Michael in Toronto

We hired Judaine and his crew to finish our backyard which is a downward sloping 'ravine' style lot (30' wide by about 100'). It is not accessible to machines. Judaine transformed it very quickly (working virtually non-stop for a month) and with great vision. He and his crew were very respectful to our neighbours. It was the first time (we have done 5 renovations) we had no problems with neighbours whatsoever. Judaine has tremendous vision and attention to detail. The quality of his work is beyond reproach. His pricing is very transparent and reasonable. The work exceeded our expectations. He built a patio at the bottom of the property (all by hand) with tiered garden beds. Attached to our existing deck he built a beautiful connected deck. He put up a fence around the entire property - including on our existing IPE deck. Lastly, he installed a two level Stone retaining wall and new retaining wall to replace our old one between us and our neighbour. In addition he planted our plants and trees. Judain and his crew were absolutely FANTASTIC to work with. His work is second to none.

Our contractor lost a bracket for our awning which he took down. We had to get a new bracket. We called the company and arranged for one to be sent to our house ($20 shipping charge). It was delivered on time.

Our original GC (Robert Comelli) did such as horrible job of our concrete - multiple (3 or more) full thickness cracks within MONTHS of pouring. It was NOT done to code. Looked horrible also. We called Otto's to replace it. They did an amazing job. They showed up on time, did a very thorough job, finished on time. They even corrected some of the many mistakes made by our GC which were not originally contracted for.

My current contractor who abandoned our project (Robert Comelli) broke our existing WindowCity window which was put in 5 years ago. I contacted WindowCity. The next day I received an email from Chris who had the part. He offered for someone to fix it or for me to pick-up the part which was under $10. He was great

Our rental unit lock died ie battery did not work (it was a keyless) and the tenant lost the key. Tom and his assistant came out promptly, fixed the lock and replaced it with a new one. They cleaned up the mess.

We had Michael and his crew do some more work. After he did our waterproofing (noted earlier), he also did our front porch. To date (2 years later) it is still NOT complete. The railing sagged after about a month. He had promised to re-do it but never came through. It is very unprofessional looking. Michael did some concrete work for which he asked us for more money than the original quote. This seems to be a constant theme with Michael. The work was done fine. He also cut down a tree in our front yard. He again asked us for more money than originally quoted which ultimately was VERY high compared to others we later found out. Also, our neighbours were rather upset because he did not inform them when he tied stabilizer straps to their porch. Lastly, there is still bits and bobs left on our property from all his jobs. We had wood left on our porch for 2 years that he only recently took. While I like Mike, I would no longer use him after using him for many odd jobs. After a job is done his price is always higher. He does not follow through on his word to finish certain things which were not finished ie our railing and leaves things on the site (which my wife does not like). Now that we have used other trades/contractors we would rather recommend them.

Bashir and Shakil were excellent. They came on time. Their price was fair. They are honest, reliable and fair. They returned as we thought there was another dead animal under our deck. They came same day...no hassles. We had another problem (so we thought). They came same day. Ultimately we did not have a pest problem (it was our neighbor). They said no charge (gave them a tip regardless). Awesome I would ONLY use them...They are GREAT.

Mike and his crew waterproofed our basement which was damp. He does general work ie everything. This was our first experience with Mike Stewart. He and his crew worked long hours to get the job done quickly. To date...our basement is dry. He did a good job. He also rebuilt our front porch. He did not properly finish the railing. It sags, looks terrible. He promised to re-do it for free (we would pay for any new materials used). We are still waiting after 2 YEARS. His quotation skills were very sub par. This was done in 2011. His final price was very different than original quote. We were not kept up to date during job. His original quote was not thorough. We later used him for another job. He again changed the price after the job was complete. We agreed to pay him the higher amount. We were reasonably happy at the time as we assume there is give and take in a business relationship. We also assumed the problems were one-off issues. We assumed Mike would come back to fix the railing, to remove junk he left (unused wood was left on our porch for 2 years). In retrospect, we were overly optomistic.

AVOID Air Seal at ALL COSTS. The company is difficult to deal with and will not honour their work. They caused about $3000 of damage to our home. They played 'dog and pony' game in avoiding talking to me about the problems they caused. They did not properly cover the windows, floor or toilet and allowed spray foam on the windows (pictures below), screens, floor and toilet drain. The cost to fix these problems exceeded $3000 AND still still not done. I mentioned these problems and sent pictures to Ephraim and David in January 2013. Ephraim was only willing to pay a small amount of compensation in July 2013. He was not willing to pay even $1 towards fixing the drains which his company damaged. Ephraim acknowledged that they no longer use the crew who did work in our home. Ephraim acknowledged the job was poorly done. BUT he is not willing to pay for the damage caused. Pictures below are of windows, screens and floor damaged by the spray foam. I enclose a video link to evidence of spray foam in our drain caused by Air Seal Insulators. I welcome people to come to our home and see the damage first hand. Michael

We hired them to install a basement in-floor heating, main floor - in-floor heating, split unit air con, new (replacement) rads on 2nd floor and a humidifier system. This type of work is not typical of the work they do. They work mostly on forced air systems. Accordingly, this review is likely unusual for them I presume. In fact, our sales rep - Darren - as we later realized and became evident - had never done work on a hydronic system. This became very evident as I note below. Further, as he left the company, the ball was somewhat dropped on our job in terms of management. Eventually, it was completed. The owner - Mathew - came out to view the job in order to push along the work when our contact left. I would trust Mathew to ensure a job is completed. He appears to be someone who stands behind his word. We have since purchased a humidifier from Aire One. The price we paid for our job was competitive. It was on the lower sides of tenders but not unequaled. Estimates ranged from about $35,000 to $45,000 for our scope of work. The work was contracted out which resulted in some 'broken telephone'. There are some cold spots in the floor in key areas including in front of basement kitchen sink, bottom of basement stairs and one basement bathroom. These problems are not fixable due to the nature of in-floor heating. Our air conditioning (split unit on 2nd and main floor) work as expected. Aire One has a very large of products ie boilers, indirect water tanks, etc which was a factor in our decision to use them. Overall, I would recommend using them.

We renovated our entire home (in Riverdale) from top to bottom including a polished concrete basement floor which George did. George is the BEST in the business. We would not tender future projects. We would simply ask George when he can start and give him our budget. George offers reasonable rates. He is neither the cheapest nor most expensive. His rate is very competitive. His work is excellent. While like myself he is not perfect .. He is as close to it as humanly possible. He is very meticulous unlike every other trade or contractor we have used. We extensively renovated a previous home and had many poor experiences. George is very honest. He provides daily or weekly reports on work completed, cost (ie overruns not on original quote). He reduced his costs when he found cheaper solutions. We regret hiring some trades prior to the large reno as George Gets the Job done with superb quality in a cost effective manner (I realize this sounds cliche but its true). George does most work by himself which does mean he takes a bit longer than some other contractors - but it is absolutely worth it. Most work done by sub trades were done with little thought or needed some re-work. It is worth the wait. George is a perfectionist. He is awesome. We had radiation in one dump load for which we were charged by the dumping company. George got his own geiger counter the night we informed and checked the whole house (it was fine). This is an example of his dedication to the job. Michael

George is the BEST in the business. In the future, I would simply call George up, give him the job, tell him how much money we have to spend. Did I say George is the BEST in the business. While George, like everyone ie myself and every human is not perfect, he is as close to it as one can get. We renovated our 100 year old home in Riverdale. Our project expanded significantly over time. We essentially rebuilt our entire house. (Photos and details available on request). George updated us on costs on a daily and weekly basis. His cost is very reasonable. He is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive. George is very aware of costs and came up with innovative ways to solve problems in a cheaper manner than originally conceived. George reduced his charges when he found cheaper solutions. The quality of George's work is excellent. Having done other home renos and having used other contractors previously and directly sub'd out trades - which I regret - I can attest to the fact that George does excellent work - the best of any trade we have every used. George does most of the work himself which means 2 things - he wont be he quickest of any contractor - but the work will be excellent. As mentioned, we had many problems with sub trades ie HVAC, Sprayfoam and windows (directly or indirectly sub'd out). In the future, I would rather have George deal with it. In summary, we would not tender any jobs. Instead we would call George ask him when to move out and tell him our budget. He is very honest, Very good (NO AMAZING...NO THE BEST) and very reasonable in terms of cost. Michael

Densie is excellent. she cares and is reasonably reliable. However, the company failed to properly reinstal and repair our air conditioner. it was the reason we went with them. they failed to finish the duct work...there was always a story. we had our contractor finish up that work and we deducted that cost from their bill. they were agreeable. however they failed to properly fill up the air con with coolant. they checked it and said it worked...it did not...we spend 3 years in a house without proper air con (wife pregnant several times during this period...she was rather uncomfortable). they also did not properly instal the humidifier...our house was very dry for the first 2 winters.... nice staff..but quality control not there

I wish Manny would do entire renovations. His company is the best operation I have ever witnessed in terms of quality, speed, cleanliness and professionalism. The job was far more challenging than anticipated (removal of asbestos laden parging on a rubble foundation). He came in on time, on budget and was very flexible in terms of starting time. Manny please go into the business of whole home renos!!!!! I would be happy to show anyone pictures of our basement before and after.