Bloordale

Ken sent out a team led by Alex and the title says it best. This is the second time that either Ken or his team have come out for periodic cleaning of my eavestroughs and downspouts and it continues to be a great experience.

Building Ideas replaced my 40-year-old gas furnace, installed the first central A/C in the house and also did some unassociated electrical installation. The considerations* I had in pre-selecting Building Ideas were: 1) A company with good reviews overall, a sufficient number of reviews for comfort, only good reviews; 2) Licensing and insurance; 3) Years in business; 4) Photographs of the workmanship; 5) Relative proximity; and 6) Warranty. Jose was quick to respond and when he came in for the quote he was on time, was able to answer my questions and subsequently provided a timely, written quote. Jose provided all the supporting documentation for the licensing and insurance, agreeable payment terms and a clear timeline for the work. An added factor in my deciding for Jose to do the work was that he is a licensed electrician. This was important to me because the first-time installation of A/C requires a dedicated electrical line from the panel – something that other bidding companies were willing to do despite not being licensed for such work. Also in favor of Jose was that he exceeded the licensing minimums I was looking for – he has a G1 certification (a G3 needs supervision, a G2 works unsupervised up to 400,000 BTU and a G1 can do 400,000BTU and over gas installations) and he has a 313A license (a 313D is for a residential A/C mechanic and a 313A is for >3ton systems). Jose was one of the team of three people who completed the work, which was important for me because of the licensing. After the work Jose took the initiative of registering my equipment for the extended (10 year) warranty, which was a helpful gesture. …And I neglected to mention that Jose usually works with Payne equipment (a sub brand of Carrier) with a good reputation for dependability. *Added notes to those above: 1) I sought out a company with only good reviews because where there is a bad review you are left with some doubt – and I am not suggesting that all customers are reasonable, but if you can also select a service provider with no negative reviews, that gives you a higher level of comfort; 2) I asked for evidence of Licensing (gas technician – minimum G2 – and refrigeration mechanic – minimum 313D), Worker’s Compensation coverage and Liability Insurance; 5) This can impact travel time, costs and response for future maintenance; 6) I sought both equipment warranty and work warranted for a year – as I understand it, unless you use a licensed installer you will not benefit from full warranty coverage on the equipment. I should add that I used diverse resources in my research (friends who had similar work done, Google searches, TrustedPros, the BBB) and that I ended up concluding that HomeStars was the best resource for selecting a service provider. Although friend recommendations seem like a best resource – I found that my friends did not necessarily ensure that the installers they used were licensed, had Worker’s Compensation coverage or liability insurance. In several cases they received only verbal quotes. In more than one instance, my friends found that getting the installer back to look at a problem was itself problematic. The A/C has been running almost continuously over the last three, very hot weeks and all is well thus far. I look forward to engaging Jose for routine maintenance – a last important consideration!