What we actually do
Vancouver Kitchen Renovations Co renovates kitchens in Vancouver and Metro Vancouver. The company has operated since 2010, is licensed and insured, carries WorkSafeBC coverage, and warranties its workmanship for 2 years. It is a service-area business: there is no showroom, and every quote begins with a measured site visit.
The company was built around a specific frustration: renovation quotes that are really sales documents. A round number, a vague inclusion list, and a change order the week demolition finds something. So the quote here is itemised, the allowances are named, and the price does not move unless you change the scope or the building surprises everyone.
Sixteen years in Metro Vancouver also means we have seen how the housing stock behaves. The 1950s bungalows on the East Side with 60-amp service. The False Creek towers where the kitchen shares a wall with the riser. The Kitsilano character houses where nothing is plumb and the floor drops 20 mm across the room. Those are not surprises any more; they are line items.
How the work is staffed
Cabinet installation, tile setting, finish carpentry and project management are in-house. The plumbing and electrical are done by licensed tradespeople we have worked with for years — same names, job after job — because an inspection failed on somebody else’s rough-in is still our schedule that slips.
Every project gets one lead. That is the person who is on site, who has your number, and who tells you on the Friday what is happening on the Monday. There is no coordinator in an office relaying messages between you and the trades.
Project lead
One named contact from the first measure to the final walkthrough. On site, not in an office.
Cabinet installers
In-house. Scribed to the wall, shimmed level, doors set square — the details that separate a $60,000 kitchen from a $60,000 kitchen that looks cheap.
Tile and stone
Our own setters for tile; templated stone fabricated locally and installed by the fabricator’s crew with us on site.
Licensed trades
Plumbing, electrical and gas by licensed contractors who pull their own permits and stand for their own inspections.
What we will tell you that a salesperson will not
- Refacing is the right answer more often than the industry admits. If your boxes are sound, we will say so — see cabinet refacing.
- Moving a plumbing stack in a concrete condo tower is usually not worth it. The cost and the strata approval rarely justify the layout gain.
- Marble on a kitchen island that a family actually uses will etch. If you want the look without the maintenance, quartz that mimics marble is the honest answer.
- A 60-amp panel cannot carry an induction range plus everything else. That is an electrical upgrade, and it belongs in the budget from day one, not in a change order.
- Some kitchens do not need a renovation. New counters, new hardware and a spray refinish transform a lot of kitchens for under $12,000.
Licensing, insurance and warranty
The company holds a municipal business licence, carries commercial general liability insurance, and maintains WorkSafeBC coverage for every person on site. Workmanship is warrantied for 2 years from completion, in writing.
Certificates are attached to every quote and to every strata alteration application, because both your strata council and your home insurer will ask. Uninsured work in a condo is also the fastest way to have a claim denied if something goes wrong two floors down.
Manufacturer warranties on cabinetry, stone, sinks, taps and appliances are separate and get registered in your name, with the paperwork handed over at the walkthrough rather than left in a truck.