Budgeting · 4 min read
How much contingency should you keep for a renovation?
Most Canadian renovations need 15–20% contingency. When to hold 10%, when 30% is safer, and how to keep it out of the finish upgrades.
Contingency is not padding and it is not a slush fund for upgrades. It is money reserved for conditions nobody could see during planning: rotted subfloor, undersized wiring, a drain in the wrong place, a wall that turns out to be load-bearing.
Starting points by project type
- Cosmetic updates such as paint and flooring: 10 percent
- Kitchen, bathroom, or deck: 15 percent
- Basement finishing or major layout changes: 20 percent
- Older homes, structural work, or unknown conditions: 20 to 30 percent
Adjust for what you cannot see
Two factors reliably increase risk: age and how much you open up. A 1950s home where walls are moving deserves more contingency than a 2015 home getting new flooring. If you are opening walls, floors, or the foundation, assume you will find something.
Hold the money separately
If contingency sits inside your project budget, it usually gets spent on better tile. Keep it in a separate account, and treat spending it as a decision that requires a reason, not a preference.