Brian L from Ottawa

From the moment I requested a quote through Homestars, things were already looking up. Abe replied within less than half an hour that he was interested in the job and he came over a few days later. He listened to our needs and wants, made some suggestions, and, just as importantly, wasn't shy about telling us that something just wouldn't work or make sense in our situation. This frank discussion would be the first of many, and immediately showed 2 important things: that he takes even the small-to-medium size jobs just as seriously as the big ones and that he was very pleasant to talk to. The job itself wasn't supposed to be anything special: replacing a vinyl floor with tiles, swapping an old hardwood floor with a new one, re-doing a small powder room, taking down old kitchen cabinets and replacing them with better ones along with a new small corner counter, plus a variety of small touch-ups to improve the main floor of this 50-year-old condo townhouse. A quote was written, updated after a couple of chats, an approximate start date was set, we purchased the flooring material to be used (after running it by Abe to make sure it would work out), and then we waited for our time to arrive, which was supposed to be in the early part of 2022, but some issues came up and Abe was able to swap our job with the one that was scheduled after ours, which helped greatly. Numerous other phone and email discussions took place during the waiting period to confirm the kitchen cabinets style and that everything was still on schedule. When the time finally came for the work to start, Abe came over one last time a few days before to confirm everything and have that last walkthrough. Of course, before you can have the construction you need to have the demolition. For two days, Abe along with his right-hand man, Marc, and Miguel ripped out everything that had to go, and this is when a few interesting discoveries about the way one of the big-name builders built homes back in the 70s came to light. After the demolition, Abe and Marc prepared the floors for their makeover. This step required a lot of work to overcome the shoddy construction work by the aforementioned builder and sections of the sub-floor needed to be replaced altogether. While everything turned out great with the renovations, the tile work is where Abe really showed his dedication to getting the job done right. Uneven joists and crooked walls meant that he had to take extra care to make the floor as even and straight as possible. The subcontractor Abe uses to install the hardwood floors was next and did a great (and VERY fast) job. The same can be said about the cabinet-maker who built and installed the new cabinets in the kitchen. Over the course of a couple of weeks, the Awesome Duo then took care of the rest of the work, including the baseboards and trims. Another awesome aspect of Abe's work ethic and willingness to help is the many, small requests that we dropped on him over the course of the renovations. The toilet in the basement even started leaking and Abe didn't hesitate to look at it, let me know that it was a goner and replaced it even though it wasn't part of the scheduled work. He even went to Home Depot with me to pick up the new toilet and bring it home in his van, along with the bathroom vanity. Anything to help us out, he was willing to do. And so 3 weeks after the start of the demolition, the work was done. Abe even reached out to some of his contacts at our request and scheduled a full house cleaning with some cleaners he knows. Throughout the entirety of the renovations, we never felt nervous about how the work was coming along, we had a blast interacting with Abe and Marc (Miguel was only present for the demolition but was also fun to chat with) and we are ALMOST sad (almost) that it had to end so soon. Abe even brought us lunch on his last day. We have already discussed our next renovations and I won't even look elsewhere. Abe has my business for anything and everything else we need done. Hire him for your next renovations, you will NOT be disappointed.

Getting DrainPro to replace two toilets, the shut-off valves for those toilets as well as adding shut-off valves under two sinks couldn't have gone better. A quick email and an appointment for an estimate was set. Steve dropped by when he was scheduled and within minutes was done. Another quick email had the installation appointment setup. Joan in the office calls when the technician is on his way. Matt handled our installation when Steve got booked last minute on another job. It was obvious he knew what he was doing and in less than two hours he was done. Not much else to say but to repeat that if you want friendly service and a job well done, call DrainPro. I know I will when I require plumbing services again.

David arrived on time at 8am and got started right away. He was very efficient and the power was back on at noon, pretty much right on his predicted time frame. After we took a lunch break, he came back and proceeded to take care of all those smaller items I had also asked for: a few light switch and power outlet replacements, dryer outlet wire re-routing, etc. All done quickly and neatly. And also a major plus is that David was very pleasant to chat with and didn't mind my observing and numerous questions. I learned a lot just watching him work. To me that's fantastic. I will definitely contact David again when we need more work done. Thank you again for the fantastic service.

Our decision to hire First Rate Movers was the best choice we could have made. It all started with an online quote on their website, to which the owner himself, Matt, replied. It took a few days to get a reply, and I almost gave up but Matt admitted to his mistake of having accidently marked the email as replied and was very prompt with the rest of our back and forth. While this wasn't the cheapest quote, it was still reasonable and didn't feel like a low-ball amount just to get someone's business. So after a few emails, a booking was made for our moving day, which was a Saturday. A confirmation call was also received a couple of days before the move. I was also told that since we had an afternoon slot, we should call in around 10am on moving day to get confirmation of the crew's arrival time, just in case they were behind on their morning job. So I call in, and Matt had some bad news: my crew was stuck in Toronto. But he was going to make a call or two and get back to me. 10 minutes later, he tells me that he found a crew from another company he sometimes deals with. I was a little skeptical, but this was moving day, and I didn't have too much of a choice. The guys showed up right on time, were very friendly and very efficient. They had my apartment emptied within a little over an hour, despite being in a highrise building. We met up at my new house a few minutes later, and this is where the movers' expertise and care really shined. 2 pieces in particular were very (and I mean VERY) tight fits, the box spring up the stairs and a TV wall unit down the stairs. After a lot of sweating, grunting, and maneuvering, they got it all where it belonged. There were no hidden fees, no bogus stairs fees or any of that BS other companies will charge for after the fact. The final bill was actually less than I was quoted simply because the guys finished early. I couldn't have been happier with my experience. It could have been a disaster, but Matt made sure it wasn't. I can't recommend this company enough.