Read your renovation contract for these seven things

By the time a renovation contract lands in your inbox, you’ve usually done the hard part. You’ve met a few contractors, walked them through the space, and picked the one you trust. The contract can feel like a formality: a few pages to sign so the work can start.

It isn’t a formality. It’s the document both of you will reach for when something unexpected comes up, and in a renovation something always does. A clear contract protects a good contractor as much as it protects you. The ones who do careful work tend to write careful contracts, and most of them are glad when a client reads every line.

You don’t need legal training to review one. You need a quiet hour, a pen, and seven things to look for. For a large or unusual project, having a lawyer look it over is still worth considering. Here are the seven:

Scope: what exactly is being done.
Allowances: the numbers that aren’t final yet.
Change orders: how surprises get handled.
Payment schedule: tied to progress, not the calendar.
Permits: who pulls them, and who pays.
Warranty: what’s covered, and for how long.
Cleanup and disposal: the part everyone forgets.

The work: scope and allowances

Start with the scope of work, which is the heart of the contract. It should describe what will be built, removed, repaired, or installed in enough detail that a stranger could read it and picture the finished room.

Vague scopes are where most disputes start. ‘Renovate main bathroom’ tells you almost nothing. A good scope says which fixtures are being replaced, whether the subfloor is included, how far the tile goes up the wall, whether drywall is being patched or replaced, and who is supplying what.

Read it with your own plans in mind. If you assumed the old baseboards were coming out and the contract doesn’t say so, raise it now. It’s a two-minute conversation before signing and an awkward one halfway through.

Next come the allowances. Many contracts include them, which are placeholder amounts for items you haven’t chosen yet: tile, light fixtures, a vanity, cabinet hardware. They let the contractor give you a total before every decision is made.

Allowances are useful, but they can make a quote look lower than it really is. If the allowance for tile is modest and your taste is not, the difference comes out of your pocket later. Ask how each allowance was set, and whether it reflects the kind of materials you’ve been talking about. Ask, too, whether it covers only the materials or the labour to install them as well.

Then check what happens if you spend less than the allowance. A fair contract credits the difference back to you.

The money: change orders and payments

Once the walls are open, plans change. You decide to add a pot light. The contractor finds rot behind the shower that nobody could have seen. The contract’s change order section should explain exactly how changes are requested, priced, and approved.

Look for language saying that changes must be agreed in writing, with the cost and any effect on the schedule stated before the extra work begins. A text message can count as writing if the contract says so, but the price should be in it.

Without a clear change order process, small additions pile up quietly and the final invoice becomes a shock. With one, you stay in control of the budget, one decision at a time.

The payment schedule comes next, and how and when you pay tells you a lot about a contract. A reasonable deposit to hold a spot in the schedule and order materials is normal. After that, payments should be tied to milestones you can see: framing complete, rough-in inspections passed, drywall finished, final walkthrough done.

Be cautious about schedules that front-load payments well ahead of the work, or that are tied to dates rather than progress. If the job slows down, date-based payments keep going out while the work doesn’t.

It’s also common, and sensible, to keep back a portion of the price until the work is complete and any deficiencies are fixed. Some provinces have rules about holding back part of each payment on construction projects, so ask the contractor how that works where you live.

The paperwork: permits and warranty

Many renovations need a building permit from your municipality, and electrical, plumbing, and gas work often need their own permits and inspections too. The contract should say which permits are required and who is responsible for getting them.

In most cases that should be the contractor, or the licensed trades they bring in. The person who pulls the permit is the one who answers to the inspector, and you want that to be the professional doing the work. Be wary of any suggestion that you pull the permit yourself, as the homeowner, to save time or money on a job someone else is doing.

Permits aren’t paperwork for its own sake. Inspections catch problems that would otherwise end up hidden behind finished walls, and a permit record helps when you sell or make an insurance claim.

Then the warranty. Look for two kinds. The first is the manufacturer’s warranty on products like windows, fixtures, or flooring. The second, and often the more important, is the contractor’s own warranty on their workmanship.

The contract should state how long the workmanship warranty lasts, what it covers, and how you make a claim. Ask what happens if a tile cracks because the floor underneath wasn’t prepared properly, or if a joint starts leaking months later. A good contractor will have a clear answer, and won’t need to think long about it.

The mess: cleanup and disposal

Renovations produce a lot of debris, and someone has to deal with it. The contract should say whether the contractor provides a bin, how often the work area is cleaned, how your floors and furniture will be protected, and what the house should look like at the end.

‘Broom clean’ at the end of each day is a reasonable standard. So is a clear agreement about where materials are stored, which bathroom the crew uses, and what hours they’ll be working. These details sound minor until you’re living in the middle of them.

Disposal matters too. Some old materials need special handling, and that can add cost. If the house is older and there’s any chance of hazardous materials in the walls, ceilings, or flooring, ask how testing and removal will be handled before demolition begins, not after.

Before you sign

Once you’ve read those seven things, a few final checks are worth the time:

Start and finish dates, and what happens if either one slips.
The contractor’s full legal business name and address, matching their insurance documents.
Proof of liability insurance and, where it applies, workplace injury coverage for the crew.
A named person you can call with questions while the job is under way.

The best contracts read like a conversation you’ve already had.

If anything in the contract surprises you, that’s your signal to talk before signing, not after. A good contractor won’t be offended by questions. Most have learned, sometimes the hard way, that the clients who read carefully are the easiest ones to work with.