True North Underpinning

When I was planning a major renovation, the one place I knew not to skimp was on the foundation - that's the place where you can't afford any mistakes. I'm so glad that my contractor knew to call True North Underpinning to do the job. After meeting with Daniel, it was clear that the job was going to be done right leaving me free of any concerns (like the hideous horrors we've all seen on HGTV's Holmes on Homes.) The other reviews have already mentioned how extremely polite, conscientious, and considerate the entire team is, but what also impressed me was their ability to put up with multiple changes in the plan. I changed my mind about how far down to dig (also requiring a change in the waterproofing plan), and at nearly the last minute added a complete dig-out of my crawl space. It appears that these guys can gracefully adjust to any request. Each man on the team left me with the impression that, rather than just doing the job, they would bend over backwards to get the homeowner exactly what she wants. Special thanks to Josh. I recommend True North with great enthusiasm.

We had our basement benched by True North Underpinning - they were very professional. The guys that did the work were on time, very polite, cleaned up the site when finished. The quote was right on - no extras added on. I would use them again!

We hired True North Underpinning earlier this year for the excavation and underpinning of our 120 year old victorian row house in Leslieville to create 8" ceilings. The company came in towards the higher end of the quotes we received; and in this case we believe that we got what we paid for and are very happy with our decision. The job turned out to be much more complex than anticipated due to major structural issues uncovered during the excavation; and throughout Daniel and his team took the time to explain our options and worked closely with our engineer on creative solutions that minimized impact to our adjacent neighbor (party wall).

We should note that this was also an unusual job for the team too in that we have an infant (was 4 months when job started) so were home much of the day while the crew was working. At all times the crew was exceptionally respectful and polite - going out of their way to cause as little disruption as possible. Daniel even went so far as to bring by a window air conditioning unit for the time we were without HVAC. He is a real jem! While the job did take longer than anticipated, the True North team held true to their original budget. They really made sure the job was completed right and we would not hesitate to refer them to friends - in fact we already have and hope they are as pleased as we are with their service.

True North Underpinning were recommended to us by Sonoma Contracting who were performing our Basement Renovation. Daniel presented a number of options to us including underpinning, benching/curbing or simply breaking up the existing floor, waterproofing and lowering the floor 3 inches with 3 inches of concrete. Our existing floor was terrible and we couldn't proceed without doing something. We opted for simply replacing the floor and waterproofing, due to our overall budget.

Daniel's team were extremely professional, very prompt and caught other problems in the course of their work and proactively fixed them. We had timing issues on our end, and they were extremely patient with us, and once they started, had the work done in less than 2 weeks. Our house had poor access with only one small basement window and a porch hatch to carry out all the concrete and material, and the guys did a great job on it.

I would recommend True North Underpinning to anyone looking for this kind of work.

True North came highly recommended by a colleague. The job was particularly challenging because it was done in winter and with the family living in the house. The whole team was very easy to deal with, proactive, with many helpful suggestions throughout. They not only worked well with myself the home owner, but also regulatory authorities, others contractors, and the neighbours. The project was completed on-time, on-budget, and we are very pleased with the results.

We had our 80 year old house underpinned by Truenorth recently and couldn't be happier with their job.

The crew came in early every morning and left late every evening. They worked like horses and managed to finish ahead of schedule. Every last one of them were polite and friendly.

However, Daniel (co-owner) is the real jewel in their crown. I've dealt with many people in this industry before and he's probably the best I've come across. I know they had at least one or two other jobs on the go, but Daniel still made a point of coming around to our house virtually every day. And when Daniel came around, he didn't just shoot the breeze with his guys and then take off; he actually worked and got his hands dirty with the rest of his crew. He would also always made a point of coming to tell us how things were progressing and what we could expect over the next day or two. It was a great experience.

We hired True North in Oct. 2011 to dig down and underpin our basement.

The crew was very professional, friendly and great to have around. They were as tidy and clean as they could possibly be. They always showed up when they said they would. All steps in the process were explained clearly.
Invoices were itemized and easily understood.

We would have them back in a minute if we had another basement to do!

We will happily recommend them in the future.