Chris in New West

We have been renovating our house for the past 20 years and without a shadow of a doubt, True North Landscaping is the ONE SINGLE company who not only did a fantastic job at the quoted price but EXCEEDED our expectations. And we are super picky. Right from the start Emilio was a delight to work with. He was completely reliable and gave us a DETAILED quote - something most other companies don't seem to want to do. We decided to do our project in phases as we had been so disappointed with every single person who has worked on our house prior. Emilio did not disappoint. He dug out a portion of our yard and built a truly beautiful timber retaining wall and 16 x 18' deck, with privacy fence. Emilio was professional but brought so much value to our project with his advice - when we asked him "What would you do if this was your yard?" he provided us with thoughtful advice on our project - which changed our design for the better! I truly cannot say enough about how happy we are with True North. I'm almost afraid to write this glowing review because I want to keep him as a hidden secret :). We will absolutely be having him back again to complete our project. We waited awhile to get him and he was more than worth the wait. Delay your project if you have to to get this amazing company to do your job! (included are before, during and after photos)

I have used Handyman Connection before successfully but my recent experience has made me question whether or not I'll be using Handyman Connection again. I had a small plumbing project that I called Handyman to quote on. They sent Stan - who quoted us "a minimum of two hours". When he arrived the next day the job literally took 4 minutes. When we questioned paying for two hours (plus $35 supplies) when the job took 4 minutes he became belligerent, told us we didn't have to pay if we didn't want to (with incredible tone). When we explained it wasn't that we didn't want to pay, it was the discrepancy in the quote, he very rudely advised that it "costs what it costs" and he had to allow for his travel time. At no time did he say anything about a minimum charge (which I would have understood). Given that he could live anywhere in the lower mainland, I don't feel I should be expected to pay for his travel time. He also asked me how much my reno was worth which I found to be a very personal question that was none of his business. When I complained to Handyman Connection they offered to reimburse some of my money which I appreciated. I know that using Handyman means paying more but next time I'll find my own tradesperson (this guys wasn't even an actual licensed plumber - which I knew ahead of time but that made it even harder to justify $180 for a 4 minute job). Estimating is a skill that should be part of the service the tradesperson provides. I'm not interested in a ball park guess that I'm then committed to paying.

We hired this company to replace our siding on our heritage house. They were to match our existing fir siding so we paid extra for pre-painted fir and painted nails. What a total horror show. The siding itself wasn't uniform, the paint wasn't nicely done but the biggest problem was the nailing of the siding to our house. They should have pre-drilled due to the fact that fir is so hard, but they didn't. As a result many of the boards split and the nails are very apparent. The whole job looks horrible. They totally defended their installers who were clearly trying to get the job done as quickly as possible. Do not hire this company. We spent thousands of dollars for siding we can barely look at because it's totally ruined the look of our house.

Peter Marken of Royal City did a great job of installing our reclaimed fir flooring. He was fast, reliable and even my super picky husband thought the floors were absolutely gorgeous. We will absolutely hire him again to finish the rest of our floors.