Learning a trade like home renovation provides you with a marketable specialty. You’ll have skills that are in demand by the many people who require renovation work on their homes every year. In addition to providing a nice income, home renovation skills can benefit you in other ways.

If you’re considering training to work in the field of home renovation, you may be surprised by the number of benefits you’ll gain from it. Let’s look at just some of those benefits below.

Home Renovation Is a Skill That Will Never Be Out of Fashion

No matter how technologically advanced society becomes, there will still be a need for home renovation skills. Even if we eventually relocate to Mars, we’re going to build shelters and we’ll need home renovators to help! So long as people live in homes, they are going to need people with home renovation skills.

That’s why the demand for home renovators will continue to be strong. But there is more to a career as a home renovator than a stable income (although that’s certainly nice to have). The skills you’ll learn during home renovation technician training can serve you well both in your personal and your professional life.

Whether it’s helping your retired neighbors fix the porch or educating your teenaged son or daughter about how to read blueprints, the skills you will acquire during a career in home renovation will always benefit you and those around you. How many people can say that about their job?

Making Money Is One Thing, But Have You Thought of the Money You’ll Save?

There’s a financial benefit to being a home renovator you may not have considered: no longer having to hire someone else to renovate your own home. The average Canadian homeowner spends over $10,000 on home renovations. Now, imagine being your very own general contractor and pocketing that money. With the knowledge of a modern handyperson, you can achieve independence at home and in your career. Not only will your skills be in demand by other homeowners, but those skills will also help you save money by being able to do work on your own property.

Drop the Gym Membership—A Career in Home Renovation Is a Cheaper Way to Stay in Shape

The benefits of engaging in regular physical activity are pretty obvious. But people who spend their days in a cubicle sitting in front of a computer don’t get too many opportunities to exercise. Unless, of course, they spend hundreds of dollars a year on a gym membership! As a home renovator, however, you’re constantly staying active on the job. You might be moving from one room to the next, one residence to the next, or one job to the next. At any rate, you’ll be moving and working with your hands, which is exactly what many home renovators love about their jobs.

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Ontario’s population is growing, and high housing prices are encouraging people to renovate their homes rather than buy new ones—which means now a great time to begin your home renovation business. When done right, running your own home renovation business can be highly lucrative and it gives you the chance to be in charge of your career path.

If you’re thinking about starting a business after home renovation school, you need to make sure you have a plan in place for doing so. Let’s take a look at a few of the steps you should take to help ensure your home renovation business has the best chance of succeeding.

Use Your Home Renovation Training to Decide What Services You Will Offer

The first step you need to take is to decide what services your business is going to offer. Some home renovation businesses offer a wide array of services, like complete home renovations, which require you (and your employees) to have a broad skill set. However, you might want to focus on more specialized renovation projects, like bathroom remodels and kitchen renovations, for example.

In either case, home renovation training will help prepare you by covering a large number of different skills, such as plumbing, electrical, flooring, and drywall. By learning all of these skills during your training, you’ll be well positioned to decide whether you want to focus on a single area of expertise or offer more wide-ranging services.

Get the Proper Licences and Pay Attention to Regulations Affecting Home Renovators

Construction is a highly regulated industry and chances are you will need at least a few licences before getting started. For example, if you are doing plumbing work in Toronto, you will need a plumbing contractor licence. You may also have to register your business name and, if you are incorporating, you will need to file Articles of Incorporation. You will likely also need to register with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) and ensure that your business is protected with liability insurance.

Talk to Others in Home Renovation School for Help Finding Employees

When you’re starting out, you may just be a one-person operation. Given that your home renovation training will have prepared you for a number of different home renovation skills, it’s certainly possible to begin your business as a sole proprietorship with no employees other than yourself. However, if you plan on taking on complex projects, or if your business begins to grow, then you will either need to hire employees or find qualified subcontractors.

Word-of-mouth is often the best way to find reputable employees and subcontractors. Reach out to your classmates and teachers from home renovation school, for example, to see if they would be able to recommend anyone. Don’t forget to make sure all employees or subcontractors you hire are covered by the workplace insurance that is mandatory for them.

Talk to classmates from home renovation school for recommendations about potential employees

Marketing Should be a Top Priority for Any Home Renovation Business Owner

Most homeowners will only trust their home renovation project to a contractor or subcontractor who has an excellent reputation. When you’re just starting out, building a reputation can be challenging. Fortunately, digital marketing can help. Be sure you have a website and that your company is listed on all the major online review sites, like Angie’s List, Yelp, and Google My Business. Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews of your business on these sites as positive reviews will strengthen your reputation and give you more online visibility.

Starting a blog where you provide home renovation tips is another great marketing idea. A blog helps establish you as an expert in your field, which in turn can lead to homeowners trusting you with their home renovation projects.

Digital marketing is a great way to build your home renovation business’ reputation and visibility

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Basement renovations are among the most popular types of home renovations. They add extra living space for homeowners and often substantially increase the value of a property. As a result, when you become a home renovation technician, you may find yourself working on at least a few basement projects during your career.

However, renovating or finishing a basement is a lot different than working on other rooms of a house. Basements are far more prone to moisture, which means that you need to take extra care to combat mold. Here’s a brief look at some of the steps that go into renovating a basement.

Proper Insulation Will Keep the Basement Warm While Combating Moisture

Every basement renovation will need to be well insulated. Foam insulation can be added directly to the basement walls by applying adhesive in an S-shape to the concrete and then affixing the insulation. Be sure to cut insulation slightly shorter than actual height or length required. Doing so will ensure the insulation actually fits. You can later fill in the gaps between the insulation and the ceiling, walls, or floors with caulk or foam filler. Insulation is important not only because it helps keep the basement warm in the winter, it also keeps out moisture year round.

Home Renovation Training Will Teach You to Properly Frame a Basement

Next, you will need to use the framing skills you’ll learn in home renovation technician school to create a frame on top of the insulation. When constructing a frame, there are two options for going about the task. You can either build the frame directly on the wall or you can build it on the floor and then lift it up against the wall. For most basement renovations, you will find building the frame directly onto the wall makes the most sense. Unlike other levels of the home, the basement floor is more likely to be uneven, which can cause problems when building the frame on the floor. Also, it’s important to remember that if there are any windows or door frames on the wall, you will find it much easier to construct the frame in-place on the wall.

Install Drywall With Caution after Home Renovation Technician School

The next step is to hang the drywall. Renovation experts understand that it’s important to consider moisture when installing drywall. You’ll want to install spacers at the bottom of the drywall, which prevent the drywall from coming into direct contact with the concrete floor. This prevents mold from growing on the drywall due to moisture that is present in the foundation. You may also want to advise your client to invest in a high-quality mold-resistant drywall, which is much more resistant to moisture than other types. Remember, before installing the drywall to the frame, you’ll also need to create cut outs for electrical outlets and light switches.

Before installing drywall, remember to create cut outs for outlets and light switches

Home Renovation Training Can Teach You About Installing a Subfloor

Finally, you will need to create the floor. In some basements, flooring that snaps together can be installed right onto the concrete, as long as the concrete is free of moisture and is level. However, because many basement floors are at least a bit uneven and are prone to moisture, it’s usually a good idea to install a subfloor first. You will learn how to install subfloors and finishes during home renovation training so that you can then create functional and attractive floors. The subfloor serves two purposes: it acts as a moisture barrier between the concrete and the floor itself, and it helps create a level floor for your clients to enjoy.

Most basement renovations will require a subfloor to protect against moisture

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Home additions are among the most complex of home renovation tasks. As a result, home additions require many different professionals to get the work done efficiently. Such professionals can include carpenters, electricians, plumbers and home renovation technicians. If you’re considering a career in the trades, you could potentially find yourself working on at least a few home addition projects.

You may be wondering how home renovation training can help you prepare for working on a home addition. Here are just some of the skills you’ll learn during your training that you can apply to a home addition project.

Knowledge of Building Codes Can Assist in the Process of Obtaining Permits

Since creating a home addition is a complex task, there will likely be quite a few permits required. For example, permits may be needed for demolition work, new construction, plumbing, electrical work, HVAC and more. Obtaining such permits usually falls under the responsibility of the contractor.

If you choose to pursue a career as a contractor, you’ll definitely need to know and understand building codes. A good home renovation technician school will teach students all about building codes so they are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to secure permits once they begin their careers.

NATS home renovation technician students learn about building codes

Home Additions Require Professionals with the Right Skill Set

Because a home addition project is generally a big undertaking, they frequently require professionals who have a range of skills, who are often referred to as home renovation technicians. One of the great things about taking home renovation training, is that it teaches you many different skills, such as carpentry, plumbing, roofing and siding installation. As a home renovation technician, you’ll be the go-to person for addressing basic construction tasks that come up during a home addition project, like plastering, replacing faucets and installing light fixtures.

Home Renovation Training Provides a Foundation for Pursuing Specialized Trades

Alternatively, you can use those same skills as the basis for pursuing a more specialized career, including as an apprentice carpenter or plumber. Specialized tradespeople are needed during home addition projects to tackle the more complex tasks that home renovation technicians can’t complete alone. For instance, your training could be your first step towards becoming a plumber who is needed to rework and extend the piping.

Likewise, you could put the carpentry skills you’ll learn during your training to use. Carpenters often handle fairly large tasks on home addition projects. In fact, they are often the first people on the project and the last ones to leave. At the start of the project, for instance, a carpenter helps create the framing, whereas towards the end of the project, a carpenter will install the trim and crown mouldings.

The carpentry skills taught in home renovation training will help you to build the frame of an addition

Learn to Read Blueprints in Home Renovation Technician School

You’ll learn how to read and interpret blueprints in home renovation school and this knowledge is essential for almost every step of the construction of a home addition. If you’re considering starting your very own construction business, for example, being able to read blueprints can help alert you to issues with a homeowner’s plan that might make it difficult to obtain permits. When you’re actually on the job, regardless of whether you’re focused on carpentry, roofing, plumbing or electrical work, you will need to be able to read blueprints in order to efficiently complete your tasks.

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Canadians spend a lot of money on home renovations—more, in fact, than we spend on new homes. In 2017, total spending on renovations reached $72.7 billion, well above the $53 billion spent on new home construction. With so many Canadians renovating their homes, the demand for skilled tradespeople to take on these projects remains strong.

To really succeed in your career as a home renovator, it is important that you maintain a high quality standard in your work. Home renovators often find clients through word-of-mouth and, increasingly, online reviews. Whether you run your own business or you work for a contractor, building a good reputation early on is essential to advancing in your career. So be sure to avoid these four common mistakes once you leave home renovation college.

1. Not Having the Proper Permits: Be Prepared in Your Renovation Career

If you’re working as subcontractor, you generally won’t have to worry about pulling permits, but it is an important part of the job if you’re the general contractor. While it can be tempting to skip permits for simple tasks, don’t. The homeowner could be ordered to modify the renovations you made and they may be prevented from selling their home until the problems are fixed. When that happens, they may try to hold you responsible for the costs. Your instructors at North American Trade Schools (NATS) are licensed and have real-world experience, so they are a great resource if you have further questions about pulling permits once you’ve completed your training.

2. Rushing the Job: Good Work Takes Time After Home Renovation College

Once you’ve graduated from home renovation college, you’ll likely want to prove to employers and clients that you can get your work done quickly. Likewise, if you’re running your own business, you may even find yourself with more clients than you anticipated. However, it’s important to get your work done efficiently and not let the work you do suffer because you want to get jobs done quickly.

While you may be tempted to rush projects or to try to cover up minor mistakes because you don’t have time to fix them properly, rushing your work is never a good idea. Clients and employers may be impressed with your speed at first, but they’ll be far less impressed when those rushed jobs lead to leaky roofs and cracked walls.

Home renovation training provides you with the skills you need to excel in your career

3. Overcharging & Undercharging: Get the Price Right as a Home Renovator

Knowing how much to charge for your services when you’re just starting a career in home renovation can be tricky, especially if you’re trying start up your own business. If you charge too little, you run the risk of going over budget—which can mean money out of your pocket or an unpleasant conversation with the homeowner about why they will need to pay more. However, if you charge too much, clients will think you’re overcharging them, and they may spread the word that your services are unaffordable. Talk to your colleagues and other professionals in the industry, such as your NATS program instructors, and discuss with them the best way to charge clients based on your experience.

4. Being Underprepared: Expect the Unexpected in a Home Renovation Career

During the demolition stage of renovating a home, you don’t know what you’re going to find under the floors you’ve ripped up and the walls you’ve torn down. Mold, termites and other problems can significantly increase the cost and time of a project.

Dealing with new challenges is what makes working in home renovation so exciting, so when your boss or a homeowner asks you how long a project will take or how much it will cost, be realistic and prepare for unexpected surprises. It’s often better to give a range of possibilities than committing yourself to one figure.

Learn to prepare for common challenges that may occur on the job at home renovation college

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One of the great things about training in home renovation is that you get to work on such a wide variety of projects. Whether a client wants new tiles in their bathroom, updated doors or windows, a floor-to-ceiling kitchen revamp or even an addition on their house, as a technician, you’ll be equipped with the skills to make it happen. This gives home renovation technicians a lot of flexibility in their careers, as they’re free to specialize in any area of the home or to remain generalists, doing it all. Either way, it’s important for anyone interested in a career in home renovation to keep up with all of the latest trends that clients are likely to be asking about.

If you’re interested in a career as a home renovation technician, here are five of the biggest trends that you should be aware of.

Natural Wood Can Give Rooms a Warm and Organic Feel

Natural wood can add a light, warm and organic touch to kitchens, bathrooms and dining areas. Depending on the type of wood and how it’s treated, it can produce either a more rustic or modern look, and can dominate the room or be used as a subtle accent. This trend is being seen in the form of plank-wood shelves, bare wood kitchen cabinetry, exposed beams and more.

Bring Natural Light into a Home with Big Windows after Home Renovation College

Large windows and glass-panelled doors have become a popular choice for homeowners renovating their houses. Particularly for homes surrounded by natural environments, they can help bring a sense of the outdoors inside, and fill rooms with natural light.

Students graduating from home renovation school should expect clients asking for floor-to-ceiling windows, panoramic views and skylights.

Home renovation technicians know that large windows can provide a space with lots of natural light

Open Floor Plans Make a House Brighter, More Flexible and More Sociable

Open floor plans have been a big trend for home renovations this year. They can improve traffic flow inside a house, and make it more sociable and easier to communicate. Without doors and walls, light can spread between rooms, including natural light from large, newly renovated windows. Open floor plans also allow homeowners to more easily reconfigure a house to fit their needs. It’s also a popular renovation because it increases a home’s value to potential buyers, so it’s a good long-term investment in a property.

Waterfall Countertops: A Kitchen Trend You’ll See During Your Home Renovation Career

If you’re interested in a career in home renovation, you should make sure you’re familiar with waterfall countertops, which are currently a major trend in kitchen remodels.

With a traditional countertop, the horizontal surface ends at the edge, but with waterfall countertops, that top surface drops down vertically on either side, creating a continuous surface from the floor, over the counter and back down. It’s a striking look, often perfect for center islands in larger kitchens. These dramatic counters often make use of quality materials like marble, granite or quartz.

A waterfall countertop, like this marble one, can be a stylish addition to any kitchen

Blurring the Line Between Indoor & Outdoor Spaces After Home Renovation School

Another current trend, particularly around the West Coast and in mountainous or temperate areas, is blurring the line between indoor and outdoor space. For hopeful home renovation technicians, this means a lot of big patio doors, flooring that extends from indoor living spaces into outside areas and outdoor tables, countertops and cooking areas made of durable, weather-resistant materials.

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While a roof may seem like a relatively straightforward feature of any building, a home renovation can quickly become complicated if someone is unfamiliar with the appropriate terminology. A roof’s construction can be a serious, expensive investment, and it’s important to get all the details correct before breaking out the tools to get started.

Canadian residential renovations have recently grown to reach nearly $1 billion in revenue. With many people investing in changes to their properties, professional renovators should be aware of the wide variety of styles and specifications that their clients may ask for. Here are some helpful terms to be aware of when taking on a new roofing project.

An Introduction to Roofing Styles

In addition to providing necessary shelter from weather and the elements, a home’s roof is designed to be both resilient and energy-efficient. There are many different varieties of roof styles in home renovation training, but the two most commonly found are the gable and hip style.

A gable-style roof is a popular and simple design

A gable style roof is a more traditional style and, due to its simplicity, is inexpensive to incorporate into the design of a house. It is, however, not recommended for areas with high winds, which can cause roofing material to peel away or collapse.

A roof which slopes on all four sides at equal length is called a hip roof. These sides form a ridge at the top of the roof, which is preferable for snowy and windy locations. Hip roofs are more stable than gable styles due to their inward slope, but are generally more expensive.

Identifying Slope, Pitch, and Individual Roof Sections

Although the terms are often used interchangeably, slope and pitch refer to separate aspects of a roof’s structure. The slope of a roof is the angle of its incline and is usually expressed as a fraction or ratio of the vertical height to the horizontal width. The pitch, similarly, is the rise over span and the overall angle of the slope’s incline.

All roofs have similar components which make up the structure as a whole. The deck is the foundation of a roof, and forms the base which supports the weight of the roofing materials. The ridge is the highest point of the roof where two lines intersect, and should have vents to allow hot air to escape attic spaces. These ridges can also create valleys, which are highly vulnerable to water damage. Additionally, the eaves of a roof hang over the exterior walls of the building and help with water runoff.

Important Roofing Materials During Home Renovation Training

The materials used in a roofing project are just as important in a career in home renovation as the structure itself, and affect a wide range of quality factors, from environment response to durability. Most roofing materials protect the building from water damage, but have additional purposes as well.

Roofing material primarily keeps out water damage

The underlayment is a base layer of a roof between the deck and shingles, and is made of asphalt and a mat of fibreglass or felt, which increases water resistance. Shingles are the visible material which primarily protects the roof from the elements, as well as blocking UV rays from the sun to lower the home’s internal temperature.

Shingles come in a variety of forms and styles, and can be made of metal, tile, slate, or most commonly asphalt due to its cost and versatility. Flashing is a corrosion-resistant metal strip which provides added protection from water damage, and can be applied directly to the roof, valleys, and edges.

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With rising property prices, as well as the many benefits associated with bringing nuclear and extended family closer together, multi-generational family homes are on the rise. In fact, there are approximately 2.2 million people who are living in multi-generational homes in Canada today.

With several family members packed into the same home, specific accommodations are often needed to make these living arrangements comfortable. This has lead to a rising trend in multi-generational home renovations and remodelling to better accommodate grandparents, aunts, uncles, and adult children.

Keep reading to learn about the various ways professional home renovation technicians might go about remodelling homes for multi-generational families.

What Clients Consider When Planning to Renovate a Multi-Generational Home

When several family members live under the same roof, there’s bound to be some concern about privacy and comfort. As a result, planning a multi-generational home renovation project will often involve taking into account the amount of rooms and spaces that family members can use to get some time alone. They also need include a reasonable amount of open space to help with the circulation of family around the house, and sometimes several living areas for them to gather and interact.

Overcrowding areas can be a problem for multi-generational families!

Multi-generational households are bound to get noisy, and bathrooms will start to fill up quickly. Graduates of home renovation college will likely recommend that clients consider soundproof insulation, as well as upping the amount of washrooms to make the living situation more suitable for the entire family. Heating and cooling is also a major concern for clients who have to consider how certain family members might have different preferences with regard to setting the temperature of their space.

Accessibility is a Major Factor in Multi-Generational Home Renovation

One of the biggest concerns for clients looking to renovate their homes to meet the needs of a multi-generational family is accessibility. Funneling everyone through one or two doors isn’t exactly convenient for large families living under the same roof, so home renovation technicians will often need to create additional entrances.

Home renovation technicians may also be asked to make these entrances easy to access for grandparents and other seniors who may have difficulty walking or use a wheelchair. They may also need to install bars, benches and handles in showers and near the toilet to make bathrooms easier for older family members to use.

Home Renovation College Graduates Can Expect to Remodel Kitchens in Multi-Generational Homes

A kitchen is already a busy place in a regular sized household, so clients and home renovation technicians will often consider altering and expanding it to accommodate the flow of people in and out of that space. Storage space is also a major concern for clients looking to renovate these kinds of homes, as is having room for many family members to prepare their meals.

Large kitchen countertops provide plenty of space for the whole family

When you become a renovation technician, you can create more storage space in kitchens by installing cabinets with drawers. Unlike cabinets with shelves, drawers can store more items and are easier for family members to access in a busy house. Home renovation technicians may also discuss building a kitchen counter top with two sinks with clients, so that it is easier for more family members to prepare food in that area.

Open kitchen concepts are also common inside many multi-generational homes because of how they make the space more accessible to everyone. One layout that home renovation technicians might recommend to their clients is a linear one, which puts the sink and other kitchen appliances near the back wall, and leaves a central counter that can be converted into a temporary dining or buffet table.

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When you become a home renovation professional, you may meet many clients who are eager for jobs to be completed as quickly as possible. After all, remodeling a kitchen, bathroom or other part of a home is an exciting experience for the owner, and they will be looking forward to seeing the results of your work.

However, these jobs also require thorough research, planning and construction in order to be done well. A family may want a new kitchen installed for the holidays, but you don’t want a scenario where the turkey can’t be cooked because construction isn’t complete.

As a result, it’s essential to provide clarity from the start about the project’s timeframe. Unforeseen challenges may also appear during a project, making it harder to meet deadlines, so giving customers a realistic estimate of how long it will take can reduce frustration down the line.

Keep reading to learn about some of the factors which should be considered when estimating project length.

Building Permits Are Often Needed For Larger Home Renovation Projects

The size of a renovation project may dictate that a building permit is needed. This is particularly the case for larger jobs, like adding a second storey to a house. Students in home renovation technician training should also be prepared for permits to be needed on smaller jobs too, like extensions during a kitchen renovation.

Once design has been agreed, the first step is to get zoning review approval from local government officials. A building permit is then sought, and construction can only start once official go-ahead has been given. These building standards are set by the state to ensure that construction meets health, safety, and fire protection codes. Each step usually takes around one month to complete, so this will play a big part in planning project length.

Construction Takes Longer if Essential Room Fixtures Need to be Moved

Removing and replacing cabinets is a relatively straightforward job, but essential plumbing or HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) fixtures can pose problems. For instance, if the sink, toilet or shower needs to be moved during a bathroom renovation, this will add to the project length because of the need for plumbers and plasterers.

Bathroom renovations will take longer if sink, toilet or bath fixtures need to be moved

Home renovation technician school graduates will find that ‘pull and replace’ projects are much quicker, as they simply have to update existing features in the same format. Construction time for these small projects could be as short as a week or two if the right materials are available immediately.

Some Materials May Take Longer to Source When You Become a Home Renovation Technician

The local hardware store may have all the essentials needed for a good quality renovation job, but some clients want a little bit extra. For instance, custom-made cabinets need longer lead times to build, while some types of tiling may also be difficult to source.

These delays can all be overcome by being properly prepared. Make sure the client has a clear idea of what items are wanted, and ensure they are ordered with time to spare. If the customer changes their mind mid-project about materials, the project will be held up. You can also avoid any further delays by doing a stock-take when the materials arrive to ensure there is enough there to complete the job.

Proper planning by the client and home renovation technician will help to avoid unforeseen delays

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