Ontario Downspout Service

I originally contacted Ontario Downspout Service a couple of years ago to deal with a gutter leaking inside the house, and to replace the siding of my house. I signed the contract, and paid the deposit, but then we just kept running into delays (our problems, not the company's). When the timing was finally right, Mark and Harvey (Mark is Harvey's son, this is a family business) scheduled the job and didn't even mention a change to price. To honor their original contract without even asking for inflation told me this is a very down to earth company. To be fair, they earned interest on my deposit for 2 years so I guess we are even, but I was really impressed with how they stuck to their word. In any case, they came to do the job and everything went really, really well.

We walked through the job, spoke about any concerns, discussed finishing options and then they got started. Mark and his crew arrived EXACTLY when they said they would EVERY DAY. They protected the neighbors house and my deck EVERY DAY. They checked in regularly throughout the job EVERY DAY. And at finishing time, they cleaned the work site, swept up debris and even used a magnetic broom to pick up screws/nails; EVERY DAY. I was thoroughly impressed with the work, and even more impressed that Mark asked me about last minute design decisions as we were going, so I would be happy at the end. No assumptions, just open and honest feedback.

What really impressed me was the way Mark managed his team. Mark and Hector (who I assume was some kind of supervisor) has a team of workers with English as a second language. Throughout the job, they were treated brilliantly and safety was the number one concern. At one point, the wind was picking up and Mark made a decision to stop work for the day. They were using 20 foot ladders so a fall could kill someone... Did it take an extra day to complete the job? Yes. Would I have it any other way? No - this is how you should treat people and the crews safety was number one priority. Bravo.

Not everything was flawless however - unfortunately there was a measurement/warehouse error and there was not enough of the siding (special order) to complete the job. This added a one week delay to our completion time, but it was OK. Mark communicated early that there was a problem, told me when it would be fixed and then kept me up to date on how things were going. There was also a few things that went wrong along the way; a broken vent & broken during demolition? They identified it when it happened, and then fixed it no cost without any issue. A sharp corner on some siding that was missed during installation? They came back later to fix it for me, no problem. But these things happen - no project is perfect, and the way Mark and his team identified the problems proactively and then fixed them for me was great. Consider this: A delay of week and I'm still giving then 10 starts should really tell you how great this company is to work with.

All things considered, I couldn't be happier. The pricing was reasonable, the communications were excellent, they treat their staff right and do great work. I can highly recommend Ontario Downspout Service.