Unlock Savings on Your Next Home Renovation: Ontario Rebates and Grants for 2024
Are you planning a home renovation in Ontario? You might be in for more than just a beautiful new space. Thanks to several government programs and utility incentives, homeowners can take advantage of substantial rebates and grants to make their homes more energy-efficient and save on renovation costs. Whether you’re upgrading your insulation, installing new windows, or switching to a heat pump, these programs can help you transform your home while saving money.
In this guide, we’ll discuss the top rebate programs available in 2024 and how Woodsmith Construction can help you take full advantage of them during your next renovation project.
Why You Should Care About Home Renovation Rebates
Ontario’s housing stock is aging, and energy costs are rising. Making your home more energy-efficient not only lowers your monthly bills but also increases comfort and property value. These programs aim to assist homeowners in reducing energy consumption, contributing to the fight against climate change, and improving the durability of their homes.
Unlock Savings on Your Next Home Renovation: Ontario Rebates and Grants for 2024
Are you planning a home renovation in Ontario? You might be in for more than just a beautiful new space. Thanks to several government programs and utility incentives, homeowners can take advantage of substantial rebates and grants to make their homes more energy-efficient and save on renovation costs. Whether you’re upgrading your insulation, installing new windows, or switching to a heat pump, these programs can help you transform your home while saving money.
In this guide, we’ll discuss the top rebate programs available in 2024 and how Woodsmith Construction can help you take full advantage of them during your next renovation project.
Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+)
One of the most significant programs available to Ontario homeowners is the Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+), offered by Enbridge Gas in partnership with the Canada Greener Homes Grant. If you’re planning to improve your home’s insulation, replace your windows, or install energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, this program offers generous rebates:
- Up to $10,000 in rebates for insulation, air sealing, windows, and doors
- Up to $6,500 for installing high-efficiency heat pumps
- $5,000 for solar panel installations
- $600 towards pre- and post-retrofit energy assessments
By completing a comprehensive energy retrofit, you can significantly reduce your energy bills while increasing your home’s sustainability. However, new applications for the HER+ program are closed as of February 2024, but if you’ve already begun the process, you can still claim rebates by completing your project
At Woodsmith Construction, we help our clients navigate the complexities of energy-efficient renovations. From energy assessments to ensuring that your upgrades qualify for the HER+ rebates, we’re with you every step of the way. Check out our services to see how we can help make your renovation process smooth and successful.
By completing a comprehensive energy retrofit, you can significantly reduce your energy bills while increasing your home’s sustainability. However, new applications for the HER+ program are closed as of February 2024, but if you’ve already begun the process, you can still claim rebates by completing your project
Canada Greener Homes Grant
The Canada Greener Homes Grant offers homeowners grants of up to $5,000 to make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes, plus an additional $600 for an energy evaluation. These funds can be used for improvements such as:
- Insulation upgrades
- Energy-efficient windows and doors
- Heat pump installations
- Smart thermostats
- Solar panels
This grant has helped thousands of Canadians reduce their energy consumption, saving on average $386 per year on energy bills
Furthermore, it offers interest-free loans up to $40,000 to help fund larger renovation projects. The program will enter a new phase in 2024, focusing on making these rebates even more accessible to low- and middle-income households
Renovating your home to take advantage of these grants not only makes your home more energy-efficient but also increases its market value. Let Woodsmith Construction guide you through the process of applying for these grants. We provide expertise in all aspects of home renovations, from upgrading insulation to installing new windows that meet the energy-efficient standards required for these programs. Learn more about our energy-efficient services.
Save on Energy Rebates
The Save on Energy program, funded by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), offers several incentives designed to help Ontario homeowners make energy-efficient upgrades:
- Heating and Cooling Incentive: Rebates for high-efficiency furnaces, air conditioners, and heat pumps. You can receive up to $4,000 for installing a high-efficiency heat pump
(Show Me the Green). - Energy-efficient appliances: Discounts and rebates are available for ENERGY STAR-certified appliances, helping you save on energy bills while lowering your upfront costs.
- Whole Home Program: This comprehensive program offers thousands of dollars in rebates when you make multiple upgrades to your home’s energy efficiency.
At Woodsmith Construction, we specialize in renovations that qualify for these rebates. Whether you’re upgrading your heating system or investing in a full home energy retrofit, our team ensures that all installations meet the necessary standards to qualify for the Save on Energy program. Find out more about our Design-Build Services.
Ontario Renovates Program
For homeowners with lower incomes or those needing essential home repairs, the Ontario Renovates Program provides financial assistance for necessary upgrades. This can include:
- Accessibility modifications for disabled persons
- Essential repairs, including structural, electrical, or plumbing improvements
- Energy-efficient upgrades
This program is administered at the municipal level, so requirements and funding amounts can vary. However, eligible homeowners can receive significant support to make necessary home improvements. Applications are often accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, so it’s important to apply early
If your renovation project qualifies for this program, Woodsmith Construction can assist you with every aspect of the renovation, from planning and applying for the rebates to executing the work professionally. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you maximize your savings.
Why Choose Woodsmith Construction?
Navigating rebate programs and grant applications can be overwhelming, especially when you’re already planning a major renovation.
At Woodsmith Construction, we simplify the process for you. Here’s how we help:
- Expert consultation: Our team provides a detailed analysis of your home and recommends the best energy-efficient upgrades that qualify for rebates.
- End-to-end support: From energy audits to completing paperwork and securing rebates, we guide you through each step.
- Certified expertise: We ensure all our installations meet the high standards required by rebate programs like the HER+, Save on Energy, and Canada Greener Homes Grant.
Ready to start your renovation journey? Get in touch with us today to discover how we can transform your home while maximizing your savings with these fantastic rebate programs.
Conclusion: Take Action and Save
With Ontario’s comprehensive rebate programs, there’s no better time to invest in energy-efficient home renovations. By taking advantage of the Home Efficiency Rebate Plus, Canada Greener Homes Grant, Save on Energy, and Ontario Renovates, you can lower your energy bills, improve your home’s comfort, and increase its value—all while contributing to a greener future.
At Woodsmith Construction, we’re here to help you unlock these savings while delivering high-quality renovations tailored to your needs. Contact us today and let’s build a better, more efficient home together.
Most of what you’ll read online about renovation rebates in Ontario is out of date. Not slightly out of date — wrong. Some of the most-shared articles still point homeowners to the federal Greener Homes Grant, which closed at the end of 2025. Others promote a federal secondary-suite loan program that was cancelled before it ever launched. We know, because we checked every one of these programs against its official source this month — and what we found surprised us too.
The short version: 2026 is quietly one of the best years in recent memory to fund a major renovation of an older Toronto home — but the biggest opportunity has a hard start-date window, and almost nobody is talking about it.
This is the current picture, verified in July 2026. As always: we’re builders, not accountants. Confirm your own situation with your tax professional before you count on any figure here.
The biggest one almost nobody mentions: HST relief on a substantial renovation
When Ontario announced enhanced HST relief on “new homes” in the 2026 Budget, nearly every headline framed it as a break for people buying from a developer. Read the CRA’s own notice on the program, though, and you find something bigger for the kind of work we do every week in the east end.
The enhanced rebate is built on Ontario’s existing New Housing Rebate — and that program has always covered substantially renovated homes, not just new ones. CRA Notice 346 says it plainly: the enhanced rebate lets eligible individuals “recover up to $80,000 of the provincial part of the HST paid on a new or substantially renovated home,” and it “follows the eligibility conditions of the existing Ontario new housing rebate” — the same conditions that have always included building or substantially renovating a home on land you own. The full rules are now law under Ontario Regulation 196/26.
Here’s what that means in practice:
- If your renovation qualifies as a substantial renovation — CRA’s test is that roughly 90% or more of the interior of the existing house is removed or replaced — you can recover 100% of the 8% provincial portion of the HST you paid on the work, up to $80,000.
- And this is the part most people get wrong: for an owner-built or owner-renovated home, the rebate is calculated on the HST you actually paid on the renovation — the contracts, the materials, the work itself — not on some formula tied to your home’s market value. On a major gut renovation of an older Toronto home, that’s a very large number.
- Ontario is also providing a top-up equivalent to the 5% federal portion of the HST for those who receive the enhanced rebate — which is how industry groups like OHBA and BILD arrive at the headline figure of up to $130,000 in combined relief on a qualifying home.
The catch — and it’s a big one — is timing. For an owner-renovated home, the substantial renovation must begin between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027, and be substantially completed by the end of 2029. If you’ve been circling a full renovation of a century home for a few years, the start date of your project suddenly matters in a way it never has before.
Two honest caveats. The implementing regulations became law in June 2026 and CRA’s updated forms are expected by mid-July — but CRA has said the application details for owner-built and owner-renovated homes are still being finalized. Keep every invoice from day one and watch CRA’s guidance (or have your builder and accountant watch it for you). And the home needs to be your primary residence, or a close relation’s. Neither changes the math — they change the paperwork.
What "substantial renovation" actually means in an older Toronto home
The 90% test sounds extreme until you’ve seen what a full renovation of a 1910s east-end semi actually involves. When a house needs new mechanical systems, new insulation to modern code, rewiring of knob-and-tube, replastered or re-boarded walls, and a rebuilt kitchen and bathrooms, you’re most of the way there without trying. The exterior walls, the structure, the foundation — those can all stay. It’s the interior that counts.
This is where a conversation with your builder and your accountant early — before drawings are finished — earns its keep. Whether a planned project crosses the substantial-renovation line can be a design decision as much as a tax one, and it’s far easier to get right on paper than to discover afterward that you finished one bathroom short of an $80,000 rebate. (CRA’s own definition is in Guide RC4028; it’s the same one the enhanced Ontario relief inherits.)
Adding rental units? The rebate is per unit
The same enhancement extends to the New Residential Rental Property Rebate: up to $80,000 for each eligible rental unit created, under the same start-date window. If you’ve read our guide to building a sixplex in East Toronto, you can see what that does to conversion math: a project that creates several legal rental units can claim the rebate several times over.
Combined with waived development charges on the first six units, the financial case for converting an older home into multiple units keeps getting stronger — provided the construction reality (fire separation, egress, ceiling heights, underpinning) is planned honestly from the start.
The Home Renovation Savings Program: alive, and more generous than reported
The Ontario Home Renovation Savings Program — the Enbridge/Save on Energy rebate stream — has had a confusing year in the press. Checked directly on the program’s official page this month: it is open, and several amounts have gone up, not down.
Current highlights: cold-climate air-source heat pumps up to $7,500; ground-source up to $12,000; attic insulation now $1,250 on its own, or up to $7,700 as part of a bundled retrofit with an energy assessment ($600 back); heat-pump water heaters $500; solar and battery storage up to $10,000; smart thermostats now $100; windows and doors $100 per opening. There’s also a newer single-upgrade path that doesn’t require an energy assessment at all — useful if you’re doing one targeted improvement rather than a full retrofit.
The program is funded through November 30, 2026, and its terms allow it to end earlier — so if efficiency upgrades are part of your renovation plan, don’t leave the paperwork for next year.
The Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit: still the quiet workhorse
If your renovation creates a self-contained suite for a parent over 65 or an adult family member who qualifies for the disability tax credit, the federal Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit refunds 15% of up to $50,000 in eligible costs — $7,500 back on a project you may have been planning anyway. It stacks with everything above, and it fits the way east-end families actually live: a basement or garden suite that starts as housing for a parent and later becomes rental income.
For first-time buyers of a renovated home: up to $50,000 more
New since March: the federal First-Time Home Buyers’ GST rebate is now law, and CRA is accepting claims. It removes the GST — up to $50,000 — on a new or substantially renovated home valued up to $1 million (phasing out to $1.5 million), for agreements signed since late May 2025. Ontario has announced its intention to match this for first-time buyers on the provincial side. It won’t apply to most renovation clients — you have to be a first-time buyer — but if you’re buying a gut-renovated house, or a family member is, it belongs in the conversation. Details on CRA’s page.
The programs that no longer exist (and are still being promoted)
This is where most online rebate guides fail, so let’s be direct:
- Canada Greener Homes Grant — closed December 31, 2025. The loan version closed earlier. Ontario’s Home Renovation Savings Program is the live replacement for most efficiency rebates.
- Canada Secondary Suite Loan Program — the promised $80,000 loan at 2% was cancelled before launch; Budget 2025 confirmed it will not proceed. Articles promoting it are still ranking in search results today. The federal lever that did happen is insured mortgage refinancing for adding secondary suites, in effect since January 2025 — talk to your mortgage broker, not a rebate portal.
- Ontario Home Renovation Rebates “2024” lists — including, until today, an older version of this very post. Programs change; publish dates matter. Check the source, always.
What this stacks to on a real project
Take a project we’d recognize anywhere from Leslieville to East York: a 100-year-old brick semi, full interior renovation with a legal basement suite for an aging parent. If the renovation crosses the substantial-renovation line and starts within the window, the enhanced HST rebate alone could return tens of thousands — up to $80,000 of provincial HST paid. The suite work brings the MHRTC’s $7,500. The insulation, air-sealing and heat pump that were going into the scope anyway bring several thousand more through Home Renovation Savings. On the right project, the stack is five figures deep before anyone has done anything unusual — it’s the same renovation, planned with the calendar and the definitions in view.
Or a Leaside example, since the housing stock there is its own story: a mid-century home on its original boiler and half-empty attic is almost a designed-for-HRSP case — heat pump, attic insulation, air sealing — even before the larger question of whether the house becomes a rebuild. And if it does become a rebuild or near-gut renovation, the HST window applies there too.
Woodsmith Insight: Rebates should never drive a renovation — a project that only makes sense with a rebate attached doesn’t make sense. But when the work is already right for the house and the family, the difference between starting in March and starting in May, or between an 85% and a 90% renovation, can be worth more than the kitchen. That’s a planning conversation, and it belongs at the very start of design — not at tax time.
Frequently asked questions
Yes — if the renovation is “substantial” under CRA’s definition (roughly 90% or more of the interior removed or replaced). CRA Notice 346 states the enhanced rebate applies to a “new or substantially renovated home” and follows the eligibility conditions of the existing Ontario New Housing Rebate, which has always included substantially renovated owner-occupied homes.
For an owner-renovated home, it’s a rebate of the provincial HST you actually paid on the renovation — up to $80,000. It is not a percentage of your home’s market value, which is the most common misunderstanding we hear.
For owner-renovated homes, the substantial renovation must begin between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027, and be substantially completed by December 31, 2029.
CRA’s test: all or substantially all — generally interpreted as 90% or more — of the interior of the existing house is removed or replaced. Structure, foundation, exterior walls, roof and stairs can stay. Whether a project crosses the line should be assessed during design, with your accountant involved.
They’re separate programs with separate rules — the HST rebate flows through CRA, the efficiency rebates through Save on Energy/Enbridge. On a typical major renovation both can apply. Confirm specifics with your tax professional.
As of July 2026, the program page shows active enrollment, several increased rebate amounts, and a single-upgrade path with no assessment required. It’s funded through November 30, 2026 and its terms allow earlier closure — verify on saveonenergy.ca when you apply.
It was cancelled before launch — Budget 2025 confirmed it won’t proceed. If you’re financing a suite, the live option is insured mortgage refinancing for secondary suites (since January 2025), through your lender.
The regulations are law and CRA’s updated forms are expected by mid-July 2026, but CRA has said application details for owner-built and owner-renovated homes are still coming. Pay HST as usual, keep every invoice, and apply once CRA’s owner-built guidance is out. Your home must be your (or a close relation’s) primary residence. This is exactly the kind of paper trail your builder should help you keep organized from day one.
If you’re weighing a major renovation of an older east-end or Leaside home and want the money side planned as carefully as the structure, that’s the conversation we have every week. Get in touch — we’ll tell you honestly what your project can claim, and what it can’t.
