Kitchen Renovation Contract Checklist: The Fourteen Clauses, and What Each One Stops From Happening

1. The parties, properly named. The contractor’s legal business name, address, HST number, and the name of the person signing for them. Your name and the property address. Stops: the invoice from a company you have never heard of, and the contractor who turns out to have been “a friend of” the company on the quote.
2. The scope, by trade, in writing. Demolition (what comes out, what is protected, where the dumpster goes). Framing (which wall, the beam spec). Electrical (how many circuits, which receptacles, the ESA notification). Plumbing (what moves, the permit). HVAC (the hood duct). Drywall and paint (which walls, which ceiling). Flooring (what, where, who). Cabinets (whose, installed by whom). Counters (whose, templated when). Backsplash. Trim. Cleanup. Stops: “painting was not included,” said in week six, about a kitchen with new drywall on three walls.
3. The drawings and the specifications, attached and initialled. The cabinet shop’s drawing, the electrical plan with the receptacles marked, the appliance list with model numbers, the finish schedule (counter, backsplash, floor, paint colours). Stops: the argument about whether the island was supposed to have a sink.
4. The price, and what it excludes. One number, before HST, with HST shown. Then the exclusions, as a list: appliances, cabinet and counter supply if you are buying them, anything found inside the walls, anything not on the drawings. Allowances, if any, stated the way the allowances page describes. Stops: the 13% surprise and the “that was extra” conversation.
5. The payment schedule, tied to milestones, not dates. A deposit (10 to 15% to the contractor; the cabinet shop’s 50% deposit shown separately if the contractor is passing it through), then payments at: demolition and rough-ins passed inspection; drywall and paint complete; cabinets installed; counters installed; substantial completion. With 10% held back. Stops: paying 50% up front for work that has not started, and paying for a milestone that has not happened.
6. The holdback. Ontario’s Construction Act requires the owner to hold back 10% of each payment for 60 days after substantial completion, to protect against liens from unpaid subs and suppliers. It is the law whether or not the contract mentions it; a contract that says “no holdback” is a contract that is wrong. Stops: the electrician who was never paid putting a lien on your house in month three.
7. The change-order rule. No change to scope, price or schedule without a written change order, signed by both, before the work, stating the cost (or the credit) and the schedule effect. Small ones can be by email, if the contract says email counts. Stops: the $8,000 of extras on the final invoice that nobody remembers agreeing to. This clause is the one that gets used most.
8. The schedule, with a start date, a duration, and what extends it. “Start June 2, substantially complete in 6 weeks” plus the list of things that legitimately extend it: change orders, inspection delays, materials you supply arriving late, conditions found inside the walls. And what does not: the contractor’s other jobs. Stops: the three-week gap in week four when the crew went to the other kitchen. The order of work page is the schedule’s skeleton.
9. Permits and inspections. Who applies, whose name is on the permit, who pays the fee, who books the inspections and who must be there. The ESA notification named separately under electrical. Stops: the wall that came out with nobody’s name on a permit; see permits.
10. Insurance and WSIB. The contractor carries liability insurance (amount stated, certificate attached) and WSIB coverage (clearance certificate attached), and keeps both current for the job. Their subs likewise. Stops: you being the deepest pocket when a tile setter falls off a ladder in your kitchen.
11. Inside the walls. What happens when demolition finds rot, mould, asbestos (any house before about 1985 may have it in the drywall compound, the floor tile or the pipe wrap), knob-and-tube, a bearing wall that was supposed to be non-bearing, or an unvented drain. The contract says: stop, document with photos, quote the fix as a change order, and the homeowner decides. Stops: the $4,000 subfloor repair that was done without asking and billed at the end, and the asbestos tile that was ripped out without testing.
12. Substantial completion and the deficiency list. A definition: the kitchen is usable for its purpose (sink works, range works, counters in, cabinets closing). A walk-through on that day, a written list of deficiencies, a date by which they will be done, and the final payment (less holdback) on substantial completion, with an agreed amount withheld against the deficiency list until it is cleared. Stops: the last 5% paid and the crown moulding never finished.
13. The warranty. One year on workmanship minimum (two is good), in writing, from substantial completion. Manufacturer warranties on cabinets, counters and appliances passed to you with the paperwork. Who to call and how fast they respond. Stops: the seam that opened in month eight being “the counter company’s problem.”
14. The cooling-off period and the cancellation terms. Under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, a contract signed in your home (which most renovation contracts are) carries a 10-day cooling-off period during which you can cancel in writing for a full refund of any deposit. The contract should say so; the Act applies either way. After that, cancellation terms: what is refundable, what is not (materials ordered), and notice. Stops: the signed-in-the-kitchen contract that cannot be undone when the references come back bad on day three.

What a thin contract looks like

One page. A list of rooms. A price. “50% deposit, balance on completion.” A signature line. Sometimes a logo. Half the kitchen renovations in Ontario are done on that document, and many of them go fine, because most contractors are honest and most houses do not hide anything. The other ones are the stories. The fourteen clauses above are three to five pages, and a contractor who has done this for a while has them in a template and will not blink at being asked; a contractor who resists putting the schedule or the change-order rule in writing is telling you how the job will go. The choosing a contractor page has the questions that go with this list.

Three things to do with the signed contract

• Keep a job file. The contract, the drawings, every change order, every email about the job, every invoice, every receipt for anything you supplied, photos of the walls open before they are closed. It is the file that wins any argument, including the one with the insurer in ten years.
• Read the change orders before signing them. Each one should say what, how much, and how many days. A change order with no schedule effect on a change that obviously has one is a change order to send back.
• Do the walk-through with the list, not from memory. The quality checklist for the cabinets, the nine checks on the countertop install page for the counter, a flashlight for the rest.