Luso Contracting

Ricardo and his crew built a beautiful and sturdy back deck for us in downtown Toronto. It had some innovative features, particularly a hatch structure: a segment of the deck is on a series of hinges, which allows us to lift the hatch to allow access to stairs going into the basement. The structure also has an innovative mechanism to keep water from getting to the stairs. Ricardo has a good eye for detail and made some aesthetic recommendations that we used and value. He built the deck about 5 to 7 years ago and it still looks great. Sorry it took me so long to post this; I was googling his name to find him to ask him to build a fence for us and came across this site. (As an aside, I read a complaint on this site that after a year a door no longer fit. My 2 cents: that's because the house is shifting over time, it's not the fault of the door or its installation. Shifting houses is a fact of life as houses age. Really not fair to blame the door installation).

lusocontracting@rogers.com, RICARDO
LEFT US HIGH AND DRY. UNFINISHED WORK, BADLY INSTALLED AND AT LEAST ONE DOOR RUINED. Other work unfinished. POOR supervisor spread too thin. won't return calls, texts. Had previously many satisfactory work contract completed. $100,000. plus payments. Even had more upgrade work. not now. WILLING to take down post if fixed.

My wife and I were recommended to Ricardo from Home Hardware, where we were going to purchase a new front door. He came to our house before installation and purchase looked at the existing door and gave us a recommendation regarding which door to purchase. He also gave us a quote for his services.

After delivery, Ricardo and an assistant removed the existing door and installed the new one, as well as painted the front door, all in one day. Very shortly thereafter, we noticed that the top of the door was leaning into the door frame and slightly hitting it as it closed. Ricardo returned, removed the door from its hinges, and then reinstalled it. He told us that this was the best he could do and said that the leaning was due to issues relating to the house itself.

As time passed, the door progressively leaned more and more into the door frame. Approximately one year later, I decided to contact Ricardo again and ask him to fix problem. He again said that the issue was related to the house, not his work, but said that he would come by the next day to look at the door to see what he would do. The next day he failed to show up. I called him and he said he would come by when he could. A week passed, so I called him again. He said that he had been sick but the call did not go well as he continued to shift blame towards the house.

I would highly dissuade someone from using Ricardo given his conduct. He is very talkative and does not listen. He asks rhetorical questions but does not appreciate if you answer them. He has had every chance to make this right but instead believes that he did what he was supposed to do. He gave us a quote for the job and then failed to do what he was supposed to do. Given how defensive and argumentative he is, it was impossible to even have him come by to look at it and reasonably discuss the matter.

Ricardo helped us by putting in a new deck for our house and did a great job! He is quite creative and thoughtful with his work and obviously takes pride in the outcomes. Very personable and keeps a good relationship going with his customers.

This company is outstanding! I have been working with Ricardo, for several years now. He is very creative, a good communicator, has great attention to detail, is reliable, friendly and on budget. I have done 2 kitchens, a basement, a yard and countless other projects with him. He can come up with great solutions to bewildering problems. He is very busy but always takes time to deal with my questions and is extremely patient. I highly recommend him (if you can get him!).