Cost of home renos keeps rising in Calgary
CBC
When Bill Black began planning minor renovations for his home of 18 years, even he felt some sticker shock.
“I’m a construction guy, and I’m blown away by how much some of the components are costing,” said Black, the Calgary Construction Association's president.
The cost of residential renovations in Calgary has risen dramatically over the last five years, new Statistics Canada data shows. The quarterly Residential Renovation Price Index, which was updated this week, tracks how costs charged by contractors for residential renovations shift over time. It draws from the value of materials, labour, equipment, overhead and profit.
The index currently rates Calgary at a mark of 108.1, a slight uptick from a year earlier and a 45-per-cent increase compared to the final quarter of 2020. Calgary only trails Regina, Victoria, Quebec City and Saskatoon among cities included in the index.
When Statistics Canada breaks down price index by project type, sidings, garages and porches are found to be the most expensive in Calgary.
Renovation costs really started escalating in Calgary coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the index shows.
To understand why, Black points to how a downturn in Alberta's economy put the industry in recession prior to 2020. It was then followed by a "supply chain meltdown" from the pandemic, while new renovation work was suddenly in higher demand.
“We went from an incredibly tight, low market, where there were lots of people looking for work, so they were pricing aggressively … to the impact of COVID,” said Black.
“People were staying home too much, and they realized their house needed a facelift. And so it really increased the volume of work at the time that products were becoming more expensive."
After the cost hike spurred by the pandemic, Black said prices never returned to pre-2020 levels.
The demand for residential renovations remains high, Black said, at the same time that major construction projects are ongoing around Calgary, like the Green Line, the new events centre, Olympic Plaza and the Arts Commons, new hotels and schools.
“We’re in a situation in Calgary where projects are competing for contractors, rather than contractors competing for projects,” said Black.
“We’re looking at 10 to 15 years of sustained work building the next chapter in Calgary’s history."
Oliver Brown, president of the local home renovation company Rusch Design Build, said homeowners of builds from the 1980s, '90s and even the early '00s are now at a stage that they're looking for renovations. The high cost of new homes also supports the renovation market, he said.
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