San from Toronto

This review is long overdue. Over the summer of 2020, Edgar and his team transformed my backyard into a beautiful landscape based on designs that I had created. It was a challenging job with a lot of details and unique design elements. I interviewed many companies and what set Edgar apart from the rest was that he was willing to build whatever I could imagine. With other contractors there were too many limitations - they either worked with natural stones or concrete pavers (but not both) and none were able to do custom carpentry work which was a major element in my design. With Edgar, if I could design it, he could build it in any material I wanted. It was a one stop shop. The job took months to complete and like any big job not everything went perfectly. However, when a mistake or issue came up they dealt with it professionally and with integrity. I will share this story and you can be the judge. One patio was built out of natural clay bricks that I had ordered from a South Carolina company in the US as I wanted an authentic English cottage garden look. The crew had almost finished laying the bricks in a herringbone pattern. I noticed then that the bricks were not following a straight line which made the herringbone pattern look weird. This was actually not the crew’s fault. It had to do with the fact that the bricks were handmade so they were not perfectly square and each one was unique so it was impossible to lay them in straight line. I was quite heartbroken about this but I told Edgar that I will just have to live with it. Edgar came on site to have a look and was not happy with the result either. He started picking up the bricks and relaying them until he came up with a way to lay the herringbone pattern at a different angle so that the lines are not so obvious. He had the crew lift all the bricks and relay them and that made a world of difference. I was genuinely moved that he fixed a problem that wasn’t his fault because he knew I wasn’t happy. Once done, this is what Cactus built for us: beautiful natural stone retaining wall, first patio using concrete pavers, second patio using natural clay bricks, concrete bunker so that our hot tub could be half submerged below grade, advanced/custom carpentry work: garden gate, trellis, backroom screen, cedar fence, garden shed made of ipe wood. We are very pleased with the result and it will only get better over time as the garden grows and flourish to complement the hardscape and wood work.

I hired George and his company to install a new mid-efficiency boiler and water heater for our house. Over a period of several months, I interviewed many highly rated contractors and did a lot of research on boilers. I wanted a boiler that would last over 30 years, require min repairs and maintenance, and reduce our heating bills. Many of the companies I contacted pushed high-efficiency boilers which were a lot more expensive and does not last nearly as long as cast-iron mid-effiency boilers. When I met with George, he listened to my needs and concerns and recommended to me a boiler that he thought met my goals rather than pushing a particular product that he wanted to sell. He was also very knowledgable and responsive to my many questions. All of these things made me feel comfortable with George and made me felt confident that I chose the right company after a very lengthy due diligence process. Another thing that set George apart from others was that he responded very quickly to my questions or requests for additional info. His response, whether by email or phone, was almost instantaneous even though he has a very busy schedule. I always felt taken care of and, most importantly, this kind of treatment carried through after I hired his company. There are times when it becomes very difficult to reach a sells person after they get the job but this was clearly not George's policy! The installers, Alley and Peter, did a great job and worked very hard to make sure I was happy with everything. At first the boiler was not piped exactly as I had wanted and to re-pipe it would take a good part of another day. However, George and the guys were happy to make the corrections because of their complete dedication to customer satisfaction. The installation looks very clean and neat and that was exactly what I wanted. I hope that we will have many many years of reliable heating and hot water from our beautifully installed boiler and water heater! Thank you George for really caring about customer service and quality and also a big thanks to Alley and Peter for working so hard to achieve a perfect installation! It was a real pleasure to work with such good people.