We picked Wallace Fleming after asking friends and checking out a bunch of reno company reviews on Homestars. We ended up meeting with and getting quotes from 4 companies. Wallace Fleming wasn't the most expensive but not the cheapest either. However, we immediately felt comfortable with Vaughan and Greg, they struck us as very honest and knowledgeable, and as they were building the quote we ended up meeting most of their trades who they had come to our house.
We were confident with each trade we met as well as the construction manager - Jorme. Unfortunately, a week after signing our contract, we were informed Jorme had left the company. We were bummed out as Jorme had gotten special recognition in many of the Homestars reviews. We ended up getting assigned a new construction manager - Dave. More on him later. We also had a great guy named Coach who was a very skilled carpenter and did some great work at our home.
Our project was fairly significant - replaced all poly-b water lines in our house, added a new full bathroom in our basement (which had not been roughed in and required jackhammering out concrete heated floor), completely gutted our kitchen and re-designed it from scratch, new hardwood flooring entire main floor, painted entire house, some major demo on the main floor to open up the floorspace.
The entire project took 2.5 months to complete - we moved out for that time. The job ended up on time and on budget. The quotes were accurate and almost all of the trades that Wallace Fleming brought into our house were awesome (we had a couple of issues with the plumbers and painters but overall they were minor and Wallace Fleming were VERY MUCH on top of it, dealt with things promptly, and handled our concerns).
Like with any reno, we had a few minor hiccups along the way (nothing in comparison to most people we know who have done a big reno). However, the Wallace Fleming team were always willing to listen, never made excuses, and always handled things promptly and professionally.
As mentioned, the quote up front was pretty much bang on, and the detailed work schedule we got up front was very accurate.
Finally, I mentioned earlier we were a bit bummed out that we ended up getting assigned a new construction manager a week into the job. However, what a blessing in disguise. I'm sure Jorme was great, but Dave was AWESOME!! Great sense of pride in his job, very customer focussed, knows what he is doing, and has a great sense of humor. We really clicked with him and to us he was the face of Wallace Fleming as we dealt with him almost daily. We ended up having a big housewarming party once the reno was done and invited Dave. We were happy that Dave attended and he was a very fitting addition to our house full of friends celebrating our new home. THANK YOU Dave for all of your work at our house!!!
We love our new home (its the same space but truly feels completely new and fresh) and are so pleased we went with Wallace Fleming. Vaughan and Greg were great to work with. Both had some very practical suggestions when we were in the planning stage and they truly listened to us and wanted what was best for our family and situation - not just trying to increase the cost of the project.
Thanks to the entire Wallace Fleming team - Vaughan, Greg, Coach, and Dave. You guys are the real deal.
