Stick And Stones Landscape Construction Ltd.

We began our search for a contractor in March/April 2011 and met with 6 different contractors who all gave us different advice about materials, design, structure, etc. It was somewhat frustrating.

Oren Lasko of Lasko Construction was very patient with all of our questions to help us clarify the various "opinions" we'd been given, pointing out what made sense to him and what didn't and, most importantly, why.

He was also very patient with us in the design phase as we needed to be sure the size/design of deck would meet varying needs. He met with us repeatedly to refine the design until we were all clear as to what was required to meet our needs. All of this before we had actually committed to use him as our contractor.

As a side note, Oren's design drawings are done by hand rather than using computer software that many other contractors use. Don't be put off by this as the Town of Markham's Building Permit department commented that his drawings were some of the best they had ever seen.

Of the 6 contractors we met with, 2 quoted prices in the $10k - $12k range, 1 quoted $27k and 3 (including Oren) were in the $15k to $18k range. We decided to use Lasko Construction based on the combination of customer service provided so far, the experience Lasko clearly had, references we were able to speak with directly, and the reasonableness of the price combined with the quality of service/experience we felt we were getting.

Execution/delivery took a little longer than we would have liked but mostly due to bad weather preventing Oren from completing prior jobs as quickly as he had hoped, and Markham's 10-business day turnaround time for building permits. Having said that, as we were approaching a date for a family function at our house, Oren and his team worked overtime to finish as quickly as possible.

Throughout the construction phase, Oren entertained our numerous questions and was very patient with us. The deck was completed exactly as we had envisioned and we have had a great summer of enjoying our new outdoor living space.

There were a few minor problems noted after using the deck for a little while and Oren was very quick to fix them. He also followed-up with us towards the end of the summer to see if there were any further problems. His customer service is excellent and we are confident that should we encounter any problems in the future, he will be there to assist.

If you are thinking of using Oren for a job, feel free to ask him for our contact information for a direct reference.