We approached Bravehart with a vague plan for a kitchen and bathroom remodel. We ended up spending three times our original budget on a whole-home renovation. This is not necessarily a bad thing – we’re glad that Laura opened up our minds to taking on a bigger project; our home is now a much more livable and enjoyable space, and we’re glad that there won’t be any more work lingering over the years. We chose to work with Bravehart because they had a set price and process for design, drawings and permit. I’m not sure we were the typical clients for Bravehart – they weren’t keen to salvage and re-use items from the existing home. But after completing construction, I can appreciate that they weren’t disregarding the savings from re-using – they were considering the costs of labour, where figuring out anything new adds up to more time and money. Because our project ended up being so large, I think we would have benefited from working with an architect; we did a brief consultation with an architect that gave us a really clear idea of how much we could achieve with our budget, and what the relative costs and savings were of various items. But for a smaller, well-defined project, and especially a new build/addition, working just with Bravehart would have been sufficient.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $5,000.00
- Company Response
I want to make sure this is a useful response; for the client and for readers:
- We were called in to provide Space Planning & Building Permits for a wall removal between the Living Room and Kitchen/Dining area in a North York bungalow.
-The stairs were going right down the middle into a finished basement.
- The client may have wanted a future 'back room' off the house within which to have a green house type situation for many purposes, especially starting their back yard garden seedlings.
- We provided many Space Plans and budgets.
- We offered the services of a leading Sustainability Consultant with whom we work (when clients want that expertise)
- We explained that removal of old strip flooring by our carpenter's would not be cost efficient (so they had a friend remove and save)
- We were asked to deliver insulation before the Gov't program ended, which we did
- We were asked to deliver a building permit by a certain date so the client's architectural firm Contractor could start work before the impending baby arrival, which we did.
- This client has a very good idea of her interior detailing and did an excellent job on the project (which I later visited and was wow'd)
- We are a service for people wanting to know how to transform their homes (Space Plans), how much each will cost- and we get Building Permits.
- As a Design/Build firm, we do like to provide Construction as well. However, we do not build for 100% of our Design clients.
- We consider it an honour to work with our clients in helping them solve problems and in building quality renovations and New Builds.
- Thanks for your review and all the best with your lovely new space and new family member!