Soaring renovation costs in Quebec force homeowners to rethink how they build, budget

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.

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.

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.