About us

This is the sales photo when we bought the house from “the guys”

John and I are (relatively) young urban professionals. Okay, we’re middle aged. We both love to cook. We both have project management skills from our experiences at work. We are both exacting. John claims he is a procrastinator, but I don’t see it often. We both like to think things through, button it down and get it done.

After being in our 1928 craftsman style home for 5.5 years, we decided to bring the kitchen up-to-date. In doing so, we are able to add a main floor powder room, a front hall closet and sufficient space (open concept) for a queen bed in the basement for our ‘guest suite’.

We found our contractor on-line in the Toronto area. My quest was to find contractors I could email our ‘vision’ to (detailed Illustrator drawings of the extension/reno) for rough pricing (what’s the point of spending any money if the total budget is way out of our comfort zone?) I found 3 on-line + one guy we personally knew. Everyone’s rough pricing came in about the same.

We interviewed them all and chose this person for the following reasons:

• Design builder/Architect/owner
• Turn key

In hindsight we should have done a lot more research, but having talked to a number of people (including the references), I am not sure someone else would have been any different. Don’t get me wrong, we are quite happy with the work. There are some negotiations that have left much to be desired, but I understand that this is par for the course with one’s contractor. It’s just not the way JT and I like to do things.

The project is not too long (12-15 weeks) and we are in the last stretch. Check out the Renovation Tips regularly (side bar), I will be adding our experience knowledge as we go along – hopefully, it will help you one day when you embark on a reno project.

Side bar: It is July 15 – project is still not complete… I guess 12 – 15 weeks was just a spin!

It is August 9 and we’re still not finished. Spin #2567: He is not an architect, nor a project manager. His designer isn’t even a real designer! But at least he hires excellent people.

September 11 and we’re still not 100% complete…

October 10 and he still owes reports to the city for building permits and there are still outstanding issues that need completion.

November 8 Building Permits were closed.