DueDiligence

Went to the Spring Home Show to hopefully find a supplier of address "hardware" and came across this company. Realizing that old-style cast metal was now surpassed by fully customizable plastic products, we decided to use them to provide the new signage we desired. The process was quick & easy via e-mail. After a few back & forth messages where they provided visual mock-ups of various fonts & sizes, we made our choice. Had no problem accommodating the "weekend only" installation requirement. However when the crew arrived, the product was wrong. But the company immediately went to action, worked quickly to re-do the sign and were quite able to do a last-minute change-up to use a font that was not a normal choice in their selections. Co-ordinated a new install appointment, the crew was right on time and done within the hour. Our new "address-in-words" sign looks great and is just the right size & font to be easily readable from the street, which is usually the whole point. Overall, the process was easy, the design team quite patient with providing repeated samples, the install crews were very courteous, (the first ones kept apologising for the error which was obviously not their fault) and best of all, the pricing was very good. Only one issue was when receiving e-mails with sample mock-ups, the imbedded images were blocked on a desktop computer but not on the mobile phone version. Some sort of software issue with Primus Mail I assume, but we got past it. Definitely giving them a solid Recommendation for those looking to spiff up their home or business.

Now that the last set of fenestration products is installed, I can now write this review in good faith. After beginning with the March 2018 Toronto Home Show, we sussed out replacement windows for 60% of our "openings" and finally cut the deal in June just days before GreenOn got cancelled. (we had 3 units that qualified and did indeed get our $1,500. rebate cheque) In that time, we talked to (and suffered a few "in-home" sales pitches from) numerous companies, large & small with a wide range of results. Also investigated the actual manufacturers of the vinyl framing, the hardware, the glass / sealed units as well as the company that assembles to all together. In this case we liked VinylBilt which is one of GEM's biggest suppliers. Our sales rep Paul, was very patient over time when repeated "change requests" where put to him and ensured that even though the design software (from VinylBilt) was not really co-operating with our particular (and apparently rare) request for a specific grille feature, he made it happen. From that point it was all easy-peasy and we joined the thousands of others from hundreds of vendors that were now queued up in the "get-it-done-before-Halloween" deadline for GreenOn. (what a mess that turned into, thanks a lot Dougie) Tick-tock, tick-tock.... but they showed up in late October and the install over 2 days went well. Kudos as well to Cardinal Glass & VinylBilt who actually produced the finished product in time. (at least for us) Walter and his crew were great, worked quickly with no cutting corners, shimmed, foamed, caulked every unit perfectly. One chap on his team sort of "refused" to install a bay window (replacement) unless he could repair the previously poor workmanship to properly support the new unit. Now THAT is commitment to doing the job right. The extra minor cost gives us years of peace-of-mind. Unfortunately, a brain-fart hiccup with one measurement caused the final window to be mis-sized. They owned up to it and after discussing a few options, we all agreed on ordering a complete new unit. That is why our October install was finished in mid-February. However, Walter did re-install the original window, caulked the heck out of it and it was dry and draft-free all winter. The man knows his stuff. In conclusion, we are quite happy with the service, price paid and do not hold them responsible for the fallout from the GreenOn shambles nor the overloaded manufacturers as they were just as caught in the middle as anybody. They also don't bafflegab consumers with "repeated sales promotions or "Free" stuff if you order before..." like others do. Just a straight up honest price for a quality product. Definitely give a Recommended rating, especially if you are in the Etobicoke or east Mississauga area, to include GEM Windows and Doors in your own vendor investigations. You get what you pay for. Especially as the Lady of our Castle is very happy with the end result and that's what matters.