Ernie

My furnace stopped putting out heat, and Joyce was able to send someone out the next morning. Dave showed up on time, and fairly quickly diagnosed the problem and repaired it with a new spring in about 30 minutes. I had been gouged hard recently by another company, so I was holding my breath when he was writing up the bill, but it came out to a very reasonable $115 + parts. Quick response, showed up on time, and didn't charge me a fortune. I'd use them again.

I chose Ashton based on all the great reviews here but I was seriously let down by the fact that I spent $560 and didn't get my problem solved. This is long, but needs to be to explain how many steps and how much time I wasted with Ashton. I made the first mistake by assuming that most well reviewed plumbing companies would have similar prices, so I called them to come look at my hot water tank which was turning off regularly. They came out and quoted $560 (inc tax) to change out the thermopile. I had already taken time off work and wanted it fixed, so I agreed to the price. This seemed high knowing the price of a thermopile isn't more than $100, and the tech fixed it in under an hour. I have since phoned other companies that gave me much lower quotes for the work, including one that immediately told me to call the manufacturer to get the part under warranty, and that they would do the work for $189. So I've overpaid because I didn't ask for a quote up front which is my fault, but shortly after the tank is going out again. I email about it and don't hear back for weeks until I get time to call again. They send out the same tech who finds the pilot going out when he touches the wire, so he works on it again and leaves. There was no charge for this service, but he warned that if it kept up, we'd probably need to replace the gas valve controller. The second fix doesn't work, so I contact again for the gas valve controller to be fixed. They schedule an appointment, but they don't end up showing up. I call and ask if they are still coming at the end of the appointment window and I'm told they don't have the part and shouldn't have scheduled the appointment anyhow. We book another appointment as I'm thinking that I've already paid $560 and assume that working with them to resolve this will be cheaper than bringing in a new plumber. They call me back a day later and tell me that they can't get the Rheem part and that I need to contact Rheem myself to get it. I do, and they ship me a new part. I schedule another visit for Ashton to install it. The day of my next appointment arrives and I get a call midday telling me that they have a job running late and that they won't be able to come do the work because it's scheduled as a 5 hour job. At this point I'm concerned about the cost if they're saying it'll take 5 hours so I ask for a quote before we reschedule (I had asked for a quote on this a few times before, but the dispatcher had said that they weren't sure). Despite watching a youtube video that shows that this repair is relatively simple, I'm quoted for $600-700. I decline. This doesn't sound right. I call another plumber and they say it'll be $115 an hour and shouldn't take more than 90 minutes. So I get another plumber to show up and they get the job done in 45 minutes. I'm really disappointed in Ashton at this point. I've spent $560 and they haven't solved my problem. They've had me stay home from work twice and not shown up. I emailed them 2 weeks ago explaining this sequence of events and asking for a partial refund as I am pretty unhappy with the service provided, but they didn't respond. It would't have changed the content of the review, but would at least have shown that they cared if they provided a terrible experience. I've learned to work with smaller plumbing companies and get quotes up front from this experience. Maybe Ashton is good for large buildings with a strata or something, but as a single family homeowner, felt poorly served.

Jeff answered my call on a Saturday afternoon and came right out to replace a gas valve controller on my hot water tank. I had previously had another very large, very expensive "service group" come out twice that wasn't able to solve my problem who also cancelled a scheduled service call that I had taken time off work for. Jeff got straight to work and had the work done in under 45 minutes, but he also was great to chat with, knowledgeable, and friendly. His fees were completely reasonable for a weekend call, and less than half of what I had to pay for a similar amount of time from the other company. Would happily call him first the next time I need help.

We were looking to convert our laundry room into a bathroom and Mark was the only one out of 3 highly rated contractors who even called us back. Despite not having much of a choice of contractors, we were completely happy with our luck in getting EA Renos doing the work. Mark is a great communicator. He follows up, remembers discussions and choices made during planning, and would call me up with new ideas on how to make the space work even better after agreeing to an initial plan. He's super calm and he's really straight forward and honest. One of the sub contractors made a mistake and he was very up-front about the issue and took care of it quickly and at their own cost. Mark's team were all very friendly and professional, and took a lot of pride in their work. They were transparent about what they were doing, took the time to explain options and the implications, and were always willing to make changes. The phrase I hear repeatedly during the 7 week project was "We'll make you happy" and they mean it. Nino, Mark's partner who lead the project onsite would follow up immediately if there were any issues or design decisions that I didn't agree with and they would be resolved to my satisfaction quickly. They admit readily that they are not the cheapest contractor out there, but you can tell that you are getting what you pay for. High attention to detail, adherence to code and not taking shortcuts is their M.O.. If you're looking for someone to work on your home, and want to ensure that solid work is being done, these guys are great. I didn't realize before hiring them that Mark has a roofing background, as using them would have probably saved me $1000 on the $8400 roofing job I had done by someone else. The only area that I had some doubts was with their fencing contractor who I wasn't as confident in as the rest of the team, and required more feedback and changes. That said, Nino came out to oversee it to completion and resolved the issues the next day. I was also having difficulty getting a fencing contractor to even come out and quote, whereas Mark and team managed to get someone to replace the rotting fence fairly quickly. All up, very happy with them and have recommended them to friends and family already.