Aimy in Toronto

A colleague with backgrounds in Architecture and Civil Engineering recommended Greening Homes to us, and with that endorsement we decided to explore the company to help us with underpinning and finishing our basement. We decided to go with GH for 2 reasons. First, Connor Malloy was so incredibly kind and patient with us in explaining how working with GH would unfold. I have overseen/paid for several large renovations in the past few years, and as a female, I have dealt with an unfortunate amount of patronization and sexism. This wasn’t the case with Connor at all. He was so respectful and friendly. When he saw that the price tag of the renovation was beyond what we had first expected, he did not pressure us to proceed and even encouraged us to consider the benefits of waiting to do the renovation. This really impressed me. The 2nd reason we decided to proceed with GH was their billing process. They invoice weekly based on the work that was done the week prior. We are both engineers (and therefore very detail oriented people), and we definitely appreciated (and were wowed) that they would demonstrate this level of detail with such transparency. The project management behind their process really impressed us. The GH process revolves around an environmental approach, and since my husband and I are both environmentalists that definitely struck a chord with us too. Regarding the actual work: GH was on site every business day to work from 8-5. There may have been a handful of days that someone was not working, but this was rare. Let me be clear – this is totally unusual in my past experience! Rogelio was our site supervisor and lead carpenter, and Peter was also a carpenter for our project, and they were on site throughout the project. They were always so considerate of our family living through the construction, especially the little kids. They did beautiful work with such care and professionalism. I always got the impression that they weren’t here just to clock in their hours or get their work over with, but rather they were here to create something beautiful and of the highest quality. And, they really did do just that. Our finished basement is beautiful and we look at it and feel so good about the quality. The other amazing thing about our experience was working with Johanna Grönberg, who was our project manager. She met with us every week, often accompanied by Mike Franciosa (Operations Manager) to discuss the decisions that had to be made every step of the way. Both Johanna and Mike were fantastic! Mike always offered sincere and practical advice throughout. Johanna was incredibly patient with us every step of the way, from discussing where the sump pump should go to which door knob to install. She even took us shopping to help us select our tiles, sink, fixtures etc. On top of that, she would randomly bring us pastries and pizza. Looking back, I think the most valuable thing Johanna did for me was to advocate for me. She always made sure I had a voice and pushed to make sure the renovation details were what we wanted. Simply put, Johanna is gold. She is highly knowledgeable, creative, friendly, and patient. We will always be thankful for her outstanding work. The total cost of our renovation was significantly more than we had initially hoped. However, Johanna was always keeping us informed of the costs involved and any changes along the way. We saw the value in the renovation and the level of project management that came along with it – which ultimately ensured that we had a highly professional team doing high quality work with high quality materials. In the past and in projects in our neighbourhood, we have seen people cut corners and work unsafely. This was never the case with GH. Our renovation was worth every penny, and we are delighted with our new basement.