what can you do yourself in a condo renovation?

I'm curious to see the responses but it certainly depends on how handy you are &, possibly, what the building will allow.

Hi, I just finished a 9 month renovation, which went really well. My biggest lesson was giving a "thank you" to the super at the beginning and at intervals during the job. They really can make your job so much easier and save you tremendously. At first I didn't get it then I did, having a renovation in the building does cause a lot of additional work for the super eg scheduling shut offs for water, heat, electricity etc. Scheduling the service elevators, answering questions that often they know, what vent goes where, what pipes are in what wall, what dead space can be carved back into the apt etc Hence if you want priority and these things done in a timely manner so much better to be on a friendly basis. As he will probably be the primary supervisor for your job, with the building management company a distant second as far as making sure the building interests are looked after. Usually except for the painting all the trades involved in the demo and construction will need to have there licenses and insurances filed with the building in the event that there is an accident in your apt or an adjacent apartment, the building company will then be able to sue the tradesman's insurance directly as the building management name will be on the insurance. In short the long answer to your question depending how tight your building is the super will let the lesser trades or yourself "slip thru" if they want to be helpful and also mindful of what doesn't really need insurance. eg with the floor refinishing as long as you would be responsible for getting the equipment thru the hallways, service elevator etc without causing any damage to common areas , then the super probably wouldn't mind you doing it as long as you did basic courtesy's towards neighbors like notifying them of the process, doing the noisy work between 9 and 4.30pm and covering all vents in your apt and door to the hallway with tape so the smell doesn't go into other apts etc. Specifically installing a new fridge, that would be fine as long as you don't need a new plumbing line for an ice maker or water filter in the new fridge, the stove should be fine, especially if it has a plug and doesn't need to be hard wired in, one exception being if the new stove needs an increase to 220 volts, again the sink should be fine if you have the super turn off the building water and put on water shut off vales for protection.
Regarding permits again if your super is on your side it makes it a lot easier as a lot of building's prefer to monitor there shareholders alterations carefully rather than just leaving it to the Dept of Building (as 8 out of 10 times the DOB doesn't even show for the final inspection). Technically for electrical if you do rewire one wire you need to get a permit at the DOB and as this is very onerous a building may give a break and let the super supervise it if it is minor job. With regards to plumbing if you don't move the fixture's you don't need a permit, however if you move even one or increase your wet over dry area you do need a permit. The DOB has a great website that has a very informative section on permits.
Good luck I am sure it will go great. Good on you for wanting to do a lot of the work yourself.

Gabrielle, that was so informative. Thanks for taking the time to share with us your experiences. So helpful.

Thanks Gabrielle. This is great information!