Truffles in Vancouver

We have used Neil for various electrical repairs, but he really came through for us when we needed an oven fuse block for our old fuse panel--this was a part that is no longer sold in any electrical or home improvement stores and we searched high and low trying to find one. Neil was able to locate one for us, and saved us more than $1000 which is what we would have had to spend if we had to replace the whole fuse panel. Neil is also great at troubleshooting electrical problems, like outlets that don't have any power, or changing out old ballasts on the long fluorescent tube light fixtures. We call upon him regularly and would highly recommend him.

Neil is our go-to guy when we need electrical work done--we own a number of apartment buildings so we are sometimes in need of repairs to outlets or light fixtures replaced, etc., and when we call Neil, he is prompt to respond and always does a great job. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Neil to anyone looking for a quality electrician who is efficient, nice, and reasonably priced. We will definitely continue to call on him in the future for any other electrical work we need done.

One of the sprinkler heads burst in one of the suites at our apartment building. So much water that the whole apartment was flooded at least 6 inches up the wall. Water flooded down to the unit below and next door too. We called On Side to do the restoration and because it was under an insurance claim, they seemed to be incredibly slow to get everything done--from the carpet restoration to the dry wall repair. I had to keep calling the project manager to pester and prod him about when things would be done so the tenant could move back in. It took over 6 weeks for things to be completed to a level where the tenant could return, which seemed too long to me. Lots of days when nobody would be working on the restoration at all.

Our original retaining wall at the back of our apartment building had to be destroyed when we had an oil tank dug out from underground, so we contracted Dunbar Masonry to rebuilding the section required. They did a professional job and cleaned up the area so that things looked basically back to normal before the oil tank was removed. If we needed this kind of work done again, I'd use Dunbar Masonry.

Our apartment building (1960s vintage) needed to be repiped, so we got different estimates from 3 different companies. Brighter came in in the middle so we chose them. They were very professional and organized--it was obvious they'd been in this business for a while--and although it took quite a while for the whole job to be done (as was expected), we didn't get one single complaint from a tenant while the work was being completed, even though the nature of the job causes quite a bit of inconvenience (daily water shut-offs, drywall being broken, etc.). We would use them again if we needed a big job like this done again in the future.

We had a cracked window at our old house that we finally decided to get repaired (we were renovating that room so we figured might as well). I called Super Glass because I saw that they were not far from where we were and made an appointment. They came on time and it took them a while to remove the old glass and put in the new pane because the old window frame made it a bit of a challenge. But the end result was great--the job was well done and we were happy. They asked us to pay the bill right away by credit card (I usually prefer to be invoiced and then we can write a cheque), but I suppose being a smaller company, they want to make sure they get paid right away. Other than that though, I'd recommend them.

Hillcrest isn't our usual plumber we go to, but when our water main burst we unfortunately weren't able to get a hold of our regular plumber so we called Hillcrest which is a big company and can dispatch somebody 24/7. The plumber who came was competent enough, and fixed the problem, but I guess because they're a bigger company they charge higher rates, almost twice the amount as our regular company ($150 per hour vs. $85). So we ended paying a lot more. I probably wouldn't call them again unless we were in a similar emergency situation where we couldn't get hold of our regular plumbing company.

We had been using Canadian Pest Control to look after all the pest control needs at our various apartment buildings, and they used to be good at dealing with our issues such as mice, cockroaches and bedbugs. However, since they've merged with Orkin Pest Control, we noticed a sharp decline in service--they'd come and spend no more than 10 minutes for a monthly inspection, and did not seem to care that the numbers of mice had increased exponentially. In the end, we switched pest control providers and are giving someone else a try.

We own a few apartment buildings and any time we need to replace any of our appliances (fridges, oven ranges, dishwashers) we always buy them through Coast Wholesale. In my opinion, they have the best combination of value and service and they've always been able to provide us right away with whatever replacement appliance we need. Highly recommended.

We were very happy with the service we received from Fairway Glass. We called them in to repair a broken window (due to vandals) and Fairway responded promptly, came to the site, gave us an accurate estimate, and when we gave the OK, they fixed the window quickly and efficiently. We would definitely use them again for any other glass repairs we required.

We used Lambert Plumbing for a number of necessary repairs we had in our apartment buildings, from leaky pipes to hot water tank replacement. At first we were happy with the level of service we were receiving, but as we became regular customers, we felt that the level of service began to drop and that they were increasingly sending trainee plumbers to work on our jobs, which would extend the length of time any repair would take to complete and in turn increase the amount of our bill. In the end, we got frustrated with this and switched companies.

We've used Handy Appliance to repair our washers and dryers in our apartment building and they seem competent enough, but in terms of value for money, I'm still looking for a better repair company. The prices they charge for some of the parts they use seem too high, and at one point I was able to find the same part for almost half of what Handy was going to charge.

We have used In Ur Town Plumbing for a number of jobs now and we have always been very satisified with the level of service and professionalism they've shown. Brent responds very promptly to our emergency calls and after completing a job will often phone to let us know what was done and what follow up might be necessary. We'll continue to call upon Brent and his crew whenever we have any plumbing issues.