Joel

We hired AGM to finish our basement. Overall, the experience was good but there was a lot of room for improvement. Lyndsie, our sales rep, was excellent and very patient during the initial quoting and planning stage. Pricing is very transparent and there were no hidden costs or fees. The design consultation was left to the last minute and we felt rushed and pressured to make quick decisions with very small material samples. Everything came out looking beautiful, but it was a pain point that could have easily been avoided. Our project manager was switched part way through the project without any notice. The first Project manager had very little knowledge of construction and I found myself having to explain very basic building terminology and processes when asking questions. The majority of information I was provided back was incorrect which was very frustrating. Ricardo, our second project manager, was a pleasure to deal with. He was very knowledgeable and extremely easy to get a hold of when issues arose. He walked us through each stage and did his best to ensure work was completed on schedule. It was our hope with hiring AGM that we would be fairly hands off with the project. We assumed that the project manager would be onsite frequently to monitor progress and catch errors, but this was not the case. The project managers visited once a week for a quick walk through and relied upon phone conversations with trades to ensure work progressed. This is not a criticism of the project manager, but of the system they work within. They are managing so many projects that they do not have the time to watch and ensure work is being done correctly. I found myself having to pay close attention to what the trades were doing and be the one to point out and correct issues throughout the project. Overall, the trades that were sent were very skilled but they had very little time to complete their tasks. Work was very rushed and often sloppy, resulting in the trades needing to return multiple times to correct the work. It seemed very inefficient. Very few trades (if any) swept or vacuumed the jobsite after their work was completed, often citing that the next trade will clean before starting their task, which didnt happen. For example, the drywall dust from sanding was never vacuumed up before the painters came in. There were large piles of dust that were simply painted over in the window bays. There was a lack of care and attention to detail exhibited from several of the trades. The materials and accessories selection is limited and the majority are builder grade quality. There are several items for which you are not given options and once installed, it's too late to change unless you want to pay a $950 fee. For example, the standard wall paint is a flat finish. Flat paint is impossible to clean and is a silly choice for recreational space such as a basement.....especially if you have kids. I was told (by the painter) they use it because it hides imperfections....ie. saves time on touch ups. However, In the case of my basement, there were several walls that needed to be re-coated 3 or 4 times as trades would touch the wall with their hands and left marks that could not be cleaned. With two small kids in the house, I'm seriously considering re-painting the basement myself in either eggshell or satin. The exhaust fans in the bathroom and laundry room are another example of lack of choice. AGM uses very loud 4 sones fans. This should have had an upgrade option to quieter 0.5 or 1 sones fan. Alex the handyman was excellent and came in at the end of the project to add the finishing touches and to correct the issues left over from the previous trades. In the end, our finished basement looks amazing and the majority of issues along the way were corrected quickly and without any pushback. AGM is a company that stands behind their work and works hard to ensure customer satisfaction.

Working with Inside guys was by far the best experience I have ever had with a contractor. Starting from our initial consultation, Jakub carefully explained the entire process and was able to offer practical solutions to problems other contractors were unable or unwilling to solve. His pricing was transparent and there were no extra cost surprises during the job. It was actually the opposite! During the first week of excavation we discovered that the foundation for the back half of the house went down over 4 feet in depth below the original slab and did not require underpinning. During the initial 2-3 weeks, Jakub refused to take any payment (Based on the original payment schedule) until the back portion of the house was fully excavated, assessed by their engineer and they had a plan on how to proceed. Jakub re-quoted the job and lowered his price significantly based on the reduced project scope. I used all of Jakubs trades to help ensure the process went as smoothly as possible. For the most part, they were all excellent to deal with. Especially his Architect Branko and George, his plumber. I ran into a few issues with the HVAC contractor, but Jakub was quick jump in to have the work corrected.  The Inside Guys team took time to thoroughly clean and organize the jobsite every night before leaving.  Jakub is an excellent communicator and kept me apprised of the work being done each day and what to expect. He is extremely easy to get ahold of by phone or text.   But most importantly, their workmanship is exceptional. I was left with a beautiful, dry, basement ready for finishing. The whole process was seamless and painless!

Total home was recommended to me by a neighbor who used them previously and had a great experience. Out of the 5 companies I had quote, Eddy from Total home impressed me most. He was not the typical "sales" guy sent by some of the larger window companies. He was able to provide valuable insight and recommendations based on my requirements. He went above and beyond by helping source specific locks and hardware for my doors. The installer, Edward, was extremely friendly and professional. He and his assistant worked 10 hours straight for 2 days to complete the installation. They installed 7 windows (brick to brick) and 2 exterior doors. I was very impressed with their workmanship and attention to detail. I would not hesitate to use them again in the future.

We lost a significant amount of shingles on our roof during the windstorm May 2018. Tony responded to my Homestars service request quickly and came out the same day to provide a quote. He was very clear with his estimate and the scope of work. His price was reasonable - not the lowest but cheaper than the big roofing companies in the city. Tony was extremely easy to get ahold of by both phone or text with follow up questions and scheduling the work. Tony’s brother Grigor arrived with his team of 4 on the scheduled date and time. They worked their asses off to complete the job in one day. All of the guys were professional, polite and respectful of my property. They were extra vigilant about cleaning up as I live on a street with lots of kids. They ran the magnetic broom over the grass three times to ensure there were no nails left behind. They did a beautiful job and I’m very happy with the work.