Gd Electric & Controls Ltd

I found this company on homestars, since not many electrical companies turned up on yelp. they had amazing reviews, so i was pretty excited that i found someone great. Martin, was really quick to respond to my email and called me ASAP, I wanted a super quick appt, since i am in dire need of putting my bathroom back together. He couldnt get me in for a couple weeks- ok understandable, as everyone is busy. He knew i needed a permit at the time of booking. They came and did the work, dave and his apprentice aaron were really nice and easy to deal with- dave had to explain everything to his apprentice so they may have taken longer - but hey we all have to learn. The owner, Martin called the same day ( wed ) and asked when i wanted an inspection.. surely i expected one the next day. he told me that wasnt possible since they needed 24 hours from applying for the permit. ( why wasnt this done ahead of time was beyond me- since he had a couple weeks notice ) so i said ok for friday. I proceeded to call the city on thurs to ask if i could have a first thing appt on fri since i take care of an old lady, and the city had not heard of an inspection... so i called to ask martin why, he said he would call ASAP. so i wait around my house on friday again. no one shows up early so i call the city again.. same answer, no permit pulled yet.. what the heck. I almost wasted two complete days waiting around my house, had i not called the city. VERY un professional to do the work without a permit to begin with, especially when requested by the customer. Sure enough i had to wait til the following TUESDAY for an inspection.. a WEEK from the initial work. Here is the best part, they were there from 9-11 45, they moved a couple light switches, moved a light over and installed a fan in my bathroom-- my bill was $940!!!!!! outrageous. this is totally my fault since i didnt ask for a quote ahead of time, i assumed i was hiring electricians and not brain surgeons. after refusing to pay this price, he dropped it to what he said was " his cost" ... $575 .. i supplied the switches, i supplied the fan, i supplied the lights and boxes.. a permit is 100 bucks i get that, but apparently he pays his staff 150 dollars an hour!!! I cant wait to become an electrician!!

Over all they all seemed like amazing people, until it came time for billing and inspections. Which is too bad since i was really excited to find someone awesome. I would not recommend them for the outrageous prices alone.

Paul was at the house right on time,replaced the panel and had the room cleaned before he left. Polite and professional and a job well done. Great communication with Martin from the start-always updated appointment times.

service was fast next day service, they were able to trouble shoot the problem in timely manner,fixed it,and was on his way, the price was good, I would use them again.

After trying to find an electrician to come and do an upgrade to 200 amp service, Martin was quick to respond (sent us messages while on his vacation) and also did a great job on the installation. Martin and Paul were right on time and had everything needed. We have Martin booked to run some extra lines for AC and a hot tub, and he will be our first call when any other electrical work needs to be done.

I saw that GDE had excellent reviews on Homestars so I decided to give them a call. We got a new panel, new outlets, an inspection, and some grounding work done. To be honest I was quite unhappy with their service.

1. Cleanup: I had to spend a fair deal of time cleaning up after them. There was sawdust, and dirt pretty much everywhere they were working (had to wash the walls as well). It took me several attempts to convince them to remove the pile of drywall they left in the alley, and I still have the old outdoor electrical tubing and wiring in my backyard.

2. Damage: I had to sign a disclaimer saying that GDE was not responsible for any damage they cause. I figured they wouldn't be causing any damage so I signed the paper. They ended up cracking my bathroom roof, and pulling on two walls (while sawing) so hard that screws are now visible through the paint. I understand that we have an older home and were going through some renovations at the time, but at least you could have some respect for my property.

3. Finishing: The inspector told them to make sure our hotwater tank and furnace were grounded. They did this with bare copper wire. Now I know that there is no risk but for the extra several hundred they charged me for this work they could have at least loomed it up.

4. Professionalism: The way that Martin handles invoices is astonishing. There are two separate documents. One for the work, and one for the price. If you need additional work done, you will get another two. Quite frustrating when trying to sort out the total cost of the project. By the time our full invoice was done, we had something like eight excel documents to go through.

I decided to work from home while there were doing the work. I figured it would be the normal contractor type situation, but I was wrong. They spent most of the day angry and screaming at each other (one person in the attic, one on the main floor). Martin was in a good mood, but his assistant seemed like he didn't want anything to do with the project. I'm guessing you do this kind of work all the time, so why not have some kind of electronic communication device instead of yelling all day long? It was quite uncomfortable to say the least.

On the positive side the installation looks fantastic. I have no doubt in my mind that these folks know what they are doing. Martin also dropped the price a little when I looked into some competition. In regards to customer service however? I am not impressed at all and will not be recommending them.

I had Paul come up to my house in less then 24hrs after asking for them to come out! he was so fast and respectful, VERY professional these are my new guys! if you want a great service at a great price DO NOT look anywhere eles (top notch!)

Martin was very helpful in setting up a time for initial meeting as well as giving professional recommendations to meet code. Very professional and I love the fact he had to reschedule because he was helping out with flood matters in Calgary and giving back to the community. Worth the wait, thank you for excellent service and reasonable pricing.

I Went to homestars.ca and noticed Martin had very good reviews so I decided to call and give him a try. He tried to help me troubleshoot over the phone right away. Once he came over, he was very professional and efficient, so I decided to ask him to install three timers as well. His rate was reasonable. I liked him and I would call him again if needed

Alberta Flood 2013 - called Great Dane and Martin had us up and running within 2 days. Highly recommend this company. The price was very reasonable, and they treated us with kid gloves given the circumstances.

I had a burnt out outlet and replaced it myself. When I went to turn on the breaker, it kept tripping the main breaker. I checked everything and could not find the problem. Called Great Dane and he knew what the problem was right away.

A brand new outlet has a brass plate connecting the red terminal to the black terminal. You need to break this connection to prevent the short! Not sure why they make them this way...probably a safety measure.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank Great Dane for their help. They could have come out and charged me to fix something that takes 2 minutes, but he just told me what needed to be done. Very honest and helpful. Thanks again!