Renovations By Matt Ltd.

Matt and his crew replaced a faucet, did caulking around a tub and kitchen counter top, fixed a wobbly toilet, and snaked some drains. Everything works like new now so we're very happy. Thanks Matt!

Matt and his team did an outstanding job fixing a water leak in the main floor wall. It leaked towards from the closet to the living room wall. It involve small drywall repairs. They were honest, reliable and neat. His price was fair and I will continue to use him for upcoming jobs.

Had a pipe that burst in the garage. Matt located the problem and re-ran the line so that the issue will not happen again next winter.

Matt was diligent in keeping me apprised of the progress. The end product looked great and everything cleaned up.

Thanks Matt.

Matt arrived, did the work as promised, cleaned up. Very congenial and efficient. I took out tub and put in shower, Matt installed trim, shower head, valves, and handheld with slide bar.

Matt installed a new utility sink in our basement that included tying into an existing stack for drainage, installing a vent to help with water flow, and also ran water lines to the sink. He did a great job, explained everything to me and it looks very clean.

We had water leaking from the upstairs bathroom through a vent on the main floor. This was caused by a leak in the shower. We changed the cracked plastic piece that connected the pipe from the wall to the showerhead and then put waterproof tape to prevent further leaks.

I called a local rated plumbing company and was quoted $50 for the service call, plus $100 each hour. They said they would have to take down the tiles and check behind the wall. To have this fixed and retiled, could cost upto $6,000++

With Christmas approaching and family arriving, this is an expense we had not planned for.

In panic, I found Matt's company profile and review on Homestars and gave him a call. He said the leak could have been caused by the tape as the water trapped in the pipe had to go somewhere, hence to use the shower again and see if the leak reoccurred.

Well it did not and it did not cost me a cent! He could have easily exploited us, as this is a stressful situation to deal with! Thank God for honest knowledgeable people! I will definitely call Matt again if I need plumbing work done.

We chose Matt based on his excellent (96%) rating here on Homestars. He had also been awarded a Star of the Year for 2018. It is, however, with regret that we are unable to leave as good a rating as others have, and we probably won’t be using Homestars as a reference point in the future. Perhaps this feedback will help Matt find areas to improve his business, or help someone else when choosing a contractor. Most of these items have already been raised with Matt, and shouldn’t come as a surprise to him.

We agreed to do a complete bathroom renovation for in October of this year. Many of the issues I am going to mention, I had a great deal of understanding for at the time, but by the time the reno was completed, we had a leaking shower (fixed by a different plumber), and a toilet that was not functioning properly (fixed by a friend after Matt couldn’t solve the issue). I ran out of patience for some of the “smaller” issues.

Larger issues included:

-The Tiler that Matt used was a nice guy, however he cut all of the tiles in the bathroom, instead of outside. The dust was atrocious, and the act of cutting the tiles damaged the brand new floor that Matt had installed prior to the tiling. The new floor needed to be pulled out, and was replaced at Matt’s expense.
-The Tiler also didn’t seem to know how to install some of the tiles. Matt was not helpful and I had to go to the tile store to ask questions. The folks at the tile store provided advice on how to do the job, which in turn Matt told me to pass the info on to the Tiler. I also had to go out and purchase parts for the Tiler, which Matt reimbursed. If I knew I was going to have to run around for Matt’s crew, I would have managed the project myself.
-We purchased all new fixtures for the bathroom, however we did not have a valve body for the shower (Not being a plumber, I didn’t know I needed to provide one). Matt suggested we use the old one as “It should be fine”. This lead to problems with the shower leaking not even 1 week after the crew left my house. Matt said it was due to shower head. When we removed the shower head, the water was still leaking and Matt came to fix this by replacing the cartridge with a new one. When the problems persisted, Matt said the work was not covered under his warranty as he did not install a new valve body. As it was a weekend, we called a different plumber come in to fix it. The new plumber removed the cartridge, which was not new at all (The discolouration on the cartridge, which had been in place for 5 days, was much more than could/should/have happened in such a time.) Also, there was a glob of silicone on the valve body. The new plumber said that the silicone was used to temporarily block the leak, but was not a long-term fix. We had to pay the new plumber for a weekend call out in order to replace the valve body. We also had to cut through freshly painted drywall in order to complete this. Again, with Matt being the expert plumber, he should have replaced the valve body instead of assuming it should be fine. It wasn’t until after the weekend when Matt said he’d come fix the problem properly, by which time it was done.

Smaller issues included:
-Matt missed a total of 4 days for the job due to personal illness, malfunctioning truck, and his child was unwell. (Matt did offer a reduction in price due to the inconvenience)
-The job went from an estimated 7 days to 20.
-Drop cloths were not used properly by the Tiler who walked over my white carpets repeatedly in his shoes spreading grouting all over the place.
-Matt was not on site much when the Tiler was here, so there was little to no oversite on his work or habits. Much of the Tiler problems could have been prevented if Matt were on site more.
-The Tiler measured his tiles using a red Sharpie on the front of the tiles. In many places he didn’t cut to the red marks exactly, and we have been left with a shower filled with little red marks on “Super White” tiles, including those that were sealed under the clear caulking applied by Matt.
-We had to insist that the vanity, mirror, and vanity lights be lined up/centred with each other. It did not occur to Matt that this should be done from an aesthetic view.

Positive Points:
-Rafael was super clean and tidy. When he saw the state of the damaged floors, and dust generated from the tiler he was not happy. It would have been great to have Rafael on site sooner.
-The Electrician that Matt used (Anthony) was very helpful and thoughtful. Looking back, he asked the most questions to get an understanding of what we needed.
-Matt and his construction/plumbing crew were considerate when on site, and took their shoes off and ensured that the drop cloths were intact.

Upon asking for a warranty, Matt provided a document stating the warranty is for 1 year, but the original handwritten estimate/contract stated a 2 year warranty. Matt has not responded to why there is a difference here. Regardless, unless something major happens, we would not be seeking for him to return to fix anything.

I sincerely hope Matt takes in our feedback, considers how much he had pay out of his own pocket and makes improvements to his business.

While the bathroom is finally in a state that we are happy with, I would not at all recommend this company be used by anyone I know, nor would I use Homestars to select another contractor, which is a shame, because it has not steered me wrong in the past 4 years that I have used it.

I cannot imagine that I am the first and only person that has had this type of experience. I have to assume that people who are disgruntled, do not leave reviews on Homestars.

We needed a new kitchen faucet installed. Matt was quick to come, did a thorough job, and left the place super clean. (He also discovered a problem with some of the work a previous plumber had done and fixed it.) None of this surprised us, by the way. Matt has done numerous jobs for us over the past few years, large and small, and everything is always top quality. It's also a pleasure doing business with Matt, as he is very friendly.

Matt was professional courteous and went the extra mile! My toilet was cracked and I hadn't noticed it. Matt took the toilet back to the store for me and got the replacement! He is knowledgeable and friendly a great combination.

Matt is amazing! He’s very approachable and responsive. He’s very helpful. I had my clawfoot tub faucet shower replaced and shut off valves for the tub replaced by him. He’s very professional. He cleans up after his work and is tidy. I highly recommend Matt for his good work. We have asked Matt to do a few jobs already.