Randar in Toronto

We contacted Kelley to discuss some smoke coming into our basement and potentially a chimney liner. He spent probably close to an hour on the phone as we discussed the problem. Instead of doing a repair that he felt wasn't necessary, he actually gave me some very good ideas on how to fix the issue without an expensive repair. As a thank you, I plan to use them for my next cleaning.

Sometimes it's not what you do; it's how you handle a mistake. I got them to clean my chimney, but there for some reason there was quite a lot of creosote left. I contacted their customer care and that is where it got interesting. They apologized, refunded my money and even sent a second tech to re-clean it, and to figure out what happened. Overall, they bent over backwards to fix their mistake. I don't think I've ever seen a company try harder when something went wrong. But I couldn't give them a 5 because of their mistake, but they deserve a 4 for how they acted after.

After giving Integrity Roofers a call because of a leaking roof, Shawn came over and gave me the cost for a reasonable cost for the fix. But after some discussion, we decided to replace our aging roof. His team came over as soon as the weather allowed and did a great job on the fix, communicating and cleanup. Now here is the most amazing part. After the work was done, Shawn calls me up and tells me they made a mistake and overcharged me for the materials due to a miscalculation. As a result, they took 1K off the final bill! Integrity Roofers is their name and it’s appropriate. I feel like many other contractors out there would have just pocketed the difference and I can tell you I would not have noticed. They truly have Integrity!

Strong Plumbing did a great job! Valentin did a thorough investigation and took the time to walk me through the problem. We brainstormed about potential solutions and I never felt pressured. The next day his crew (Denys and Oleh) showed up and got right to work. Both did a great job, very courteous, explained what they were doing and did a great job cleaning up at the end.

There are a number of reasons I am giving Steve M at Mason Restoration 10 stars. I tried to get quotes to get my steps re-done from 8 different places and all the other quotes were either significantly higher or they wouldn’t bother responding at all. Steve came over, we worked through some options, he gave me a quote and we were on our way. Another reason is communication. For example at one point he said he would get bricks to match the front of our house. When I got home, the bricks did not match exactly. In the morning he knocked on my door and told me all the challenges they had in finding something similar and how this was the closest. It didn’t look bad, but he made sure that I was OK with the choice they had made. Now that it’s done, I’m very happy with the work.

I originally used Joe some time ago for a dryer that was leaving oil stains. He was honest about not being sure if he could fix it, charged a very reasonable amount, and was very knowledgeable and patient. Although he was great, I would have given him an 8 at the time, only because he didn’t actually fix the issue in the end. I am giving him a 9 now because I have called him twice since that time with different problems, described my problem in detail and asked him the question of “should I get you to fix it or should I just replace it”. Both times, he suggested replacing it, even though he could have charged me for work. It’s nice to see an honest contractor and will definitely call him again.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The Good: They came very quickly, were very nice and professional and fixed our outdoor plumbing within 48 hours on the weekend. The Bad: They did warn us there might be more work and once they were done, said it would be another $4,000 to replace the plumbing, damaged by roots, all the way to the street. I asked to see the camera and they showed me a number of hairline roots that were “ticking time bombs”. We live in a nice house, but have had a bad few months for money and told them we couldn’t afford it right now. Plus, it didn’t look that bad to me. The Ugly: The next day, our toilet overflowed with sewage again. This time, my wife called the city to see if they could do anything. They came by quickly, did an inspection and found the problem with the roots was clearly on city property, not our property. I asked them directly and they said that fixing the pipes on our property would not have fixed the problem, it was clearly a city problem and we would have been ripped off 4K. So I’m really thankful my wife saved us all that money and I’m not likely to use Mr. Rooter again.