Andrew in the GTA

We are thrilled with the team's fantastic work in our unfinished basement. The staff at the office was excellent and took us through the planning stage, and explained everything very clearly. Our basement renovation was only 650 square feet, but thanks to their experience, they showed us how to maximize the usage of the space. Example: I thought I'd only have a closet for an office, but they took our plan and modified it, so my office is twice the size I thought I would have. Every day the construction workers showed up on time. They delivered what they promised and cleaned up after themselves. Even during the ups and downs during the COVID-19 pandemic, they remained 100% professional and willing to work. The project was about three weeks from start to finish and completed on budget. After seeing the pictures of our finished basement, our friends and family have wanted to come over and check the place out, and all are impressed. Highly recommend FB.ca.

Nick answered my call and came out the same day for a quote. He recommended replacement but agreed to clean the gutters for now and did it the following day.

The home was great at first, and Arista was very intent on getting everything right....until the 30 day form. Part of our purchase agreement was that the water damaged sub flooring in the family room would be replaced. They did replace some of the sub flooring, but did not ensure it was level! We have an area in our house that slopes... Tripping hazard! Also, on the 2nd floor, the entire hallway was warped, and creeks, and in one of the bed rooms, the floor creeks like crazy. This happened right away after we moved in. Arista at first said they would redo the sub flooring in the 1st and 2nd floor, but then Milan (a worker with Arista) said that it would be best to wait a year before doing this work. He said he confirmed with the site manager Sergio that this would be okay. We agreed, and they had us sign the Tarion form stating everything was okay, and we would wait untill the 1st year form for the work to be done. BIG MISTAKE. Also, for other home owners to know, once you sign in good faith, Tarion does not care if a builder acts in bad faith. Once you sign, that is it. We filled out the 1st year form in December 2010, and called Arista, and emailed them to let them know we needed the work to be done. My wife was on mat leave and they could have come at any time to repair the flooring. Arista employee Glen came out with the hardwood flooring company twice to "review" the flooring (once in January, the second time in February), then didn't show up again. We contacted Glen again in April to see what was going on. When he came out a third time with the flooring contractor, he talked to my wife and refused to fix the subflooring saying there was no dip in the floor, and even tried to deny there was any issue on the 2nd floor. The representative from the flooring company is the one who told Glen that there was an issue with the floor, and that no amout of humidity would have caused the problems we had. Guess what? Glen didn't call us back for several more months... We emailed and called his supervisor Nat. Within a couple hours Glen was at our door. When he came out, I was there and he told me exactly what he told my wife, that our floors were fine. I took 12 cups of water and poured on the floor and it all pooled in the area where there was a dip in the floor. Only at that time did he admit there was a dip in the floor and made an excuse that he always saw it. Pathetic! We have had four people almost fall walking over this area. I told him Milan (who still works at Arista) told us that Arista would fix the floors. Glen would later call back and state that Milan had no memory of this... The only thing Arista did was replace the hardwood (which did nothing to solve the problem which is with the subflooring). In fact on the 2nd floor, after re-installing the hardwood we now we have a second tipping hazard at the top of our stairs! We were very happy with the house (aside from the floors), now we are so angry we just want to move out and never have anything to do with Arista again. I told Glen flat out, it is too bad they are unwilling to fix the floors because otherwise it could have been a good house. Fixing the floors was even in our agreement to buying the house. 2 years later, were are going to have to pay out of pocket to fix these floors. Unbelievable. If people think all builders are like this, an example of a builder that knows how to do it right is Cachet Reid homes in London, Ontario. Our friends had a similar issue. Cachet Reid ripped up most of the first floor, to solve the problem. Regarding the people who give Arista 10 on home stars, look at these people's other reviews, they give everyone 10 and are very generic. Probably employees of Arista trying to boost up their rating.

I am a regular shopper at Home Depot, but after moving to Brampton, I found myself wandering into the Lowe's. Normally I wander around for about an hour at the Home Depot looking for what I want, and then another hour waiting for someone to help me, so the first thing I did when I went into Lowes was to push the little red help button... and someone came within a minute to help me out, and they stayed with me until I got to where I wanted to be (the blinds section). They had a great selection of blinds available (compared to the Home Depot, which forces you to special order if you want something half decent. Also I think the woman in the blinds department at the Home Depot in Brampton needs a vacation, or at least needs to switch to decaffeinated coffee). At Lowe's I was able to get my Levolor cordless blinds without waiting weeks like I would have done at the Home Depot, plus I was out of the store within 20 minutes, and the staff was nice and knowledgeable!

We originally lived in Etobicoke and went often to the Babys R Us at Sherway Gardens mall. They had pretty much everything that was online, and we never had any problems. When we moved to Brampton, we went to the Baby's R Us in Brampton, and were very disappointed with the selection. They didn't have the same baby bottles as the other store did, and they were missing many accessories for the breast pump we chose. When I asked an employee about a recommendation for a baby bath, she made a snide remark about how she had no idea, and to just use the kitchen sink. Fortunatly if you avoid the grumpy employees, and only need the popular items, you can get what you need, but if you can't find something, just go to the Sherway Gardens mall location.

Honestly, of all the places to have to shop on Boxing Day, who wants to go to an aquarium store when there are so many other electronics and clothing stores that are begging your attention? This is why I went to Big Al’s website and made my order, or I should say, my wife made the order. She honestly was dead set against ordering the turtle equipment we needed online, she felt that our turtle needed the equipment sooner rather than later, and ordering the equipment online would mean we would have to wait months for the equipment. Fortunately for our turtle (and me), Big Al’s was extremely fast with the shipment – we had the equipment before 2010 arrived, they were that fast! Now my wife is looking forward to ordering more things online, instead of spending time driving to a store, only to be disappointed because what she wants is not in stock. We will defiantly be buying more from Big Al’s!

``Why can`t this be easier?" I asked myself after several days of searching and getting quotes from various moving companies. There are so many variables to consider, not only what the minimum cost is going to be, but also will the stuff be safe, will they pack it right, are their hidden costs, how are they going to react to my buildings security (which can act more like SS shock troops rather than concierge), are they going to be on time, can I afford this service etc... Arby Cartage put my mind at ease, these guys were true professionals. Not only was the price they quoted me the actual price I paid, they made sure the entire move went smoothly. First, they got to my Condo an hour early to scout out the place to make sure they knew were to go. Next they got to know the security guard, who did not treat them well at first, but quickly warmed up to them. Then they moved everything out of my Condo and into their truck carefully, and quickly. These guys aren't slackers! From what I read of the reviews on Home Stars, everything said was true! I normally rent a truck and get a few friends to help me move. Honestly, I am never doing that again - using Arby Cartage made the move smooth and affordable, and my back was not killing me at the end of the day either. The move could not have been easier. Thank you guys! I hope Kevin was able to enjoy some Birthday cake after all that hard work :)

There are many more things to consider when you own your own detatched home then when you live in a Condo or appartment, which we did for 4 years. We have never had to worry about security before, but on moving day we got quiet a wake up call. Within two hours of moving in, we had a large man trying to sell us ADT security. The first looked more like the type that would rob you rather then protect you, and he had nothing but bad things to say about his ADT... yeah thanks, but we think we will skip ADT after that. The next guy was from reliant. He just walked right into my garage, handed me a flyer, and then started telling me how easy it would be to break my windows... Ummm... "where is phone, I might need to call for help" I was thinking... We did a search on the Internet, and found Alarm Force. Calling and setting up an appointment was easy. Problem was when the day for set up came, the tech called in sick. It was Christmas eve, so I understand, but not impressed. It took another two weeks to get another tech to come out and setup the system. He was very nice, didn't push us into buying stuff we didn't need, and showed us how everything works + we didn't have to pay for any of the equipment, just the $35 per month for monitoring. It has been 3 months, and the equipment still works as well as the day we got it, and everything is running smoothly... except another guy from Reliant came to my house... again this new guy just walked into my garage and even though he could tell we had an alarm system installed, he tried to make a quick sales pitch...I had my finger on the new emergency button and was ready to push. I will stick with Alarm Force thank you very much!