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Exterior Renovation in Ontario: Whole-House Costs, Comparing Siding Quotes, Hiring the Contractor, Door-to-Door Pitches, Inspection and the Contract
Exterior FinishesRenovation & Contractors
Exterior Renovations: What the Whole Outside Costs, How to Read Three Quotes Against Each Other, and How to Hire a Crew That Has Read the Manufacturer’s Sheet
We do not keep a list of siding companies to send you to. What we have is thirty years of hiring them, and the paperwork that makes a good one easy to spot and a bad one easy to stop at the door.
An exterior quote is a page with a number on it, and most of what matters is what is not on the page: the product by name, what comes off, what goes on under it, the flashing, the rate for rot, the eaves, the warranty. These pages give you the grid to put three quotes on, the questions that fill the blanks, what the salesman with the moisture meter is really selling, the contract terms Ontario law gives you, the walk-around before you pay, and the whole-house budget to hold a builder’s allowance against.
The numbers
$56,000a 2,400 sq ft wall house in fibre cement and stone
10 dayscooling-off on a contract signed at your door
10%a reasonable deposit; also the Construction Act holdback
$6.50the unit rate for rot that has to be on the contract
The guides
New-home exterior finish cost
The 2,400 sq ft house three ways, what a builder allowance should carry, and where the number hides.
How to compare siding quotes
The twelve-line grid: product, tearoff, wrap, flashing, rainscreen, trim, eaves, rot rate, warranty.
How to hire a siding contractor
Questions, references, WSIB, insurance, deposits, and whether the crew has read the manufacturer sheet.
Door-to-door siding scams
The free inspection, the hidden-moisture photo, the today-only price, the 10-day cooling-off, and how to check for real damage.
Exterior cladding inspection checklist
Before, during and after: what to look at and photograph before the wall is closed.
Exterior painting and staining cost
Painting vinyl, fibre cement, wood and stucco recoats per square foot, and when it beats replacing.
Exterior renovation contract checklist
Scope, products, unit rates for rot, flashing, schedule, holdback, warranty, and the walk-around.
Four rules for hiring an exterior contractor
- Product by name, net area stated, on the quote. “Siding supplied and installed” is not a scope. The grid.
- A unit rate for what cannot be seen yet. Sheathing, framing, fascia: a price per foot agreed before the first panel comes off. The contract.
- Nobody who knocked on your door gets a signature that day. You have ten days by law, and a real problem is still there next week. The pitch.
- Photograph the wall before it closes. Wrap, flashing, strapping, lath. Those photos are your warranty. Inspection.
Have quotes or plans in hand? Let a builder read them first
For $99, I put your siding, stucco, masonry or eavestrough quotes on one grid, check the wall area against your house, name the product each one actually promised, price the tearoff, wrap, flashing, strapping and rot repair that was left as “extra”, and tell you which one to sign. For a new build or an addition, $249 turns your elevations into a wall-by-wall takeoff of cladding, stone, stucco details, eaves and flashing, with a budget by grade, that three contractors can price the same way.
