Frequently Asked Questions

Every project varies in price and scope as our designs are tailored for not only the individual spaces we renovate, but also the individual people and families that live in these spaces. That being said, our average project size is $200-$250,000.

Each project’s scope will ultimately dictate how long it will take to work through both our Pre-Construction and Construction process, that being said, here are some average time lines depending on the stage in the process and the type of project:

The Design & Pre-Construction process can take anywhere from 2-18 months to complete. In eight weeks, we can put together a comprehensive design and pre-construction package for a large or ensuite bathroom, small kitchen or one off specialty room like a theater room, bar or office. When we expand scopes to include large kitchens and full mainfloors, it’s not uncommon for the design process to take 4-6 months, while a full home renovation or significant addition could take 9-12 months or more to design and plan for.

As we transition from pre-construction into construction, projects lengths follow a similar trajectory.

A single room such as an office, theater or formal living or dining room could range between a few weeks to a month depending on the scope. A large bathroom or small kitchen would take approximately 8 weeks, while a large kitchen and full main floor typically takes between 12-16 to complete. Again, with larger more complex projects like full home renovations or additions, 6-12 months of construction is not uncommon.

All of our projects are billed through installments.

The Design & Pre-Construction process is paid in 3 phases.

The Construction component is structured as follows:

• 20% deposit upon signing of construction contract
• 70% spread equally across the length of the project in weekly or bi-weekly installments
• The final 10% is held back until the project is substantially completed

Ultimately, your home will become a construction zone during your renovation - to what degree depends on the scope of your renovation, but hazards will be present and disruption will be the norm while your project is under construction. Whether or not you need to move out depends on a number of factors such as:

• The area of your home being renovated; renovating the basement, or, one of three bathrooms in your home will impact you far less than remodeling your entire kitchen and every bathroom at the same time.

• Your family stage. Do you have young kids? Pets? How will they be impacted by the construction?

• What is the scope of your project? Is there significant structural work happening? Interruptions to services? At this point it becomes a matter of safety for both you and our construction team.

As a general rule, with a project any more disruptive than finishing a basement or tackling one of multiple bathrooms in a house, vacating the property for the course of construction is ideal.

While we don’t provide one-off ‘service calls’, we are always happy to help clients, past and present, with small odd jobs that they need help with.

In short, we serve an area that is a one-hour radius from Guelph. However, similar to previous answers, we have and will travel to work on vacation homes or secondary properties for past and present clients.

Our average project budget is between $200–$250,000. With that being said, our project budgets range from $35,000–$500,000.

Bathroom renovation: $35,000+

Kitchen renovation: $125,000+

Main floor renovation: $175,000+

Addition: $150,000+

Basement renovation: $100,000+

Bedroom renovation: $10,000+

While each project and construction schedule is unique, that’s also true for each and every design process. The length of time required to work through a particular design process depends on the scope of construction and level of design detail involved.

For example, a small, 40 square foot ensuite bathroom could take more planning and design time than a 500 square foot basement being finished into a rec room for young kids.

It’s not uncommon to put 6–8 months of design and planning time into a large renovation project, like a main floor with kitchen project or an addition.

We put a lot of emphasis on our design process because a well thought out design leads to a fluid and less stressful building process.

We quote each project individually once a confirmed layout and structural plan have been conceived.

We provide fixed priced quotes, with allowances where appropriate to account for unknown/unseen conditions and finishing selections (ie: tile, hardwood, etc.) that are still to be worked through in the design process.

We do not offer square foot pricing due to the custom nature of our projects and designs.

In short, this is why we put so much emphasis on design - we work really hard to determine not only what you want to see in the space, but also how you want to use the space, so we can cater both the look and feel of your new space to you and your family’s specific needs.

That being said, there is always opportunity for adjustments and course corrections while we move through construction.

From the beginning of your project up until the start of drywall, we invite homeowners on a walkthrough at the end of each ‘phase’ of construction- demo, framing, and mechanical rough-ins. This allows you to experience the space as it’s evolving and ensure that what you fell in love with on paper, you also love in practice.

• Do the room sizes feel too big or too small?

• Are the light switches where we want them?

• Do we need more plugs?

These are just a few of the questions that reveal themselves as you are physically walking through a space as opposed to reviewing it on paper.

As we work through each phase and identify small changes and adjustments, we can work through them efficiently and cost effectively before we get too far ahead in the construction process, making mall adjustments a much bigger disruption.

Renovations and ‘unexpected’ are almost synonyms at this point…the truth of a renovation is that we are essentially performing surgery inside your finished home. We work to build a new space, within an existing space, and the goal is to make it look as though that new space has always been there and that it was intentionally built to create a seamless transition from ‘old’ to new. This is a challenge. And, the older the home, the more challenging this becomes.

It’s impossible to know preciselvy hat is behind walls and underneath floors without fully removing those things, but based on experience and site conditions, we can make a fairly educated guess.

In an attempt to mitigate any surprise, we conduct a ‘Trade Day’ before we put together our construction budget so that our trade partners can observe the physical space being renovated as well as the ease of acccess to mechanical systems that will be impacted during the renovations (ie: how far is the electrical panel from the area being renovated? Is it easy to fish wires to and from the panel to the new kitchen? etc..)

Trade days help us identify and plan for ‘most’ challenges that we’ll encounter during the project, however there is always an opportunity for surprises.

We endeavor to move through our renovation projects with as few surprises as possible. As such, after our demolition phase is complete, we will inspect what we’ve revealed and uncovered and compare those findings to our scope of work and plan for implementation.

If our demolition work has uncovered any conditions that will cause our scope to change or for us to deviate from our initial approach, we will engage the homeowner in discussions around possible solutions and a new approach before engaging in any work outside of the agreed upon scope.

Once demo and this review have been completed, there should be no further ‘surprises’ that impact the scope of work materially. That’s not to say there won’t still be changes throughout the course of the project, it’s just that those changes become more design, budget and/or material changes as the project continues to evolve and homeowner’s get a better sense of how the space is coming together and how they see themselves using the space.

If homeowners are interested in changing the scope of the project mid-way through construction (ie: either adding additional scope or tightening up existing scope), we will discuss the desire change in detail with homeowners, explain the impact to budget and schedule and then we will present a Change Order for both the homeowners and us to sign that formalizes the change and agrees to the impacts on both budget and schedule.
Similarly with budget overruns, if any cost is presented that exceeds a provided material allowance or changes the scope to incur additional costs, a Change Order will be presented to the homeowner for approval before any additional work is performed or costs are incurred.

During the construction portion of your project, your main point of contact is the ‘Lead Designer’ of your project - this is the designer who work with you through the Design and Pre-Construction Proposal.

The ‘Lead Designer’ for your project is your advocate during construction. They have worked with you through the design process and have learned your likes and dislikes, your aesthetics and functional requirements and they’ve built a personal relationship with you.

Our designers speak both ‘homeowner’ and ‘construction’ languages and are therefore able to ensure that your vision gets implemented as you intended it to be.

Along with the Lead Designer, you will also have a Project Manager responsible for moving your project along the schedule we agreed to while adhering to the budget we’ve agreed to. You are welcome to, and will have access to, communicate directly with your Project Manager at any point through the construction process and they will focus their efforts on discussing project scheduling, order of operations and any technical construction information you should/want to know. Conversely, the designer is your proxy as a homeowner and will be able to guide you through the process from a design perspective.

We value collaboration and homeowner engagement. Ultimately, this is your project in your home and we want you to feel as if you are in the driver’s seat for the duration of the project.

We may be the Design and Renovation experts, but you are the expert of your home, life and lifestyle and that knowledge and guidance is very helpful as we move through both the design and construction phases.

As the homeowner, you are consulted on every aspect and detail of your project. Starting at the design stage, we review a number of layout options for your space while work with you, using your feedback, to refine those options into one final layout that is optimal for you.

We then start to discuss fixtures and finishes, again, providing you with a number of options that we can use to further refine and find exactly what you are looking for.

Then, once in construction, we conduct numerous site visits at various stage of construction to ensure that homeowners are happy with their decisions before we move on to the next phase of construction (ie: after framing, we walk hallways and rooms - are the room sizes adequate? Too big? Too small? Are doorways where we want them?, etc…)

From a structural perspective, we love to collaborate with other designers, architects and engineers. We have on a number of occasions worked with architects and engineers to marry our expertise on designer interior spaces with their expertise on structural and exterior design elements to create a beautiful space both inside and out.

Given the way we manage our projects and the integral role our designers play in bringing homeowners from design into construction, we are not able to support working with other interior designers on the implementation of a project.

What makes the design/build process at Otis different from most other ‘Design/Build’ companies is that we are a true design/build firm in that we have both design and construction capabilities in house.

Along with our lead designer, Jasmine, Otis has a team of two designers to work with homeowner to help them develop and manage their projects.

On the construction side, Otis has one Project Manager and three carpenters who work to take those designs from paper to real life.

We believe that this approach allows us to design more intentionally and realistically as our designers often seek the insight of our construction team early on in the process to ensure we are not ‘over designing’ a space.

Conversely, during construction our carpenters have a direct line to our designers (they don’t have to reach out to a separate firm and set up an appointment with a designer to meet them on site) and they’ve more than likely been involved in the design process from an early stage giving them institutional knowledge of your project that allows the construction phase to move more fluidly.

How we, Otis a Design/Build firm, differ from a General Contractor is in our preparation and client support throughout the project.

A General Contractor who is brought in to implement someone else's design will have a learning curve while they are getting up to speed on the scope and details of the project. There may be redundant conversations with the GC that you feel you have already had with your designer and your GC may have a different approach or recommendation for things if they did not have the opportunity to collaborate with the designer while the design was evolving.

As a true Design/Build, we engage our construction team early on so they are already familiar with your project by the time we start construction.

With Otis you also then have your Lead Designer dedicated to working with you during the entire duration of your renovation - knowing that designer is working with a team and within a system that they are very familiar with. Our designers have built long standing relationships with many of our trades partners and suppliers, as well as our in-house carpenters, and will make sure your design comes to life as you have envisioned it.