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House Renovation

Renovation permit numbers are still strong in Windsor-Essex

For the first time in three years, Ontarians are spending less money on home improvements after reaching all-time highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). Officials with MPAC told CTV News that home renovations are down across the province, but note that doesn’t appear to be the case in Windsor-Essex. “Although we’re seeing about a 12 per cent decrease in residential permit activity overall in Ontario, [in the] Windsor-Essex area, what we’re really seeing there is a decline of about 6 per cent,” said Carmelo Lipsi, MPAC vice president and chief operating officer. Lipsi…
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House Renovation

renovation in tokyo arranges wooden house’s interior in spiral sequence

ICE/ichie architects restore the old row house’s wooden frame ICE/ichie architects takes over a row house renovation project in Shinjuku, Tokyostanding on an old urban block dating back to the Edo period in Japan. While this residential area is gradually being replaced by three-story wooden houses, the alley presents a mix of owner-occupied, rented, tenant-occupied, and vacant houses that can be seen as one big unit with rooms of various sizes. The project reimagines the variable lifestyle in the alley, taking up a unit for a short period or merging it with new neighbors houses depending on the situation and…
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House Renovation

Here’s why the cost of home renovations are rising

Homeowners planning major renovations this year could face sticker shock. The price of construction and building materials rose 3% in February from a year ago, labor data shows. But some items have skyrocketed. The cost of construction bricks has jumped 25%, while general contractors are charging more amid a shortage of skilled workers, Wall Street Journal reporter Rachel Wolfe told CBS News. “That has led to these projects just dragging out and dragging out,” she said, adding that some Americans are just “living in these half-finished houses among piles of construction debris because there just aren’t enough workers to finish…
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House Renovation

How protected are BC homeowners when home renovation projects go sideways? – BC

Months after he hired a contractor to renovate his home, Scott Leathem says he’s still dealing with numerous deficiencies. “You’re getting screwed by the people that you hired for lack of a better term,” Leathem said. Back in May 2020, the Pitt Meadows resident says he’s hired a contractor to renovate his home. He said he was quoted about $100,000 and told it would take seven weeks to complete. Leathem says he put down $50,000 upfront and the demolition started immediately but eventually came to a standstill. “It was supply chain issues, we couldn’t find anything, everybody was short-staffed. Everything…