Family owned since 2007Ajax · Durham Region · Greater Toronto Area4.9 on Google
What’s your next chapter?

Good homes start
with a conversation.

james@jarviscontracting.ca(289) 892-4169Home additions & renovations
Durham Region & the Greater Toronto Area
A narrow kitchen with a walnut island, cream shaker cabinets and a herringbone floor, beside an open oak stair with looped black balusters

Our expertise

Whole-home renovations

Whole floors and whole houses: walls out, structure fixed, old systems replaced and finished as one project.

Let’s talk about your home
Explore

We found no published cost range for a whole-home renovation in the GTA that we'd stand behind as of October 2026, so we don't print one: yours is priced after James sees the house. What we can show is the work. At Bellamy, a brick bungalow, we took out the load-bearing walls with steel beams, had the asbestos removed, fixed the fire hazards we found, and handed the house back on the date we'd promised.

What's included

A curved staircase rising to a round gallery under the rotunda, with the open dining room beyond

Every job, start to finish

  1. Floor plans and a 3D model
  2. Structural engineering for walls that come out
  3. Steel beams and point loads
  4. Plumbing, wiring and ductwork rerouted, behind false walls where needed
  5. Asbestos and old wiring handled by the right trades
  6. Floors, stairs, trim, kitchens and bathrooms

The kinds of job

  • Open-concept main floors
  • Full-floor and whole-house renovations
  • Older homes: levelling floors, rewiring, rebuilding stairs
  • Kitchens and bathrooms as part of the whole
Typical duration
Set after the first site visit
Permits involved
  • A building permit for structural changes, such as taking out a load-bearing wall
  • Electrical work by a licensed electrical contractor, who files a notification with the Electrical Safety Authority
  • Gas lines and appliances by a TSSA-certified gas fitter
  • A heritage permit for exterior work in a Heritage Conservation District (Ontario Heritage Act, Part V)

What it costs

Our 2026 ranges, not quotes. Every job is priced after a site visit, and the first estimate is free.

No single range for this work. Every job is priced after a site visit.

What moves the number

  • How much of the house changes
  • Load-bearing walls, and the beams that replace them
  • What's behind the walls: asbestos, knob-and-tube wiring, water damage
  • Hiding pipes and ducts without bulkheads
  • Finish level, and 13% HST on top

Finished jobs

Whole-home renovations

Renovate or add on?

Sometimes the space is already there. The Bellamy owners wanted a bigger house without an addition, so we took out the interior walls and opened the main floor end to end. Our renovate or move guide helps with the bigger question.

What happens when you open the walls?

In an older house you find things. At Aurelia, a Toronto house about 100 years old, the floor was out of level, there was water damage and the wiring was knob and tube; all of it was replaced. You hear about each one, with the cost, before we fix it. One client wrote that James "walked us through every issue that popped up" (David Hayes, Google review).

Should we do it all at once?

If you can, yes. Doing everything in one job is faster, cleaner and cheaper than a room a year, because the walls, floors and trades are only opened and paid for once. At Orra we hid the new ductwork and plumbing behind a false wall so the open main floor has no bulkheads.

Who does the electrical and gas work?

Licensed trades. In Ontario only a licensed electrical contractor may do electrical work in your home, and they file a notification with the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). Gas work needs a TSSA-certified fitter (O. Reg. 212/01).

Where we do this

In Ajax, Aurora, Brampton, Brock, Burlington, Caledon, Clarington, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, Halton Hills, King, Markham, Milton, Mississauga, Newmarket, Oakville, Oshawa, Pickering, Richmond Hill, Scarborough, Scugog, Toronto, Uxbridge, Vaughan, Whitby and Whitchurch-Stouffville.

How the job runs

  1. Meet James

    James meets you at the house, hears what you want and gives you a rough estimate on the spot. The first estimate is free.

  2. Proposal and contract

    If the estimate works for you, James prepares a detailed proposal. The whole project is priced, and the contract signed with a 10% deposit, before any design work begins.

  3. Design onboarding

    Our designer sends you an onboarding email with some homework: your style, how your family uses the house, and what you need and want. You share Pinterest boards, then go through them together on a Zoom call: what you like in the pictures, and what you don't.

  4. Measure and floor plans

    The designer measures the house and draws the floor plan: which walls come out, where the stairs land, how new space joins the old. We go through it with you until it's confirmed.

  5. Drawings and 3D rendering

    With the plan confirmed, she draws the elevations and the millwork, then puts it all into a 3D rendering, so you see the rooms before anyone orders a cabinet.

  6. Finishes presentation

    We don't take you round the stores: there are too many options. Using what she learned in onboarding, the designer narrows the tile, flooring, quartz, plumbing fixtures and the rest to a few choices that suit your style, collects the samples and presents them to you in our office. If a selection changes the price, the change goes through a change order you sign.

  7. Permits and engineering

    We prepare the permit drawings, bring in the structural engineer wherever a beam or a load changes, and apply to the municipality. If the plan changes after the permit is issued, we file the amendment.

  8. Construction

    Our crew and trades build it, with one point of contact from demolition to the last coat of paint. Our site supervisors write a job log every day, which you can follow in our online app. When we open a wall and find a problem, you hear about it, and what it costs, before we fix it.

  9. Inspections

    The municipal building inspector checks the work at each stage the permit sets, before it gets covered up.

  10. Handover

    We walk the finished house with you and put right anything that isn't. On one job a stair stain didn't match the new floor, so we refinished the stairs.

Credentials

Jarvis Contracting Inc. BBB Business ReviewBBB ratingA+View profile ↗

Questions

How much does a whole-home renovation cost?

We haven't found a published GTA range for whole-home renovations that we trust, so we don't quote one. The cost depends on how much of the house changes, the structural work, what's behind the walls and the finishes. We price yours after a site visit, before design starts.

Can you remove a load-bearing wall?

Yes. A load-bearing wall comes out once an engineer has sized the steel beam that replaces it and the point loads that carry the beam down to the foundation, and once the building permit is issued. We did this on the Bellamy and Orra main floors.

What happens if you find asbestos or old wiring?

We stop, tell you what we found and what it costs to fix, and bring in the right trade. On Bellamy we found asbestos and fire hazards, had the asbestos removed safely and fixed the hazards, and still finished on the promised date.

Who does the electrical work in a renovation?

In Ontario only a licensed electrical contractor may do electrical work in your home, and they must file a notification with the Electrical Safety Authority before starting. General contractors aren't licensed for it, so we bring in a licensed electrician.

Guides

Sources

  1. ESA esasafe.com
  2. O. Reg. 212/01 ontario.ca