Growing in Orangeville|Out in the Yard|My Humble Bit of the GTA

July 18, 2026

Understanding the Design-Build Contract: My Experience

I was sitting at the kitchen table, three envelopes in front of me, coffee gone cold, watching the toddler push a toy truck through the dust bunnies that had gathered under the stove. The cabinets were original 1990s maple, sticky to the touch, and the quote on the plain white envelope read $40,000. The glossy brochure from the company that had actually bothered to show the most bureaucratic of confidence said $110,000. And the third one was a scribbled estimate from the co

July 18, 2026

How I Scheduled My Life Around Our Design-Build Renovation Timeline

I was sitting at the kitchen table with three quotes spread out like bad options, coffee gone cold, and the kid playing with a truck on the original 1990s linoleum. One quote said 40K, one said 110K, and one was a stack of pages so long I thought I had accidentally hired someone to write my memoir. Outside, a garbage truck rattled down our Brampton street and the neighbour's dog barked at nothing. Inside, the grout in the bathroom looked like it had given up. The demolit