Renovating a House: The Order of Work, Step by Step

In a renovation the order of work matters as much as the work: a wall closed before the inspector sees the wiring gets opened again. The sequence is fixed: plan and permit, open the walls, fix the structure, run the new services, pass the inspection, close up, then finish from the ceilings down. What varies is how long it takes and whether you can stay in the house.

The order of work for renovating a house

A renovation runs from the deepest layer outward: structure first, then the pipes, ducts and wires inside the walls, then the walls themselves, then the finishes. The legal reason is the inspection, because the inspector has to see the rough-ins before anything covers them. The practical reason is damage: whatever is finished before the heavy, wet and dusty work ends gets scratched, soaked or torn out.

The weeks overlap because design carries on while the permit is in review and the trades follow each other room by room. A single room follows the same order, only shorter.

Plan the scope, budget and contract

Settle what changes before anyone prices it: which rooms, which walls, which services and what level of finish. Fix what is failing before what is dated, because repairing a leaking roof, a wet foundation or an overloaded electrical panel later would tear up the new finishes. Moving plumbing or a bearing wall is decided in design, never on site, since both need a permit and extra weeks, and the wall needs a designed beam.

On a GTA renovator's 2026 figures, a full-home renovation costs $150,000 to $400,000, and a Kitchener-Waterloo renovator puts a renovation of the full house at $150 to $300 a square foot, or $300,000 to $650,000. That firm budgets a 10 to 15% contingency for a house built before 1980; we would hold 10 to 20%, and 20% on a house built before 1980 or any renovation of the existing house that opens its exterior walls. If the estimate climbs toward the price of building new, compare rebuilding instead: a Toronto builder's 2026 figures put a major renovation at $250 to $500 or more per square foot renovated, against $400 to $800 or more for a new custom home.

On most full-home jobs a general contractor books the trades in this order and calls in the inspections, so choosing the contractor comes before the drawings are final. Ask each firm to price the same written scope, so the gaps between contractor quotes are prices rather than assumptions. The written contract carries the schedule and the payment stages, and the Canadian Home Builders' Association's homeowner guide says a deposit at signing can run from 5 to 15% of the contract value, with progress payments at set milestones.

Drawings, permits and what to order while you wait

Structural work needs a building permit in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, moving walls does in the first three, and new cabinets, flooring and paint in the same layout need none in Vancouver or Edmonton. Calgary also wants a building permit when a basement is developed for the first time. In Ontario, the Building Code Act says no one may build, materially alter or demolish a building, or have it done, without a permit from the chief building official.

Review targets for simple interior work are short, but the fast tracks limit what qualifies: Vancouver's fast track takes simple renovations under $250,000 and excludes structural alterations and additions, so a bearing wall or an addition goes through the regular review. Renovators plan for longer than the targets, and a Kitchener-Waterloo firm allows 4 to 8 weeks for a permit in the Region of Waterloo.

Use the wait: cabinets, windows, tile, plumbing fixtures and appliances are chosen and ordered while the permit is in review. The plumber places drains and valves for the fixtures you chose, and stone counters are templated off installed cabinets, so a late choice stalls the trades that build around it.

Demolition, and what older houses hide

Demolition strips the rooms being renovated back to the framing, and on the Kitchener-Waterloo schedule it takes 3 to 7 days. Opening walls can turn up old wiring: a Metro Vancouver renovator budgets an extra $5,000 to $15,000 when a house built before about 1950 has knob-and-tube wiring throughout.

Test for asbestos before demolition starts in any house built before about 1990. A GTA renovator names drywall joint compound, floor tile adhesive and pipe insulation as the usual places asbestos hides in houses built before 1980.

WorkSafeBC's asbestos guidance tells BC homeowners to test before a renovation or demolition, and abatement contractors in BC have needed a licence since 1 January 2024. On a hired project in Ontario, the Occupational Health and Safety Act has the owner determine whether designated substances are present before the project begins and give the list to a prospective constructor before a binding contract.

Structural work comes before the services

Structure goes in before anything that runs through it, because a new beam or opening changes where pipes, ducts and wires can go. It is designed, permitted and inspected work, not part of demolition.

Taking out a load-bearing wall needs a permit, drawings for the new beam (engineer-stamped in Edmonton) and temporary shoring on both sides, and a GTA renovator puts the removal and the new beam at 1 to 3 weeks on site once the engineering and permit are done. Lowering a basement by underpinning goes in sections, which Toronto's permit drawings must number in the order of work, and a Toronto firm puts it at 6 to 10 weeks before finishing starts. A second storey is the largest version: the foundation is checked for the new load, the roof comes off, and families often move out for part of the build.

Open framing is also the cheap moment for anything that lives inside a wall: solid blocking behind future grab bars in an accessible bathroom, backing for wall-hung cabinets and a TV, and the extra circuits you will want later.

Rough-ins and the inspection before the walls close

The rough-in is the new plumbing, ductwork and wiring run through open walls and floors. The usual order is plumbing first, because drains need a steady slope and the largest pipes have the least room to bend, then ducts, then wiring, which can route around both. Plumbing is pressure-tested before anything covers it.

Then the building inspector comes. Toronto's inspection stages for houses call for a framing inspection once the framing is complete, including the plumbing and HVAC rough-in, plus separate visits when the plumbing rough-in is ready for testing and when the insulation and vapour barrier are in. Anything covered before it passes has to be uncovered.

Calgary's framing (rough-in) inspection takes in the structural changes, framing, new windows and doors, and the plumbing and electrical rough-ins done under their own permits. Toronto inspections can be booked for a set date up to 4 weeks ahead, from the next business day, and the inspector schedules the visit for that day or the day after, while Ottawa's basement permit page asks for 48 hours' notice.

Wiring has a second gate. In Ontario, a notification of work goes to the Electrical Safety Authority before electrical work starts, even a small job, and the work stays uncovered until ESA has reviewed it; ESA's Certificate of Acceptance then matters for insurance and resale. In BC, Technical Safety BC or the municipality issues the electrical permit, depending on where the house is.

Who signs off each stage in Ontario, BC and Alberta

Each province splits the sign-offs differently: Ontario's electrical work goes to ESA rather than the city, BC's to Technical Safety BC or the municipality, and Calgary and Edmonton issue separate trade permits alongside the building permit.

Insulation, drywall and the finish order

Once the rough-ins pass, insulation and the vapour barrier go in, then drywall, tape and primer. Walls and ceilings get their first coats of paint before cabinets and floors arrive, so nothing drips on a new floor and nobody cuts in around boxes; the last coat and the trim come at the end.

Finishes run from the top down and from the fixed to the loose. In a kitchen renovation, stone or quartz counters are templated only once the cabinets are set and level, then installed 1 to 3 weeks later. Cabinets and flooring are a pair firms order both ways.

Shower tile waits for the waterproofing membrane to cure, 24 to 48 hours on a Metro Vancouver renovator's 2026 schedule, which is why a bathroom gut cannot be squeezed at that step. Hardwood sits in the house for at least 72 hours before a GTA renovator lays it, so it acclimatizes to the indoor humidity.

Final inspection, punch list and the last payment

Fixtures, appliances, hardware and trim go in last, then the final inspections, which close the permit: BC's permit guidance treats a building permit as complete once a final inspection has passed, and in Ontario the electrical close-out is ESA's Certificate of Acceptance.

The punch list is the walk-through of small defects the contractor fixes before handover, and the final payment follows it, less the holdback. Ontario's Construction Act has the owner keep back 10% of the price of the work as it is supplied, and a contractor's lien expires 60 days after the earlier of the contract's completion and the publication of a certificate of substantial performance. BC and Alberta require a 10% holdback too.

How long renovating a house takes

Scope sets the calendar more than floor area: every wall or service that moves adds an engineer, a permit or an inspection, and every custom item adds a lead time. The figures are firms' own 2026 schedules, with what each counts where the firm says.

A new custom home runs the same rough-to-finish order but starts with footings, foundation and framing to lock-up, and an Ontario builder puts it at 10 to 18 months, 3 to 6 of them in design and permits. Inside any of these windows, the dates that slip are the ones that wait on someone else: the permit office, the inspector and the cabinet shop.

Living at home or moving out during a renovation

Staying works while one bathroom and a basic way to cook survive every phase, so a renovation done one floor or one wing at a time can be lived through. A gut renovation that opens every wall, shuts off the water and power for days and fills the house with dust cannot, and the rent or stay elsewhere belongs in the budget from the start.

If you stay, the work area is sealed with plastic, the floors you walk on are covered, and the contractor tells you in advance which days the water, power or heat are off. Toronto's noise bylaw also sets the hours a contractor can make noise around you: no clearly audible construction noise between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. (9 a.m. on Saturdays), and none on Sundays or statutory holidays.