Paul in Toronto

If you hear the words, “Leave that to me.” from Bill Tang of KNT electric, go mix yourself a cocktail because your job is done. Bill stepped in after an incompetent electrician had left us with a mass of code violations, half wired rooms with no power or rooms with reversed polarity, sparking outlets, ceiling fixtures that were left hanging and/or smoking pot lights. Lights would come on with no reason and turn off by themselves. The breaker panel had been compromised, the house was not grounded and we had no idea if the knob and tube that was supposed to be removed by the first electrician, had in fact, been removed and or worse, what it had been replaced with. Further complicating matters was the fact that our basement was being turned into an apartment and the contractor for that job, had his own electrician for that particular project. It was mess and so were we by the time KNT stepped into the picture. From the friendly, efficient and quiet electricians employed by Bill to the dust cloths over the furniture and the cat’s food and water dishes someone thoughtfully moved to a room with less action that particular day, to the daily check-ins Bill made to answer our questions and provide progress reports, to the truly skillful fishing of wire through our lath and plaster walls and the insignificant damage to same when a new outlet or switch was required, it was a flawlessly executed project. Bill dropped by a few days before the city’s electrical inspection to ensure everything was as it should be that none of his work had been compromised by our renovation still in progress. He need not have bothered. We sailed through the inspection. Outstanding.

I recommend without reservation, Master's Plumbing and John Tsuluhas, its owner. Master's fall about mid point on the $$$$ scale I think. They aren't cheap but there are those out there that will charge a hell of a lot more. They've done some fairly complicated work for us. They were two of them here for an entire day. I wish I had got their names but they didn't stop and then they were gone. The work they did was flawless and knowing something about plumbing myself, I have high standard. They were polite, worked without fuss and they cleaned up after themselves. When I went to the basement to look at their work, (I'm being perfectly honest here), I first had to find it because it was so well executed, it was practically camouflaged in the ceiling joists and wall studs. The other two plumbers who provided quotes on the job said it could not be done. It was then I noticed that they had replaced a leaking furnace shut off that I had not got around to taking care of. It was certainly not part of their scope of work. No charge. These guys are the real deal. Masters deserving of the title. Outstanding. Paul Vivian Paul

The tear down of a rotting chimney and its reconstruction was handled by Wilkens Contacting Inc. I am entirely serious when I write that the new chimney is a thing of beauty. The point work is flawless. I told my partner my only disappointment was that the damn thing wasn't on the front porch where everyone could see it. The chimney is shared with my semi-detached neighbour and there was a question as to the appropriate cap for her side of the installation as she was having her furnace replaced. I found the crew's concern that the work be finished appropriately to the point of scheduling their break around my efforts to locate her, as telling as the quality of the brickwork itself. Ernie suggested I have a roofing company handle the flashing of the new chimney as our roof is currently on life support and the job was best handled by specialists. I did hire a roofing company but I had forgotten to inform them that the chimney work was happening that day. It turned out to be of no concern because after climbing to the roof to see how things were progressing, I found that the roofing contractor was there already. Without prompting from me, Wilkens had contacted them and coordinated the work to ensure the flashing was installed immediately after the chimney was capped. I suppose I've become a little too immune to paying top dollar for mediocre product but this consideration momentarily left me slack-jawed with amazement. I hardly need to add that the area was left cleaner then before the crew from Wilkens first walked on it. In the years my partner and I have been restoring our home, we have hired many different contractors for jobs both large and small. Until I hired Wilkens Contacting, I had never had the pleasure of hiring a company that didn't simply meet a quality standard, it set one. Bravo. Paul Vivian