We purchased a 100-year old semi in downtown Toronto, and had a few concerns with the electrical in the house. Home inspection revealed knob and tube in the master bedroom, and visually the outlets seemed old and misplaced. Light switch boxes were in strange locations, and the second bedroom didn't have a ceiling light fixture. After reading reviews on Homestars, we called 4 companies. 2 of them never returned my calls. 1 could only schedule my on-site quote appointment for 3 weeks away, and they were very hard to get a hold of on the phone. Captain Electric answered my call immediately, their front desk staff were knowledgeable and polite, I had no idea of technical terms for the things I needed to get done, but they understood exactly what I needed. They sent Enrico to my house that same week to do an on-site inspection and quote. He was so thorough, so patient explaining all the work he suggested should be done (not in a pushy way - in a "if this was my house" way), and the quote came back with options ... I was very very impressed with the process, with his professionalism, and his knowledge - especially of older homes. I hired him immediately upon receiving the quote.
Enrico was scheduled to come in the week following the quote, so I never had to wait for the work to be done. Him and his apprentice Kevin were super punctual. They were also the most conscientious workers. Booties over their shoes. Drop sheet where they kept the tools. Bags taped to the wall under areas they had to cut/drill to minimize dust. And they even cleaned up afterwards!
My impression was that Enrico and Kevin went above and beyond what was quoted for my job. I had knob and tube removed from the master bedroom. The house has no attic, so there were holes cut out in the walls to fish out the wires. But then Enrico plugged the walls back up and put drywall compound over it to patch it right back up! Completely unexpected and done in a professional manner.
They installed a ceiling light outlet in the second bedroom where there was none. Perfection.
They replaced an old macgruber hack job in the upstairs hallway (outlet with three plugs...?! from previous owner's "electrician") with an updated plug and again, they filled in the hole that was left. It was cut into the wainscoting, and Enrico even put a groove in the plastered area to make it look like the wainscoting was intact where they had cut. Amazing!!!
They installed an astronomical timer for my front porch light (automatically changes on/off time according to almanac/longitude/latitude), and changed my front hall 3-switch panel that had been installed INTO the doorframe into a standard 3-switch panel outside the doorframe ... And then yep, you guessed it, they patched up my doorframe with some putty to keep the frame intact. As I said, above and beyond!
When Kevin moved my couch to get to an outlet, he noticed one of the couch legs was loose. So he screwed it back on and drilled it so it wouldn't get loose again!
Now the best part. It only took two days! These guys are machines. Enrico and Kevin - THANK YOU. I now have peace of mind about the electrical in my old house, I now have faith in hiring contractors from Homestars, I feel so good to know I was not "ripped off" (which I was expecting as I was sure my ignorance of electrical systems was pretty much tattooed on my forehead). You guys will be my first call when we renovate the second floor.
The ESA inspector passed the work with flying colours, we have had no issues, and we honestly couldn't be happier with the quality of work, cost, and time it took.
Guys - thank you to you and your whole team. It was an absolute pleasure!!
