David from East York

Everyone has their area of expertise. Furnaces are definitely not mine. Furnace problems are the worst so it's great that I've found someone so reliable: Max at Aire Max Heating and Cooling. He's professional, knows his work backwards and forwards and has always done a great job. Max is my go-to guy when it comes to problems with my furnace. Definitely recommended.

I’m so pleased with the work that was done by GTA Wildlife and Pest Control. I’ve had ongoing animal issues over the years, but was becoming less and less happy with the animal control company I was using. I decided to try GTA Wildlife based on the great reviews on Homestars. Lucky for me Troy was able to come the same day I called and was able to deal with the squirrels in my attic which were driving me crazy. Troy was amazing. Explaining everything in great detail and using photos on his phone to show exactly what needed to be done. He also pointed out the less than great work done by my previous animal control guy. Work that was substandard and actually pretty obvious, but I just hadn’t noticed it. Troy is a stickler for detail and I learned more about animal control issues and roofing problems during his visit than I had in all my years previously as a home owner. GTA Wildlife gets great reviews and they’ve earned them. Troy was fantastic and they’re now my go-to animal control company.

I’ve used this company twice now and both times the work has been excellent. No question of that. This time Patrick and a colleague did a great job of cleaning my windows. I was very happy with the end result. Here’s the problem. The window cleaning itself is first rate. It’s setting up the appointment for the cleaning where I ran into ongoing problems. Here a run down: - I called New View Window Cleaning to set up an appointment. I was told that they couldn’t schedule an appointment at the moment and that they’d call me back. They never did. - Two or three working days later I did receive an e-mail from the company telling me that I’d sent *them* an e-mail message to a wrong address. I had no idea what they were talking about. I sent no e-mail. They must have had my e-mail address from when I used them the first time. - So I called New View and asked about the strange message I’d received. “Oh, that was a mistake. You shouldn’t have received that.” Okay. So I asked to make an appointment for window cleaning and this time they were able to give me a date. For a day about three weeks later. Closer to the day they said that they’d contact me to narrow down the specific time. - A few days after that my phone rings. It’s New View. I answer. “Who is this?” they asked. “Well, you called me,” I answered. They told me that they’d made some sort of mistake with a customer and they were trying to track down which customer. Weird. I gave my name. “Oh, it wasn’t you,” they said. “Never mind.” - The day of the cleaning arrived and they hadn’t contact me with the time. So I called them. I was given a time. A few minutes later they called me to confirm my e-mail address. The same e-mail address they’d mistakenly used weeks before. Honestly, I’ve never seen such confusion and clumsiness in something as simple as setting up an appointment. Again, the window cleaning itself is excellent. But this company put me through the ringer to get there. I'm giving New View 10 out of 10 for the quality of the cleaning. But if I could, I'd give them 1 out of 10 for their office staff.

I was so pleased with Acustone Landscaping. I’d actually been looking to get a retaining wall built for more than two years. The same old story. The job was “too small,” the landscaper too busy. I was lucky if I got a return phone call. I think I must have dealt with at least half a dozen landscapers, all without success. I’d all but given up. Then I contacted Tanner at Acustone Landscaping. He was very friendly and professional and gave me different options of what was possible. We came to an agreement and Tanner and a colleague showed up within about two minutes of the arranged time to begin the project. The work was fast and efficient and I was extremely happy with the end result. In fact, the next day I ran into a neighbour at Bulk Barn and he said “The stone work looks great!” So I would definitely recommend Acustone Landscaping. Excellent work. (Note: I tried uploading photos, but HomeStars' image loader wasn't working. It kept hanging.)

I was very happy with the work done by Gas Guys. It was easy to set up my appointment and George was friendly and professional. He got my new barbecue hooked up and made a point of having me test it out and explained how everything worked (every new barbecue I get works a little differently than the one before). My whole house is natural gas (furnace, oven) so it’s great to have a go-to guy who knows his stuff. I definitely recommend Gas Guys.

I'm really happy with my firewood delivery this year. The phone order was easy and the staff friendly. The two delivery guys were great. Very pleasant and they had the wood stacked on my porch in no time. Completely headache free. I'll definitely deal with East End Garden Centre from now on.

Not a great situation when your furnace breaks down during the worst cold spell in more than 50 years. But I'd had good luck with Aire Max Heating and Cooling before so I didn't think twice to call again. Max is super reliable and was able to pinpoint the problem immediately. He's also great when it comes to communication which is important to me. He's definitely my go-to guy for furnace repair and I would highly recommend him to everyone.

This is my first time using a tree service/arborist. I had a smoke tree that suffered some severe damage (an incompetent firewood delivery guy). I wasn't sure if the damage could be repaired, patched, etc. See the accompanying photograph. I contacted a tree service company and they replied that they were too busy and that I should just wrap some burlap around the break. I don’t know anything about trees, but even I knew that this was bad advice. So I contacted Kelly’s Tree Service. Within a couple of days an arborist was knocking on my door. I was so impressed with the expertise of the arborist, Wenda. She was friendly, professional and clearly knew her stuff backwards and forwards. The news wasn’t good (there was no saving the branch), but I had complete confidence in Wenda’s assessment of the damage. Wenda removed the damaged branch and gave me lots of advice—not only for my smoke tree, but also for an ailing cedar tree. It’s unfortunate that my tree couldn’t be “repaired,” but I was completely happy with Wenda’s assessment. It’s great to work with someone with such extensive knowledge and experience.

Lots of cleaning services to choose from in Toronto. This is the first time I've ever used one. After some research and process of elimination I contacted Alla at Golden Hands. I'm happy that I did. Communication is a big thing for me and Alla was great when it came to getting back to me and keeping me updated. I had a big, "super-duper" cleaning done of the house--top to bottom. Alla and her colleague did a great job. The house is in absolutely wonderful shape. Alla is incredibly hard working and takes pride in doing things properly. I would absolutely recommend Golden Hands Cleaning Services. 100% happy with the result.

Shed in a Day has great ratings here on Homestars. And they’re well deserved. My dealings with Shed in a Day, from beginning to end, were excellent. Good communication is really important to me and the staff at Shed in a Day were great, both by e-mail and on the phone. They made the arrangements so easy for me. I’ve needed a new shed for years, but was avoiding getting one because of all of the associated headaches. I should have done this years ago, given that Shed in a Day made this whole experience so worry-free. The two installers showed up as promised and immediately went to work. They were a whirlwind. My sad, sorry, broken down shed came down and was loaded in their truck (there’s a haul away fee, of course, but worth every penny). Then the new shed went up in its place. Again, I was amazed at how quickly the work was accomplished, but the work was done well. These guys know what they’re doing. The new shed looks fantastic (see the photo). It’s the same floor space as my old shed ( 8 x 8 feet), but there’s loads more room in the new shed. And it looks great. So I would absolutely 100% recommend A Shed a Day. I’ve had a couple of bad experiences with contractors lately. I was due for a win. I got it with A Shed a Day.

I had high hopes for LeafFilter Gutter Protection. The product seemed solid and the reviews online were positive. So I approached them and they set up a meeting with the sales rep. The sales pitch was a little heavy-handed with him delivering lines like “You’re obviously a very intelligent person.” But fine. We came to an agreement. The filters would be installed and there would be a follow up inspection a week later to make sure the installation was done properly. The installation seemed to go okay, although both the installers admitted that they were fairly new at the job which gave me a bit of concern. But no need to worry—I was promised a full inspection a week later. So a week came and went. Then two. This is where things started to go steeply downhill. I called the head office in Ohio to follow up on the inspection that never took place. The phone rang *twenty* times before anyone picked up. I explained the situation (the inspection was a week overdue) and they told me that the Toronto office manager would telephone me to work things out. He never bothered. After a few days I called the sales rep that I met with. He told me that he would come over later in the day and do the inspection himself even though, he told me, he wasn’t really qualified. A couple of hours later the phone rang and it was the sales rep asking me if I had a two story ladder he could use. Well, no. You work for an eaves trough company, not me. He said that he didn’t have a ladder, but that someone would come out to do the inspection before the end of the week. That was a week ago. It’s just a couple of days shy of a month since the eaves filters were installed. No promised inspection, no follow up, no return phone call from the Toronto office manager. Nothing. Are the LeafFilter gutter filters a good product? I hope so. How would I know? Were they installed properly? I have no idea. I guess time will tell. Bottom line: would I recommend LeafFilter Gutter Protection? Absolutely 100% not. I’m completely amazed at the terrible customer service. Just about the worst I’ve ever seen. Here’s the truth of the matter: once LeafFilter cashes your cheque they want nothing to do with you. They don’t follow up on their promises, they don’t return your phone calls and they don’t show any interest in earning your loyalty as a customer. I would absolutely avoid LeafFilter Gutter Protection. Here’s hoping I don’t have any problems with the filters. Despite their iron-clad guarantee (yeah, right), there’s zero chance that they would actually keep their word.

I've had a number of lock-related issues accumulate over the years. When my front door lock jammed I thought "Okay--I have to bite the bullet and get a locksmith." I was impressed with the good reviews for Locksmith Care. I telephoned and Dimitar came over within the hour. He did a quick and clear assessment of what needed to be done. He was also very knowledgeable about security. I was also very impressed with the way Dimitar would encourage me to do a few easy fixes of my own with a quick trip to Home Depot. So many contractors will oversell you in terms of your needs. Not Locksmith Care. The price was reasonable and the work was first rate. I would definitely recommend Locksmith Care.

Another flood. Has anyone had more floods than I have? This time it was the dishwasher which wasn't draining. What a mess. I noted the good reviews that Modern Appliance got so I gave Peter a call. Communication was excellent and I arranged for him to come and look everything over. The damage to the dishwasher (from broken glass) was fairly extensive. Fortunately Peter was able to make all the necessary repairs and get the dishwasher working properly again. I've run the dishwasher a number of times with no problems. I was very pleased with Peter and with my experience with Modern Appliance. I would definitely call Modern Appliance again (let's hope I don't have to for a while).

I've been in my house nearly 12 years and it's been an ongoing comedy of errors with regards to the plumbing. It seems like everything that *could* go wrong *has* gone wrong. And I've had terrible luck with plumbers over the years. At least four and none of them reliable. Flavio at Canada Wide Plumbing was recommended to me and I was really happy with his work. My kitchen sink was backed up (yet again) and he was very thorough in his work. He was also good at explaining things and giving advice about minimizing plumbing-related headaches in the future. Flavio was friendly, professional and did a great job. I'd definitely recommend his and Canada Wide Plumbing.

Pay attention to your water bills! I didn't and paid the price (literally). I didn't realize that both my toilets had leaks in the tanks. Which means wasted water--24 hours a day. I finally caught the problem (18 long months after it had started) and called Roy at Mayday Drain Services to come and have a look. A friend recommended him and Roy is highly rated here on Homestars. The fact that Roy showed up at all makes him better (in my experience) than most of the contractors out there. Even better, Roy showed up with a good sense of humour and promptly identified the problem (which was much less drastic than I had imagined). Roy is a drain specialist, but he did a great job in attending to my plumbing issue. Everything was sorted out quickly and efficiently. If only I'd called Roy a year and a half ago! So I would definitely recommend Mayday Drain Services.

You don't want your furnace to die during the most brutal cold spell of the winter. Which is, of course, exactly what happened. Given the excellent ratings for Aire Max I decided to give them a try. I was impressed that Max picked up his phone right away, rather than me having to deal with some call centre. Max was friendly and told me he could come over in a couple of hours. Great! True to his word Max arrived ahead of time and went straight to work. It turned out to be a fairly minor problem and the furnace came back to life. I don't know anything about furnaces. Max could have stayed in the furnace room for hours and given me some elaborate story about big problems. Instead, he fixed the problem quickly and the rate was very reasonable. I'm grateful for that. I'd definitely recommend Aire Max to anyone. Oh, and Max does gas and air conditioners as well. In future, he'll be my go-to guy.

I'm quite happy with the experience I had with New View. Derek was polite, professional and did a great job. The windows have never looked better and the price was competitive. I would definitely recommend New View and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

My dining room table was damaged because of a flood on the second floor that leaked down. And it's been needing refinishing for years anyway. So I came to Homestars and was impressed by all the great reviews for Johnnys Finishing Shop. They're well warranted. My table, about 70 to 80 years old, has seen some wear and tear over the years. I couldn't believe how great it looked after Johnny and his staff finished it. It looks brand new. I don't think it's ever looked better. And the chairs, sort of creaky and wobbly, are now rock solid. Johnny did an absolutely amazing job and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to recommend his services. First rate!

My Persian rug was long overdue for a cleaning. I decided on Persian Rug Specialist because of the great ratings they have on Homestars and because they're just that: specialists. The risk in going with a general rug cleaning company is that they might not have the best experience with Persian rugs. My 10 year old rug came back looking brand new. The colours vibrant and beautiful for the first time in years. I'll definitely use Persian Rug Specialist again and wouldn't hesitate to recommend their service to my friends. First rate work.

It’s been a long journey looking for an honest chimney cleaning company. A-1 Quality Chimney is the *fourth* chimney cleaning service that I’ve used over the years. The first three, without exception, tried to scam me by telling me that my chimney was falling apart and needed thousands of dollars of repairs. The last chimney company, which will remain nameless, really took the cake. They told me that I needed to pay them thousands of dollars to repair the chimney, that if I didn’t do these repairs immediately my house would burn down and, to top it off, if I didn’t hire them to do the work, they would report me to my insurance company when my house burned down for negligence. Three different reliable chimney repair companies later confirmed that my chimney was as sound as the day is was built. So! I hoped that A-1 Quality would be different. And they were! Sean was courteous, professional and did a great job. And told me that my chimney is fine. No scam! A welcome relief. So at long last I’ve found a reliable chimney cleaning company that’s on the up and up. It only took me eight years.

I’ve dealt with Spencer Contracting on three occasions, but have mixed feelings about the experience. The quality of the work has been consistently good, but other difficulties came up in the last job. I had a minor plumbing problem (a leaking pipe behind a basement wall). A small portion of the wall had to be taken out, the pipe repaired and the wall reconstructed. The plumbing portion of the job took between two to two and a half hours. I was charged for half a day’s work (four hours). "Oh, that’s standard," said the supervisor. Is it? Maybe so, but there was no discussion of this in advance--only when I was handed the invoice at the end of the job. Had I known I could have easily found an hour and a half to two hour's worth of other plumbing chores to make up for the work I had paid for. No. When I complained to the supervisor he told me "Maybe you should have gone with a handyman." Maybe he should have discussed that with me before agreeing to undertake the project in the first place. So I've been happy with the quality of the work of Spencer Contracting. They use good people. But the communication has been poor and the pricing has been inconsistent so . . . . caveat emptor.

So I bought a new gas stove from a big distributor. They recommended a guy they thought was good. I needed a 220 volt cable (for an electric stove) converted to a 110 volt for a gas stove. Sounds simple. Not to the recommended electrician. I had to buy a "convertor" myself. After calling all the major hardware stores and electric stores (for more than an hour) I was really getting frustrated. "A" told me they didn't carry such a device and to call "B". "B" didn't carry it and told me to call "C". "C" didn't carry it and, after 15 minutes on hold, told me to call "A". You get the picture. "Fine. I'll try another electrician recommended by Homestars," I thought. So I found Jerry at ElectroPro, explained all of the aggravation and he got me on the right path. He summed up the situation in ten seconds, made an appointment for two hours later (of course, there's no guarantee they can *always* be that fast), he came over and took care of the job quickly, efficiently and at a reasonable price. That's why I like Homestars. I naively think that contractors that are recommended will be competent. When they're not and I'm disappointed, I go to Homestars and find good people. So if you're looking for good, professional electrical work, then I highly recommend ElectroPro.

I'm very happy with Toronto Clear Window Cleaning. The cleaner arrived on time, was courteous and I appreciated that he didn't rush through the job. His work was very thorough and the windows look amazing. I shouldn't have waited as long as I did. Beautiful work--I would definitely recommend them.

Everyone can see that the reviews on Homestars for Wilkens are glowing. And deservedly so. Ernie was friendly, incredibly efficient and, miraculously, didn't try to push unwanted or unnecessary services on me. I had been told by a less trustworthy chimney contractor that I had a couple of major (and very costly) problems that needed immediate attention. Ernie, with his 30 years of experience, proved to be honest and reliable in terms of the necessary repairs. The man is a gem!

I had two problems: a shower stall leaking into the floor and a blocked kitchen sink. For the sink I was told new pipes had to be put in (to the tune of $600). And I was given a quick quote of $5,000 to fix the leaking shower. I was told that the boss of the company would get in touch with me to give a more thorough and detailed estimate of the shower stall job. That was a week ago and I never heard from them again. Am I supposed to chase after them in order to get an estimate for a multi-thousand dollar job? No thanks. Good work, but pricey and poor marks in terms of responsiveness.

Bad experience! Hygrade came to clean my chimney and did a decent job. But they told me that my chimney was falling apart and would have to be rebuilt. It would cost $2,700 to tear the chimney down and rebuild it. Well, when you get news like that, you get a second (and in my case third and fourth) opinion. I had three other chimney contractors come and look at my chimney. And they all told me the same thing: it's as sound as the day it was built. If I had listened to Hygrade, they would have torn down a perfectly sound chimney and charged me thousands of dollars. Not good!

Raccoons are cute, but I don't want them living in a disused kitchen chimneygrowling and squealing. I called Chris and he came the next day and took care of the problem. He really does deserve the great reviews he's received here on Homestars. The problem was taken care of (humanely, of course) and came with a guarantee. Service with a smile! I would definitely recommend A Animal Removal to anyone dealing with some unwelcome visitors.

My real estate agent recommended Taylor Movers and I was reasonably satisfied. The consultant who came to give me an estimate knew her stuff inside and out. Her estimate of boxes needed was spot-on. The only problem was moving day. The three man team (or one man and two 18 year old kids) showed up 90 minutes late. When I asked the crew leader about this he said "We're not late! We left on time!" They're an hour and a half late and I get an argument over it? All in all this crew leader was rude and abrasive throughout the day. HIM I could have done without. But the move got done and it went okay.

I needed a few rotten boards replaced on my back deck and was given a quote of $40 an hour and told it would probably only be two hours work (plus material). Sounds good, right? Wrong. Two assistants did the work and then took out a good board and left a rotten one by mistake. Then I was given the bill. $40/hour for EACH of the two workers (one of which did a bit of work, but mainly just stood around holding the tool box). The work took almost twice the time as I was told. AND I had to pay an extra 7% or so because I was paying by cheque and not straight cash. So the cost ended up being almost triple what I expected. They showed up the next morning and fixed the mistake they made. But they wanted an extra $50. It was THEIR mistake and I was overcharged and they wanted even more money? No way. So as a final “screw you” to me, they didn’t take away the removed rotten planks as promised. I have to admit that they quality of the work was very good. But I was deceived as to the price and left with a huge mess. Avoid at all costs!

Great company. They showed up right on time and did a beautiful job resanding and staining my main and second floors. Since buying my first house a couple of years ago, I've been burned by contractors a number of times, but Olympic Flooring was absolutely great. I've recommended them over and over to friends.