Every August, I get the same call. A family in Barrhaven or Riverside South wants their kitchen done before the kids start school. They want it started "as soon as possible" and finished by Labour Day. It's already August 12th. Permit hasn't been pulled. Cabinets are eight weeks out.
If you have school-age kids, the renovation timing schedule isn't just a preference. It's the difference between a project that runs smoothly and a project where you're feeding three kids cereal off a cardboard box on the laundry room floor in October. Here's how to plan it.
The four windows that matter for Ottawa families
Map your project against the OCDSB and OCSB calendar. Both follow roughly the same dates each year. The four windows worth planning around:
- Summer (late June to late August). 9 weeks. Best for kitchen and bathroom projects you want done before school starts.
- Winter break (mid-December to early January). 2 weeks. Useful only for small projects or as a buffer.
- March break (mid-March). 1 week. Too short for anything meaningful.
- The non-school months for full disruption (May-August). 4 months. The realistic window for full home or main floor renovations where the family stays in.
For projects bigger than a single room, the question isn't which window. It's which window you start in, knowing the project will run through several windows before it ends.
Match the project type to the window
Twenty years of running Ottawa renos has taught me which projects fit which windows. The honest version:
Kitchen renovation: 8-12 weeks
A kitchen reno run by a real crew with custom cabinets is 8-10 weeks if everything goes right, 12 if it doesn't. If you want it done before school starts, you start in early-to-mid June. Starting in July is too late unless you're using stock cabinets with a 2-week lead time.
The trap: cabinet lead times in Ottawa are 8-14 weeks for custom (we run our own shop, so we're at the short end), 6-10 weeks for semi-custom from companies like Cuisines Laurier or Cabico, and 2-4 weeks for IKEA. If you order in May, you can start demolition in late June and finish by mid-August. If you order in late June, your cabinets arrive in mid-September.
Bathroom renovation: 3-5 weeks
A single bathroom in 4 weeks is realistic. Two bathrooms back-to-back is 7-8 weeks. This is the rare project that fits cleanly into a summer window if you start by mid-July.
March break and winter break are too short for a full bathroom. You can sometimes squeeze a vanity-and-paint refresh into March break if the plumbing rough-in stays put.
Basement finish: 10-14 weeks
Basement renos run alongside life upstairs reasonably well. Dust gets contained on one floor; you don't lose your kitchen. Most families just live around it. Start anytime; finish whenever.
The exception: if the basement work involves the main electrical panel or HVAC ductwork, there will be 1-3 days of no-power and no-heat. Schedule that for warm weather.
Full main floor: 16-22 weeks
If you're renovating the kitchen, dining, living, and a powder room all at once, you're looking at 4-5 months minimum. There's no school window that fits this. Either you move out, or the family lives through the whole school year with the work happening around them.
For a deeper look at how full-home projects sequence, see our whole home renovation page.
Addition or second-storey: 5-8 months
You don't time these around school. You time them around weather. Excavation needs unfrozen ground (April-November), framing and roofing need workable conditions (May-October ideal), and you need the building closed in before December.
The realistic summer-only project sequence
For families who want a meaningful renovation done over summer break and the family in the home the whole time, here's what actually fits:
- Single-room cosmetic refresh: Paint, flooring, light fixtures. 2-3 weeks. Easy in summer.
- Bathroom renovation, single bathroom: 4-5 weeks. Fits June 25 to August 15 with margin.
- Kitchen refresh (cabinet doors and counters, no layout change): 4-6 weeks. Tight but doable.
- Full kitchen renovation, no layout change: 8 weeks. Tight; start by June 20.
- Full kitchen renovation with wall removal or window changes: 10-12 weeks. Won't fit summer alone.
The September buffer trap
"We'll finish by Labour Day" turns into "we'll finish by Thanksgiving" more often than any single timeline I quote. Build a 3-week buffer past your target date before you commit to a back-to-school start. If your kid genuinely needs the house functional September 3rd, the project must finish August 10th on the contractor's schedule, not yours.
What to do during March break
One week is too short for almost anything. But it's a good week for these:
- Painting a single room or hallway. The kids are out; the dust settles by Sunday.
- Refinishing or installing flooring in a single room. Most LVP installs go in 2-3 days.
- Replacing a vanity, mirror, and lighting in a powder room.
- Door and trim replacement throughout a floor.
March break is also when families travel, which makes it useful for projects that need the house empty: hardwood refinishing (the smell is brutal for 4-5 days), full-house painting, or any work generating heavy dust.
What contractors are actually doing each season
The hidden factor in renovation timing is the contractor's own calendar. Here's what's true for most established Ottawa renovation firms:
- January-February: Lighter season. Easier to book. Many contractors offer winter discounts of 5-10%. Indoor work only.
- March-May: Booking up fast. Permit applications spike in March; the City's queue grows.
- June-September: Peak season. Most established contractors are fully booked by late winter. If you call in May for a summer start, expect a no.
- October-November: Last window for outdoor work. Indoor work stays steady.
- December: Light. Most crews wind down for the last two weeks.
"For a summer 2027 kitchen, you should be having the design conversation in September 2026. Earlier, ideally."
Booking a year out sounds excessive. It isn't. Custom cabinets need 8-14 weeks. Permits need 4-8 weeks. Design and engineering need 3-6 weeks. Order materials with summer lead times need 6-10 weeks. Add it all up and a real summer kitchen project starts in February.
The honest answer when timing breaks down
What if you genuinely need the project done now and the timing doesn't work? A few realistic alternatives:
- Use stock or semi-custom cabinets. Cuts cabinet lead time from 12 weeks to 3-4 weeks.
- Pre-order all materials before you finalize design. Counters, tile, flooring. They sit in the garage; you save 2-3 weeks of back-end waiting.
- Move the family out for the back-to-school window. Rent something for 4 weeks. The reno keeps running; the kids start school in a calm space; you move back in October.
- Split the project. Do the kitchen this summer; do the basement next summer. Most families overshoot what they can stomach in one season.
The biggest mistake families make is starting a renovation that's too big for the window they have. Half-finished kitchens at Christmas are real, and they're miserable. Sequence the work to fit, even if it means waiting another year for the rest.
Dream Touch builds renovation timelines the same way we build the projects: with realistic dates, real lead times, and a fixed-price quote that doesn't shift halfway through. Call 613-862-4555 for a free 48-hour feasibility review.