Emerald City Design

Mike and Chris were excellent to work with. They collaborated with our designer and created a beautiful main floor for our family. They are well connected, very experienced, and take feedback and direction with grace and professionalism.

We have had great experiences with Emerald City Design. They gutted two of our upstairs bedrooms, insulated, drywalled and dealt with installation of new hardwood. Mike even hung our accent wall wallpaper for us :) The work was fantastic. They also installed a built in pax wardrobe in our bedroom that I still love, two years later. Mike and Chris also helped us fix up some loose ends from prior renovations, and created a built in area for an electric fireplace in our living room. The work quality has all been great. Mike and Chris are both really nice, honest and full of great ideas. They stay on schedule and on budget.

Mike and Chris have been excellent in providing sensible advice on how to tackle the various issues that come with an older home in Toronto. They refreshed the interior of the house with painting and the installation and insulation of a new internal wall. Along the way they provided guidance with respect to electrical and plumbing questions. Their suggestions about the timing of various projects for the house and recommendations with respect to materials have been very practical. Despite having larger jobs on the go they were able to meet the timing requirements that we had as well. They are very easy to deal with and their crew are friendly, polite, and very tidy.

The guys at Emerald City were a pleasure to work with. They are knowledgable, polite and very good at managing large projects. They also sourced and organized specialized trades people for us during our very tight reno time line. We only had one month to refinish floors, ceilings, walls and fix plumbing and electrical. They did a beautiful job AND they came in on budget.

I am really pleased with our reno - Chris and Mike did a fantastic job. We renovated most of the rooms on our upper floor and turned our two bedroom into a four bedroom, which included moving and renovating our kitchen and living room. Chris helped design the layout of our rooms so that they functioned well and had a great flow throughout. I liked the attention to detail - e.g. deciding where to put floor grates based on where my daughter's toddler bed might go in future. They were able to repurpose some of our existing kitchen cabinetry and incorporate it with new cabinets, which saved us a lot of money. They did a significant portion of the work themselves and didn't just rely on subtrades - they helped manage the job really well and the electrician and plumber they work with are great too. Chris' knowledge of the building code really helped with our reno, and everything was completed with attention to safety standards and ergonomics. I also liked how they were able to source quality fixtures from local distributors that fit within our budget. Their esthetic is clean and modern, and they pay attention to details like how wood and tile floors match up, whether tiles have been placed neatly and evenly, whether wood flooring has been installed properly to prevent creaks, and whether paint jobs are clean and precise. I'd recommend this company to anyone who is looking to renovate and who wants a company that is knowledgable of function and design of living spaces and willing to work with your own ideas or make suggestions to improve your design. They're also really cheerful and easy to get along with :)

I think they had good intentions, but had trouble juggling their other jobs and rather than be up front and perhaps reschedule, they were no-shows for 3 weeks shortly after the start of what was supposed to be a 4-week job. Even when they came to work, they worked about two hours a day, and at the worst possible time for us (when kids home from school, or would show up unannounced after dark and let themselves in!). This after WEEKS of an empty house waiting for them day after day, coffee pot at the ready... We learned some valuable lessons: never let someone begin work without first getting a clear quote, that INCLUDES payment dates aligned to work milestones COMPLETED so there are no misunderstandings. i.e. will pay this % to start, and then this % when walls up, toilet in or whatever... Also it must be clear when they quote a price for materials etc. - who is buying what - sometimes they wanted to go buy it themselves, sometimes they wanted us to do it. We were fine to go buy materials, but confused since their estimate included everything, so we simply expected the overages to be clearly laid out (i.e. this quote is with a $400 toilet - if you get a $600 toilet it goes up by $200 etc..). Essentially, it should not be done both ways: either they can show all receipts and charge us for them or we agree to an all-in price and we don't need to see any receipts and we pay them as agreed. Also their quote never mentioned tax at all, so the assumption could be it was included - but no, they added it at the end which is not the best customer experience. Perhaps they have improved their quote process by now but it was stressful being asked for another large sum of money early on, when there was nothing but a hole in the floor for weeks on end and nobody coming in to work. In the end they rushed to even get it done for us by Christmas (so total of 10-12 weeks of a construction zone) and it really shows in the finishing (we can see drywall tape through the paint, the grout was put in then walked on while painting = a charcoal grout is permanently dusty white in several uneven areas). It is a shame because I know they are capable of good work - if they had another bigger job come up, they should have asked to reschedule before starting and done the job properly at a different time. It boils down to communication - I could go on with several other things that happened that could have been avoided with clear communication about 1) design (they make assumptions and don't ask first about where we want lights, vanity, etc), 2) materials and 3)milestones.

Chris and his brother did a fantastic
Job with lots of odds and ends work at our house. They fixed cabinets and hinges so that we wouldn't have to do a costly replacement of all cabinetry. They took a basic door and added parts to it so that the paneling would match the other doors in our hallway. They hung a pocket door that has stood the test of time, lasting over a year with two little ones and heavy usage. I appreciated their sensible suggestions and high quality workmanship. Very respectful of our space and tidy. Thanks!

I have been extremely impressed with the work done by Emerald City. I have had 2 separate jobs done by this company and both times they have been completed in time and budget. Chris and Mike demonstrated exceptional experience enabling them to provide practical and esthetical suggestions enhancing the final work. They have always been reasonable, respectful and kept the work area very clean both during and after a days work. I will definitely use them again for future work and highly recommend them to friends and family.

I am very pleased with the work completed by Mike and Chris and have already recommended Emerald City Design to a few of our friends and neighbours. Extensive electrical upgrades were completed with all repair work done immediately so that we could live in the space as the work was done. The basement space has been completely transformed into a warm, dry and very comfortable living space. Mike was up front and accurate with cost estimates. He kept an open dialogue, making very practical suggestions along the way. I am very happy with the finished work and pleased with their attention to every detail.

We recommend Emerald City Designs without reservation. This is our fourth house so we have been through renovations large and small and our experience with Mike and Chris was among the best. They were able to make design suggestions that have really worked for us, the work was good quality and they were very pleasant to deal with. In particular the construction knowledge and thought they brought to our job was trmendous. Punctual, on price and respectful of our home and family. We look forward to hiring them again when our next project takes shape.