When Gilbert Hajj walks through his family home in Baie-D’Urfé, Que., these days, he moves like someone navigating a maze — pointing to walls that are staying, those that are going, and spaces that will soon serve new purposes.
“This becomes an office… this is a pantry… then we have the dining room,” Hajj said, gesturing through rooms half torn apart.
For the Hajj family, what was meant to be a straightforward home extension and renovation project, which began in December 2024, has evolved into a long and dusty odyssey — all while the family continues to live on site.
“It’s stressful living under dusty conditions and a mess all the time,” Hajj admitted.
Working in the industry himself doing roof repairs and maintenance, Hajj was confident doing what some homeowners may struggle with: finding reliable contractors, setting a realistic budget, and planning a project from start to finish. He did his research, asked for quotes, and built a team he trusted.
Still, despite all that, the project blew past the timeline he originally expected.
“I am close to the budget I expected to pay and I am not finished,” he said. What he thought would take roughly a year has stretched beyond that, with no firm end date in sight.
WATCH | Price of renovation projects on the rise:
Average cost of home renos up 40% in Quebec — yet drive to remodel remains high
A family from Baie-D’Urfé, Que., says they’re on track to go over budget as they undertake a full renovation of their home. With construction costs going up, several homeowners in Quebec seem to be underestimating the price of their projects.
Hajj’s stress is increasingly common in Quebec, where high renovation costs and delays have become routine. According to Statistics Canada, the average cost of residential renovations in the province has risen by more than 40 per cent since the pandemic.
Contractors report being booked months in advance, while homeowners are scrambling to adjust expectations — and budgets.
Labour shortages, supply chain issues
Architect Ron Rayside says high costs of renovation go beyond inflation. (Submitted by Ron Rayside)
Architect and urban designer Ron Rayside has watched renovation costs climb over the past decade.
“Construction costs have increased almost threefold — $1 in 2014 is now up to almost $3,” said Rayside, founder of the Montreal architecture firm Rayside Labossière. “Renovations as well have increased almost threefold over that period of 10 to 12 years.”
The reasons, he says, stack up quickly: labour shortages, rising material prices, trade tariffs and pandemic-era supply chain issues.
“Some materials during COVID were quite rare,” he said. That scarcity drove prices up, and they didn’t come back down.
Yet despite soaring expenses, Quebecers keep renovating.
A recent report from Soumission Rénovation, a Quebec-based platform that connects homeowners with vetted contractors for renovation projects, shows demand stayed high throughout 2025.
More than 155,000 home renovation projects were completed in the province, even as more than 40 per cent of homeowners underestimated their costs.
Teaching homeowners how to take control
While Hajj’s experience highlights the financial and emotional toll of renovation, others are working to help homeowners navigate the process more confidently.
One of those people is Marie-France Côté Nolet, founder of Les filles de la construction, an educational platform based in Montreal. Her business focuses on helping homeowners — especially women — understand how construction projects work so they can manage renovations without feeling overwhelmed or vulnerable.
Marie-France Côté Nolet says people need to do their homework before starting a renovation project. (Aatefeh Padidar/CBC)
“What we don’t realize is that most of the projects that are within the home can be done by the homeowners,” she said. “They can save more than 50 per cent of the cost by doing it themselves.”
For bigger renovations, she stresses one lesson above all: don’t start before you understand the process.
“Don’t just jump into it and do things as they go,” she said. “You really need to plan your project. You really need to understand all the steps — not just, ‘OK, this is what I want to do.’”
According to her, miscalculations often stem from outdated assumptions.
“The prices that we see in construction right now in Quebec are way too expensive for the majority of the homeowners to afford,” she said. “People have prices in their minds that are similar to what they were 10 years ago.”
She recommends homeowners research costs early, build a realistic timeline, add at least 20 per cent for forgotten line items, and then add another buffer for unforeseen problems.
Back in Baie-D’Urfé, Hajj says he’s grateful he found good contractors — but that hasn’t spared him from sleepless nights.
“It takes longer than you wanted to — you always want to go fast, fast, fast,” he said. “But you have to be patient and even now, I have sleepless nights just thinking about it, but there’s nothing you can do about it.”
For him, the end goal — a modernized family home with more space — keeps him going. And he says he takes comfort in knowing that despite the dust, noise and delays, he’s not alone.