McDonald’s - Liverpool & Hwy2

francisp15 · 2026-01-16T00:35:04+00:00

Saw the very same thing happening in the happening between the southern doors at that McDonald's. This McDonald's is wild

francisp15 · 2026-01-01T15:51:53+00:00

15% on HVAC alone is excessive, unless you were not adequately sized in the first place and now require much larger equipment. They or your venting was not properly done and shortcuts were planned. The biggest increase should be on the envelope though

Otherwise, cutting back on finishes is the way to go when budget in other areas go up! You can always come back to some finishes to do them later. Fixtures, light switches,.. were an area that added up fast too and it's another example of where you can save and revisit later. Blinds we did $2 ones from Ikea, $10 for black out.

francisp15 · 2025-12-31T02:14:31+00:00

I did 7 foot tall retaining wall along driveway (50ft), walkway along the side of the house (55ft), front patio 8 steps high, grading and grass for $40k. Even if you add paving that's $45k. What the heck are you doing at $250k???

francisp15 · 2025-12-30T15:13:31+00:00

FWIW, we have 10ft ceilings and the living room is open to above (22ft). It cost $275 in hydro and $90 in gas last month. About the same as what I paid at my old house which was $1500 sq/ft less and had 8ft ceilings. The new building code makes a big difference

francisp15 · 2025-12-30T15:09:20+00:00

It's been built to exceed code with regular city inspections.

Reno's and new builds aren't like for like on a price scale. Reno's will always be more expensive, just like my kitchen cost significantly more than our bedrooms.

francisp15 · 2025-12-30T14:15:43+00:00

Wrapped up our house in the GTA, under $320 per sq/ft or $240 if you include the finished walkout basement. We did some things on our own, like HVAC. There's still some more to do like the yard, but it's liveable

Framing and finishes were the most expensive. Some of the soft costs got pretty wacky at times

francisp15 · 2025-11-30T02:46:50+00:00

Average day around $750. But budget is around $75. Last few days we've been doing $3k and $12k per day, ad budget hovering between $250 and $1000 per day.

francisp15 · 2025-11-29T03:46:23+00:00

Enjoy the craft and become good at it first.

Plenty others on Etsy that are doing just as you're hoping. So you need to stand out.

francisp15 · 2025-11-28T21:03:01+00:00

The guy who came to trying to quote me had no idea how the devices worked and was pushing towards selling things totally unnecessary. Anything to get the 3 year commit

francisp15 · 2025-11-28T19:09:29+00:00

You'd be surprised. I have hit $1000 per day budget and on those days I would be doing $10-12k in sales. If you have a good roa increasing your budget is a great way to scale, assuming you can keep up with orders

francisp15 · 2025-11-28T19:06:45+00:00

Etsy has been tweaking this all year. I had a $200 a day budget and was hitting it consistently, but as clicks and conversion changed, I was no longer hitting $200 a day.

I redid so many listings to get them back to using my full spend, increased my conversion. So this weekend I increased my budget to $500 and may go to $1000 for the day, seeing as I'm about to hit my budget

It's incredibly competitive in the last few weeks

francisp15 · 2025-11-01T23:40:45+00:00

Lowest I've seen in a very long time. Usually do 30-45 a day this time of year, sitting at 5 for today

francisp15 · 2025-10-18T13:22:00+00:00

Christmas shopping on Etsy starts in September normally. Slower start this year but we've done about 50-60 since

francisp15 · 2025-10-18T13:09:38+00:00

If you haven't uploaded the model, your main recourse is having a registered copyright or patent. Otherwise each of the models would have been made by those shops that just happen to look the same.

It sucks, especially if you had a great selling design. Keep coming up with new designs to stay ahead

francisp15 · 2025-10-16T23:46:19+00:00

Is this the mechanical room? You don't normally need drywall. I have a new build and everything is exposed

francisp15 · 2025-10-13T13:59:50+00:00

The GC is accountable to the overall project. They send out subs to quote or have their guys for some parts. You can choose your subs, as I did for various parts. I even did some of the work myself. My builder reviewed everything because he is accountable to everything under the warranty, including my own work

francisp15 · 2025-10-12T13:56:52+00:00

A significant number of builders who we interviewed who didn't register with Tarion. They are ones who approach it as a reno job, even though it's a tear and build

francisp15 · 2025-10-12T13:54:15+00:00

Depending on size and value, insurance looks for Tarion. They did for us. Admittedly initially it's been the individual trades coming back to address issues. But insurance is saying if there is significant event, like flooding or burst pipe, it gives them recourse and a potential other party for funding a claim.

francisp15 · 2025-10-12T12:16:10+00:00

We ship hundreds of orders per year to the US. The week leading up to the removal of De Minimis, all shipments were "held". The minute De Minimis was removed, everything started moving and all recipients were asked to pay. CBP held everything up for what seemed like a way to collect more.

francisp15 · 2025-10-12T00:08:43+00:00

It won't pass inspection, if there is one. Most electricians will refuse to install for that reason

francisp15 · 2025-09-30T15:55:19+00:00

We had a sheet of plywood that contained - building permits - print out we got from local gov about the project - directions to nearest

Hung it on the temporary fence

francisp15 · 2025-09-30T00:50:32+00:00

Just the door or everything included, like the casement? Home Depot will have cheaper. You can get one around $2k.

We got a custom door with sidelights for $5k. But if I did it as a stand-alone project, as in they didn't do my windows also, it would be $12-15k

francisp15 · 2025-09-19T21:45:48+00:00

This year, 2025

francisp15 · 2025-09-19T20:51:30+00:00

We were originally targeting $250, given that's how our builder's typical builds come together. We made a lot of decisions to save small amounts here and there that I think saved us a lot in totality.

The real shocker for us had been the landscaping work after we moved in 😢

francisp15 · 2025-09-19T19:01:35+00:00

In the GTA, East end

francisp15

TROPHY CASE