Michael in New Westminster

T'was the Saturday before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for a raccoon intent on ripping up our shake roof to open a winter den for itself. We discovered the damage at about 10:30am and after doing some research found Gary on HomeStars and called him around 11:30am. It was immediately apparent he was very knowledgeable about roofs AND raccoons. He came out that very afternoon, just as the freezing rain arrived and the daylight was departing. He climbed our steep roof in these difficult conditions and patched the hole with metal to keep out weather and raccoon. He said that this patch would deter the raccoon for awhile, but it would likely try again in another spot unless we engaged a wildlife company to move the raccoon elsewhere. He even took pictures of the damage and the repair to help us understand the job. When we are ready (and the raccoon has move to a new neighbourhood), Gary will come back to complete a permanent repair. We were impressed by Gary's willingness to help us on such short notice, at such a busy time of year, in such miserable weather. His knowledgeableness and straightforward approach gave us confidence in the work. Going to the extra trouble of photographing the work was customer-focused and proved that Gary is proud of the quality of his work.

We have an older house and wanted to replace all the windows but we were worried about the size of the job -- we didn't know what we would discover when the windows came out. Would there be structural or barrier issues with the surrounding walls for example? We wanted to work with a company that was expert in the field of windows, but that could recognize surrounding issues if they arose and deal with those issues effectively. We worried that a basic windows company might botch the work or worse, leave us with a hole in a wall and tell us to find a general contractor. We were concerned that a general contractor would not have the window-specific knowledge to do the best job. At a family gathering, we found that two different households in our extended family had previously retained Long Life Windows & Doors Ltd. with excellent results. Those family reviews, plus the reviews on HomeStars.com encouraged us to contact Long Life. We liked that Long Life had been around for a long time and that the members of its crews had worked together for a long time. We liked that Long Life had deep experience in the windows field and that its crew chiefs and some of its crew members had general contracting experience and in some cases general contracting businesses. We liked that Long Life could handle both the window work and the most probable surrounding issues and that for more improbable surrounding issues Long Life had long-term relationships with other experts who they could call in. We engaged Long Life and were very pleased from start to finish. They were responsive and professional, completing the job to our satisfaction, on time, on budget and with minimal disturbance. Kris worked with us to scope the job we wanted and was available in person, by phone and by e-mail before, during and after the job. Bernard and his crew were a pleasure to work with, keeping us informed of issues and options as they arose and showing us with clear pride the details of construction that distinguished a superior installation from a basic one. Bernard even did some custom woodworking to ensure two new decorative windows matched the surrounding character of the house. Long Life maintained our confidence throughout and we're very happy with both the quality and the value of the work.