Gordon Ballantyne in Edmonton

I liked my last 3 or 4 projects I've done with PF to go back again. I have my upstairs kitchen and baths done with PF counter. I found the matching counter to my kitchen in the factory seconds section to be used in my basement suite kitchen reno - there was no marked flaws on it and it was longer than I needed. They cut to aprox 8 feet long and finished the end I needed for $130 instead of around double that if I would have ordered a fresh countertop. Aprox 6 years ago I had them come out an quote and install aprox 70 feet of counter top in kitchen , on bathroom vanity and kitchen telephone desk. It has held up very well, still looks good. There was 3 big mitre corners in the U shaped kitchen. plus a custom raised bar eating area- nice work.

I remodeled alot of my basement and added and cut out portions of walls, had it all drywalled and needed somone to mud and sanding finish it off. I Interviewed quite a few guys from there Kijijij ads. Victor is a young confident polish guy- offered a good price and ability to start soon and be flexible as to when he could work. I went on gut instinct and found a diligent worker who did a very good job. Cleaned up a few sanding details promptly before payment. I did no find anything significantly wrong with his work out in the open and he fixed some wonky wall joins etc. The only spots I had to watch before painting were a little bit of sanding along botton where baseboard might of hid and in one of my dark corners needed a very small amount of sanding. Great guy, great work.

Bought a never used garage heater that looks the same as a new $1000 one. Paid $275 off Kijiji and then saw Air Centrals ad on Kijiji and had them out for a quote , Tim was personable " a nice guy", he had same price as other companies. Because I had so many other companies out, I started to confuse what and how exactly I believed the job would be finished and through the process I made comment to what I expected and he said "You Assume Alot" The quality of the 50 feet of HARDLINE gas line looks good, I thought more of it was going to be hidden inside the walls(the reason I paid more for hard pipe). Tim came out to trouble shoot the furnace after the installers couldn't get it going- it would cycle but no heat. He replaced the circuit board for $250- It heats fine now. I don't like how noisy the mounting system is that they used- most guys I talked to said they'd put an L bracket on both sides and mount to the ceiling. TIM's install uses a pair of rods and track install that vibrates and buzzes alot when the unit is blowing heat. I then got a new $300 furnace from a buddy and asked for a furnace swap quote and to install the 10 year old furnace from my basement into a loft space and add new dusting. Tim's quote was around $4400- I told him that price didn't seem right to me after just paying $1500 for one furnace that needed $800- $1000 of gas line depending who you talk to. I called another furnace installer off Kijiji and they quoted me half at $2200 and proposed even more metal work that Tim's quote included. I like Tim and the team, I'd recommend them.

Tried to order a window to increase the window exit size(egress) to meet city of Edmonton code for secondary basement suites. Durabilt could not make a window that met egress for my opening unless I cut concrete window opening larger. I didn't want to go to that expense if it was not necessary. I found Jeld- Wen to have a narrower dimension frame that gave me the proper egress without cutting concrete. The window cost aprox $40 more than similar size Durabilt window - but I still saved alot of money over cutting concrete. Quoted to be ready in 3-4 weeks - purchased just before Christmas and it was ready as promised.

For basement reno I needed proper egress as my window exits were too small. The windows were ordered just before Christmas and completed 4 weeks later as they said it would be. My fault I never measured the window after it arrived to see if it was the size I ordered, it took a bit of extra concrete chipping to get it in. I ordered one from a different company and it came the perfect size. It looks to be a good product.

I found Dan on Kijiji , he was able to quote quickly and price seemed to be in line with other quotes. I liked his work but not his billing system. Math mistake of +$50 in his favor was easily corrected. Was paying $50 per hour and he included eating lunch and leaving a little early- when I calmly pointed this out to him- he called it nickle and dime-ing- It added up to over a half hour and he think that's ok- I think it's nickle and dime-ing me. There was also 2 undisclosed titles on the bill called material- he would not disclosure the cost of the materials totalling close to $500 nor what he was marking them up by. I prefer working with open disclosing contractors with a system- the materials cost X and I charge you ie. 20% on top for pick up delivery etc..

Upgrading basement suite in 50 year old house to comply with City of Edmonton Secondary suite program. Pierre is doing the fire rated suspended ceiling and heat ducks, electrical, etc etc. He's doing a fine job for a fair price. He was referred to me and I'd refer him to others.