nadjam in Scarborough

I did some research on HomeStars for a company to provide a dumpster bin for our upcoming basement renovation. After speaking with several companies, I then spoke to Chris and decided to go with JunkIt. The cost was not the absolute lowest (one other one squeaked in a hair lower), but it was still very competitive. The bin was delivered on time, in the correct location. I liked that the bin had a back door that we could open and walk into - very handy for someone who isn't tall and can't toss stuff over the top. Plus, I liked that the bin was delivered in such a way so that it didn't damage our drive way. Lastly, I asked to keep the bin for an extra couple of days, and this request was easily accomodated. I appreciated the extra time to continue the basement demolition and ultimately, it saved us having to rent a 2nd bin. The company did what it said it would do, and that was appreciated greatly.

We recently added insulation to our attic, and during that process discovered that even though we thought we had missed out on any energy rebates from our first home inspection 4 years earlier, we actually still qualified. Mark Connor gave us a referral to Steve Pugh at GreenSaver to come out and complete the 2nd energy audit, thereby making us eliglbe for some rebates for work we have had done during the last 8 months. Steve was great on the phone, e-mailed me promptly, and we set up a date for the 2nd inspection. He came out one Saturday morning and met with my spouse. Completed the energy audit in great time and has taken care of all the paperwork for the rebates. He was a class act, and I would highly recommend him/Greensaver to anyone needing this type of work done.

My husband and I decided to up the R factor in our attic to try and improve the warmth in our home a bit. I did a search on HomeStars (which I have come to rely greatly upon) for attic insulation installers. I came across Envirotech Insulation, which had great reviews. Mark came out to our home and did a thorough inspection, looked in our attic as well as the celing in our garage (our thought was to insulate that as well, as our daughter's room is above the garage and floor is cold...more on that later). Mark sent me the quote, and I was very pleasantly suprised. The quote was very competitive, and we really liked Mark. We hired him to do the attic, as well as the garage ceiling. His crew came out a couple of weeks later to do the job, and they were great. the put plastic up the stairs, blew in the insulation into the attic, and did everything that was quoted. My only disappointment, and it has nothing to do with their work - we discovered that the insulation in the garage celing could not be done, as there wasn't enough space to blow in the insulation. They patched the holes they had put in the ceiling, and in the end, only charged for the attic work. I would highly recommend Mark and his crew. They were professional, neat and tidy, and the price was right.

I reached out to Archie for a quote to replace our 4 basement windows, plus a single window on our 2nd floor. Archie came out, measured all the windows and was really thorough in his review of our existing windows. He did what the others didn't which was jump into the window wells to check them out up close. His quote was competitive - in the middle of all other quotes. He came out with his team (Maga & Lien) on a very very hot & humid July day to install the windows. I was impressed at the measures he took to make sure that all work areas were clean - they put drop sheets down on all areas from the front door right to where they were working. They did a great job. The windows look great, and the trim and caulking were done beautifully. We even asked Archie to add trim around an entry door to our garage (for him a small job...for my husband, a much larger job!). He did this for us too for a small charge, and it looks fantastic as well. All in all, I would highly recommend Archie and his team. We hired him, not based on cost, but first by his rating on HomeStars, and 2nd by his responsiveness, attention to detail, and lastly, his friendly professionalism. All of the windows are now done in our home, and I really wish I had found Sobol Inc. before, so they could have done the other ones!

In November, 2008, our home was broken into. The front door was broken/splintered, as was the frame around the door. The insurance company covered the replacement front door, and we decided since we were having the work done, that we would also order a dining room window, since it was aging. Bruce came out to take our order, and was very nice. He made some suggestions that we worked with - like ordering a front door that was primed only...I painted it myself instead of it coming pre-painted. This way, we could put a portion of the cost of the replacement door towards a new screen door as well. In hindsight, this was not a smart move. I am a good painter, but I think the door should have arrived pre-painted (my error in taking his advice). Service started to go down once installation took place. The installer was either new to this kind of work, or he was just bad. The dining room window was installed, but he only caulked the bottom of the window, and then it took 6-7 weeks for him to come out and do the capping. Because the windows weren't sealed properly, our curtains were blowing almost 1 foot away from the windows (in mid-winter, I might add). I e-mailed and called many times, and in one of the e-mails from the company, they told us that the reason the installer didn`t caulk the windows was because my husband told him not to. I have absolutely no idea why he said this - did he think we wanted cold air blowing in our dining room??? Eventually, he came back and fixed everything, caulked and capped the window properly. It was fine after that. Then, there`s the front door (painting issue aside). The actual wood door was fine, but the screen door to this day is still awful. The installer took an entire day just to install 1 screen door. We mentioned afterwards that the swing on the door was so fast that it was hitting is on the heels when we went into the house. He adjusted it by moving the pump or hinge thing (sorry, don`t know the proper term!). After he moved it, it closed a bit more slowly. Now the problem is that because he moved it, the door only opens up to around 65-70 degrees, and the swing is still too fast. The only way for us to open the screen door wider is to unscrew the pump thing - a complete pain. All in all, I would not recommend this company. Their service and communication was not good and response times slow. I had to follow up many times to get the job done even to a level that I think is still unsatisfactory.

I made calls and had quotes from several Garage door companies. Dodds was the last company I called, and did so because I have heard their ad on the radio so many times. Plus, they had such a high rating on HomeStars. I have to tell you, I was very very pleased. Allan Grant came to our home to provide the quote and he was great to deal with. The quote from Dodds was not the cheapest out of the 4 we received, but Allan Grant definitely gave us a good feeling about the company and the service they would provide. We ordered the doors and were told they would take approximately 2 weeks to come. To our surprise, they came in 1 week. The work was done 2 days ago, and our garage doors look fantastic. The guy who did the installation was fast, clean, efficient and friendly. He took the time to show my husband how things worked, and how to make adjustments if we needed to (my husband is a very hands-on kind of guy and wanted to know this). Lastly, we only had garage doors installed, and not a new opener. Allan let us know that even though our old opener was very old, that it was in great shape and still had many years left of life. I liked that he didn't try to upsell us something that was working fine. I would highly recommend Dodds - they did a great job.

We renovated our kitchen in Spring 2008 and we used White Knight Kitchens to make the cabinetry. We used a different contractor for the rest of the work (Angelone Management). We took a long time to find a kitchen contractor, and in this case ended up finding the cabinet maker first. We worked with Joe at White Knight kitchens, and he was good to work with. He came as a referral, and once we went out to his shop to discuss design, we were very pleasantly surprised. We ended up with custom cabinetry at, likely, less than the cost of out of the box cabinets from a big box store. On top of that, we added a lot of small touches that we didn't consider beforehand (like slow closers). After installation, I asked for extra shelves for all of the cabinets, plus a divider piece for one cupboard for my cookie sheets. Joe provided all of these extras at no extra charge. Everything came out great. My only critism or negative point was that they took longer than anticipated to make the cabinets, thus delaying our contractor by 1 week. I would highly recommend White Knight kitchens. They did a great job on our custom cabinets and you can't find better pricing anywhere.

We renovated our kitchen in the spring of 2008. We searched high and low for a year for a contractor who we felt we could work with, and that came in at the right price. Through word of mouth, we came across Julian Angelone and his partner Gimi Consoli. Before we even received the detailed quote, we were excited about working with them. We saw their work ahead of time on a different project, thought it was great and once we received the quote, we were sold. The were great to work with. They started our project within 2 months of us hiring them. They were absolutely fantastic to work with, were friendly, clean, provided us with some great ideas on decor and even when there were some hitches, they worked through them with us easily. We have recommended them several times and everyone says the same thing. End result: They were on time and on budget (even a bit under!) and their work was excellent. 3 years later, and we still love our kitchen.

We had our kitchen renovated in 2008, and as part of our reno we closed off a side-door. Casa Loma was the sub-contractor hired to do this work. They did a great job matching the new brick to the old brick on our 1963 home. You can barely see the outline of the old door. Because of this, when we started to get some leaking in our basement, and realized that the bricks at the top of the chimney were cracking and falling off, we called Casa Loma Masonry directly. They came within 2 weeks, spent 1 1/2 days pulling the old chimney down and rebuilding it. The work was excellent, and the leaking in our basement stopped. It was a job well done and the crew were polite and friendly.