Mike Hapers and his crew at Hapers Home Renovations did an exceptional job completing a full-scale renovation on our home over 5.5 months. As anyone who has undertaken a project of this size knows, this is a pretty quick turnaround. HHR completed the renovation on time and largely on budget (in a project of this size there are ALWAYS changes, including some that saved us money and others where we added work or made decisions that were more expensive than originally planned – but for what HHR quoted, with a detailed quote, they did not charge more and in fact budgeted a small amount for some unexpected costs so they could stay on budget). From the time of preparing a detailed quote to delivering a spic and span house, Mike and his crew were very professional.
Over the time we worked with them, there are a few things in particular that we appreciated about working with HHR. First, Mike and his crew – Andy, Gord and Tommy – are skilled individuals with great integrity and attention to detail. As a result, the quality of their work was very high. They take great pride in the work that they do, and won’t accept – from themselves or the subcontractors HHR hired – mediocre work. Mike is great at solving problems that inevitably come up in old houses and he is constantly thinking of different solutions and options to present to his clients, with an honest assessment of the implications.
Second, they completed the project on time because they were here every day. HHR is committed to finishing its projects on time – we were always informed in advance if one or more of the crew members would be working on another job for a day or two, and this was always done at time where it would not slow down the work on our project. Of course, finishing on time also depends on customers – either you have to trust HHR to make decisions for you, or you have to be available and able to make decisions fairly quickly. I am not a particularly quick decision-maker, but Mike was able to adjust by giving me more time wherever he could and still finishing the project on time.
Third, based on his experience over 15 years running a business, Mike has an eye for design. There are many changes we made based on his suggestions that improved the original drawings.
Fourth, they treated our home and neighbours with care and respect – no one ever smoked in the house, the job site was left clean every day with tools and materials organized, and they took very good care of the few things left in the basement.
Fifth, they are honest, decent, good-natured people, and so was every tradesperson I met through HHR. This may seem like a small quality, but renovations are stressful, and dealing with good people makes everything run more smoothly.
Sixth, Mike is a great communicator and teacher. For us, this was our first renovation and it was a major one. At the quoting stage, Mike took the time to walk us through every detail of his quote – what it included, what it didn’t include, where we could save money, etc. I can’t count the number of times Mike took the time to explain the implications of a decision we had to make, or to suggest a supplier or product that would save money or be a better choice.
If you are looking for high-quality work finished on time and on budget, choose HHR. We are thrilled with HHR’s work and have no reservations recommending HHR to our family and friends. Thank you Mike, Andy, Gord and Tommy for your incredible work. We still can’t quite believe that this is our house, 5 months later☺.