RJ (Harbord Village)

We called them in to fix our dishwasher, which wasn't draining properly. The technician who did not inspire a lot of faith, he arrived without any kind of protection for the floors in our condo, told us there was a service fee that would be included in the price of repairs. He then diagnosed that the pump had failed (which made sense), but also that we needed a new motor (which made no sense as the dishwasher, worked). He needed to order a new motor. We waited, called them, the wrong part had been ordered. Should have been a red flag. Waited another week, technician called in sick, rescheduled for 3 days later. We waited, technician called in sick again. We then read the reviews, which we should have done in the first place and realized the company was not interested in providing the service you pay for. Asked for refund for the part, was told re-stocking fees and a cheque will be mailed. We will see.

After a windstorm knocked a neighbour's tree into our backyard we lost not only fencing and deckling but our television and internet connection. Because the tree fell over four different properties we had to coordinate with our neighbours for removal. Because there was so many downed trees after the storm it was difficult to get anyone to come out right away. Anson from Enviro Tree Care came out quickly and was able to give each homeowner a separate invoice for removal. His crew was friendly, fast and efficient helping us to begin the process of reconstruction in our backyards.

After a bathroom renovation we discovered a leak in an old skylight. We tried to fix the problem ourselves but the leak continued and in the end we searched for a reliable skylight company. Skylights Unlimited came highly recommended on Home Stars and so we called them. Everything was straight-forward and seamless. Denis came out and was able to asses the situation and recommend a replacement skylight. The crew that came out was polite, quick and careful. Everything was finished in one afternoon leaving us with a clean and worry free new skylight. Thank you Skylights Unlimited.

Darby and his crew were able not only to solve the problem of a persistent water leak in our basement but in the process helped us understand what caused the leak in the first place. Like a lot of older Toronto homes our house was troubled by a high water table which was finding a way into our basement through a seam between the original stone foundation and a concrete underpin that had been done at some point in the past. They addressed the problem from the outside and unfortunately when that did not solve the problem Darby was happy to address the problem from the inside. Although the process is messy, dirty and frustrating, Darby and his crew made everything as comfortable as possible, making sure we understood the process and everything that was being done. We would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone in the future.

After tendering the replacement of an old furnace and A/C system (from a 1980s renovation) to three different HVAC companies we decided on Laird & Son. They had been recommended by our Home Inspector (Rob from HomeCore Inc.) and we were warned that while they provided good service it would be expensive. Of the three tenders, we decided on Laird & Son because of their knowledge base. They were not the cheapest but made us feel the most comfortable with such a large project. In the end everything was seamless, they came and replaced the furnace and A/C with a new high efficiency system. We have a very small basement (it is a 100 year old house) and they were able to install everything with very little change to the existing use of space, leaving us more room than we expected. Although there were a couple of scheduling problems I would recommend Laird & Son to anyone seeking to replace any HVAC system.