Solocrete General Contracting Ltd

Solocrete did a great superb finishing work with our driveway and walkway to our home,including a raised porch. With John's assistance in the design and texture recommendation we were able to achieve a signature appearance for our frontage. The long wait was well worth it as
Covid-19 deterred our completion timetable. Our exposed texture on our driveway, supplemented with stamped trim and walkways ways add to the "WOW " factor to our home exterior frontage. I also wish to compliment John/Idala for their staff worker selection! All of the working team that we interacted with were most respectful, courteous, and responsive to questions and concerns. The workers while each are specialist in their own right work well as a tandem to achieve the excellent final result.

Last fall we had stamped concrete installed in our back yard and front walk. Solocrete did a fantastic job in a very difficult year with COVID making scheduling difficult.

Our rep Paula was extremely helpful and responsive to our needs and did a great job following up as we navigated the various steps in the job.

We are very happy with the results and would recommend Solocrete to anyone looking for concrete work. The workers were a good bunch, friendly and smiling on some tough days of work.

Finally the price was fair and very competitive as we had received a number of estimates and compared pricing.

We would recommend Solocrete to our friends and would certainly hire them again if required.

I can't say enough how happy we are with the workmanship this team provides. The workers were very friendly and professional from start to finish.

They poured exposed aggregate boarders around our driveway, both sides of the house, front porch and backyard patio with steps. John shared his advice on design ideas. We are very happy with the results of their work. We have had a lot of compliments from family, friends and neighbors on the work that has been completed around our home.

Thank you to John and your Team for the great job! We cannot wait to use our backyard in the new year.

DO YOUR RESEARCH - For me Solocrete was one of the BEST choices I've made in selecting a contractor (My job was a large patio, shed base, 2x 18" light bases, a walkway from the back to the front, front porch and walk way at the front. it took 2 cement trucks and a little over 2 weeks to complete.

Work was supposed to start at the end of July but did not start until mid Sept( I was actually happy b/c cement cured nice and slow).. This work is highly dependant on weather. Rain and heat waves will cause delays. and the delays will have a snowball effect on the other jobs (don't plan a huge backyard party a week after you expect to have the work done as your project may be delayed due to weather). If your are stamping with colour, prepare for mess and dust; however, John has a crew that will spend a few hours washing down everything (the cement, the house brick, windows, the fences, the driveway, the doors even the street. Basically any mess they make it's clean by the time they leave). My Neighbours even made a comment about the professionalism. This company will not nickel and dime you to make design changes (unless of course your adding significantly more sq footage to job).

Once work started, they move fast. I found that when John or his crew gave an ETA on when they would return, it was pretty accurate. This way I could plan to be home. Keep in mind that if it's raining there is a good chance they are not coming.

John, his workers and the office will tell you that concrete requires TLC to maintain its beauty for the decades to come
- NO SALT, NO ICE MELTERS (SAND ONLY)
- No shovels with metal
- Keep it clean and seal ever other year. I watched them seal and its pretty easy for a DIY project.. hard to screw up. and you can always buy the seal and grip from Solocrete.

The Crew that I would like to point out-
ALBERTO is a master cement mason and is responsible for all the finishing touches that makes the area beautiful. He takes his time and will offer you suggestions. He is very very meticulous about his work.

John (the framer) - Will work with you to make sure that your design is appealing to the eye.

John (the owner) - He demands only the best of his workers

Unfortunately I forgot his name - but the guy who actually did the stamping. He worked with us to pick the best pattern for the area and suggested what release to use with the colour we choose.

My suggestions:

1- This is were doing research is very important even before you talk about price. My suggestion ask about their technique (excavation depth, type of base and its depth, the use of wire or rebar, and most importantly where is the cement coming from, what is the strength and how deep is the pour). Solocrete does not screw around with technique. They dug min 5", 4-6" of base (depending on grade) and min 5" of 35MPA cement (from Dufferin concrete). They used wire mesh in the pad (which they pull up into the concrete when pour) and rebar in the shed base and curbs.

2- Have an idea of a design. This is a very personal preference. I drove around and looked at many different properties for a design. No matter who I called, John included, they all told me basically its what I like and he will give few suggestions on work they've done in the past but its really up to the homeowner. Once you have a design, then John's team will make suggestions. I would like to give a shout out to John (the framer) who played a huge role in making fantastic suggestions with my original design.

3 - Drive around and look at the past work. I took a day and drove from Vaughan to Toronto to Mississauga to Gerogetown. This is what sold me. Seeing John's work from new to 10 years old.. We looked at houses that had the same colour choices we were interested in.. FANTASTIC work

4- Be on site for all phases of work. This is very very important. you are apart of the process and should be there to make decisions on the fly and point out things that you need clarification on.

Overall fantastic - I do wish that they had a landscaping division to the company. I guess the advantage here is they do concrete really really good.

Tired of weeding the lock stone, we chose to have it replaced with exposed aggregate concrete which would go well with the limestone in and around our gardens. Solo Crete did wonderful work tearing out the lock stone to construct the backyard patio and walkways (last year), and the front walkway, steps, porch and driveway edging this year. Their workers were respectful, punctual, very well organized and happily worked very hard together despite some difficult weather conditions.
Keeping the patio and walkways clean is a breeze and NO MORE WEEDING!

Every step of the process was handled in a professional and knowledgeable manner. The end product, a stamped concrete driveway and staircase, absolute exceeded our expectations, they did a spectacular job. We would not hesitate to recommend this company for any concrete requirement.

John and his team did a wonderful job for my project.
The scope of work included a double driveway, rear patio area, side walkway and front entrance with steps.
I would recommend him for any concrete related work.

From start to finish this company was professional and very helpful. John came to give us a quote and assisted with the design idea. Was helpful with questions we had too.
When the job started it was completed in the time frame projected (quickly) and we were very happy. They have many colours and designs to choose from at the show room which again was VERY helpful especially when doing a big job for your front house and back yard!

Solocrete did a great job at my house. I had old broken steps and an uneven grading towards my house and they managed to come up with a great design and fix the grading issue. They did a professional job and in a timely fashion. Totally recommend them to anyone who wants a concrete driveway and steps installed!

Mr. John and his crew were exceptional and did an awesome job our driveway and walkway. The team was efficient and payed close attention to detail and did an amazing job. Thank you