MENATWORK Design Build

Paul and the team recently completed a 2 story addition, including an unfinished basement space, for our home in Bloor West Village. We out-grew our home and needed additional living space so we put a new living room, mudroom and powder room on the main floor, and added a new master bdrm with walk-in closet and ensuite on the second floor. Having never undertaken a major renovation before, and wanting to stay in our house during the renovation, we selected Men at Work based on our belief that not only would Paul and his team give us the beautiful new space that we needed, they would also make the process as smooth as one can expect for this type of work. We were pleased on both fronts. The work was complete on-time, within budget, no major issues, no surprises, and tremendous people to work with right from the top of the organization down through all of the sub-trades. Paul, John, Keith, Natalie and everyone else were true professionals. So far, any minor issues that have arisen have been dealt with quickly and efficiently. We look forward to using Paul and team again for our future reno plans.

Men At Work did a major renovation of the interior of my home in 2011. They were excellent to deal with, and what has impressed me the most is that they came back, even after the warranty period to take care of some little issues that came up five years later. They were professional and friendly and I will definitely use them again in the future when I decide to underpin and finish my basement.

Paul and his team were able to reconfigure our main floor to accommodate our need for a proper master bedroom, ensuite and walk in closet. Their work was extremely creative, professional, done on time and under budget. The quality of our home life has improved dramatically since the renovations and we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome. Thank you Paul and the entire Men at Work team!

We have used Men At Work for two major renovations. The first was a basement reno where we lowered the floor by 2 feet and completely redesigned it. The second was a kitchen reno that opened up a wall. My wife and I can't say enough about Paul G. and Men at Work. He was always forthright about cost and timing, he involved both my wife and I equally and both projects finished on time and on budget. If there was anything wrong, he would have his teams rectify it right away, and he was always great at making suggestions. Most importantly, he focuses on doing the right thing. One amazing example is we completed our kitchen reno over 4 yrs ago and this winter the water line to our fridge froze. I called Paul and he came over to assess it the next day. He wasn't sure if the problem was a result of the work he had done but he said he would take care of it for no extra charge. Fantastic customer service.

I think the other thing that stands out is how excellent the craftsmen he has on his team. I remember the drywall guys raving about how straight the walls were from the carpenter.

Can't recommend them enough and would use them again in a heartbeat

We bought our house with the intent of adding a second storey to it in the next few years. We started reviewing contractors online and ended up interviewing five or six of them. We selected Paul Gallop at Men at Work.

Before we could start our second storey though, we ended up with a flood, and lost our entire basement to a mould problem. Professional mould remediators cleaned up, but Paul helped us refinish the family room. From waterproofing to building material choices to floor installation, he and his team were a pleasure to work with, reaffirming our choice for the bigger project. (A single room is not really Men at Work's sweet spot in terms of project size though, but Paul was professional throughout the project.)

Shortly thereafter, we began planning the second storey addition. Paul and his architect spent countless hours at our home meeting with us (we still know how he likes his coffee and which techno-geek blogs he likes), going through designs, revisions, brainwaves, budget cuts, all the way through to the estimate/proposal phase. It took a couple of rounds but they were able to come up with designs that we were happy with and that we could actually afford. Their estimate process is very fair and we really felt that Paul was being complete and honest with us throughout the whole process. (Actually, we were a little surprised at the transparency but very quickly came to greatly appreciate it.) He listened to our ideas, some of which were completely insane, and responded respectfully and insightfully.

By the time we had finished the planning phase there was no question that we wanted to use Paul and his team for the build. We knew that he was not the cheapest out there, but his transparency, attention to detail, honesty, and frankly, his friendly personality made us feel that using a builder like that was the only option for us. That said, we did have some challenging budget constraints that were always in the picture. But we are busy enough, we don't want to deal with shady tradesmen, cut corners, other hassles and endless headaches to spare a few percentage points on the project, even one of a staggering scale such as this. We had dealt with (and are now unfortunately dealing with) some sketchy tradesmen and we were absolutely right to choose Paul. The home reno involved over a dozen different trades. 10 of them were great, and Paul completely handled the "other two" entirely to our satisfaction (and we sort of forced the issue with selecting one of the problematic ones due to a scheduling snafu on our own side).

During the build, Men at Work uses an online construction project management system (well, and the telephone too, of course). We were guinea pigs on this tool and it is awesome. All of the selections that we had to make (a terrifyingly shocking number of them) were all online, listed, scheduled with deadlines, and annotated with extremely helpful details and advice. We missed half of our selection deadlines (okay, maybe 3/4) but the project continued. Paul was able to help us work through some of the more complicated decisions and scheduling drama that ensued from our self-inflicted gaffes. Once we made it through that process, the software took it from there. It works for communication with Men at Work, reporting issues, providing technical details of everything in the project, and it's all in one spot, all online, and accessible anywhere on the internet (a godsend as I was on the road a lot during this whole process).

We did move out for the build, and moved back in 9 months later. We would have been done quite about 2 months sooner, but we chose to drag it out a little. We ended up procrastinating on some of the finishing touches though, which was not the best idea, but it was our call, not Paul's.

Overall, the team is great. Punctual, neat, of highest quality. No need elaborating on something so basic, and so well done. We've been in our house now for about a year and a half. The finish and attention to detail are excellent. We constantly receive compliments on the house (we didn't go with a cookie cutter second storey add-on, we really thought a lot about the designs, and Men at Work realized them). Whenever an issue came up during our warranty period, Men at Work was on top of it. They've been by here in the last couple of months as well, so this information and all that we're telling you is based on our experience with Men at Work ranging from late 2004 through late 2012.

There are a few specific trades that Men at Work doesn't deal with, so we had to track them down and manage those aspects of the project on our own. But when we asked for advice on any topic that they did deal with, we have found out (both the easy way and the hard way) that the advice should be trusted and followed.

In summary, Paul is the man. We love our home, loved interacting with him and his team for the project, and would recommend him to any friend without the slightest bit of hesitation. He and his team are a delight to work with, smart, thoughtful, detail-oriented, practical, fair, and worth every penny. They're on our holiday card list. :-)

The only advice I would give to anyone working with them is the following: follow their advice. If you don't, you better be very sure you know exactly what you're getting in to. Secondly, and this is more generic than Men at Work specific - don't rush the end of the project. (This is actually Men at Work advice too, but some that we didn't follow). Unexpected last minute problems that can ordinarily easily be addressed can become an unnecessary nuisance. Take your time through the final stretch, and above all enjoy the project. A major reno like this is a huge project and a major life event. Enjoy it, don't rush it.

My wife and I have been in the process of updating our 100 year old home over the past 9 years, which has given us a lot of renovation experience.

We recently decided to renovate our basement which included digging down and underpinning as well as adding an addition on to the back of the house. We heard about Paul Gallop (Men at Work) through a good friend who gave a glowing recommendation. Since we weren't entirely satisfied with some of the contractors that we had previously worked with, we met with Paul, and decided to work with him. It turned out to be one of the best decisions.

Paul is an extremely detail oriented professional project manager. After meeting with him, he came back to us with the most professional contract outlining all of the renovation details that we discussed, their cost, the time-line, the cost of services, etc.

There are other positives that set Men At Work apart from the rest...

Paul uses very professional teams/ individuals that have an expertise in concrete, drywall, electrical, flooring, stairs (no jack of all trades) and they show up on time.

Paul also works very well with other people that you may bring into the project. We worked with a great architect that had a very high end sensibility and who preferred to work on some of the more intricate details as the renovation progressed as opposed to everything in advance. Though it was not an ideal process for Paul, he was very receptive to meeting (on a regular basis) with us and our architect to go over the finite details and he provided many suggestions on how to achieve our desired aesthetic at a reasonable cost to us. As we all know that's invaluable as it is so easy to drive up costs on a large renovation.

In any renovation there are hurdles that you come up against. Paul would immediately work with us on finding the right solutions to any problems that arose. His timely communication throughout the process was so integral to the project running smoothly. He was and is always accessible. He has integrity and really was a pleasure to do work with.

S + N

This is a good company, although apparently not the cheapest. Paul Gallop is a reasonable and honorable man, which apparently is a rarity in the renovation business. He is detail oriented and very good at understanding (but not judging) client needs. He also comes up with really good solutions on the fly to complex problems that I (and most contractors) would probably never think of. I have hired a few trades to do other renovation tasks without Paul, and can definitely see his added value.

We hired Paul Gallop of Men at Work General contractors to undertake a total demolition of the interior of our century home in High Park, and to create a new interior structure with new steel beams and columns. Paul's knowledge of building codes, products, and practices is extraordinary. I am a highly detail oriented, research intensive individual. Until I met Paul, I had never before met a salesperson/business owner that I could not easily stump with some recent knowledge I had gained on the web. Paul's passion for the industry and in-depth knowledge is unparalled.

Paul was also very flexible to our needs, providing guidance as necessary to help us make the right decisions, with budget in mind.

After Paul had completed all the work we hired him to do, and the architect, and structural engineer had signed off, we undertook some further demolition of the roof area of the home. This led to discovery of a previously unknown roof defect, the support of which ultimately called for a larger column footing than originally built. Although Paul had done all that was required of him in the original contract, he volunteered to enhance the original footing at no extra charge. Paul's after sales service was fantastic.

You won't find a better general contractor than Paul Gallop of Men at Work.

Dave & Cheryl
High Park, Toronto