Check if grants are available to increase your home’s energy efficiency and keep track of your renovation budget.
In fact, by joining a contractor’s program, you can also save money on renovations. You don’t even need to have a company!
Using a credit card to purchase materials and tools is an option.
The right credit card will be used to optimize your spending. This is only valid if your credit card balance is brought to zero each month. The best ones offer air, hotel, travel or cash back rewards.
In addition, they offer excellent insurance benefits, such as extended warranty and purchase protection.
And don’t forget to check out the Best Price Guarantee on Home Depot, Home Hardware, Rona and Réno Dépôt for building materials, new countertops or a complete basement renovation. There are savings of up to 10% with some businesses.
This way your renovations could help finance your next vacation!
Here are our suggestions for the best credit cards for home renovation projects. First, there are a few questions to ask:
Here are the credit cards accepted at various home improvement, garden centers and hardware stores:
If you have an RBC credit card, check your RBC offers. A few times a year, there are credits offered of up to 10% on purchases at RONA. You just need to activate it, like this one:
This way you can earn account credits for purchases made at Réno-Dépôt or RONA.
All this happens automatically.
It’s the best way to avoid headaches with home improvements! And in our experience, it even works for purchases from garden centers.
Choose the “Home Improvements” category to get 2% cash back quickly and easily on all purchases at hardware and home improvement stores, such as Canadian Tire and Patrick Morin in this example:
This also applies to :
We also tried a transaction for a container rental for renovation waste, but it wasn’t classified as being in the renovation category. So we unfortunately didn’t get the 2% discount on this transaction.
The Tangerine Money-Back Credit Card has no annual fee and offers cash back.
With this limited-time welcome offer, you can earn an additional 10% cash back (up to $100) when you spend up to $1,000 on everyday purchases during the first 2 months.
You can choose two to three categories that interest you (groceries, gas, furniture, home improvement, recurring bills, pharmacy, etc.) to earn 2% cash back! And there is no annual cash back limit. It is one of the best credit cards for renovations.
In addition, the Tangerine Mastercard offers several insurance coverages for your purchases :
Finally, during the first 30 days you hold the card, transfer credit card balances and pay only 1.95% interest on these balances for the first 6 months.
Unlike the other two National Bank travel rewards cards, the National Bank Platinum Mastercard® does not require a minimum income.
With the National Bank Platinum Mastercard®, you can earn 2 points per dollar on grocery store and restaurant purchases, and 1.5 points per dollar on gas and electric vehicle charging, recurring bill payements and À la Carte Travel. And since it’s a National Bank Mastercard credit card, you can use it at Costco.
In addition, you get premium insurance usually dedicated for high-end credit cards:
We voted the National Bank Platinum Mastercard® as the best credit card for young professionals in 2024.
The Marriott Bonvoy® American Express®* Card is the best credit card for free hotel nights.
With this welcome offer, you can earn 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points by spending $1,500 in the first 3 months after joining.
It’s a Card we recommend keeping because each year at renewal, you get an Annual Free Night Award (for up to 35,000 points at hotels worldwide) and 15 Elite Night Credits per year, counting towards your Marriott Bonvoy Elite status.
With this Card, you earn 5 points per dollar on all purchases at Marriott Bonvoy properties and 2 points per dollar on all other purchases.
Finally, this Card comes with comprehensive insurance: baggage delay, lost or stolen baggage, $500,000 travel accident, flight delay, hotel or motel burglary, rental car theft and damage, Purchase Security, Purchase Protection.
Like all American Express Canada Cards, there is no minimum income requirement.
Thanks to this enhanced welcome offer for the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card, reserved for those who apply via this Milesopedia link, you can earn 10,000 more Aeroplan points than the current public offer!
With this offer for the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card, you can earn up to 50,000 Aeroplan points† and a first-year annual fee rebate:
It’s the best TD credit card for occasional Air Canada travellers.
With the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite* Card, you earn 1.5 points† per dollar of eligible purchase for:
This can comes in handy when you need short-term liquidity, especially when renovations are unexpected (like a flood or major water damage, for example)!
A credit card promotional offer may allow you to borrow money through a balance transfer or cash advance for periods of 6 to 12 months, at no interest or at a low rate.
Then you use the money to finance your project. However, we warn you to be very careful, because you have to respect the conditions of use. If you don’t, the benefits you’re hoping for won’t be to your advantage.
For more information, please see our article on “Using Credit Card Cash Advances Wisely“.
The CIBC Select Visa* Card is one of the best balance transfer Visa credit cards in Canada.
With this exclusive digital offer for this CIBC balance transfer credit card, you get :
You’ll only have to pay a 1% fee when you transfer your balance from another card. Once this promotional period ends, the standard card interest rate of 13.99% will apply to any remaining balance. This interest rate is lower than the rates charged by many other credit cards.
For example, you could pay for major purchases on another credit card (such as renovations, furniture or appliances) and transfer your balance to the CIBC Select Visa* Card to benefit from its 0% interest rate on balance transfers for ten months.
CIBC Select Visa* Card users can also save on gas thanks to the card’s partnership with Journie Rewards, which allows them to save up to 10 cents per litre at participating service stations.
The CIBC Select Visa* Card has an annual fee of $29 (with a two-year annual fee rebate) and requires an annual family income of at least $15,000 to qualify. Despite its lack of additional benefits, the CIBC Select Visa* Card comes with up to $100,000 in Common Carrier Accident Insurance and allows users to add up to three authorized users at no additional cost.
You can earn more points or cash back by purchasing home improvement store gift cards at multiplier stores!
For example, you could use the American Express Cobalt Card® to earn 5 points per dollar on grocery and convenience store gift cards. Points accumulate much faster this way, because otherwise you’ll only earn 1 point per dollar if you buy directly from the hardware store.
The following gift cards are available in grocery stores:
However, there are no Canac, RONA, BMR, Patrick Morin or Réno-Dépôt gift cards available in grocery stores.
By buying them there at the same time as your grocery basket, it’s as if you were also earning 5 points per dollar for your home improvement purchases .
For example, if you buy $500 worth of Home Depot gift cards at IGA with this Cobalt Card from American Express :
This 2,500 Membership Rewards points can be :
Or, you could use the American Express® Gold Rewards Card to earn 2 points per dollar when buying gift cards at drugstores, grocery stores or gas stations.
Renovations are a major expense in the life of a household. It is also a time when these expenses happen over a few months (between 1 and 6 months generally).
You need to leverage this large expense by unlocking welcome bonuses. Especially for cards that you would not have targeted first due to the high level of spending required!
For example, if you have $5,000 to $10,000 to spend at a home improvement or hardware store, you could rack up points as fast as a pneumatic nail gun:
One example is all those business credit cards that require you to spend several thousand dollars in 3 months. Some that even individuals can apply for.
Earn up to 150,000 points with this welcome offer for Business Platinum Card® from American Express:
You can use your Membership Rewards points in many ways:
150,000 points have a minimum value of $1,500 for a Statement credit, and much more if you transfer your points to a partner.
For example, with this welcome offer, if you decide to transfer your Membership Rewards points to a partner loyalty program, you would have the choice of earning up to:
With this Card, you earn 1.25 Membership Rewards points per dollar on all purchases. What’s more, you’ll enjoy a host of travel and business benefits:
With this Card you can maximize your cash flow with up to 55 interest free days. It is a card that is particularly appreciated by contractors when making large purchases in home improvement stores, for example.
Finally, the Business Platinum Cardᴹᴰ from American Express stands out for the many insurances it offers: rental car theft and damage, $500,000 travel accident, emergency medical expenses (out of province or country), lost or stolen luggage, flight delay and misdirected luggage, hotel or motel burglary, Purchase Protection, Purchase Security.
After all that effort, reward yourself with your well-earned points:
There are several ways to take advantage of this important expense! Again, we remind you to pay your credit card in full each month. Otherwise, the interest paid will wipe out any points earned.
Avoid the “While we’re at it… “to avoid extra costs!
Savings are here:
