True North Underpinning

Daniel, Edgar, Josh, and the crew did a great, tidy job lowering the basement of our 1922 East York house.
We met with a lot of companies before settling on True North, and got several estimates. Not only was True North the best price, but the estimate was the clearest, had the most detail, and covered off all our issues and questions. It makes you nervous, agreeing to have someone dig under the structure of your house, but the quote and Daniel's patience explaining everything calmed us down.
We needn't have worried; they did a terrific job, the crew was friendly and polite, and they finished two weeks ahead of schedule.
Big thanks as well to Richelle for keeping us organized with invoicing and payment; a lot of companies do not have a handle on this .
This is the contractor story you want, and the one you'll be happy to tell everyone.

Absolutely fantastic job by Daniel and his crew at True North from the end of March through May of 2015. Underpinning work was meticulous, beautiful concrete stairs for the walkout, and great concrete-block laying for the new foundation. Workers were professional in every way. We highly recommend True North (as we saw from their previous reviews here)--they are top-notch. And now we are enjoying a wonderful new basement space with walkout to our backyard, plus a new cold cellar--perfect for wine as well as veggies! Thanks True North--you're the best.

-reliable time frame
-friendly and hard-working crew
-success despite limitations of exterior space, small openings, close neighbours etc. ( basic downtown Toronto)
-on time and on budget
Daniel Johnston really listened to our concerns and came up with viable solutions
-allowed us to add significant footage and height to our living space

Daniel and the guys were fabulous to work with and got our whole renovation off on a wonderful foot. They showed up when they said they would, worked hard, collaborated with us and got things done on time.

Our driveway was damaged by one of the bin deliveries, they brought it to our attention before we even noticed and assured us he would correct the problem when we were ready. I trust completely that that will be the case.

I highly recommend this firm.

We hired Daniel and his team based on a recommendation from our neighbours. We were not sorry. He was very attentive and exceptional at keeping me in the loop of the project progress. We ran into quite a bit of issues as we had initially hired Daniel to redo our concrete floors and install a flush mount beam, but ended up underpinning the whole house once we found structural damage on our brick walls. We own an old Toronto homes and as expected we ran into all kinds of issues with are archaic plumbing and old heating system. With every problem, Daniel was able to present an affordable solution and although the project scope and budget creeped, we were happy with our upgraded utilities. Daniel was also very helpful in recommending a contractor for the basement finishes and worked closely with the contractor to coordinate the installation of our pex radiator lines and heated floors even though our contractor wasn't scheduled to start work until after the underpinning was complete. All in all even though we ran into all sorts of issues when we went into the walls of our house we had an excellent experience working with Daniel and his team. I should also commend his Project Manager Josh and his Foreman Edgar. Two very stand up individuals who were on site every day at 7am and were very respectful of my property and accommodating to my young toddler. I would highly recommend True North Underpinning and believe their services are worth every penny.

Excellent service from first phone call to finished project. Including mid project changes, that were handled without hesitation, fair prices and extremely courteous workers.
Daniel is also, very knowledgeable in the trades and his referrals reflected his high level of competency.

True North did a fantastic job of bench pinning the basement of my semi-detached 100+ year home. I obtained several estimates from other contractors I found through Homestars. Daniel was the most straightforward and knowledgeable in answering all of my many questions and patiently explaining the exact process for the job. The professionalism extended thoughout the duration of my project as small complications came up and were resolved with the best outcomes. For example, in the original plan, the bathroom was going to be raised up to the height of the bench to avoid losing floor space. A fantastic plumber who subs for Daniel proposed a plan to keep the floor level with the rest of basement. This change was discussed immediately with Daniel and implemented the same day. The core team of Leo and Kevin started work at 7am on the dot everyday, maintained order and kept things as tidy as possible in what is a naturally messy job.
For anyone considering basement work that requires digging up, permits, etc, I would highly recommend True North. You will be in good hands.

My wife and I are new homeowners and this was our first substantial renovation. The experience with True North was incredibly positive. The work was done on schedule and within budget. Daniel listen to our objectives and gave us a number of reasonable options to achieve them. Quotes and invoices were timely and the team carrying out the work was friendly and always on-time. Given the horror stories you sometimes hear with basement renovations, we were happy to have such an uneventful and stress free experience.

We hired Daniel's team to underpin our unfinished basement. We were completely satisfied with the service. Leo and Kevin were amazing and dedicated workers. The job was completed earlier than expected with minimal disruption to our daily life.
Daniel's excellent communication skills and patience were crucial in alleviating any concerns we had regarding the project.
We highly recommend True North and are extremely satisfied with the results.

We embarked on a major reno of our semi this past fall and underpinning was the largest part of it. We met with all the top companies but weren't 100 % satisfied with any of them (tip: owners, don't send your son out in his fancy sportscar). Then we met with Daniel and immediately we knew who we wanted to go with. He knew our area well, knew the inspector, knew the issues we faced, and was very upfront about what the job entailed. Daniel is a straight shooter, delivers on his word, and his numbers were good to boot! His boys started on time and knocked off the work in 3 1/2 weeks -- must be a record underpin! The site was organized, the foreman was a nice guy, very personable, and Daniel or Josh were around plenty to make sure things were progressing smoothly. Of all of the contractors we worked with, Daniel and his crew turned out to be the best. Thanks for the great experience Daniel!