KarS in Toronto

The flat roof of our 106 year old house started leaking in the middle of the winter. I left my contact information at the company’s web site http://www.bestflatroof.ca/free-estimate/ late at night, and received a phone call from Oleg – the owner – the next morning, before 9am. He was able to come by before 11am, inspected the roof and provided a detailed quote. He showed the samples of materials that he was recommending to install – ½” fiberboard, IKO ISO insulation, ProtectoBoard, and 2 layers of membrane- base and cap. That was similar to having a salesman showing you the samples of his products, but something was missing… The sales pressure!!! There was NONE! Neither were any offers to upgrade to more expensive options or materials. Quite contrary – he talked me out of upgrading to thicker ProtectoBoard which I was thinking about requesting. Initially, I asked for just bare minimum amount of insulation – just enough to flatten out the low spots and to eliminate water ponding – which came to ½”-2”. More about it later… The reasons I decided to go the Best Flat Roof are similar to those reported by other reviewers: - Quick response and in-person inspection of the roof - Detailed, written-down and signed explanation of what will be done - 10 year warranty - No sales pressure - Great reviews by fellow reviewers Oleg said that, weather permitting, he might be able to send in his crew sometime next week. The weather was not all that nice, and we got some more snow. I was afraid that we would be stuck with our leaky roof until spring… But he called me on Wednesday and asked if the crew could start the work the next morning. There was no snow expected on Thursday – just some freezing rain overnight – but are you sure I asked? He was very confident that the crew could go ahead. Well, I asked, and can I upgrade to 4” insulation – instead of 2”? No problem he said… His crew started arriving shortly after 7am. One van… Then a dump truck… I thought that was it… Then a pickup truck fully loaded with insulation… By now, pretty much half of our short street was occupied by “our” trucks, and there was this great feeling that our house is turning into a large-scale construction project! But that was not it – shortly after, a huge flatbed truck arrived and started unloading more stuff with a forklift. The whole street was “ours”! A huge stack of insulation… a pallet of membrane (more than half a ton I figure…) … and what not – ended up on our driveway… That was the moment I realized that this company is capable of doing much bigger projects. No wonder they do a lot of commercial roofs. An old Victorian semi should be a piece of cake for them! Denis – the crew boss – quickly decided the best routes for sending the materials up and the debris down, and the stuff started coming down from the roof. 4 layers of tar and gravel – 3 truck loads – came down without leaving a single scratch on our house. Also, the extension ladder with a power lift that they set up at the back was the house was carefully padded as not to damage the railing of our rooftop deck. As the work progressed, I grew convinced that we hired the right company. The crew worked tirelessly for 12 hours straight, and was able to clear the rooftop boards (106 year old cedar boards – still in a great shape), level out the saggy spots, fasten the insulation and the protectoboard, build a divider parapet between us and the neighbor, and cover the whole thing with a base layer of membrane – just in time, as we were expecting a freezing rain overnight. The next morning the crew arrived at 7am and started layering the membrane and bent all the flashing (they have their own “break” – sheet-metal bending machine). After finishing the roof, the crew came down and started loading the debris into the dump truck. The truck made 2 trips that day, but there was still lots left, so they came back the next day, Saturday, and cleaned up everything. More reasons to consider this company: - They have their own dump truck – as opposed to some other companies just renting a bin and leaving it on your driveway until they are done (and charging you for rent). The dump truck can be moved away if need be. - They have their own break (bending machine) – so that they fabricate any flashing on-site. We are VERY HAPPY with their work, and already started recommending them to our friends and neighbours.

This is a follow-up to my posting of Dec 18, 2011. MAINTENANCE: It's been over 3 years since they installed my furnaces, Lindon and his crew have been great. The maintenance technician always shows up on time, does a great job, provides recommendations and lewves the place clean. OVER-THE-PHONE TROUBLESHOOTING: Every time I call Lindon with a question, he takes his time to give a detailed - and always correct - answer. He does't even mind answering my friend's calls any time they have problems with their furnaces.

QUOTE: Lindon from AirFlex inspeceted the house, patiently listened to me and provided excellent profeccional advice. He did not try to upsell - quite the opposite. He was very honest, not pushy at all, and provided an excellent quote - an offer I could not refuse. INSTALLATION: The installation crew showed up on time; it seems like they had everything they could have possibly need in their vans. The installation took the whole day, and they did an excellent work. They even replaced many old components that they thought were not done the best way: I noticed all old plastic water supply lines for humidifiers were replaced with copper tubing; new grounding (including expensive grounding clamps) - not only free of charge, but without even mentioning it to me to get some credit! For the second furnace, they installed a quality condensate pump - again, free of charge (I believe $80 value). CLEANUP: They left the place clean - even cleaner than it was before - and took away both old furnaces, humidifiers and even two old electrostatic filters that were sitting in the corner of the basement since the reign of the previous homeowner.. PERFORMANCE: The furnaces keep the house worm and are quiet. Have not gotten any gas bills yet, but they should go down. Most importantly: the new humidifier Lennox HCWP18 that Lindon recommended does actually work and keeps the humidity where it is asked to. And it does not cost much more than the types that do not perform...