10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Home Renovation Company in Vancouver

1. Are you licensed with BC Housing — and do you carry WorkSafeBC and liability insurance?

This is the legal baseline, and it’s more specific in British Columbia than most homeowners realize.

In BC, any company performing residential construction work valued over $10,000 must hold a Residential Builder Licence issued by BC Housing. This is not the same as a general municipal business licence. Ask for the licence number and verify it at bchousing.org. While you’re at it, request a WorkSafeBC clearance letter — confirming their workers are covered for on-site injuries — and a current certificate of general liability insurance.

A reputable company hands you all three documents without hesitation. Any reluctance, delay, or “I’ll send that later” is your answer right there.

The right answer sounds like:
“Here’s our BC Housing licence number, our WorkSafeBC clearance letter, and our current certificate of insurance — which do you want first?”

2. Do you handle both design and construction — or just one?

This is the question nobody else tells you to ask, and it may be the most important one on this list.

If you’re hiring a traditional contractor, you’ll also need to hire a designer or architect separately, manage the relationship between them, and hope their two visions align throughout construction. When they don’t — and they often don’t — the result is budget overruns, scope changes mid-build, and a finished renovation that doesn’t match the drawings you approved.

If you’re hiring a Design+Build firm, that coordination happens internally, between colleagues who’ve worked together for years and share the same commitment to your project outcome.

Ask directly: “Who draws the plans, and who builds from them — are they the same team?” The answer will tell you more about how your project will go than almost anything else.

3. Can I see completed projects similar to mine — and speak with those clients?

Portfolio review is table stakes. The more useful step is calling past clients.

When you speak to a reference, skip “were you happy?” and ask instead: How did the company handle surprises? Was the final cost close to the original quote? Did the project manager stay involved from start to finish? Would you hire them again for a larger project?

In Vancouver, where older housing stock means surprises are a certainty, a contractor’s track record with character homes, Vancouver Specials, or complex condo renovations tells you far more than any website.

Red flag: A portfolio with no comparable scope to your project, or references who don’t return calls.

4. Who is my main contact — and will that person be present on site?

More renovation horror stories start here than almost anywhere else. The salesperson who impressed you in the consultation vanishes on Day 1 of construction. The “project manager” turns out to be running 14 simultaneous jobs. Nobody responds for three days.

Ask specifically: Who manages my project day-to-day? How often will they visit the site? What’s the communication protocol — how often will I receive updates, and through what channel? Who do I call if there’s a problem on a Tuesday afternoon?

A well-run renovation company has clear, documented answers to all of these. If the answer is vague, so will the project management be.

5. How do you handle Vancouver permits — and who takes responsibility if something gets flagged?

Permit management in Vancouver is its own competence. The City of Vancouver is known for long permit queues — some projects wait six to twelve months for approval. Burnaby and Coquitlam process permits considerably faster. North Shore municipalities have their own timelines and requirements. An experienced local company knows all of this and builds it into your project schedule.

More importantly: ask who is responsible if a city inspector flags a compliance issue mid-project. The answer should be unambiguous. If a contractor leaves permit management in your hands, or implies that compliance is “between you and the city,” that’s a firm no.

The right answer sounds like:
“We pull all permits, manage all inspections, and if anything gets flagged, we fix it — that’s our job, not yours.”

6. What’s the difference between your fixed costs and your allowances?

This question will save you from the single most common source of budget shock in Vancouver renovations.

An allowance is a placeholder in a quote — “tile: $12 per sqft” — that assumes you’ll choose materials within that range. If you choose a tile that costs $28 per sqft (which is remarkably easy to do in Vancouver’s showrooms), your quote just increased by thousands. Two renovation quotes can differ by $40,000–$60,000 simply because one uses realistic allowances and the other uses optimistic ones to win the job.

Ask any company you’re interviewing to walk you through their quote line by line: which items are fixed, and which are allowances? What happens when selections exceed the allowances? An integrated Design+Build company — where your designer and your estimator are working from the same document — is far less likely to have this problem.

7. Who are your subtrades — and how long have you worked with them?

Great renovation companies don’t hire whoever’s available. They work with the same plumbers, electricians, tile setters, and carpenters project after project — building relationships, shared standards, and consistent quality over years.

Ask: Are your subtrades in-house or external? How long have you worked with your key trades? What happens if a subcontractor doesn’t meet your standards?

After 25+ years Creating Amazing Spaces across Vancouver, we have deep, long-standing relationships with some of the best trades in the Lower Mainland. That’s not something you build in two or three years — and it shows in the finish quality and the schedule reliability.

8. How have you handled unexpected conditions in older Vancouver homes?

In Metro Vancouver, surprises are not a possibility — they’re a certainty. Character homes from the 1920s to 1970s routinely contain asbestos in drywall compound, knob-and-tube wiring, out-of-level floors, and subfloor rot that only becomes visible after demo. Vancouver Specials have structural quirks that catch first-timers off guard. Even newer builds can reveal failing plumbing stacks or moisture damage behind exterior cladding.

Ask for a real story: “Tell me about a project where you discovered something unexpected. How did you handle it, and what was the impact on the client’s budget and timeline?”

The answer reveals experience, honesty, and problem-solving ability all at once. Vague reassurances are not the same as a real account.

On one South Cambie project, we were hired to complete an extensive renovation of a 1911 Vancouver character home while retaining its existing square footage. As part of our pre-construction process, we arranged hazardous-material testing and obtained abatement quotes based on the initial report.

Despite this preparation, concealed vermiculite insulation was discovered three separate times during construction. Each discovery required additional testing, abatement work and inspections, resulting in approximately $27,000 in added costs and a six-week schedule delay.

We responded quickly by working with our preferred hazardous-materials consultant, securing competitive abatement pricing and updating the schedule accordingly.

Throughout the process, we communicated openly with the clients about each discovery, its cost and schedule implications, and the available options so they could make timely, informed decisions.

9. What does your contract cover — and how does your change order process work?

A thorough contract protects both parties. At minimum it should include: a detailed scope of work, a payment schedule tied to milestones (never pay 100% up front — a reasonable deposit is 10–15%, with progress payments as phases complete), warranty terms, and a clear change order process.

Change orders are inevitable. What matters is how they’re handled: Is every change documented in writing before work proceeds? Is the cost approved by the client before it’s incurred? Does the contract require mutual sign-off?

Red flag: Any contractor who asks for a large lump-sum deposit up front, or who dismisses written change orders as “unnecessary paperwork.”

10. What happens after the job is done?

Most contractors hand over keys, collect final payment, and move on. The best companies build a formal post-construction phase into their standard process.

At VictorEric, our integrated process includes a dedicated Deficiencies Phase — a proactive, structured walk-through quality check before final handover. We identify and resolve issues before you move in, rather than leaving you to discover them six months later. After completion, we remain available for post-project support and warranty issues.

Ask any company: What is your warranty period? What’s covered? Who do I contact if something fails six months after completion? How quickly do you respond? A company that stands behind its work has confident, specific answers to all of these.