MMB in Vancouver

Great work! I called to get wasps nests removed, Amanda in the office was really professional and efficient, arranged for someone to come out the same day. Ryan came out, removed the nests, sprayed, checked the rest of the house to make sure there were no others, and gave us some good tips on how to keep wasps from setting up home in our house eves in the future!

We were really happy with the work that Men In Kilts did. They were very professional, polite, worked quickly and efficiently, and didn't leave a mess. We were impressed that they didn't just do the gutter section they could see, but actually went down pipes with a vacuum to clean out. Thanks guys!

We called Trail to fix a problem we were having with our dryer. The receptionist was lovely, getting someone out to us the next morning. The guy they sent out, Sergiy, was great, and able to fix the problem on the spot. They are a little pricey, we were charged the flat visit fee, plus the minimum repair fee, but worth it to get it all done at once. And he was really polite and didn't make a mess!

After obtaining quotes from 2 other companies, we hired Heritage Painting. Although they were the most expensive quote, we liked the look of the owner, and his assurances (verbally and in writing) that the work would get done as specified. Specifically, we got a quote on getting the stain put on BY BRUSH and not by spraying, as it absorbs better, and also to stain the underside of the porch, to ensure better wear of the wood. In the end, he never set foot on the job, sending some workers, who proceeded to spray paint instead of using a brush (we knew this, not only from neighbours, but from the fact that they never even cleaned/powerwashed prior to working, so the cobwebs were spraypainted!). They didn't do the underside of the porch at all. We had to call the owner, who came out to look at the job (for the first time), he agreed that it needed to get done, but again, sent someone else out, who, again, spray painted. In the end, just to get rid of him, we paid in full (our mistake, as first-time homeowners), just to not have to deal with it anymore. Do not use this company! Hire an individual, so that the person you talk to is the person doing the work. You'll pay a fraction of the price, and can afford to take a couple of days of work to be home to supervise (another mistake we made!).

Our first contact with Cambie Plumbing and Heating was a weekend emergency. Our high efficiency boiler needed fixing (and it was winter!). We called about 10 companies, most of which took a day to respond, couldn't come out that day, etc. Cambie came out within a couple of hours (yes, they charged a bit extra, but to be expected on a weekend), were really nice and professional, and got the job done right without making a huge mess. Since then, we've used them for our yearly maintenance of the boiler, and other things that come up. They do a lot of work in our neighbourhood, and are one of the few "big" companies that work with residential buildings (many of the others only do commercial). They did, once, try to change an appointment for maintenance at the last minute, due to a big project coming up, but when I said no (as I'd already taken the day off work to be at home),they still came as scheduled.

Absolute Roof Solutions were absolutely wonderful! Keith (Project Manager) and Jaye (roofer) were both professional, easily accessible, and did a great job to ensure the work was done correctly from the start (and cleaning up after). We started out with just roofing, but quickly saw that we would need to replace the window and stucco on the dormer for the project to actually solve the water ingression issue. Absolute recommended their sister company, Kerr Construction. You can see my review of Kerr under that company, but just a quick warning here, DO NOT USE KERR if Absolute refers them to you. Unless you are a really big project (e.g. renovating an entire house), they will subcontract and not be responsible for the quality of work, or the time in which it is completed. See if you can get Absolute to work with another construction company on your project.

I would not recommend Kerr Construction your projects. We originally started out with roofing/flashing that needed repairs, and it became evident that because of the stucco siding, that would need to be replaced on our old home to ensure the roofing/flashing would work. The roofing company we used, Absolute Roofing (who were fabulous!) recommended their sister company, Kerr Construction. Kerr was great at coming out to look at the project, quote, and get a deposit, but after that, it fell apart. Their "project manager" (Dave) forgot to order the window, so by the time they did, it was already almost winter. This was November 2010, when we had an early snowfall, and Dave was insisting that he was sending people out, regardless of the snow and -15C temperatures, to do the work. We had to insist that they didn't, for their own workers safety, plus for the quality of work that couldn't be done in such low temperatures. They finally started in May, and what was supposed to be a 3-4 day project, turned into over a month. In short, they subcontracted it out to Tim, who although a nice man, did not have the skill set to do the entire project, especially by himself (no helper even). It was clear that Tim was putting personal projects that came up first, and fitting Kerr's in as he had time. He was obviously being paid a set price from Kerr, so although our contract with Kerr was clear about what it included (eg. restoring the inside of the window casing to the original condition after the window was installed), he was trying to get out of putting in new casing, painting it, etc. In the end, he did a half-baked job on it, but we decided the inside we could fix ourselves later. But the outside we had to insist several times that they complete (they didn't paint all of the dormer, they didn't close off open parts of the dormer, where wildlife could get in, etc). Dave, the "project manager" did not seem at all interested in our concerns, always referring us back to Tim. The only thing Dave did was collect money. He got really aggressive about it, emailing us an invoice one evening, and showing up at 9am the next morning for the cheque. Weird, as we never had an issue with paying them, yet he treated us like he was a debt collector right from the start. I'm sure Kerr puts more qualified people (and doesn't sub-contract) larger projects, but obviously they felt ours was too small to be worth doing themselves. It's shortsighted of them, as we are in an old house (1930s) and will be needing to replace all of the stucco within a short time, in addition to about 15 old windows. That would likely have been a project that would have been worth their while, and which they may have put competent people on, but they will not get the opportunity to bid on this.

Do not use this company! The owner (Luke) talks big, and seems semi-knowledgeable, but once he's got the contract, and the majority of work has been paid for, he disappears and doesn't follow up on completing work. It's been a couple of weeks now that he's not returned calls or emails to complete the project, and we are now starting on legal proceedings against his company. I get the impression it's a company he inherited from his dad, and he's obviously driving it into the ground. Luke's only in his 20s, so good at the talk, but not good at the project management.