The Renovation Guide
What it actually takes to renovate in Greater Vancouver.
Six chapters covering everything between deciding to renovate and the year-five conversation about what you'd do differently. Written by the team that's been renovating and rebuilding in Greater Vancouver since 2004, not a vendor, not a magazine.
By Sanj Aggarwal, Founder, Icon Projects Ltd. · Updated May 2026
Should I renovate my home in Greater Vancouver, or rebuild?
Check four things: foundation condition, envelope condition, mechanical and electrical age, and zoning headroom. If foundation work, structural reframing, and full envelope rebuild all stack into the same project, the rebuild path is usually cleaner and cheaper. If the structure is sound and the work is mostly cosmetic plus a wall move or two, renovation wins. The first chapter walks the four checks in detail.
What this guide is
- Honest framing of the renovate-or-rebuild decision.
- Specific BC and Burnaby examples (permits, tree bylaw, energy code).
- Hard-won lessons from clients three and five years in.
- Direct links to the right people and the right municipal pages.
What this guide isn't
- A pricing calculator. We don't do public number ranges; talk to us.
- A pitch. Some chapters tell you when not to renovate at all.
- A substitute for permit-stamped drawings and a real builder agreement.
- Generic "10 tips" filler, every chapter is specific to one decision.
The six chapters
Read in order if you're early in the process, or jump to the chapter that matches where you are. Each one ends with the related Journal posts that go deeper.
- 1
Chapter 1
Is Your Home Worth Renovating?
The first honest conversation: when a renovation is the right move, when a rebuild quietly wins, and the structural and zoning checks that decide it.
Read chapter
- 2
Chapter 2
Scope, Design & Drawings
Defining scope before it defines you. How to keep a renovation from sliding into a rebuild, and how to recognise when the slide is actually the right answer.
Read chapter
- 3
Chapter 3
Permits, Bylaws & Heritage
What triggers a permit, what doesn't, and the Burnaby-specific layers, tree bylaw, heritage, energy upgrades, that quietly decide your timeline.
Read chapter
- 4
Chapter 4
Living Through Construction
Stay-in-place, partial-occupancy, full move-out, how the decision shapes scope, cost, and how much of your life the build will eat.
Read chapter
- 5
Chapter 5
Materials, Systems & Comfort
Where renovation budgets quietly disappear, and where the right material, window, or mechanical decision pays off for thirty years.
Read chapter
- 6
Chapter 6
After the Renovation
What renovation clients say one year, three years, five years in, the regrets, the wins, and what to do with what you've learned.
Read chapter
Building from scratch instead?
The Custom Home Process Guide covers the rebuild path.
If chapter one of this guide pushes your project toward a rebuild, or you already knew you were building new, our six-chapter Custom Home guide walks the path from lot evaluation through year-five regrets.
Read the Custom Home GuideStaying with the renovation path? See how we scope and run a whole-home renovation in Burnaby.
FAQ
- Should I renovate my home in Greater Vancouver, or rebuild?
- It depends on four checks: foundation condition, envelope condition, mechanical and electrical age, and zoning headroom. If foundation work, structural reframing, and full envelope rebuild all stack into the same project, you are functionally rebuilding behind an old name, and the rebuild path is usually cleaner. If the structure is sound and the work is mostly cosmetic plus one wall move, renovation wins. The first chapter of this guide walks the four checks in detail.
- Do I need a permit for my renovation?
- In Burnaby and most Greater Vancouver municipalities, building permits are required for structural work, envelope changes, plumbing alterations, most electrical work, mechanical changes, and any change of use. Decorative work in the same footprint generally does not. The trap is the small project that crosses a trigger nobody flagged, for example, a kitchen with a wall removal becomes a permitted structural change. The Permits chapter covers the trigger list.
- How long does a major renovation take in BC?
- After permits, a full main-floor renovation typically runs 5 to 9 months on site, full-house renovations 8 to 14 months, and targeted single-room work 6 to 12 weeks. Permit review for a complete Burnaby submission usually takes 8 to 14 weeks. Hillside lots, heritage properties, and complex structural changes push the upper end.
- Can I live in the house during the renovation?
- Yes for tightly bounded scope where part of the house can be sealed off cleanly with a working kitchen and bathroom outside the work zone. Yes for partial-floor projects where utilities can be split. No for full-house renovations, structural rework, or anything involving extended periods without heat or running water, moving out is almost always cheaper than people think when they discount it. The Living Through Construction chapter walks the three patterns.
- Do I need an architect for a renovation?
- Not always. Designer drawings work for kitchens, bathrooms, and renovations with no structural moves. A licensed architect (regulated by AIBC in BC) or a strong design-build builder is worth the investment for full-floor renovations with structural reframing, heritage homes, or hillside additions. The Scope & Design chapter explains how to decide.
- Will my renovation need energy-code upgrades?
- If you replace windows, change cladding, or upgrade mechanical systems, BC Energy Step Code performance targets affect the renovation. The good news: BC Hydro and FortisBC rebates stack with the federal Canada Greener Homes program, so the upgrades that hit the targets are also the ones being subsidised most heavily.
- How does a heritage or protected-tree designation change a renovation project?
- Both add a review layer on top of the standard building permit. A heritage-adjacent property may trigger facade protection or design review before the permit is issued, and a protected tree on or near the site (Burnaby's tree bylaw applies to most trees over 20 cm diameter) can require a permit of its own, or replacement planting, before excavation starts. Neither is usually a dealbreaker, but both need to be checked before scope and budget are locked, not discovered mid-permit.
- What do most renovation clients say they'd do differently a few years later?
- The regrets we hear most at year three and year five trace back to a brief-stage decision, not a construction defect: mechanical equipment without service access, plumbing routed where the sound carries into a bedroom, laundry in the wrong spot, or a home that wasn't planned for the family's future needs. None of these are covered by the 2-5-10 warranty, and none show up in a finished-home photo, they only show up once someone lives with the choice.