Jeff in Toronto

I purchased and had a Nordik window and sliding door installed. While they weren't cheap, they were well-installed and the quality of the products is excellent -- you can tell by the way they feel and handle. Furthermore, when I had an issue with the locking mechanism, the customer service rep with whom I was speaking on the phone arranged for a service person to come out on the same afternoon (I called at 1pm, they were here before 4pm). It was resolved at no additional cost.

My experience with Dryer Vent Doctor was excellent from end-to-end. The company provided helpful text notifications throughout the process. The technician, Eslam, was prompt and very professional. He explained what needed to be done and asked for consent on important decision-points (i.e. cutting through drywall; where I wanted the duct to be installed). The installation was quicker than I expected. I would definitely call them again.

I had a leaky outdoor tap. It was about 30 or 40 years and had lime buildup, which made it impossible for me to remove. In addition, I was concerned that freezing had damaged the line and the copper piping to the tap. I contacted Valentin and he was very quick to respond and showed up the same day. He inspected the tap and told me that I didn’t need to frost free spigot, just a regular one and to simply ensure that the line was drained in the Fall. He quickly removed the old tap with the help of a soldering torch and replaced it with a new one.

Like many houses in Toronto, my 1910s brick house was clad in aluminium siding in the early 1980s. I wanted to restore the brick underneath but didn't know what shape it was in. So I contracted Reach to: (a) perform a preliminary evaluation to determine the condition of the brick (b) restore the underlying brick, fixing any broken bricks, re-pointing the masonry, repairing any water-damaged sections. (c) fix the aluminium work around the windows to accommodate the removal of the siding Jim and his crew, led by Justin and Wayne, were amazing. They are great craftsmen and communicators. Jim was prompt in delivering his estimate and devised an estimate that would discount the evaluation if I decided to proceed. Given that the condition of the brick was unknown until the evaluation, Jim managed my expectations and kept me posted on what he found and any fluctuations to the original budget. The repointing was dusty work and Jim & his crew were great in terms of communicating with my neighbours and managing their impatience with the process. He also cued me when I needed to do the communicating, which was great. The final work looks amazing. Jim advised us on a mortar that retains the original look of the building and was very well executed. The bricks he needed to replace look consistent with the original bricks. Furthermore, the aluminium subcontractor he got for me did an excellent job framing the windows. All and all an excellent job. I'd use Jim and his crew for other contracts if I could. They were a true pleasure to work with.

I chose Keating based on the positive reviews on the Homestars website, an in-person meeting and based on the fact that they bill themselves as a one-stop shop for exterior work -- including windows, doors and masonry. My experience with the company, however, was quite mixed. As with others, I got a detailed proposal for the roof work. This seemed impressive. However, there was virtually nothing in it about other components of the project -- new windows throughout, a storm door, repairs to the top of a deteriorating brick fire wall. At the moment, I didn't think that much of it. However, this was a mistake. That said, the night we met to review the proposal, we mentioned two additional deliverables that we hadn't mentioned earlier -- work associated with framing the interior of the bathroom window and creating an access point to the house's attic. Matt said something vague about how doing both of these things wouldn't be a problem. But we never got an updated proposal with updated costing. The absence of this, combined with a lack of detail on the non-roofing elements of the project ended up really negatively affecting my experience with Keating. The roofing and masonry components of the project went quickly and smoothly. The crew did the job very quickly and well. They left the site very clean. However Matt didn't add the attic access request to the docket and so this wasn't completed. Then the window replacement came. It took A MONTH AND A HALF for this part of the job to get done -- way longer than most professional window installation companies would take. About a month into the work, I contacted Matt about the completion of the project -- which comprised of finishing the interior trims and sills damaged by removing the old windows, re-installing the storm door they put in (which was too short for the opening) and the interior bathroom window framing. He insisted that we meet during office hours at my home (which took me away from work). I then had a conversation with him where he said he'd have the interior trims & sills done the next day but would require someone to be on-site (again, another day for me away from the office). He also gave vague answers on the timeline for the bathroom framing work, adjusting the door so it fit properly and the attic access issue. His excuse? "We just don't get the same volumes for this type of work as we do for the roofs." That's unacceptable! Why couldn't they have managed my expectations on timelines at the outset? It's also around this time that I am having other contractors quoting me on a separate brick restoration project. Matt somehow finds out (perhaps because one of the contractors shows up while the Keating guys are on site) and tries to pitch Keating for the contract -- a bit obnoxious & amatuerish given the excuses I've endured already. Regardless, the following day I stay home from work and the worker who was to do the interior trims & sills NEVER SHOWS UP! I email Matt at about 1pm and he tells me to call the Keating office. I was livid that he was expecting me to do this. The point of going with a company that offered a full range of services was to avoid the air-traffic control of project management. It turns out that this worker was double booked. Finally, this leads me to write an email to the principals at Keating -- John, Justin -- airing my deep disappointment. From here on in, I deal with John. I like John a lot better as the project point person -- he is direct and forthright in his communications (no BS Dale Carnegie crap). Part of this is telling me that if I want attic access this will cost $1200 more and the bathroom window will cost another $846, plus tax. I decline the attic access and eat the cost of the bathroom window, which they actually do a very good job on. However, the job only completes about three weeks later. So in the end the most of the projects were done, and what was done was done well, but I had to nag, I had to compromise my expectations, I had to do A LOT of waiting and I had to pay more than I was quoted. Was this a good experience? Not really.

I had an Over-the-Air antenna installed a couple of years ago by a company that's since disappeared. It stopped working. I called Chris to check it out, thinking it would just need a repair. However, there were issues with the installation (it was a poorly executed chimney mount, plus heat from the chimney would always impact the hardware). Chris came up with an innovative solution for resolving the issue (mounting it on my flat roof, since I didn't want the pole installed on the top ridge of my newly shingled roof). He was very friendly, easy to deal with, was very reasonable on price.

We used Lieux to provide design advice and plans as well as project management oversight for our basement renovation, which included underpinning the floor. By using Nathalie and Robert, I believe we were able to ensure that our underpinning job would be done right (so many reports in the media of these projects going awry!) and that the work that the contractors were doing met a high standard. They also took care of the permits and finding a suitable general contractor. In addition, since Lieux also did the drawings, there was no disconnect between designers and contractors. Money well spent!

Great experience through the lifecycle of the project. Followup on the email was timely. The sales person we met with was friendly, a good communicator, had strong subject-matter expertise and didn't attempt a hard-sell. The installation staff came on time, finished on schedule, were professional and did a good job. Followup telephone calls/reminders by administrative staff throughout was excellent.

Daniel was very friendly and came in with the lowest quote I received to do multiple jobs. While his trades did all the jobs, stuck to the quote and the timeline, the quality and finish on the work was really lacking -- e.g. the tile cutting wasn't precise, paint wasn't applied evenly and there were spots on a door, grout on the floor tile flaked in places. Also (and perhaps I was naive here) stuff that I thought would be taken care of (mouldings, disposing of building material waste, finish around the sliding door) wasn't. In the end, I was able to get someone to improve some of the work to my standards and I touched up the paint, but I guess I got what I paid for: lots of jobs completed for little money but at a borderline standard.