We own a 3 story apartment building with 35 units in Toronto. On the third floor of the building in two apartments, there were minor intermittent roof leaks which appeared primarily after a spring thaw. At the end of May 2013, we hired a company to repair the leaks. They were going to spray an environmentally friendly material called “Tough-Guard” over the effected area which was about one sixth of the total roof area. They guaranteed that they would fix the leaks.
Later, when we went to the roof to see how it was going, unfortunately we saw that, without our prior knowledge or consent. they had begun tearing the roof apart in that area and beyond. When we asked what was going on, the roofing company owner told us that they felt the job needed more work. Now we were stuck.
That weekend, June 22 and 23, the weather turned bad and it began to rain heavily. Water literally deluged into the back of the building as if the roof had been completely open with nothing to even slow the water. It rained in heavily over the tenants and their goods and penetrated down on every floor of the building right through to the basement.
The next day, the roofer and some of his helpers came to the building purportedly to try fix the problem.With a huge white tarp, they created a tent covering over the back portion of the roof. This was ineffective as the tarp had several large rips and holes in it. They also took a wet-vac to the roof and were up there the following week, after each rainfall trying to vacuum up the water. Nevertheless, with each subsequent rain, water poured into the building. Then, the company owner began trying to sell us on a complete new roof installation to be done, of course, by him.
So, our attempt to effect a simple repair had now become a nightmare for us and 15 effected tenants. Fifteen apartments now had water soaked and damaged ceilings, walls, floors and contents. The back areas of the hallways on every level, their floors, carpets, ceilings and walls were soaked as were the ceilings, walls and carpets of back areas of the finished basement which had all been seriously damaged.
At this point, it was very clear that these people had caused this problem and did not want to or know how to solve it effectively and rain was threatening yet again. So, we contacted Better Contracting Services which we knew is a roofing company used regularly by Mr. Mike Holmes on the TV program, Holmes Makes It Right, on Home & Garden TV. Despite the fact that this is the busiest season for all roofers, they saw the urgency and immediately sent a team of men to the roof to try to seal the damage done by the other company sufficiently enough to gain time to effect a good repair or replacement of the roof. Based on our experience to date, we were quite concerned about their ability to do this.
On the morning of July 8, 2013, five men from Better Contracting Services arrived at the building to apply a bandage-like measure to the roof in order to stop the deluge of water and buy time to effect a proper repair. They completed the work in about 5 hours and assured us that this would stop any further water coming into the building. They finished by 1:30 pm. That very afternoon, the skies opened up and we had a record rainfall (126 mm in 2 hours) which flooded subways, Go Train tracks and Toronto in general. Yet, not one drop of water entered the building.
As a result of this success and in view of the serious damage caused by the other roofer, we asked Better Contracting Services for a quote to replace the roof. The roof they proposed was the best insulated roof I have ever seen and I have owned and managed apartment buildings all my life. It was by no means cheap. But, it should last for decades without a leak. They worked on it constantly for two weeks. The result is a work of roofing art.
The services provided by Better Contracting were fast, informative, extremely efficient, clean and effective. If you want it done right, your choice is clear.
