janko in Toronto

Was looking at getting a AC + furnace combo and went through a ton of quotes from all the companies you might think to go to. Of all, Empower looked to offer the most and the fairest price. The sales person was super helpful, attentive, patient and noted that there is no reason to get a new humidifier from Empower as I already had a new one and they would just install it free when they do the furnace. I thought that was great and super helpful. As well he sweetened the deal with a carrier rebate of $800 which was great. The other reason we decided to go with them was that they were a certified Carrier installer which should have some weight to it. Fast forward to installation day. They started off with the removal of the old equipment. All good so far. Next up they moved to get the new AC installed. I had the old AC mounted on the wall and I preferred to have the new one done in the same way. Finding out that they had to put new brackets in, they noted that it might not hold. That should have been a red flag, but they proceeded to make the holes in the brick and place anchors in. None of the anchors held and ultimately after 3 holes all no good, I had to do with the pad on the ground. I now had 3 unnecessary holes in the brick in addition to the old ones. They should just not offer a mounting service when they are not equipped to do so. Moving to the furnace installation. There was A TON of issues placing in the new coil. The older installation was CLEAN with cutouts made precisely and cleanly. Now imagine the exact opposite of that and that is what happened. Instead of making the duct wider, so that it can fit nicely, then cutting out holes where required, they kept the old holes, cut up the duct so that it stuck out to fit the new coil. It was horrendous. This was going to be the way it was going to stay and up to the standards of the installation had I not stopped them, and demanded they redo it. A new sheet was placed with new cutouts but they were barely accurate and had to be adjusted and bent to fit again. Looks better and covered by tape, but very disappointing from a Carrier certified installer. The intake and exhaust piping is mostly ok but done geometrically incorrect on one join so its barely fitting and holding on. I fully expect this to fall apart at this joint as some point. The cleanup was relatively fine, the walls were damaged where they were working inside and the washer scratched and scuffed. Outside they did not fill any of the holes and used bright white caulking for any gaps where the pipes went through. Where they drilled for the new intake pipe, they didn't clean up the area, fill with foam and caulk it. What they did was leave all the lose grout and brick there and just fill it with white caulking, on red brick. There were gaps and holes where I had to rip it apart and do it properly myself. I have spoken with Empower about the issues and we both agree that installation should be done better and that this helps anyone looking to get it in the future get a better experience.

Had them come by to do a deep clean after a tenant moved out. 3 came by and did a divide and conquer to get it all done. I was not able to be present to watch over what was being done as I was in a meeting and I really should have. After they were complete, at first glance it looked ok, like it was clean, but in reality it was not. What you get is something that looks clean from far, but if you look closer its really not. Kitchen - there was some calcium buildup around the faucet, the counter on the right of the sink wasn't cleaned at all and there was a ton of crumbs around the cooktop. All of this we had to clean after. Living room - the floor was mopped and looked clean but noticed spots on the floor. So with only water I went over all the floors again and the water was almost black. As well the baseboards in the living room was not at all cleaned. Den - other than floor was fine Bedroom - was ok, but the door frame in the closet was not wiped at all and was still quite dirty (again all able to be cleaned with little effort with water). Bathroom - generally ok but the outside of the toilet was not cleaned at all as it was quite dirty. Windows - mostly done well, some of the windows on the balcony were either streaky or they didn't reach up high enough so there was a dirty area at the top still. Overall, fairly dissatisfied with the work done and the around of work required after to get the place actually clean. *Edit* - to clarify, I did contact the person doing the work and listed some of the items I found at the time that were either not done or not done well and only got “sorry about for this”. No offer to come back or anything like that. Instead the reply to this review is that this was something that should have been done. Also attached a picture of how the water looked like, just in the living room alone, after I went over it using only water, after the company left.

Job was waterproofing down to the weeping tile around 40 linear feet. This was a job where it was necessary to watch the work being done to make sure it was done as quoted and done fully. Don't get me wrong it was all done, but there would have been a number of crack that would not have been grinded and filled in had I not pointed it out and made sure it was done. In the quote: Protect work area - a number of areas were not protected and I had to go in to make sure they were. A neighbors AC unit was very close to being hit with dirt, a neighbors basement window was going to have a lot of soil load on it if I didn't step in and a downspout was pretty badly dented and would have been worse if I didn't put something there to protect it. *EDIT* the downspout was rectified by the owner after the fact to make things right. Things were thrown on the bushes and flowers without a second thought. When excavating they kept hitting the shovel against the foundation to clean it, but this kept making 2-3in dents/slices in the wall. Luckly I was doing parging after this so it wasn't a huge deal but this might not be the case with everyone. Prepare Foundation (power wash, wire brush) - not really. They used a scraper to remove some of the noticeable debris but that's pretty much it. *EDIT* - spoke with the owner and while this is in the checklist, this is done in extreme cases only. Blow Torch - in a few cases the foundation was wet, but nothing was done to dry it. Was told it was fine. *EDIT* - spoke with the owner and while this is in the checklist, this is done in extreme cases and the aquablock is good at sticking to relatively damp surfaces. Apply 2nd Layer of Aquablock - NOPE, was told only one is needed. *EDIT* - spoke with the owner and while this is in the checklist, the way it was done was with one heavy application rather than two. end result is the same amount. Install new 4" plastic weeping tile pipe (with filter cloth) - this was done but they did not install filter cloth in the first segment and only by looking at the quote did I notice that this needs to be done. They were not planning on doing this had I not brought it up so a good 7 ft segment does not have this installed. Cover Weeping tile with gravel - yes but its a tiny amount. They replaced maybe a few inch worth of 3/4 gravel where there was about 12in before. Look, overall did the work get done? Yes. Do I have confidence that it will protect against water and everything is protected? Yes. Did they leave me with a feeling that everything would have been done great without any input and nothing would be damaged had I not been there? Absolutely not and that is the issue. If you are willing to supervise and make sure things get done right, by all means. If you are a hand off type of a person, then I would not recommend this to you. *EDIT* - Spoke with owner and changes were put in place that certain things don't happen on future jobs. Banging of the shovel will be fully removed form the process and only done on nearby rocks, checklist will either be adjusted or the process adjusted to suit the checklist of items that would be done. Further care regarding protecting the property within the work area to avoid any damage. Overall very responsive company and willing to do things to make it right if possible.

Had them come in to remove a massive tree that was far too close to the foundation. While I did all the work to get a permit prior to hiring I'm sure they would be able to help out for a cost. On the tree removal side of things, they came in and made short work of that massive tree in a fairly tight area without damaging the property or the garden around it. 20 years to grow and 20 min to remove it. Pricing is the best I have found and the guys were great. Would hire again without question.