Joan from Ottawa

I chose Strokes of Genius to paint most of the interior of my home largely due to their excellent ratings and reviews on Homestars. Overall, I was very pleased. David and his team paid a lot of attention to detail. They took extra care to scrape, sand and caulk windowsills and baseboards so they look better than they ever have. David also noticed a “soft” area of the plaster on the living room wall which he repaired. The bathroom was the last room worked on and it didn’t seem to have received the same level of care as the rest of the house, which was pointed out during the walk-through with Daniel and it got attended to the next day. All in all, a very positive experience. I’ve knocked the rating down a bit for two reasons. First is lack of communication. After signing the contract and prior to the start of the job, I had a few questions for Daniel – the first was to ask about expanding the scope of work to include the cabinetry in the bathroom. It took 3 weeks (and a follow up e-mail) to get a response. I also asked him twice to let me know when I needed to confirm my paint colour choices. I never did get a response to that, so I sent along my list of choices. It turned out there was some minor confusion because I thought I had to specify what white paint to use for the ceilings and trim. Daniel thought I included the white paint selection on my list for use in one specific room. It wasn’t a big deal, but a two-minute phone call to review the paint selections would have prevented the mix-up and avoided some extra time and work for the painters. During the walk-through with Daniel we identified a few things that needed to be fixed up. He made a list and took photos and said he’d send it on. When the painter came the next morning, he hadn’t received the information and didn’t know what he was there to do so it was up to me to go over it again. So all in all – not great in terms of communications. The second part of the service that I wouldn't rate highly was clean-up. It’s possible I had unrealistic expectations on that one – I had assumed that they’d do a quick pass with the vacuum and broom at the end of the job since there were lots of flakes, chips, dust and dirt throughout the house. I mentioned this to Daniel during the walk-through and in fairness he offered to have someone do a bit of vacuuming the next day, but since I was putting the furniture back in place that night I didn't want to wait and elected to do it myself. Despite these issues, I’m very happy with the final results and David and his painting team were friendly and professional.

Alan and his team replaced my existing deck, which was in pretty bad shape. From the first time I contacted him about getting an estimate, through to the completion of the project I was impressed with Alan’s professionalism and attention to detail. He went above and beyond, regrading the area around the deck at his own initiative and at no additional charge. He answered my (frequent) questions clearly and promptly. When the job was finished - on time - they cleaned up thoroughly, leaving everything looking better than when they got there. I now have a solid, sturdy and attractive deck! I’ve already been talking with Alan about my next project – a new custom shed. I would definitely recommend Nepean General Contractors.