By now, everyone knows about it. My neighbours. My co-workers. My family and friends. And you.

I even shared my reno nightmare story with a taxi driver named Luiz.

Luiz left Italy in his teens and immigrated to Canada in the 70s and late 80s, when he took on a trade as a painter. Luiz said he was good contractor, back-in-the-day: he believed he was honest; he finished jobs he said he would complete; he cared about the satisfaction of his customers. 

Luiz drove me to the Lawrence Avenue subway in Toronto, Canada’s biggest metropolis, and arguably the largest renovation hub in Southern Ontario.

Of my situation, I'll never forgot what Luiz told me that morning: “You’re not alone, Tina. These are dangerous times for the consumer. It’s not like the old days. It’s so easy to be misled now. Things are different now.”

Luiz took another sip of his coffee, yet I was the one who felt refreshed and reassured. Was it because he was, at the time, the first real person to acknowledge my renovation-reality was one so many people in Canada faced? Was it because he was the first person to assist me in defeating the myth that I could have ever known, 9 months ago, what it would mean to be prepared enough, educated enough, involved enough to prevent the reno-mess I was in?

I'm not sure. But my conversation with Luiz changed my way of thinking. I started to consider, not the things I should have done right -- according to other people’s successful projects or past experience -- but the things I could do now to actively reconcile my own particular and unique renovation situation.

One week after my chat with Luiz, the unthinkable happened.

It was the day we were to drive down to Ohio for a friend's wedding. Just 4 hours before our departure, my husband called me at work, saying he told our Project Manager to halt the already extremely slow work being done to our condo. (This man had taken on way too many jobs. Ours, I found out later, was a very low on his priority list.)

It was a flood.

Water everywhere.

Underneath the new floor we installed.

Inside the walls of our bathroom.

Undereath the shower base.

All the progress we had made since July was ruined in 20 minutes in November.

The pipes in the shower and the bathroom vanity failed. The piping was flimsy. The job, incomplete.

Our supposed Project Manager, we learned, decided to build the bathroom without bothering to make sure the plumber properly finished the job 4 months earlier, that is when he promised us the project timeline was only going to take 3 weeks. Lies!

(SIDENOTE: After the flood, we figured out our PM didn't check up on a lot of things. He also thought it convenient to blame me for requesting the bathroom, not the kitchen be a priority. What a joke.)

He came over. Helped us slice open the walls we paid to have built. We ripped out the floor we paid to have installed.

Weeks later, we were told by a third-party we'd need to dismantle the bathroom and bedroom millwork that were installed.

The flood triggered a breaking point in me. I was mad.

I thought I felt better after we met with a big construction lawyer, changed our locks, complained to our city councillor, talked to other industry professionals about our dilemma, dealt with insurance, and re-started the search for new contractors.

My husband and I had travelled this road to renovation before. This time, with a chance to begin again. And we knew what was needed: someone we could trust. Someone who was willing to help us pick up the pieces and put our lives back in order. Someone who just cared. But how was such a person to be found?

Back to the drawing board. S.O.S. Renovation rescue and beyond.

Yet in these situations, one can only look forward.

To err is human. To forgive divine. 

In the end, there is no one solution to the human errors that accompany any home reconstruction and renovation.

Every project is as different as every client: there are unknown factors that won’t even be considered or imagined, and when lots of variables are part of the equation – plumbing, millwork, countertops, flooring, doors, paint colours, and the potential for mistakes, incompetence, and closed-minded hired help.

If you are someone who has never undergone or lived through a major home reno project, and has no friends or family with any informed experience or advice, the renovation industry can be a daunting and sometimes dangerous one.

Even if you think you’ve done the grunt work, remember that any contractor, even with a good rating, can make mistakes.The key is finding one that will deal with issues honestly, justly, properly and professionally.

Renovations are a cooperative game in a market economy.

All members involved – the consumer, the contractor, and the government – need to partner fully if the job is to be done right.

You don’t claim to know all the answers. Nobody does.

The blog articles in this series of postings will provide consumers in the GTA, who are renovating for the first time, with some sound advice on how to take control of the most important elements of any project: the timeline, the budget, and the project’s overall quality.

You need to walk the road to finding solutions that work for your home.

By asking the right questions, you can approach the project table with a strong knowledge of how to create a satisfying reno-project and live in a home you can proudly invest in.

See you online.

Tina -- the S.O.S. RenoGirl