Angela from Ottawa

Our history with OGC started over 10 years ago and this was our third project with them. After cooling down for two months, we still couldn’t believe that OGC managed to close our project in five months. The project scope included 2nd floor addition and existing rooms redone, exterior house renovation (change siding to stone and stucco), first floor office and laundry room update, front entrance, garage, and stairs/railing refinish, and partial foundation work. This is a great achievement given the supply chain challenges and Covid situations. We signed the contract in Nov. 2020 after many rounds of revisions. Nick was very patient with us and addressed many of the questions we had. Meeting with him on ZOOM saved us lots of time from traffic. Designer Alain was superb, whenever we had any questions, we could hear from him within 24 hours. The official construction started in April 2021 as planned without delay and we asked for Andrew to be our project manager due to our positive experiences with him on our previous project. Within a month, Andrew got promoted and he handed over our project to Abdull. At that time, we were not sure if our project would receive the same level of attention and care. After several weeks, we realized that our project was in good hands with Abdull. Throughout the project, Abdull had been on top of things all the time. He maintained daily communication with us and provided weekly project schedule updates for the upcoming weeks. He was very organized and detail-oriented and almost every day we had some contractors working on the site without much down times. He also made efforts to coordinate with some of the special trades that we signed on our own. In addition, Abdull was very hands on himself and not afraid to roll-up the sleeves to fix things or get things done. We really appreciated his efforts and the entire OGC team. OGC also honoured the contract terms and absorbed the significant lumber price increases in the first half of 2021 for framing related work. There were a couple of areas we feel there is room for improvement: 1. Scope of Work could be written in simple language for clients to comprehend, and some details in the drawing could be updated to match the SoW or vice versa; 2. We had seen some staff turnovers during our projects which slowed down some works. Given the hot renovation/construction markets right now, it was inevitable and OGC is not alone in this respect. Overall, we were very pleased with OGC and the project team Abdull/John and others (e.g. Mahr) to get our project done. We have received many positive comments from our neighbours and passerbys for the quick speed and final look of our renovated house. Andrew/Abdull, We will enjoy our newly renovated house for a while before thinking of other things for you to fix. Stay tuned.... Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! David & Angela

Renovating a house, especially one built in 1950s, could be a daunting idea. After waiting for a couple of years, we decided to go ahead with the project while working from home during the COVID-19 period. One of the major aspects was to find a contractor who has the experience in replacing the old cedar siding with some material that is more durable. After interviewing a couple of contractors, we booked Rajab Contracting due to their Durock distributor status. Even though our project was delayed about two months from the original schedule, Faddy (co-owner) always returned our phone calls to ensure that they would make themselves available whenever our house was ready for the siding work. As promised, as soon as our house was ready, they came with a big crew. From setting up scaffolding, applying waterproofing and multiple layers of stucco materials, they completed the project within a week. Shaddy (co-owner) worked on site everyday and cleaned the surrounding as if this was his own house. Once the project was over, he even provided the scaffolding to the window installer for free to allow him work on the second floor windows with ease. In addition, both Faddy and Shaddy painted the bricks at the back of our house during the weekend. Even though this is our first time to contract Rajab to work on our house, we highly recommend their service to anyone who's looking for a stucco contractor.

Updates: 1. It took 7 months for the Ministry to complete the investigation; 2. I sent follow up inquiry to Alpha Seal as per owner's feedback, but no response when to get the remaining $500 deposit as of Oct. 2. ========================================== I signed a floor tile renovation contract with Alpha Seal Construction on Jan. 30, 2014. After the owner took $900 deposit, no one showed up to complete the work. As of today, I only received $400 refund. After going through the Ontario Ministry of Government and Consumer Services appealing process, I still didn't hear any response. Please consult the official Consumer Beware List posted on the Ministry's website before signing any contract with Alpha Seal. http://www.consumerbeware.mgs.gov.on.ca/catsct/detailinfo.do?i=0&page=1 Ottawa

After learning the furnace pipes were out-of-date from a house inspector, I called up The Energy Center. Their three service technicians came to our house within two weeks and replaced all the pipes to meet the latest standards. One Chinese technician even worked over the weekend to have everything completed before leaving us behind. Excellent job!

Excellent and vast choices of ceramic tiles. Its prices and choices beat any other tile retailers (at least 5) that I visited. Anyone who's looking for tiles, please check out this store. Angela

Tony did a great job on my kitchen floor. He removed the old ceramic tiles and replaced with the new ones with 24x24 inches. Many contractors declined to work on the large size tiles because of the level of complexity; but Tony completed the job on time and within budget. Very responsible and humble guy! I highly recommend his service to anyone who looks for contractor to do flooring work.

Before we put our house on the market, we didn't know we had issues with our electric panel. Until the house inspector showed us the double wired breakers on the pictures, we realized the existing panel needs some updates so as to meet the latest electrical codes. The first electrician who came to our house to do estimation advised that we need to change the large panel as there is no physical space available to accommodate a small panel. Changing the large panel means we not only need to pay for the more expensive panel, but also to get the ESA and Hydro Ottawa permits to shut off the power for one day to do the work. This would require approximately one month waiting period, which is not an ideal solution when the house is still on the market. After my husband invited Bryan to visit our house, Bryan suggested to move the close by HRVC pipe for a few inches so a pony panel can be installed besides the large panel. As soon as we accepted the quote, James and his two assistants came to our house the following day to make the project happen. After the big job was over, they didn't mind spending some extra time to change the bathroom light whose transformer was broken. Though fixing a light is a small job, it shows the crew truly cared about customers' needs and happiness. In short, our first experience with Ring Electric was excellent! The whole project ran seamless, the staff were courteous and professional, and the advice and work were outstanding! Thank you Bryan, James and your crew for your excellency! Angela and David