Jim in East York

With the recent heavy rains, we had some water coming into our basement because the eves on one side of our house were extremely clogged with debris from our deteriorating roof. (We're having a new roof installed in a couple of weeks that I was trying to hold out for, but with heavy rains plus forecasts for more it became urgent to deal with it sooner rather than later.) I don't have a large ladder that can reach all the way to the third floor and the access to one side of the house between our neighbour's is quite narrow anyway so climbing up there myself would have been pretty risky. I figured pros with the right equipment could safely take care of it a lot more quickly than I could. I found Clear View on this site and decided to give them a call given the good quality and volume of reviews. Understandably things were busy, so Brian advised me to check out their website and use the online estimator and scheduler for quickest results. (That facility is great - the jobs get scheduled into their system automatically, and since it's all outside work you don't necessarily need to be home when they're there. They just do the work and leave the invoice in your mailbox. From there, you can pay online and you're all done.) Results were indeed quick. The job was completed the next day (that won't always happen of course, but I guess luckily they were going to be near my area and just slotted me in). I left the house for an errand around 10am, and when I returned around 1:30pm, they had come and gone. Our attic is finished with a dormer on the side where the eaves were most clogged, so I poured a couple of buckets of water out the window and watched the eve catch it and drain it away to confirm that everything was fine. the next day (today) there was a heavy downpour in the morning and I was very pleased that there was no more overflow from the eve as there had been previously. Thanks to Clear View for the prompt and quality service!

We had poor water pressure in our older home, so we decided to investigate upgrading to 3/4" service from 1/2". It made sense to take care of the upgrade first before doing other work in the basement, so I called in DrainWorks who I've used before. Armando got the call to come by to do the written estimate. He measured the distance involved from the property line to the destination inside the house, explained how the work would be done (two holes and tunneling rather than a giant trench) and advised me that I needed to obtain city permission to dig near a tree since one of the holes would need to be in the protective zone. (I spent several weeks on that front, but the city basically ignored me so I eventually decided to go ahead with the work anyway and take the risk of possible damage to the tree. There was none, the tree remains healthy, and I documented with photographs the hole to demonstrate that no major roots were damaged.) Between the time of the original estimate and the eventual work, I decided to have the service come through the basement floor in a little different area. Armando came by again to update the quote accordingly to accomodate my needs, and we scheduled the work. The crew of 2 showed up on time on the day the work was scheduled and Armando was there as well at the beginning to set up the job, spec'ing out where the service needed to come in. Andre and his partner worked very hard and fast to dig the holes. I had to leave for work for a while so my wife oversaw the rest of the job which was completed perfectly. One thing of note - Andre and his partner used some water to compact the soil they refilled in the holes then added some good topsoil they had brought and made everything level with the existing grade. On a previous job by another company, the crew left the hole as a big mound some 8" above grade, saying it would settle in time. A year later, I finally just levelled it off myself, which was annoying. Later that evening, another DrainWorks employee came by to do a final inspection of the work, scope our drains for us to make sure they were in good shape (they were, given recent replacement, though just over our property line on the city side he identified some roots starting to enter that we'll need to get addressed - good to know). All in all, the work was high quality, DrainWorks accomodated our requirements perfectly and followed up to ensure the work was done correctly.

This is a reivew of the latest job I've used DrainWorks for (the review of the second rather major one was rejected for some weird reason so I'll have to repost...) New problem in the same area as we drew on Phil's skills for before. The second job we used DrainWorks for was to replace our incoming water service with 3/4" service (old home which had 1/2" service from the main and poor water pressure throughout the house - some due to silly plumbing in the home but much to do with incoming service given results of a pressure test). Not surprisingly, one result was that some silly plastic couplings on copper supply lines in the main bathroom gave way (silly because plastic to copper is just stupid - I'm fairly sure the previous owner / handyman used them just because he thought space was tight without considering he had a whole other vertical dimension below to work in). See my first review for a description of the circumstances - but basically we have access to the bottom of the main bath from below... We had a fairly steady drip from one coupling over a couple of days. I toyed with taking a crack at re-routing the lines myself, but quarters were pretty tight and I didn't feel confident I could work in the area without starting a fire with a torch. Pros have encountered situations like this many times before and have the skills to do what is needed safely, so I figured it was well worth it to call one. Phil got the call for our location again and re-routed the lines as I specified. I wasn't able to be home that particular day, but my wife reported a pleasant experience and left Phil to his own devices after describing what we were looking for as a solution. So thanks very much to Phil and DrainWorks for the quality work in a timely manner.

We're on a corner lot, and have mature trees located in the back corner bordering both neighbours. Some large branches were overhanging one neighbour's house, and others were overhanging (and actually squishing) the other neighbour's tool shed. We decided to take action and my wife found McDonald on this site. We selected them given both the volume and quality of their reviews. The only reason this review is an 8 and not a 10 is that the scheduling process was a little strained. We scheduled a day and time for someone to come by and give us a quote, but they didn't show. After making special arrangements to be home during the day for that purpose and no one coming by, we called and learned that due to a snafu we were scheduled on one system but not the main one. So we had to rearrange the time for the quote to take place. Once the quote was given, a day and time was scheduled for the work to take place. Again after making special arrangements to be home (including access to our neighbour's yards as may be required), the job had to be moved to another day. I fully understand things like broken down trucks limiting your capabilities come up, but a little notice would have been nice given my wife took a day off work to be home, then I had to take a day a little later for when the work actually happened. Vacation days are precious and to waste them is rather frustrating. That said, when the work actually took place, the service was excellent. The crew showed up near the specified time, and the work was done according to the agreed quote. (I actually think they went above and beyond what was quoted given my wife's description of what was discussed during the quote versus the actual work done with several queries about what to remove and what to leave.) I asked several questions about how to manage the trees going forward and received good advice. So thanks very much to McDonald for the great work. But please try in the future to better communicate with your customers about scheduling. I suppose it would have been no problem if one member of the family stayed home all day, but when both of us work, being home requires juggling work schedules, so people need to be able to rely on things happening as scheduled or else get enough notice to modify plans.

Work happened in mid-2008 - finally posting now, so forgive the tardiness. This will be long but I believe value is in detail. We had water appearing through the ceiling below our main bathroom. There's a landing and stairway to the basement below that area, so we pulled down the drywall above and discovered the leak to be around the toilet drain. Yikes. I called one company which we had used on a prior project (way overpriced we learned later, but emergencies make you feel like you're backed into a corner and their reputation was pretty good - the work was very good but the price was way high) to have a look. The guy just kind of shone a flashlight around from below, had me flush the toilet while he watched the leak happen, took the toilet off the flange to see what could be seen, then headed out to the truck for 10-15min and came back with a quote for $2k to replace what amounted to about 18" of pipe (the toilet is very near the main stack) and a toilet flange - basically a "go away" type of quote. Having a second bathroom this was a non-emergency so we decided to shop. I found DrainWorks on this site and was happy to give them a call given not only the good rating but the volume of reviews. I also learned that whoever they send is a licensed plumber with a van fully stocked with the supplies necessary to fix most problems on the spot, which I can say is true and very nice. There is a reasonable fee to visit, which in my case was waived since work was eventually done. Phil arrived and explained how things work. Before anything was done, he walked me through a *price list* so I knew what I was in for. If this, then it costs that. If a more involved solution is needed, then it costs this much, etc. He had me sign my agreement then began diagnosing the problem. It took a little while but the exact problem was identified, rather than a general diagnosis, and a solution devised. (Problem: picture a handyman special where a newer toilet flange is connected to an original toilet flange 4" below (due to a raised floor over an old bathroom - old houses have such charm... :)) with a ton of caulking that eventually dried out gave way. Add to that a hole in the old copper drain piping. Solution: new flange and proper piping from that flange to the stack.) I had no idea from the previous guy that this was the problem - only just planning for a new flange + piping to the stack which was very close. Work began, and I assisted because I'm interested and the working space was awkward. Phil was fully capable of handling everything himself, I just wanted to make things easier while I watched and learned. While the work was going on, I asked how he ended up at DrainWorks and why he liked it. Having been an independent businessman for many many years, he grew tired of giving free quotes which turned in to no work, and competing against unlicensed people given the time he put into his training and skill development. DrainWorks has a good name and a price list which is clear, they don't jerk their employees around, and standards need to be met, which he agrees is a smart approach worth paying for. (Phil, I'm paraphrasing from memory so correct me if I've misquoted you.) The work itself was about $500 (diagnosis + new pipe + new flange over 3+ hours of effort) vs the previous $2k quote. I elected to purchase a new toilet as well, which pushed the cost up another $700 - high quality, low flow, dual flush unit which qualified for a City of Toronto eco rebate and solved the problem of having to mate a 1960s unit with a protruding exit to current toilet flange design which expects a fairly flush exit.) I certainly could have gone to my local big box store and scored a cheaper toilet to install myself, but I felt confident that I was getting a good unit and after a year of use with no problems can confirm. Later research proved the quality was indeed high and the price was very reasonable. Also, the unit, one of a few models, was in the van so Phil was able to supply it on the spot versus having to come back another day. Keep in mind the other quote was $2k just for new pipe and no new toilet. After the work was completed, Phil offered a free inspection of our plumbing which I very much valued given plans for several reno projects and during which he identified a few issues and I asked lots of questions and got a ballpark cost of what I was in for for those projects. I've since used DrainWorks for another big project (to be reviewed shortly) and will use them tomorrow for a third. If you have any hesitations, remember that after agreeing to the reasonable fee to visit your home (nothing is free, and quality is worth paying for) you will get excellent work at a fair price. Your agreement is required before any further work is done so if you feel uncomfortable, stop and you're done after paying what you've already agreed to.