Jessica Wilson in Toronto

The team at Unique Flooring GTA can't be beat. After a fireplace renovation, two sections of our inlaid Victorian-era wood floor had to be replaced on either side. Csaba and an assistant came over, gave us a reasonable price estimate, and the next week he came out and did a gorgeous job, re-creating the pattern and colour beautifully. He was careful (covered all furniture with plastic), efficient, and highly competent. Thanks as well to Monika, who arranged the scheduling and repair. Unique Flooring GTA has my highest recommendation.

Advanced Plumbing is a fantastic company in every respect, and I can't recommend them highly enough. Chris, their appointments scheduler, is incredibly nice, competent, and accommodating, as is (owner?) Greg; their plumbers Ian and George are truly superlative; their prices reasonable; their turn-around time quick. Moreover, Advanced Plumbing has gone above and beyond in assisting me with two problems: first, Ian saved me several hundred dollars on a tricky toilet installation, creatively dealing with an uneven floor in a way that produced a great result without having to break the floor to install a new flange; second, George was a godsend in identifying a sewer blockage on city property (with his camera and sensor) and then assisting me in getting the City to acknowledge and treat this obstruction. This last was a big hassle which required George's coming out twice more, first to verify the blockage and take a video that I could send the city, and second to meet a Toronto water person and walk them through the situation to verify (finally!) that the blockage was on City property. Throughout the whole ordeal George couldn't have been nicer, and same for Chris, who did everything he could to assist in coordinating things. I'm so glad I found Advanced Plumbing---they are my plumbing saviours and I'll be their customer (and friend) for life!

We needed to have our front door antique bronze deadbolt replaced, and called Dmitri at Locksmith Care on the strength of the strong HomeStar reviews. He answered the phone right away, and came out early the next day right on time, bringing a very high-quality attractive antique bronze deadbolt, much better than the old one in both looks and grade of security. Not only did Dmitri do a great job with the deadbolt, he also replaced an old doorknob set with a better one we had on hand, and diagnosed and fixed a 12-year-old problem with our door not closing properly, installing a new plate for the doorknob catch. Our front door is totally transformed, with everything working smooth as butter. And all for only $288, including the new deadbolt and two extra keys. You can call Dmitri in full confidence for fantastic service at a great price.

We've been working with KNT for about a year now. Bill, Tim, and their team (John, Ryan) are fantastic---can do anything and they do it cheerfully, efficiently, and at a very reasonable by-the-hour+materials cost. I've worked with a lot of electricians in my day and these guys are by far the best. Highly recommended!

Enrique did an excellent job trimming my neighbour's tree, so when I needed some branches trimmed in my front yard I gave him a call. He came over just a couple of days later with a very nice assistant. Enrique did a super job at a reasonable price. I especially appreciated the aesthetic way in which he trimmed the branches, giving advice about just where would be best to make the cut. I plan to always use Enrique and Professional Tree Services in future. If you are looking for a friendly, professional, talented tree-trimmer, look no further!

I did a large amount of research before deciding on Kris and Denmark Mechanical, and I couldn't be happier with our experience and the end result. Due to my husband's asthma, we decided to convert from forced air to radiator heating (with beautiful refurbished Victorian radiators from Addison's; also highly recommended). It was a huge job, but working with Kris really minimized the hassle. Kris is a consummate professional. He is punctual, pleasant and even-tempered; steady and hard-working; has a great eye for detail; prices his job fairly; and at every stage of the game, from planning to execution to follow-up, manifested complete expertise. He thought very carefully about how to best run the pipes and where to install the radiators; each (massively heavy) radiator was perfectly positioned and without any damage to our original wood floors; he recommended and installed a beautifully running, quiet and efficient water heater and reserve tank. And the end result is to die for---all winter long we couldn't stop talking about how cozy and pleasant the radiator heating was. I recommend him most enthusiastically, with no reservations whatsoever.

Matrix came out the same day to switch out my front door key mechanism. The locksmith was timely, friendly, efficient and reasonably priced. He gave me extra keys without charge. Lock and key are working perfectly well.d

We called Traian to complete a half-finished Ikea kitchen reno, including design and construction of two customized cabinets, and repair of the previous contractor's unsatisfactory work (including making a new fridge built-in, levelling the cabinetry, etc.). Traian has done great work for us, and more generally has gone above and beyond in every respect. Main points: Traian is a true expert (and his assistant Jose is great, too)---knows the ins and outs of Ikea and compatible manufacturers such as Blum; having experienced Traian's workmanship I would never recommend installing an Ikea kitchen without someone with his level of expertise---it makes a huge difference. Traian was of great assistance in designing the cabinets---we sort of knew what we wanted but he created them given his knowledge of the various constraints, and the results are fantastic---my husband especially loves his new "sous vide" station, with special space for his vacuum sealer and a sous vide sink, and I especially love my floor-to-ceiling stacked drawers (Blum) with a cupboard on top---at last I have enough room for everything. Working with Traian has been a breeze, from the first contact, through his writing up a reasonable estimate, through his sending me an easy-to-order list of things to have delivered from Ikea, to his showing up on-time and completing everything within the space of just a few days. And as I say, this wasn't a "clean" job---he had to come in and work around or fix someone else's inferior work. In addition to being highly skilled and easy to work with, Traian really went above and beyond in several respects. First, the previous contractor also left one of our walls and some of the ceiling unfinished (don't ask). Traian came in, saw it, and called Sorin, an interior renovation person, who I also can't recommend highly enough: Sorin came in, gave me a reasonable price, and got right to work drywalling and plastering the wall and ceiling, etc. All of these guys---Traian, Jose, and Sorin---powered through a huge amount of work in 4-5 days. Second, since the job was pretty intensive and they had other jobs to get to, they worked long hours and even worked on a Saturday. Third, Traian even used some of his own materials in order to save us money. To say that we are grateful to Traian (and Jose and Sorin) would be an understatement. Speaking from experience, it's really hard to find good people---people who know what they are doing (instead of just doing what they know), who get things done on time and on (or under) budget, and are creative and nice to boot. These guys are keepers, and I'm already scheduling other projects with them.

Tom and Bestway Removal are fantastic, not just for demolition and removal, but for any number of construction services. Tom is a dream to work with---you will not find a nicer, more accommodating person, and he will not rest until you are completely satisfied (a real feat, since I am a serious perfectionist). The same is true of the hardworking sons, nephews and skilled tradespeople that are part of Tom's local and extended team. I first contacted Tom about removing a large concrete pad and walkway in my largely paved-over backyard in preparation for putting in a garden and patio; he did so for a very reasonable price (around 1K) even though the job turned out to involve much more work than we originally thought (there were layers upon layers of brick, gravel, and concrete underneath). In the course of this project, I found out that Tom (a former contractor) has connections to highly skilled and reasonably priced tradespeople, including bricklayers, carpenters, and flagstone installers. From then on, we embarked---with me doing most of the designing and Tom arranging and supervising the various projects---on turning my backyard into a real garden paradise. Our first big constructive project was to put in a beautiful aged-looking brick wall around the garden area. This was tricky work, requiring that Tom install a deep foundation (you can trust him to tell you exactly what you need to do to ensure a result that will stand the test of time) so as to avoid injuring existing plantings on our property and our neighbor's, and also with an eye to precisely and stably installing a heavy antique gate. Joe, the "brickie" that Tom brought in, did a beautiful job---here again, not easy, since the aged-looking bricks were quite uneven. The result was amazing---so amazing that my semi-neighbor wanted to do the same thing on his side, and indeed, we ended up taking down the fence between our backyards and extending the brick wall to make a unified double-wide enclosed garden. Other projects that Tom arranged and supervised included installation of a large cedar deck with diagonal boards, almost every cut of which had to be specially measured, and the installation of green flagstone patios for me and my neighbor (the green flagstone, which looks great with the aged rosy brick and light green gate, was Tom's excellent suggestion). Again, the results have been really beautiful. Beyond the basic structural elements Tom and his helpers regularly went above and beyond, putting in loads of dirt wherever I wanted, helping me with plantings (sometime even unplanting and replanting, with never a word of complaint), taking me to the masonry yard to pick out bricks, to the lumber yard to pick out cedar boards for the deck, to the nursery to pick up plants, etc. etc. On top of all this incredible service and skill, Tom's pricing is always fair, and even with his supervising the various construction projects (highly recommended) I estimate that the costs for these was about 1/3 less than quotes I had received from individual tradespeople and about 1/2 of what it would have cost if a landscape design company had done everything (plus, I doubt the results would have been as good, since most don't have Tom's connections to skilled tradespeople). Summing up: Tom's a gem; I recommend him and his company with no reservations whatsoever.