chenyu1225cn in Toronto

We had very positive experience working with Memar Architect, whose service we retained for a two story rear addition project. We found Memar Architect through “Homestar” and “Houzz”, both online sources present good reviews for Memar. After a round of in person interviews with a handful of the recommended candidates, Memar stood out due to their competitive price; clear and direct approach towards the project. We met Sean, the principle of the firm during our initial meeting. It was evident that he knew his business like the back of his hand; he gave us a quick overview of the whole process from beginning to obtaining permit; the timeline and the goal of each stage. As nervous and clueless as any home owners who were about to take on a major renovation project, we bombarded him with all kinds of questions, he addressed them one by one in an explicit manner. After our first meeting with Sean, we felt somewhat less overwhelmed or daunted about this new venture. During the following meetings with him, we got more and more impressed by his efficiency, knowledge and his intelligence. Sean is very clear minded and a quick thinker, nothing seems to leave him at his wits end; he always managed to come up with a solution if he didn't already have one to the problem or difficulties we encountered, nothing seemed to stand in the way or frustrate him. He represented us at the committee of adjustment meeting; he and his team communicated with the city, and prepared primary strategy and a contingency plan for the hearing. All we had to do was to take some pictures as evidence/demonstration for the COA hearing. We were planning to compromise on certain features in order to move the project ahead, but Sean believed our plan/design was good and reasonable and had precedents, he went ahead and presented as is to the board and addressed their questions in a professional and experienced style which convinced the board despite the obstacles from City Planning Department. We got approval. As the principle of the firm, Sean is also accommodating, if you have some special requests he is willing to help and make it easier for you. Aside from Sean who oversaw our project, we were also assigned with the senior architect of the firm Khalid to be our project manager. Khalid has had years of hands-on experience on top of his master degree in architect. He quickly established a clear vision of what we wished to achieve for this project after we briefly described our idea in an amateur manner. He also gave us professional advice or recommendations for the aspects that we were not certain about. We mentioned that we had a rather tight budget and wished to have something practical and solid rather than luxury; he integrated that principle into the design, and suggested us to cut back on the features that weren’t necessary. It only took him one meeting to put together the architect drawings for the project and another one to firm the details. It is worth mentioning that the drawings from Khalid are well received and complimented by different general contractors who we interviewed. In addition to the architect drawing, Khalid also coordinated with the engineer and electrician for the mechanic and electric drawings. During the three months permit application period, Khalid took care of all the communicating with the city examiners and updated us frequently, which lead us smoothly to the final issuing of the permit. Throughout the process, he was patient, responsive and attentive. All and all, we had very pleasant and relatively stress free working experience with Memar Architect. During the time span of a year, Sean and Khalid as well as the other team members Duyen, Lucy to name a few had helped, guided and supported us through the long and arduous journey of design, planning, zoning, Committee of Adjustments as well as the permit application. To carry out an extensive renovation is certainly not a walk in the park for most people, therefore, to have a team of competent and trustworthy professionals working along your side throughout the process will make your life a lot easier. I would highly recommend Memar Architect to anyone in need of architect design, renovation and the sort.

We had water pooling issue in our parking area, we consulted a few reputable companies and compared their solutions and price. We eventually decided to retain the service of aqua tech. Andrew listened to our rather complicated situation (because it is a shared parking area and it involves neighbors) and provided a few remedies accordingly; he was up for the challenges, every time we raised a question or a concern, he would think hard and figured out a way to tackle it. On the day of the appointment, Andrew and other 3 crew members arrived on time and started work without any delay, they worked in a very professional and efficient manner for over 5 hours and finished job ahead of scheduled time and the job was satisfactory. Before the crew left, they also cleaned up the job site. Andrew offered to come back and refill the gravel if needed; he also kept his words to have his staff drop off a few bags of extra gravels which might come handy the very next day. We are glad to recommend aqua tech to anyone.

I went to the srore with high hope to finish my graden project with proper stepping stones, just because some of my neighbors said wonderful things about them. However, it was very disappoint experience when I was in the store, the store was dark and messy, the old lady(she turns out to be the cashier) sitting outside the front door was really rude, when I was chosing the stone in the back yard, the guy wasn't helpful at all, he told me to buy a big piece and go home, it would be easy to cut it with a chisel. I did what he said and bought a chisel, but it was still difficult to cut, I called the store to return or change to small pieces, they wouldn't do it. I personally will not step in the srore again, and i will not recommand such poorly organized business to anybody. It is amazing it can exist for so long, too bad............