Mike C in Toronto

The house has old wooden siding, a lot it badly peeling and alligatored. I got 4 quotes. Everyone told me the paint job wouldn't be perfect because they don't strip to bare wood, just scrape off the loose paint and sand. Wow said the same but their quote was much lower than the others. And they did some skim patching on some of the worst areas. The result was as good as could be expected and they finished in only 2 days whereas the other painters estimated 3, 7 and 10 days. And they were responsive to my concerns. So overall I'd say they were great value for the money.

Marcelo was a delight to deal with. He was friendly and enthusiastic despite the small size of the job. He got here quickly and had the job done in no time. I'm happy with the work and the price was fair. The experience was positive in every way and now I'm looking for other jobs so I can have Marcelo come back again.

Our AC stopped working on one of the hottest days of the summer (of course). The blower in the furnace had stopped blowing. Max was quick to respond late on Saturday night. He was here by noon the next day. In the meantime I had turned the furnace off. The next day I turned it on before Max's arrival and it was working again. Seems like the problem resolved when I re-booted. Max confirmed that all seemed OK and didn't charge us a penny for the visit. Good to know Max is there for us!

We needed to remove a dead white pine in our backyard. It was 30 ft. tall and 12" in diameter. Canopy's quote was the most reasonable of the three I got and the reviews were all good, although they were few in number. Turns out that's because Jesse's company is relatively new. But that doesn't mean Jesse's new at this! He's been cutting and trimming trees for many years working for other companies. Jesse is very professional and efficient. He had the tree down and all debris removed within two hours. His stump associate, Thomas, came by the following week to grind out the stump. All in all, a great experience and well worth the price.

Max was here within an hour of our no-heat call on a Sunday evening. Turned out that our furnace had shut down due to excess dust caused by our renovations. I'm embarrassed to say that a filter change would have prevented this. But I do appreciate the quick response.

Our main water shutoff valve had a rusted handle. I was afraid it going to break off at the worst possible time. Valentin was very quick to respond to my Homestars request and asked for a photo before quoting. I love it when a contractor uses technology to our mutual benefit. He arrived promptly, executed a challenging replacement and gave me some free advice on fixing a toilet. I found him responsive, pleasant and competent, things I value in a contractor!

Our old garage door was battered and ugly. The 'vintage' automatic opener was jamming. Steve's quote for the door seemed to be reasonable. But he surprised us by recommending we NOT replace the opener. It was old, he said, but very reliable. The jamming? He fixed that on the spot by replacing the belt. No charge for that, not even the cost of the belt. And we hadn't even hired him yet. Of course we did call him back to replace the door. It was not as easy a job as it looked. Steve and his assistant spent several hours custom fitting the new door. (I'm really glad I decided not to attempt this myself.) When they were done it looked great and worked perfectly. And their cleanup left the garage floor cleaner than it was was when they started. All in all, great work, excellent value and really nice guys!