Ottawa Renovation Contractor,
Built Around
How You Live.
Design, City permits and construction for Ottawa homes and businesses, under one contract.
One team takes on a bathroom renovation in Ottawa or a basement, kitchen or addition, working as your general contractor in Ottawa from permit drawings to final inspection.
What are the best home renovation companies in Ottawa?
The best home renovation companies in Ottawa can show you five things before you sign: who draws the permit drawings, proof of liability insurance and WSIB coverage, a fixed price in writing, a written workmanship warranty and reviews you can check. Put the same five questions to every company you interview, us included.
Five checks before you sign
- Who draws the permit drawings. Under Ontario's Building Code, the designer needs a BCIN unless an exemption applies.
- Insurance and WSIB. Ask for a current liability certificate and a WSIB clearance certificate.
- A fixed price in writing. Ontario's Consumer Protection Act requires any renovation contract over $50 to be in writing.
- A written workmanship warranty. Tarion's warranty covers newly built homes, so on a renovation your warranty is the one in the contract.
- A record you can check. Read the company's Google reviews and search its name on Ontario's Consumer Beware List.
The Province explains the contract rules in Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs.
How Dream Touch answers them
- BCIN-certified permit design, done in-house
- $2M+ commercial general liability insurance and full WSIB coverage
- Itemized, fixed-price written contracts
- A 1-year workmanship warranty, on top of the manufacturer warranties
- Renovating Ottawa homes since 2004, rated 4.7 stars on Google
Design, City permits and construction come under one contract, so one company answers for the whole job.
Our guide to choosing a renovation contractor in Ottawa has the full comparison and the questions to bring to each meeting. Read what Ottawa homeowners say on our client reviews page, or call 613-862-4555.
Dream Touch Renovations is an Ottawa design-build renovation contractor founded in 2004. The company has been renovating homes and businesses across Ottawa, Kanata, Barrhaven, Orléans, Nepean, Stittsville and Manotick, holds a 4.7-star rating, is BCIN-certified for permit design, and delivers fixed-price contracts backed by a 1-year workmanship warranty.
Ottawa Renovation Company Working with
Certified Designers & Permit Specialists
We scope every project to your home and goals: kitchen renovations, bathroom remodels, basement renovations, whole-home renovations in Ottawa, home additions, and sunroom additions.
How we plan a basement, kitchen or bathroom renovation in Ottawa
We take on home renovation in Ottawa one room at a time or all at once. Each room below has its own City of Ottawa rules, and each starts with a free in-home visit. The work runs under one fixed-price contract, with BCIN-certified permit drawings and a 1-year workmanship warranty.
Basement renovation in Ottawa
A finished basement in Ottawa needs a City building permit, and the City lists seven inspections for one, from underground plumbing to final. We pull the permit, book each inspection 48 hours ahead and hold the drywall until framing, insulation and the vapour barrier have passed.
- Rec rooms, home theatres, in-law suites and legal secondary suites
- Clear height under the ducts and beams, and how wet the foundation is, measured at the first visit
- Egress windows to the City's advisory: an opening of at least 0.35 m², no side under 380 mm
- A radon result before the framing plan is final, since Health Canada's long-term test needs at least 91 days in the heating season
Legal suites, the Building Code numbers and the City's backwater valve program are on our basement renovation in Ottawa page.
Kitchen renovation in Ottawa
An Ottawa kitchen design visit starts in the basement. Joists that cross a kitchen wall and rest on it mean the wall carries the floor above, and the basement ceiling shows where the plumbing stack and ducts go up. Those two facts decide which layouts need a permit.
- The layout, appliance clearances and door swings approved before any cabinet is ordered
- Custom cabinetry built in our Ottawa shop, with stone counters templated on the installed boxes
- A City permit when a wall comes out or the sink moves, and ESA for new circuits
- Structural engineering for any wall removal written into the contract before demolition
Layouts, cabinet types and the kitchen outlet rules are on our kitchen renovation in Ottawa page.
Bathroom renovation in Ottawa
Moving plumbing or walls in an Ottawa bathroom needs a City building permit; a toilet swapped in place does not. Tile on water-resistant board meets the Ontario Building Code minimum, so every Dream Touch shower gets a Schluter-Kerdi membrane under the tile, one layer more than the code asks for.
- Ensuites, main bathrooms, powder rooms and accessible bathrooms
- GFCI protection on every outlet within 1.5 metres of a sink, as ESA requires
- An exhaust fan of 80 to 110 CFM with a humidistat or timer, where the code minimum is 50
- A photo record of every waterproofing layer, handed over with the project file
The seven most expensive bathroom mistakes, and our fix for each, are on our bathroom renovation in Ottawa page.
Renovating more than one room? A whole-home renovation in Ottawa puts the kitchen, the bathrooms and the basement under one contract, in the order set out further down this page. Call 613-862-4555 to book the free in-home visit.
Ottawa
A Smarter Approach to Renovation.
Designed First, Built Right
Most contractors replace what's there. We start by learning how your household functions (traffic flow, storage habits, how you cook) and design around that, so the finished space works better day to day.
Dream Touch has completed over 500 projects across Ottawa since 2004. We work with homeowners who want to know exactly what they're paying and have no patience for vague quotes, disappearing contractors or change-order surprises.
Real Ottawa Projects.
Built by Dream Touch.
Every project here was designed, permitted, and built by our Ottawa team.
View Full Portfolio →
From First Call to Finished Home
What a whole-home renovation in Ottawa includes, and in what order
A whole-home renovation in Ottawa usually takes in the kitchen, every bathroom, the basement, the floors, the paint and the lighting, planned as one project under one fixed-price contract. Most of ours take 4 to 7 months from the first drawing to handover, and 12 to 20 weeks of that is construction.
What it includes
- The kitchen, with custom cabinetry
- Every bathroom, usually two or three
- Basement finishing
- New flooring, floor by floor
- A full interior repaint
- New lighting, hardware, fixtures and switch plates
- Where the house needs them, the HVAC, the electrical panel or the roof
Structural changes, the plumbing and electrical scope and the finish level are what move the budget. Each whole-home job is quoted as one fixed price, with every trade and material itemized.
The order the trades work in
- Floors covered and doorways sealed, then demolition, once the materials are on hand
- Framing changes, then the plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough-ins
- The City inspects the framing and rough-ins, booked through MyServiceOttawa at least 48 hours ahead; the Electrical Safety Authority inspects the wiring on its own track
- Insulation and vapour barrier, then the City's insulation inspection
- Drywall, tile and paint
- Flooring and cabinets, then counters, templated once the cabinets are in, then trim
- Fixtures, lights and appliances connected, the final City and ESA inspections, then the walkthrough
Drywall hung before the rough-in inspection has to come down again, so the sequence is fixed before demolition starts. Our guide to scheduling renovation trades goes trade by trade.
How long each stage takes
- Design and 3D drawings
- 3 to 6 weeks
- Permits and material orders
- 4 to 10 weeks
- Construction
- 12 to 20 weeks
An addition stretches the build: our timeline guide gives 12 to 40 weeks on site for additions and full-home jobs. If the kitchen and the bathrooms come out at the same time, plan to live elsewhere for 4 to 8 weeks. When the work goes one floor at a time, most families stay home.
The full 12-phase plan is on our whole-home renovation page. The renovation timeline guide has on-site weeks for every project type, and Ottawa building permits covers the City's side. To plan yours, call 613-862-4555.
Why the age of your Ottawa house matters before you renovate
Most Ottawa homes are older than they look. In the 2021 Census, about 44% of the City of Ottawa's 407,250 occupied homes were built in 1980 or earlier, and about 60% before 1991. The decade a house was built decides what is behind its walls and which rules apply once they open.
Built 1960 or earlier
- Knob-and-tube wiring, which the Electrical Safety Authority dates to homes wired from the early 1900s to the 1940s
- A possible lead water service pipe: the City of Ottawa says affected homes are typically those built before 1958
- No permit exemptions at all inside a Heritage District Overlay, so even a cabinet swap starts with a call to the City
About 16% of Ottawa homes, including the Glebe, older Westboro and the first postwar streets.
Built 1961 to 1990
- Aluminum wiring, which ESA dates to houses built from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s
- Asbestos in older materials such as plaster and floor and ceiling tiles: Health Canada says to have a professional test before you renovate
- Galvanized steel supply lines in some pre-1980 houses, corroded to half their original diameter
The postwar suburbs, where closed kitchens cluster, and much of Orléans. Our guide to asbestos in an older home covers what to test and when.
Built since 2016
- Tarion's cover for major structural defects runs from possession to the seventh anniversary
- Tarion does not cover alterations, deletions or additions the homeowner makes
- A moved wall still needs a City of Ottawa building permit
About 8% of Ottawa homes. Plan a wall or plumbing change knowing the warranty will not cover the change itself.
We check the panel, the plumbing and the foundation at the free in-home visit, so what your house needs is in the fixed price before demolition. Our Ottawa building permits guide covers the City's side. Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census; Electrical Safety Authority; City of Ottawa; Health Canada; Tarion.
20 Years of Ottawa Homeowners
Renovated by Dream Touch
Ottawa Renovation FAQ
How much does a renovation cost in Ottawa?
Every renovation is priced individually. After a free consultation and site visit, we prepare a detailed written quote that explains every line item, with no vague allowances and no surprise charges. Call 613-862-4555 to get yours.
How long does a renovation take?
Timelines depend on the scope of work: a single bathroom moves faster than a full home addition. At your consultation we give you a realistic schedule, and once your project starts you can follow daily progress and your timeline through our client portal.
Do you handle building permits and drawings?
Yes. We are BCIN-certified and manage the full City of Ottawa permit process for you, including design drawings, submission through the MyServiceOttawa portal, and inspections.
What warranty do you offer?
Every Dream Touch project is backed by a 1-year workmanship warranty, in addition to the manufacturer warranties that come with the materials and fixtures we install.
Which areas of Ottawa do you serve?
We serve Ottawa and the surrounding communities, including Kanata, Barrhaven, Orléans, Nepean, Stittsville and Manotick, from our office at 33 Roydon Pl Ste 210 in Ottawa.
How do I get started?
Call 613-862-4555 or request a free quote online. We book a consultation, visit your home, and follow up with a detailed written estimate, typically within 48 hours.
What are common bathroom renovation mistakes?
The costly ones are skipping proper waterproofing to trim the quote, undersizing the exhaust fan, choosing tile that looks good in the showroom but fails at home, and relocating plumbing without planning for it. We list all seven, with the fix for each, on our bathroom renovation page.
What not to say to your contractor?
Do not offer to skip the permit, because the City of Ottawa allows work to begin only once it is issued. Do not agree to a handshake deal either: Ontario requires a home renovation contract worth more than $50 to be in writing. Do tell the contractor every room in the scope, whether you have drawings and your finish date. More in our general contractor guide.
What to do when a contractor rips you off in Ontario?
Start with the written contract and every signed change. Under Ontario's Consumer Protection Act, a renovation contract over $50 must be in writing, and the final price cannot run more than 10% over the estimate unless you agreed to new work or a new price. The Province's guide, Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs, explains the rest. Check a contractor on the Consumer Beware List before you hire.
Serving Ottawa & the Surrounding Area
From our office at 33 Roydon Pl Ste 210, Dream Touch Renovations works as a general contractor in Ottawa, designing, permitting and building across the city and its neighbouring communities.
