Amy

Not only do I 1000000% recommend Gmano Railings, I want this review to be a public service announcement about the importance of using a qualified company for your railings. My partner and I recently bought a home that required extensive renovations. This included constructing & installing new railings for the main and second floor landings, as well as a railing for the stairs leading to the second floor. For additional context, the previous owner had removed all railings and constructed walls in their places. Also, our's is a narrow home, so the second floor hallway is also narrow. From our first meeting with Leo, we knew we wanted to work with him! First off, Leo came to review the site in order to provide an accurate and informed quote (whereas other companies just asked for pictures & gave us estimates based on that). During his visit, Leo was extremely thorough in taking measurements and really reviewing the site conditions, and took the time to inform us about our options and answer our questions. He gave us the confidence and assurance we needed that not only would the quote be accurate and within budget, but that we were also in great and experienced hands. (And here is where I want to emphasize the importance of working with a qualified company - we had previously worked with a GC who did decent enough on some general renos (drywall, etc) and we had inquired about having them potentially do our railings. This GC was adamant that the only way to install the railing was to rip up part of our flooring in order to secure the post to a floor joist. The idea of this horrified us since we had just gotten our floors done.) In taking the time to review & understand the limitations of our space, Leo recommended a removable railing for our second floor landing. This would allow us to remove the rail and create more space should we need to move large objects to & from our main & second floors. Part of our handrail would also be removable due to some space limitations in our stairway as well. Again, this is why it's critical to work with someone who specializes in railings and has the expertise to provide you with the options that fit your needs! The installation took 2 days, as Leo completed all the work himself. He was not only super diligent and thorough, but also kept a very clean and tidy work site. He also kept us informed and continued to answer our questions throughout the process. For the removable railing, he even took & provided a video of the process, so that we could use it as a reference for the future! Beyond that, I just want to say what an awesome guy Leo is to work with. He is friendly, genuine and committed to providing excellent quality worksmanship and service. (I literally marvelled and stared at our newel caps for like half an hour because of the level of detail he put into them!) We couldn't have asked for a better and more knowledgeable railing contractor to work with, and I can't recommend Gmano Railings strongly enough! In addition, he is an independent and locally-owned business, which I am always a proponent of. Thank you, Leo, for all of your hard and excellent work! :D

I recently bought a home that required extensive renovations, which meant that the ducts got congested and, well, pretty damn gross! On the recommendation of my dad (yup, I'm a second generation client here, haha), I called in Dave's Ducts. My partner and I are really happy with the quality of service and attention to detail that Dave's team put into cleaning the ducts. They took the time to not only inform us about the process (before and after), but were very diligent and thorough throughout. We were surprised by the big chunks of debris that were pulled out, and let me use that to stress the importance of using a qualified and reputable company like Dave's that uses top of the line equipment to do the work! I highly recommend Dave's Ducts and let's keep on supporting this locally-owned business so that one day I can recommend them to my kids too :)

It’s hard to do justice to what an amazing company Magnum is to work with! This is a detailed review because I feel like prospective clients should be informed about what makes Magnum awesome, but if you want the short & sweet of it: their professionalism, service and quality of work is a cut above. Hire them NOW, thank me later! :) The long cut: My partner and I bought a fixer-upper that required renovating, well, everything. Being overly ambitious as we were, we invited kitchen companies to quote near the start of our renovations. From the beginning, we were impressed by Parry and Avtar’s professionalism, responsiveness and diligence in providing us with the information we needed. They also took the time to understand the vision we had for our kitchen and then used their expertise and insight to make it even better. For example, we wanted keep the range and, by extension, the range hood on an interior wall. A number of other companies were quick to tell us that because of this, we couldn’t have the range hood vent outside because it was not on an exterior wall and that the only way to do this was to move the range to an exterior wall. Magnum was the only company that took the time to really study our house, the layout and specs, and let us know that venting to the outside was possible if we ran the vent parallel to the floor joists above to the exterior wall. It’s this level of attention to detail that not only reinforced our confidence in the quality of work that Magnum would ultimately do, but also gave us the assurance that the quote they provided us was accurate and the project would stay within budget. Because of the extensiveness of our renovations and unanticipated delays, we ended up not only having to push our kitchen timelines out several times but also had to revise the kitchen specs along the way due to changing site conditions. Throughout this process, Parry & Avtar were patient, accommodating and continued to ensure exchange of information as needed whether it was with us or our other contractors. The installers (unfortunately, I forget their names at this point) were diligent and careful not only with the kitchen but also the rest of our newly renovated home. They kept things tidy and clean, and made sure any dust/debris-creating work was done outside. As for the kitchen itself, we couldn’t be happier! Again, Magnum really understood our vision and executed the best version of it. Not only have our family and friends been marvelling at the quality of it, but other contractors have too! And it’s important to note that in addition to beautiful cabinetry, Magnum uses top quality finishes, including knobs/handles, countertops… everything AND the kitchen sink! (hehe) Beyond this, what makes Magnum absolutely outstanding is that Avtar & Parry are some of the most honest and sincere people you could ever deal with. Do NOT undervalue these traits. The home renovations industry is unfortunately rife with people who are out to hustle, upsell and make the most $ off of homeowners as possible. Magnum is not like that at all – they provided honest, genuine and thoughtful advice and feedback while creating our dream kitchen. (Also, a random – but important, in my view – observation. You can really tell that Avtar (the owner/founder of Magnum) loves what he does. Like he really, really enjoys creating people’s dream kitchens, and his pride and passion filter down through the company. Don’t undervalue these traits either!) Magnum is one of very few companies I would recommend without hesitation. My only regrets are that (i) I didn’t write this review sooner, and (ii) Homestars doesn’t have a 10000/10 feature that you can give out to extraordinary contractors because Magnum totally deserves it. Thanks again, Avtar, Parry & the Magnum Kitchens team for being all-around awesome! :D

Let me start by saying that bathrooms are one of the most important (if not, the most important) rooms in your house. There are multiple water sources that, if not installed/completed properly, could seriously compromise not just the immediate area but also cause damage to other areas of your house. You get what you pay for when it comes to any type of renovations, so spend wisely when it comes to your bathrooms! Now, let me explain why I would recommend Splish Splash without hesitation: - My partner and I received 8 quotes (yes, 8!) for the 2 bathrooms we needed completely renovated, with an outrageous range in the prices. Splish Splash's quote was neither the lowest, nor the highest, but it was clearly the most accurate, detailed and transparent. This is because from the minute Nucu stepped into our house, he really took the time to review and assess the site conditions. He even noticed an issue with our floor joists that even our GC already on-site hadn't told us about! To say he was thorough would be an understatement - his meticulousness was what gave us confidence that no other contractor had - that the work would be done well, done right, and done within the quoted price & budget. - This was our first time doing bathroom renovations, and Nucu ensured that we had the information required to make informed decisions. He provided guidance on everything, which really put us at ease and reassured us that we were in good hands. He also provided solid recommendations while completely understanding our vision for the bathrooms. For example, I had told all contractors that I wanted a linen closet in a specific spot in one bathroom just because, in my head, it seemed like a good idea there. Nucu was the only one to point out that the toilet would obstruct the linen closet and suggested an even better and more sensible place for it. - Communication is the key to any good contractor-client relationship. Nucu was extremely communicative throughout the process, and made sure we understood what was going on. He was also extremely receptive and responsive to calls, and no matter how basic and silly some of the questions we had were, he was never dismissive and he provided detailed responses and gave us the information we needed. - The quality of service is a cut above. Not only are Nucu & his team extremely professional, but they are invested in the work they do. Through no fault of theirs, there was a crack in my new bathtub only weeks after the install. Nucu was ready to have the issue addressed immediately for my peace of mind. - Last, but certainly not least, our bathrooms are beautiful!!! The Splish Splash team did an AMAZING job beyond what we imagined. To be clear, our upstairs bathroom needed all of the fixtures (tub, toilet & sink) to be re-configured. Our basement bathroom also needed re-configuration, the concrete floor to be broken out and door/wall to be re-located & re-built to accommodate a new washer & dryer - the installation of which they also did. Contractors we have coming in for other work have also marveled at the bathrooms and how well done they are, which further speaks to their quality! Thanks, Nucu, Dmitri & Slav for all of your awesome and hard work! :D

My partner and I bought a house that had not been well taken care of, and the eavestroughs were just one of many items that were in disrepair. We hired Solid Eavestrough to completely replace the eavestroughs around the entire house, and Yaron did an excellent and thorough job of this! We really appreciated his passion not only for the work he does, but for also educating clients and recommending solutions and products to maximize eavestrough effectiveness. We highly recommend Solid Eavestrough, and also think it's a great opportunity to support a local and independently owned business that does great work!

Ashley's Tree Care provided extremely thorough pruning services for a tree that is in my neighbour's backyard, but overhangs into mine. The tree was an unruly beast (grr, Manitoba Maples!), but they were very careful in making sure the tree was pruned properly and thoroughly, especially considering the arborists had to work through a number of utility cables that also run through our yard and the tree branches get all tangled in. Excellent work, and I also appreciate the prompt service they provided!

My partner and I hired Solex Group to do a home inspection on a house that we had put a conditional offer on. Vahn was extremely detail-oriented and thorough; he explained things along the way, and also took the time to go through important items and answered all of the questions we had. We even followed up with more questions the day afterwards, and he still remembered the details (whereas I can barely remember what I had for lunch today)! We also really appreciated how quickly he turned the report around. All in all, Vahn is an awesome, knowledgeable and professional home inspector, and I would recommend him to anyone! Also, a great opportunity to support an independent and locally-owned business :)