Nate

This is the 3rd time we have hired Classic Home Inspections (my 2 earlier reviews go in to much more detail, so I will spare you here). Once again Brent was excellent and delivered exactly what we have come to except from him. This is the 2nd time this spring he was willing to travel north from the GTA (4 hrs!) to inspect a house for us. He was on time, professional, and very thorough. If we ever need, we will hire him again. We will also continue to recommend him widely!

This is the 2nd time we have used Classic Home Inspections. I contacted Brent again, really almost jokingly, to see if he would drive 4hr out of the GTA to do an inspection, and he didn’t hesitate (and it was a Saturday)! The house was a challenging one and we wanted an inspection before considering making an offer (lakefront and a high local water table; no central heating), and Brent was exceptionally thorough overall, and in particular to check for evidence of leakage in the basement. He spent about 4hr for the inspection of this relatively small house. He got on the roof and in the attic and went in all outbuildings (including a frozen-shut dilapidated boathouse that took some time), took lots of pictures that correspond to his written report (and they were available to us early the next morning online), and was more than happy to walk me through what he was doing in real time. He is very experienced and sharp and he is also a very pleasant, professional, and friendly person to work with. The plethora of top-notch Homestars reviews are in line with our personal experience.. Brent and Classic Home Inspections are absolutely excellent!

We had SNAP come to do a termite inspection to alleviate the concerns of a worried prospective home buyer. Joe was polite, professional, clearly an expert at his trade, and an all-around honest and friendly person. For the work done, the price was excellent and he even covered a small hole in one of our soffits with mesh that I brought to his attention after he arrived at our house with no extra charge! I would have no hesitation about using SNAP again or recommending them to anyone!! Thanks again for a great job!

We hired Natik to repair walls and repaint the majority (woodwork, doors, ceiling, walls) of our >130 year old home in Streetsville, and paint/refinish our kitchen cabinets (5 days of work with 3 people, 1 day with 4, and 1 day with 2). We met with 3 companies before hiring them, and for a great price, it was clear that Natik was going to do the job right (remove wallpaper where needed and in all of the principal rooms rather than just try to seal it all with oil based primer and paint). We first met with Tony who did a thorough walkthrough and gave us a quote the day after we first spoke on the phone. He and Natalie returned the next day (on a Sunday) to also meet with my wife and discuss colours and other options. They began work at 9am the next day. The scope of the work included stripping 3 and sometimes 4 layers of wallpaper from large, high walls and even ceilings in some rooms; extensive repairing of plaster and lath, and painting. On one bedroom ceiling they were able to repair otherwise nice textured paint/plaster with water damage very well while the other companies we inquired with said it could not be done. In the main hallways and living room they also used a glaze finishing effect, which looks fantastic (subtle and much cleaner than wallpaper but still smoothed out any unevenness of the old plaster). They consulted with us about every decision and had great ideas about colours and design. In one room they didn’t like how the colour looked from the previous evening and repainted it (we would have been fine with it)! In other cases after a room was painted they would see uneven spots and re-plaster and paint until they were happy with it. They really respected the age and style of our house and did not leave until everything was to both their satisfaction and ours. On a personal note, we felt exceptionally comfortable with them in and out of our house for more than 1 week- they are a respectful, polite, and sharp team and excellent at their work. They also take a great deal of pride from a job well done. Great work Natalie, Tony, and Stephen! We will recommend you widely.

I would recommend Advanced Tree Care without hesitation. We had 8 large older trees on our property that were flagged by a consulting arborist as being in need of maintenance quickly (3 requiring dynamic cables to prevent large branches from breaking). Kevin and his crew did this in one day and left our yard looking far better than it did when they arrived. They also were completely willing to follow the report from the arborist, which was nice because I think they also do similar consultation work as well. The crew was professional and excited about the work that they do. For the amount and complexity of the work they did, we were very happy with the price. We are going to hire them back to remove a large tree and prune and maintain the other trees on our property within the next year. I can't imagine anyone being dissapointed with their service.

We moved to an old house in Streetsville in August, and I have purchased all of the plumbing and building supplies I have used thus far (except lumber) from Streetsville Home Hardware as well as a number of medium priced tools (e.g. skillsaw, ladder, tree pruner) and had them custom cut glass for mer. This place truly offers a different experience than Rona or Home Depot. For being a locally owned (even if a franchise) store, the prices are always identical or very close (sometimes less, sometimes mores) to the big box stores, but the level of service exceptional. You see the same faces each time you enter, after my second trip in, they offered to custom order for me without any prepurchase or deposit, and they really know plumbing, electrical, and painting/surface prep work well! My only wish is that they also were a lumber yard.

Bill at Aiken and Laleff roofing is quite pleasant (very enthusiastic) and did exactly what he said (e.g. showed up to our meetings and began and finished work exactly on time). We got 4 quotes for our roof and Bill's was 3-4k less than the others (though about the amount that our home inspector, Classic Home Inspections, said the roof would cost when we bought the house last summer). My only complaint is the mess that was left behind (bits of shingles and nails), though my spending a full day cleaning up clearly was outweighed by the savings, and it was a good reminder to add/replace mulch around shrubs and trees (my neighbor may think I am crazy for shop vacuuming the lawn though)! The old shingles were also really friable, so perhaps this was unavoidable (friends I have talked to said that this is inevitable with nearly any roofers). I should also note that he stuck exactly to his quote- in spite of finding 3 layers of shingles in some spots on the roof! All other quotes indicated that they would charge more for this. Oh- his guys also repaired some loose shingles on our garage free of charge! Unless you have money to burn, I would highly recommend Bill!

Rudy and company are great! Glenwood rebuilt a chimney on our 130yo brick house as well as replaced other damaged bricks in a number of spots. We are going to have them back to do some general spot repointing within the next year. Rudy is very positive, knowledgeable, and clearly likes what he does. Mortar and brick color were well matched and care was taken not to use incompatible materials (e.g. contemporary mortar and old bricks apparently can't be used together). We recommend Glenwood strongly and will use them whenever we need masonry work!

Brent inspected a large house (over 120 years old) for us this week (we since have bought it!). He is funny, humble, and very straightforward. Beyond being exceptional at his job, it is also clear he loves his job. This made the whole process much enjoyable- a very nice and unexpected break from an otherwise very stressful home buying experience. Brent spent well over 4 hrs going through the house and garage with us and presented issues to us clearly, but without alarm. We would recommend him unconditionally to anyone!! We could write pages about how positive the experience was, but to keep the review short: we agree with all of the positive reviews on homestars.com, and to reiterate an earlier review, there really is no catch with Classic Home Inspections! Oh- it also was quite affordable given the size and complexity of the property. Keep up the great work Brent- the GTA is lucky to have you! Dana and Nate