What Actually Sets Your Demo Date

People ask me when we can start, and they expect the answer to be about my schedule.

It is not. The first day of demolition is decided by one thing: whichever item we ordered has the longest lead time.

Everything else bends around that.

Nothing starts until it is all here

Once the choices are made and the orders are in, I find out what is going to take the longest to arrive. That date sets demo day.

I will not start a renovation until every item we need is physically in the city. Not ordered. Not shipped. Here.

That sounds rigid and it is, on purpose. A kitchen torn apart while everybody waits on a back ordered item is the worst version of this experience. You are washing dishes in the bathroom for an extra three weeks, and the reason is something that was known about months ago.

There is one exception. Appliances are frequently delayed and they are your purchase. If yours are late and you want me to go ahead anyway, we can, but that is your call and your risk.

Real lead times, Lethbridge, 2026

These are mine, from my own vendor contracts in my own city. Yours will be different and you need to ask for them in writing when you order.

Cabinets: eight weeks from sign off, guaranteed to install.

Most plumbing fixtures: six to ten weeks.

Custom shower door: about three weeks, and it cannot even be measured until the tile is in.

That shower door is worth understanding, because it is where a lot of the overrun in bathrooms comes from. It is the one item that cannot be ordered early no matter how organised you are.

How the weeks actually run

Week one is rip out. If it is a small tear out, the rough ins start the same week.

Week two is rough ins.

Week three is drywall, finished by the end of it. That is the turning point. The worst of the mess is behind you and the room starts looking like something again.

Weeks three and four are the good part: cabinets going in, flooring, countertops, tile, plumbing fixtures, and some paint is already up.

Week four or five is final finishing.

Then add a week. There is nearly always an extra week somewhere, whether it is a shower door being measured or the small things that get added along the way.

A kitchen is five to six weeks. A bathroom is four to five. Plus that buffer week, every time.

Why I am telling you this

Because the thing that makes a renovation feel out of control is not the mess. It is not knowing what is supposed to happen next.

If you know that demo day is set by a lead time rather than a whim, and you know which week the drywall is done, you can live through it. You can book the holiday, you can warn the in-laws, you can decide when to move the kettle into the spare room.

That is most of what I am actually selling. Not surprises.

It also explains the order the choices have to be made in, which is the ladder, and the two deadlines that sit inside it, which are here.

If you are somewhere in this and it has stopped being fun, book a home visit and we will sort out where you are.

Michelle