Manitoba Canada's leader in home renovations

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Brad Sveinson (seated) of the Manitoba Home Builders' Association with Andrew Stibbard, whose home is being renovated. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Home-renovation fever is showing no signs of abating in Manitoba, even though homeowners are scaling back their reno plans in other parts of the country, a new survey shows.

The survey for the Bank of Montreal found 67 per cent of Manitoba/Saskatchewan homeowners plan to renovate their homes this year. That's virtually unchanged from a year earlier, when it was 68 per cent.

But it's a much different story nationally and in most other regions of the country, where the number of homeowners planning to renovate this year is down substantially. For Canada, it's 51 per cent versus 62 per cent in 2011.

The chairman of the 40-member Manitoba Home Builders' Association-Renomark Renovators Council said he's not surprised by the Manitoba results.

"None of our members are seeing any slowdown at all," said Brad Sveinson, co-owner of Character Homes Ltd. "Some of us are already taking bookings for next year."

"Manitoba has always been the Canadian leader in home renovations," added MHBA president Mike Moore. "We may not spend as much as they do in some other regions, but we do more renovating."

A case in point are Winnipeggers Andrew and Stephanie Stibbard. They're in the midst of doubling the size of their 1,330-square-foot bungalow on Churchill Drive by adding a second storey and a four-season sunroom.

"We've got three kids and we were running out of space," Andrew Stibbard said Monday. "So we had a choice to make: move out of our community or renovate and stay in our community. And we love our community... so we decided it was a no-brainer (to renovate)."

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Manitoba Canada's leader in home renovations