Jake in LongBranch

Paul and his crew were great to work with. Paul is a very knowledgeable mason, and is very flexible with his schedule accommodating my needs. Like many owners of old houses I found myself having to deal with a lot of legacy issues left from wear and tear over time, and of past DIY renovations performed by former owners. Paul and his team patched a lot of missing brick, replaced broken bricks, tuck pointed, and plugged gaps. Paul and team was great to work with.

This is the 2nd or 3rd time that I have used Dial One now for duct cleaning. We had a lot of debris and dust in our ducts from a recent gut-renovation of our home and dial one came in and cleaned everything out thoroughly. They gave me a fair price that included the whole house -- no nickel-and-diming on the number of vents or other extras. They also provided a return-customer discount. They were as good as last time. I am happy with their work, and will continue to use and recommend their services.

Update: I revised my satisfaction rating to 3 from 0; the reason being all appliances are now installed and have been working for 2-months without a problem. A word of caution...while Ibrahim at Anik's Appliances will provide you with some very competitive pricing make sure to check your invoice and capture everything that he promises... My wife and I had negotiated delivery into the cost of the appliances and he failed to capture that on the invoice and hold to his word. To add to our chagrin as our renovation project hit delays, there was a breakdown in communication that could have easily have been resolved... i.e. taking receipt of the appliances in a timely fashion and taking care of the delivery as originally negotiated. We bought a new stove (Bertazzoni), rangehood (Bertazzoni), microwave (LG), dishwasher (Bosch on special order), fridge (LG), beverage centre (Danby), and washer & dryer (LG)... we have yet to install and we're crossing our fingers that nothing is broken/malfunctioning. However, it escalated into a severe disagreement as he would not hold to his word. In the end we made the purchase and took delivery of the appliances... but, never again will I ever shop at Anik's Appliances again.

While far from the cheapest Alliance Floor Source delivered the work as per the expectations that were set. The colour matched, the work was good and I'm satisfied with how my floors look. I do feel though for the price paid that there were too many itemizations that should have been included in the overall proposal upfront. (edit: to be fair and clarify the additional costs were clearly stated upfront and Lehal gave me the option to choose what I wanted to pay for versus what I opted to do on my own. i.e. there were no hidden fees/costs). I opted to do some of these to keep the costs down -- remove all closet doors and quarter round.

I noticed a water leak after the many rainstorms we had in 2012 and decided I needed to do something in short order. After calling 3 ashphalt shingle roofing companies, and 2 steel roof companies I decided to stick with ashphalt and narrowed my choice to City 1 Roof Works after hearing Danny out on what competitive differences that his company brought to the table. I can summarize them as: 1) Quality materials -- While every manufacturer historically has had problems, I was sold on CertainTeed shingles after my existing IKO organic shingles had failed after only 10-11 years and they did not budge to make amends; 2) Professionalism -- From showing WSIB certificates, to talking through my shingle options, pointing out issues on the existing roof, vents, ice guard, etc. -- his crediblity was solid and I was convinced what he recommended would do the trick; 3) While City 1's price was not the cheapest it was competitive. City 1 completed the squeezed me in during the pre-winter rush, did the job on time and on budget. They pointed out deficiencies they discovered and left me with some nice photos to share. My roof has survived without leak over the winter and I'm happy to write this review as they did a good job.

Called up Joe and he explained that they are NADCA certified, use all the proper equipment -- large vaccuuming truck, air pressure guns, agitators, etc. -- and that they charge a flat rate based on the size of your home and not the number of vents. I was sold...as the nearest competitor that I called gave me a price over $100 more claiming other company's don't clean like they do. Wil the duct cleaning specialist came and was friendly, courteous, personable and was more than happy to explain and show things to me while working. In fact he said, he'd rather have a homeowner watch what he's doing so they knew they were getting a job well done. Wil was observant and pointed out potential problems with my furnace and ducts. My HVAC is already running more efficiently, I can notice a difference, and after personally watching Wil do his work I can confidently say that my ducts are very clean. Thank you Wil and DialOne.

Serge is a very polite and professional contractor. When he came by my place to give me a quote he didn't try to dazzle me with videos and samples of product, instead he dazzled me with his straight honesty and recommendations as to what I needed. He is also a very patient gentleman who always made the time to answer any questions that I had and was very accommodating to some of my custom requests (like cladding flashing on my garage trim, to offering to install new gable vents that I had bought) His price was one of the more competitive prices of all the folks I called, and his crew's work was impeccable. The house is starting to come together and the new aluminum work is that extra touch that rejuvenates a house. Thank you Serge and team!

Dave the owner is a kind man and sold me on the idea that Reliable Home Comfort earns their business through great customer service. He also conveyed to me that these days for the most part high-efficiency furnaces between vendors are relatively comparable. He also mentioned that the difference between HVAC contractors is in customer service. I'd have to agree with him, and after doing my due diligence I decided to go with Reliable Home Comfort. It has been 4 months and I haven't had any major issues with my Whirlpool furnace (knock on wood). After the install however, I did have a few issues that cropped up. It took a few callbacks to resolve the issues I identified and afterwards I was left with 2 of my 3 issues resolved. 1) Needed rebate submitted by vendor to make my OPA Claim 2) Chemical / oil-like smell and taste in hot water 3) Water dripping from furnace exhaust pipe directly on my A/C unit My problem is that customer service has been sparse and I have not spoke to Dave since he made the original sale. Instead I spoke and worked with Rob. Dave is right about customer service being king and I hope Reliable follows through and fixes this issue before my A/C is damaged by the water. *********** UPDATE *********** Rob contacted me and apologized for the 3rd issue slipping through the cracks. He asked me how he could rectify the situation and make me a happy customer. I've got to say that Rob was terrific! He not only came by to fix the issue with the exhaust pipe dripping on my furnace, but he also resolved an issue I had with how the humidifier operates. During the sales consultation with Dave, I identified that I wanted better control of humidity and asked to have this taken care of through the thermostat. I was disappointed when the job was done and I was left with a thermostat without humidity control or readings. When Rob heard this he immediately said he would correct this and worked out a very favorable deal. I now have a great Honeywell Prestige IAQ thermostat that has full control of the humidifier, furnace and air conditioner. I've got to hand it to Rob and Dave. I highly recommend Reliable Home Comfort to those with HVAC needs in the GTA. Thanks Rob for the great follow-up!

Before I selected Brock, I had contacted well over 10 window vendors --selected from Homestars, local flyers, and the Internet -- and had them each come and give me their dog and pony show to educate me on why they were unique and should be the vendor for me. I boiled down that list of 10 to more manageable and comparable list of 3 similar vendors that could give me a comparable apples-to-apples quote and also meeting my requirements – financing, quality windows, and competitive price. In the end I selected Brock Windows due to a)the quality of the North Star windows, b) Walter the sales representative’s knowledge and recommendations, c) their competitive price and ability to provide 6-months no interest financing. In my opinion the windows that Brock sells (North Star) are excellent in quality windows –- both energy efficient with the highest CSA ratings for r-value and security -- and look great. However, in hindsight I was not scrutinizing enough with ‘installation’ as a selection requirement. I experienced first-hand the issues and challenges of dealing with a 3rd party contractor that a window & door vendor uses to install their product. While the bulk of the issues I identified have since been taken care of at the time of this posting, I had a stressful time dealing with issues caused by mediocre installation and added complexity of dealing with multiple parties. First issue: 2 of the 13 windows I ordered were ordered incorrectly – a mistake made by the installer during detailed measuring, although he originally did not admit to this. Second issue: Scratches and loose flashing due to rushing installation -- the installer has since replaced the front-door flashing and screwed down loose areas Third issue: Dent in door -- The door manufacturer replaced the door , given dent was from factory Fourth issue: Missing rear garage door flashing – The installer forgot to install the flashing around the door due to rushing the job and running out of time in the day; it was only taken care of after I pointed it out the next visit. In the end I waited an additional 1.5 months (took 4 months from order to complete install) and had to live with a drafty temporary window covering given my old window was removed (this was the fix after I had complained that the first temporary window covering was inadequate -- it let soot, a larger draft, and water into the wall. In my opinion the mediocre installation was a result of squeezing a 3 day job into 2 days. This does not reflect on the skill of the installation crew as I believe they are capable and were initially pleasant to work with. Things turned awkward when the head-installer asked me to sign a ‘completion of work’ form stating that the I was satisfied with the job and that it was complete. As a result of me kindly refusing to sign the form given the job was NOT complete the installer attempted to pressure me into signing it citing he won’t get paid until the form is signed. After going back and forth, he finally gave up, but left upset. I believe this incident caused him to drag his heals in finishing the job. Overall, I am thoroughly enjoying my North Star Windows and I do feel that the recommendations that Walter from Brock gave make the windows stand out, I highly recommend that anyone considering new windows scrutinize the installation practices of the vendor they end up choosing. **Update: I have changed my initial rating from a 7 to a 9. I have to say that Brock Windows does an excellent job of follow-up on customer service -- from emailing a copy of my invoice promptly, to mailing me touch up paint for my windows, to repairing defects in the install over a year later. The original contractor came back and made things look better than the first go around. Thank you! **

Alex and his employee installed 4 motion sensor floodlights around the house directly into the soffits. He also replaced an outdoor outlet, and installed an outlet in the garage for my future garage door opener. Everything was as agreed on and met my expectation, with the exception of some damage I noticed some time after the job was complete. I noticed damage from a ladder to the soffit and eavestrough of where one of the lights was installed. I noticed this of course after it rained that the eavestrough now has a crack in it that leaks. To be fair, outside of this review I have not contacted MapleLeaf Electric to ask for them to fix the damage.

Came in with the cheapest price quote, although the lady on the phone says she is a secretary she really is a good sales person. She had me convinced that they would match the quality of work of another slightly higher priced quote I received -- i.e. that they followed a very similar process...sanding three times, wood filler, staining, seal, sand, seal, sand. All-type Flooring came in and sanded my old strip wood flooring and stained it an inconsistent (between rooms, not sure if they ran out and used another stain colour) ebony stain ...left nice noticeable swirl marks in areas, did not fill in small and large holes, and left nice lumpy patches of sealant in particular areas. They left my house without cleaning up the sanding dust (didn't clean sawdust off of windows and doors before applying the sealan, broke a light receptacle, and left two doors off the hinges. I called them to ask of them to replace the light receptacle, and to fix the lumpy areas, and fix the holes they didn't fill... I booked an appointment for them to come back, but they did not show. Overall the job doesn't look that bad (more like a DIY result), but I am left feeling unsatisfied as I paid for their professional service. I strongly recommend against using their services as they lack accountability and blatantly over promise on quality to win the business.