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Toronto · 15,703 permits analysed

What renovation work actually costs, according to the city

Every contractor publishes a range. None of them publish their working. These figures come from the City of Toronto’s own building permit record, and you can reproduce all of them from the raw file.

Pick a job

Each page shows the full distribution, not a range someone invented, and narrows to your property type.

Basement underpinning$65,000$40,000 to $125,000 typical787 permits · 2024–2026Garden suite$200,000$100,000 to $300,000 typical609 permits · 2024–2026Deck construction$30,000$10,000 to $60,000 typical590 permits · 2024–2026Rear addition$150,000$80,000 to $325,000 typical387 permits · 2024–2026Second suite conversion$40,000$20,000 to $50,000 typical381 permits · 2024–2026Front porch replacement$20,000$10,000 to $50,000 typical343 permits · 2024–2026Laneway suite$300,000$150,000 to $450,000 typical267 permits · 2024–2026
What the averages hide

For deck construction, the midpoint on a detached duplex is $50,000, against $20,000 on a semi-detached. That is 150% more for the same job, and no cost guide anywhere makes the distinction.

See the breakdown

How it works

  1. Pick your job and your property typeTwo questions. We filter 15,703 permits down to the ones that resemble your house.
  2. See the real distributionNot a single number. The quartiles, the sample size and the years covered, so you can judge how much to trust it.
  3. Check a quote, or get oneDrag your quote along the distribution to see where it sits. When you’re ready, we pass you to one vetted contractor. Never three.

One contractor, not three

Get a real quote for your property

We pass your details to a single vetted contractor who works your postal code. You will not be called by five companies, because we only ever sell a request once.

We are paid by the contractor, never by you.

Why these numbers and not the ones you found elsewhere

Search the cost of any renovation job and you get a range so wide it tells you nothing, published by a company that makes money introducing you to a contractor. Meanwhile the city has published a detailed record of every permit filed, including what each applicant declared the work would cost. It sat in a data portal in a format nobody outside city planning was going to open.

A declared value is not a quote. It is what the applicant stated at filing, before overruns, and it excludes permit fees and design work. What it is good for is scale and spread: it tells you whether the number in your hand is ordinary or unusual, which is the question you actually have. The full methodology explains every step, including what gets thrown away and why.