Alison in Toronto

One day all of my kitchen ceiling pot lights just stopped working. I did some research online and guessed that the culprit might be the dimmer switch, so I bought a normal on/off switch to replace the dimmer switch... but then I decided it would be better to get Sean over to check it out because what if the problem wasn't the dimmer switch?? So I texted Sean to arrange an appointment and described the problem, and sent him some photos of the existing switch and the replacement that I'd bought, and to make a long story short- he diagnosed that it was the dimmer switch causing the problem and talked me through replacing the switch myself right then and there!! And now my lights are working again! Thanks Sean!!

I am so glad to have found Imran on Homestars. Our gas fireplace suddenly stopped working, and at first I thought I would try to take it apart myself but then quickly realized I just didn't feel comfortable fiddling around with a gas appliance myself! I called Imran and he was able to come to our house a few days later. He immediately set to work, taking the fireplace completely apart and showing me exactly what he was doing. He was quickly able to identify and fix the problem in the receiver unit. He also thoroughly cleaned every piece of the structure, repositioned the logs and adjusted the oxygen intake so the flame now looks so much more realistic than before (it used to be overly blue and fake-looking, I always thought). I can honestly say the fireplace looks better now than it ever has since it was installed three years ago. Imran really takes pride in his work and it shows in the end product. We tried to give him a tip but he wouldn't accept it. I will definitely be calling him to service the fireplace again in future, and I will be recommending him to my friends and family. Thanks again Imran!!

I called Sean based on his homestars reviews and the fact that he was willing to do small jobs like mine. We arranged a convenient appointment time via text and he told me his (very reasonable) hourly rates. On the appointed day he arrived promptly and replaced my dining room pendant and two outdoor fixtures quickly and efficiently and he also replaced our outdoor socket which kept short-circuiting. He was able to accomplish all this in 2 hours. I am very happy to have found Sean and will definitely use his services again in future when we need an electrician!

Around 10 years ago when we were living in a big spacious lofty apartment we had a very large leather L-shaped couch specially made to fit our living room. It was 10 feet by 8 feet and it fit perfectly into that space. Fast forward 10 years and we are now living in a house with normal sized rooms(!) and this couch that we love is simply too big. It's still in great shape though and we didn't want to get rid of it so we had a look on Homestars and found Burkcraft. Berkeley did an great job reducing the size of our couch to something more manageable (8ft x 7ft). He also cleaned the leather so that it now looks like a brand new couch! He was able to schedule us in quickly and did the job in a couple of days. We are very happy with the results. Thanks Berkeley!

I had a bad experience with my local Hunter Douglas distributor (to sum it up - after being given an estimate in the store that seemed reasonable based on my own measurements, the sales rep comes to my house, finds the windows are actually smaller than the measurements I'd given them, but then sends me a quote more than 50% higher than the original estimate. Huh?!? Needless to say I didn't go any further with that company). After reading the glowing reviews on Homestars for Kingsway Carpets and Blinds I thought it would be worth making the trip across town to their store -- and it definitely was. Everyone I dealt with (in-store, on the phone and in my house) provided great customer service, was straightforward, knew their products and made useful recommendations based on my requirements. I ended up getting two motorized black-out blinds for my two big ceiling skylights and one manual black-out blind for my slanted roof window, and all for significantly less than the original estimate from the first place I went to! The installation took place around 3 weeks after I placed my order. The installer was also great - he knew his stuff and made it all look easy, even the installation of the blind on the skylight above my 3rd floor staircase. When he was all done he took away all the mess and packaging. The blinds look great and have made a huge difference on our 3rd floor - they really block out the light and heat from the sun. I highly recommend Kingsway Carpets & Blinds if you are shopping for Hunter Douglas blinds for your skylights.

After heavy rain and a burst pipe we needed repairs to the ceilings in two rooms. I phoned Perfect Painters since I had used them before for a painting job and they were great. As this job was going to take a few days Andrea recommended the Handyman of the Day service. Omid was able to complete the job in less time than originally booked and in his spare time he caulked all the cracks in the woodwork in our house (and there were many of those!) The end result is our ceilings look better than ever and the rest of the woodwork in the house looks great thanks to all the caulking he was able to do. I am very happy with the workmanship and certainly plan to use Perfect Painters again in the future.

We came back from a weekend away to find our pipes were frozen, with no cold water coming out of the kitchen or bathroom sinks. The next morning the weather thawed and the water started running again, but then the pipe burst, sending water cascading through our basement ceiling. I turned the water off and started phoning plumbers however with record low temperatures we experienced over the weekend it seemed like everyone else had the same problem as me! Fortunately Public Plumbing was able to send someone to our house later that day. Their plumber, Nick, arrived in the early afternoon and was quickly able to find the leak in the pipe, which he replaced, tested and had the water back on by around 3pm. I am very happy with the service provided by Public Plumbing today.

We needed to get two bedrooms painted so we purchased the Painter for a Day service at Merry's recommendation. I called on a Monday and she was able to schedule us in that Friday. Rick, our painter, arrived on time and was able to paint both rooms beautifully and he also managed to paint the inside of our front door and he fixed a DIY patch job that we had done ourselves (badly) in our TV room -- all in that one day. When I got home from work that day the house was spotless and all leftover paint was neatly put away in our storage cupboard. What a great experience. I will DEFINITELY use Perfect Painters for any future paint jobs and I will also be recommending this company to friends and family.

We bought two very comfortable armchairs for our TV room at a hotel liquidator for a great price but they were covered in hideous fabric - so we brought them to TJ to be reupholstered in leather. It was difficult to choose amongst the beautiful leather samples that Milton showed us however in the end we went with an olive green leather with nail head trim around the bottom of the chairs. Milton did a superb job reupholstering the chairs - they are still very comfortable but now they are beautiful to look at as well! Great workmanship and customer service. Highly recommended. Thanks Milton!

We chose HIP for our bathroom renovation primarily because they were able to squeeze us in before Christmas, which I really appreciated. Also, Dan’s quote was competitive, if a bit vague (in contrast to the other more detailed quotes that we obtained. I was a bit concerned that everything would be included in the HIP price, but I needn’t have worried - the final bill was exactly as quoted). Mien and his crew were great - diligent, meticulous and helpful. They dealt with the quirks and crooked walls/floors of our 100-year-old house and managed to create a beautiful, modern, functional bathroom in a space that had obviously been badly renovated in the past. We are very happy with the end result. One small quibble: as my husband and I both work full-time we would have preferred that the crew started earlier in the morning (before 8:30 am) but this is a minor issue/personal preference. I will certainly recommend HIP to my friends and relatives. (Edit - Added another star to this review for stellar after sales service by Mien - June 2015)

Dmitri lives up to his 10 star reviews! He is an excellent tile-setter. He made a good suggestion on grout colour for our white subway tiles and he did a wonderful job laying the tiles especially around an exposed corner. We had some unforeseen issues getting the old tiles off the wall but he was able to resolve this issue quickly and the job was complete within one day as he had previously advised us. We are thrilled with how the new backsplash has transformed our kitchen! We are very happy with the service he and his team provided and would definitely hire Tilestars again.

Ekocouture created beautiful blackout curtains for our bedroom. We have a large bright bay window with a streetlight outside the window and very bright early morning sun. The new curtains are beautiful, elegant and very effective at blocking out the light. The whole process from selecting the fabric to measuring the space to installation proceeded quickly and easily. The owners are great to work with. We will definitely return to Ekocouture for our living room window treatments. Thanks Irene and Viggo!