Hiring a renovation contractor is one of the largest financial decisions most people make outside of buying the house itself, and it is made with very little information. You are choosing between strangers, on the basis of a quote you cannot fully evaluate and a conversation that lasted an hour.
Here are the questions that actually separate contractors, and what the answers tell you. We are a contractor ourselves, so read this with that in mind — but these are the questions we would want a member of our own family to ask.
1. Are you licensed and insured — and can I see the certificates?
Ask for two things: liability insurance and WSIB coverage. Then actually look at them, and check the dates. If a worker is injured on your property and the contractor has no WSIB coverage, you can be exposed. This is the single cheapest piece of due diligence available and most people skip it.
A contractor who produces these without hesitation has been asked before. One who says “we’re covered, don’t worry” is telling you something.
2. Who is actually going to be in my house?
Many renovation companies subcontract most trades. That is normal and not a problem in itself — good subs are how you get a proper electrician instead of a generalist. What you want to know is whether the person quoting is the person managing, and who is on site day to day when something goes wrong.
Ask: will there be a single point of contact? What happens when the tiler and the plumber disagree?
3. Can I see three jobs like mine, and speak to those clients?
Photos of finished kitchens all look similar. What you want is: a project of comparable scope, in a comparable house, ideally in your area — and permission to phone the homeowner.
When you get them on the phone, ask the questions that matter: did the schedule hold? What went wrong, and how was it handled? Was the final price close to the quote? Would you use them again?
Every project has a problem. You are not looking for a contractor who has never had one. You are looking for how they behave when they do.
4. Who pulls the permit?
For structural work, new plumbing, electrical changes or a second unit, a permit is required across the GTA. Ask who applies, whether the cost is in the quote, and who attends inspections.
Any suggestion that you can skip the permit to save time or money should end the conversation. It is your property that gets the stop-work order, your sale that gets complicated, and your insurance claim that gets questioned.
5. What exactly is in the price — and what is an allowance?
This is where quotes diverge most. An “allowance” is a placeholder: $40 per square foot for tile, say. If you pick tile at $80, your price goes up and it is not the contractor’s fault.
Ask for allowances to be listed explicitly, and ask what happens when you exceed one. A quote with realistic allowances will look more expensive than a quote with optimistic ones, and will be cheaper by the end.
6. What is the payment schedule?
Reasonable: a modest deposit, then payments tied to completed stages, with a holdback at the end. Unreasonable: a large percentage up front, or a schedule based on dates rather than work completed.
A contractor asking for 50% before starting is asking you to fund their cash flow, and it removes your only real leverage if things go wrong.
7. What is the schedule, and what happens if it slips?
Ask for a start date, a rough sequence, and the realistic finish. Then ask what the main risks to that schedule are. A contractor who says “four weeks, no problem” without qualification either has not thought about it or is telling you what you want to hear.
Honest answers sound like: “Four to six weeks on site, but the cabinets are an eight-week lead time so we order before demolition, and if we open the wall and find knob-and-tube it adds a week.”
8. What is the warranty?
Get it in writing: how long, what is covered, and what the process is. Workmanship warranties of one to two years are common. What matters more is whether they answer the phone in month eleven.
9. What have you found in houses like mine?
This is our favourite question, because it reveals experience faster than anything else. A contractor who has renovated a lot of 1960s Mississauga bungalows will immediately talk about ceiling heights, cast iron drains, undersized panels and asbestos in old floor tile.
Someone who has not will say “we’ll see when we open it up.”
10. What is not included?
Ask it directly and let the silence sit. Painting? Appliance installation? Disposal and dumpsters? Permit fees? Final cleaning? These are the items that reappear as extras.
Signs to walk away
- Pressure to decide today, or a discount that expires
- Cash-only, or a large deposit demanded up front
- No written contract, or a one-page quote with no scope
- Reluctance to provide insurance or WSIB certificates
- Suggesting you skip permits
- A price dramatically below everyone else with no explanation
- No fixed address and no verifiable reviews
On comparing quotes
Three quotes that differ by $20,000 are almost never the same job priced differently. They are different jobs. Before comparing numbers, make each one list scope, allowances, exclusions and payment schedule. Often the cheapest quote becomes the most expensive once it is written out properly.
Talk to us
We are a licensed, insured contractor based in Mississauga, working across Mississauga, Oakville, Etobicoke, Toronto and the GTA. We are happy to answer every question on this list before you ask it, and to put you in touch with clients whose projects looked like yours.