every property.
See the details for stair refinishing, kitchen renovations and bathroom renovations.
Our 560-square-foot Vaughan basement project combined living space, a bathroom, laundry and substantial finishing work. The project story gives a 2026 planning range of $55,000–$70,000 plus HST for comparable work. That is current-value guidance, not the original contract price or a price for every basement of that size.
For popcorn removal, the useful measurement is the ceiling being finished—not the home's total floor area. Height, access, painted texture, substrate repairs and the required finished result all belong in the assessment. Confirm whether the work ends at texture removal or includes repairs, preparation, primer and ceiling paint.
For interior painting, identify walls, ceilings, trim and doors separately. A room needing straightforward repainting is not the same scope as one needing extensive repairs, surface preparation and detailed trim work.
Send room dimensions, ceiling heights, a few wide photographs and close-ups of problem areas. Plan popcorn ceiling removal or interior painting.
Your renovation, at a glance
Enter your home's approximate size and select the work you're considering. We'll suggest quantities and a budget range—you can adjust the details as you go.
All above-ground floors combined. Leave out the garage and basement.
2,000 sq ft example · no work selected
1,500 sq ft
Protection, smoothing, primer and ceiling paint included.
2,000 sq ft floor area
Normal preparation, paint and labour, using the floor area served.
Use the floor area of the rooms to paint; you don't need to measure every wall.
1,800 sq ft remaining
Only ceilings left after popcorn and complete-room finishing.
Approx. 600 linear ft · 12 doors · 12 window trims
Existing baseboards, both door faces and casings, and interior window trim.
1,500 sq ft
Standard flooring, ordinary removal, installation, cuts and simple transitions.
300 sq ft
A separate area: standard tile, ordinary removal, preparation and installation.
1 kitchen
Standard cabinetry, counters, backsplash, normal trade coordination and finished room surfaces.
Kitchen flooring is included in the full kitchen renovation and is not counted twice.
1 powder room
Existing layout, standard vanity and toilet, floor, walls, ceiling and lighting.
2 bathrooms
Tub removal, waterproofed and tiled shower, standard glass and fittings, vanity, toilet, floor and normal room finishing.
1 flight
An above-grade flight, separate from ordinary floor installation.
12 doors
Standard painted solid-core doors, hardware, installation and finishing.
12 windows
Removal, supply, installation, sealing and normal perimeter finishing in a suitable opening.
Standard-size window allowances include removal, supply, installation, sealing and normal perimeter finishing. Glazing and security specifications are confirmed with the detailed quote; laminated security glass is not a complete armoured window system.
1 assembly
Complete assembly with frame, threshold, standard hardware, removal, installation, sealing and normal perimeter finishing.
Each assembly includes its standard frame, threshold, hardware, removal, installation, sealing and normal perimeter finishing. Double doors and sidelights count as one assembly. Custom glass, oversize systems and major opening alterations are separate. Condo entrance doors must meet the building's specification.
1 opening
Above-grade brick-veneer/framed opening preparation, support allowance, masonry edges and local making-good; product shown separately.
For ordinary above-ground openings in suitable brick-veneer and framed walls. Drawings, engineering, municipal fees and substantial concealed-service changes are separate.
Foundation cutting, structural masonry, major beams, new window wells, drainage and egress work need a separate assessment. See our window and door opening work.
Approx. 600 linear ft
Standard paint-grade profile, removal, supply, installation, caulking and paint.
These quantities are a starting point. Only checked work is priced. Quantities you adjust stay yours when home size changes.
Surfaces included in complete-room renovations are not counted twice. Door units and window assemblies remain separate.
Before you choose a contractor
Ask each contractor these questions so you can compare the same work, materials and finished result.
Get any missing inclusions, allowances and changes confirmed in writing before you decide.
For stairs, use our more detailed stair renovation quote checklist.
Decisions before work begins
One room: define the finished result and what stays. Include the places where that room meets existing floors, walls and trim.
Connected rooms: mark the work on a single plan, even if it is being quoted in stages. Identify shared protection, service changes and finishing so the same work is neither omitted nor counted twice.
Whole-home renovation: separate retained areas from rooms being renewed, changes to the layout and work to the building's systems. A whole-home price needs that combined specification. Adding every high-end room range—or multiplying the home's total floor area by a single rate—does not establish the price of your project.
Use the planner below to organise the agreed pieces. Leave unresolved items visible until they can be assessed and priced.
Count the treads and landings, then separate the wood being refinished from painted risers, stringers, handrails, posts and balusters. Carpet removal, damaged components and a new railing must be identified rather than assumed to be part of “refinishing.”
Confirm whether the existing staircase is suitable for refinishing or needs repairs, caps or replacement components. Review colours against nearby floors before the finish is selected. Access during the work and curing requirements should be discussed with the finish specification. Explore stair refinishing.
Start with what works and what needs to change. Keeping a useful arrangement is different from moving services or opening the kitchen into adjacent rooms.
Agree on cabinet scope, appliance responsibility, counters, backsplash, lighting, ventilation and connected flooring before comparing totals. Ask which selections remain allowances. Cabinet production and countertop fabrication need to be accounted for alongside the time spent working in the home. Explore kitchen renovations.
Decide whether the existing arrangement works before choosing fixtures. Moving plumbing, adding custom elements or changing access should be discussed as part of the project—not discovered as an extra after selections have been made.
Identify demolition, substrate preparation, waterproofing, tile, fixtures, electrical work, ventilation and glass responsibilities. Where glass is measured after tile installation, separate that final fabrication period from the main on-site work. Explore bathroom renovations.
Look beyond the edge of the room being renovated. A new floor can affect stair nosings. A wider doorway can affect trim, nearby walls and circulation. Ceiling work can change the sequence for lighting and final painting.
Before pricing separate pieces, mark what is staying, what is being removed and where the new work meets the old. That drawing can be simple. What matters is that the boundaries are clear.
For doors and windows, identify the units, sizes, operating styles and whether the existing wall openings are staying. Ask who is supplying the products and who is responsible for surrounding trim and paint. Explore doors and windows.
For flooring, record the material, removal, preparation, transitions and baseboard work. For wallpaper, establish wall condition, product responsibility and the amount required for the selected pattern. These belong in the plan even when they are separate from the main room renovation.
Project planning
Agree on the milestones that matter to your household: when selections are needed, when ordered materials are expected, when rooms are unavailable, and when finished surfaces can return to normal use.
Understand the property. Review the existing condition, measurements, retained elements and the changes being considered. Resolve any required investigations before disturbing suspect material.
Set the scope and selections. Confirm what is included, what remains an allowance, what the homeowner is supplying and what requires approval. Agree on decisions that affect fabrication before releasing those items for production.
Coordinate approvals and deliveries. Check the applicable municipal, electrical and building-management requirements. Plan deliveries and off-site fabrication around the work they depend on.
Protect the home and complete the work. Agree on access, containment, demolition, required rough-ins, preparation and the sequence for the finishes involved. The right order depends on the actual project.
Allow for final installation and curing. A room can look finished before every material is ready for normal use. Confirm any follow-up installation, inspections, care instructions and access restrictions.
A single “number of weeks” can hide several different periods. Ask for the overall project window, the time work is happening in your home, and any waiting or curing period separately.
Discuss safe routes, essential rooms, pets, working from home and any planned utility interruptions. A single-bathroom home needs a different arrangement from one with another bathroom available. Stair work needs an access plan, not just a finish selection.
For condos, include management requirements, work hours, elevator bookings, common-area protection and any coordinated shutoffs before fixing the site schedule.
Dust control and protection should be explained for the work being done. Ask what will be isolated and cleaned; do not treat “dust-free” as a substitute for understanding the process.
Project planning
Building permits: requirements depend on the work and municipality. Toronto identifies structural changes and certain alterations among work requiring permits. Vaughan provides a residential permit process and specific guidance for basement finishing. Confirm the requirements for your address and scope rather than borrowing a rule from another city.
Electrical work: Ontario's Electrical Safety Authority explains that an electrical notification/permit is separate from a building permit. Where a contractor is hired to carry out electrical work, use a Licensed Electrical Contractor and confirm the applicable notification and inspection responsibilities.
Suspect materials: appearance alone cannot establish whether a material contains asbestos. Health Canada advises testing suspect materials before renovation and using qualified professionals. Do not scrape, sand or otherwise disturb a suspect ceiling or other material while trying to establish the scope.
Strataline project stories
01 / Functions before floor area
A smaller basement does not automatically mean a simple finish. This project brought a bathroom, laundry, living space and substantial finishing into a compact footprint.
The lesson is to list the functions and systems first, then consider area. The project's current-value budget comparison is explained above; use the full story to understand its scope before comparing it with your own basement.
02 / The floor-to-stair transition
In this project, thin parquet was replaced with thicker engineered maple, and the stair nosing was raised to suit the new floor. The stair refinishing and railing changes were part of the connected work.
The lesson is practical: choose and measure the new floor assembly before finalising the stair-to-floor transition. Treating those pieces as unrelated jobs leaves an important detail unresolved.
03 / Plan circulation together
Wider connections between rooms were coordinated with rebuilding the lower portion of a staircase and restoring the remaining stair. This was more than changing a colour or replacing a railing.
The lesson is to plan circulation and the surrounding finish work together. Establish what must be rebuilt and what can be retained before pricing the visible finishes.
For another space-planning example, explore the 800-square-foot basement project.
Project planning
Start by protecting the result you care about most. It may be a more useful kitchen, a quieter and cleaner-looking interior, safer access, or a staircase that works with the surrounding rooms.
Then review the choices around it. Can a sound element stay? Does the layout need to move? Would a standard size or simpler detail meet the same need? Can related work be coordinated now, or deliberately left for a later phase without undoing finished surfaces?
Do not reduce a price by quietly removing necessary preparation, waterproofing, required approvals or safe access. Change the agreed scope openly, and compare the revised result as well as the revised total.
Before you request a quote
Yes. Identify the rooms, priorities, current condition and major changes first. A planning range can establish scale while undecided selections remain clearly identified. A final quote needs an agreed scope and a stated treatment of allowances.
Home size gives us a starting point for floors, ceilings, wall painting and suggested room counts. Each selected service uses its own quantity and rate; kitchens, bathrooms and stairs use defined packages. Adjust the quantities for your home. Nothing is priced until you select it.
No. They describe categories of work, not an inspected property and final specification. Confirm the included work, exclusions, selections and tax treatment in your written quote.
The estimator shows approximate amounts before HST. Check the tax note on any published service range and confirm the final scope and total in your written quote.
Complete-room allowances include their floors and painted surfaces. Popcorn finishing includes ceiling paint, and replacement doors, windows and baseboards include their defined finishing. The estimator removes those included quantities from other selected work automatically.
Check scope, preparation, materials, allowances, installation, responsibility for connected work and taxes. Use the checklist above to make differences explicit. A price gap alone does not establish that either quote is wrong.
Yes. Identify connections such as ceiling work and lighting, flooring and stair nosings, or a room renovation and its adjacent trim and paint. Agree on responsibility for those transitions rather than assuming each separate quote covers them.
Discuss which elements are independent and which affect one another. A sensible phase plan identifies unfinished transitions, access arrangements and any work that would otherwise need to be repeated. Do not assume splitting a project will automatically cost less.
That depends on the rooms involved, access, utility interruptions and household needs. Discuss essential facilities and safe routes before the work starts. Condos and homes with one bathroom can need additional planning.
Check the proposed work with the applicable municipality. Requirements depend on the alteration and property. Electrical notifications and condominium approvals are separate matters; one approval does not automatically cover the others.
The start depends on scheduling, selections, approvals and the materials required for the agreed scope. Confirm those dependencies before relying on a date. Distinguish preparation and ordering from the time trades are working in your home.
Start with your city, the rooms or elements you want to change, a few wide photographs and any useful dimensions. Explain what you want to keep, what is not working and whether you will be living in the home. Include your preferred timing and a working budget when available.
Your next step
Tell us what you want to change and how you want the home to work. We will review the project with you, identify the connected work and help establish a scope that can be properly quoted.