Stace from Calgary

I called All Kind Door Services as it was a company that was recommended to me by another company. I spoke to staff who indicated that it was $126 an hour, per repairman. She also stated that if they take 1.5 hours, they would charge for 1.5 hours and not round up to 2 hours. I agreed to what was stated, then I was asked for my credit card information. I thought this was very odd, asking for this information prior to services rendered. The next step was a call from the installation/dispatch coordinator, on when and who would perform the work, and it was confirmed that one technician would perform the work. The technician called 30 minutes prior to my appointment stating that he was on his way. He arrived on time and I showed him the scope of work to be performed, which was alignment issues on two storm doors. He spent less than 10 minutes on the back door, and 45 minutes on the front door. I was given the work order that stated 1.5 hours of work, when it was clear that he spent an hour. He indicated that there was a one-way driving time charge as well, which took 30 minutes to arrive to my house located in Calgary. This additional driving time charge was not indicated to me by anyone I spoke to during 4 separate phone calls at All Kind Door Services. After a conversation with All Kind Door Services, I was only charged the 1 hour of work, which changed my view of them, and a higher rating after the invoice was properly reflected. The other thing I didnt appreciate, was the technician walked on my living room carpet with his work boots on, in order to take a work completion photo of the storm door. I thought this was inappropriate, as I clearly had a drop sheet to protect part of my floor, but he was oblivious to this and walk past the drop sheet onto my carpet before I had a chance to tell him to stay off the carpet. The work performed was satisfactory, but walking on my carpet, and the stress of the original charge, is the reason for my rating.

I always call a few contractors to gather information such as estimates based on my discussion for scope of work (~1 hour), as well as if there are dispatching fees, before committing to an appointment. I had a good interaction with staff at Gravity Electrical Solutions, both with the office and the electrician. The scope of work was straight forward and I was satisfied with the work. I would engage Gravity Electrical Solutions.

I had included the Appliance Service Centre as a short list of companies I wanted to engage to troubleshoot an oven issue. I found the pricing to be similar to the other appliance repair companies I had phoned for price quotes. However the biggest factor was the Appliance Service Centre worked on Saturday at the same cost as a weekday visit. I found they had good customer service from start to finish. The technician contacted me to provide his analysis on the oven and the cost associated with the next steps. It was one of those decisions where you don't know whether or not to repair or replace the appliance as it was my rental property. I chose to repair due to minimizing the PITA factor and extra $300 it would cost to purchase new. I found the payment transaction to be smooth as well, as a company representative called to confirm method of payment, then I was sent a receipt via email.

I used RnR Lockworks to re-key my locks at my rental property. His prices are very reasonable, and it only cost me $100 for this service, on a Sunday of all days. He also cut me a couple of extra keys at no charge. I will use RnR Lockworks again.

The main reason I used Action Furnace was that they were available on Saturday and they also had video inspection. The quality of the duct cleaning was fine, however they forgot to block one of the cold air returns in the basement bedroom and the dust poured out onto the bed. The biggest issue I had with Action Furnace was they (Brett and Aaron) put this massive 8.5" x 5.5" Action Furnace sticker over the furnace installation sticker, which is completely uncalled for, as there was empty enough room on the furnace return to apply 50 stickers!

I phoned a few places to see if they would buy aluminum siding as scrape metal, and Federal Metals does. It was an easy transaction and instead of throwing out the siding, I made $37 just off the siding on the front of my house. Think about this the next time you want to replace your aluminum siding. It was worth it for me to remove the aluminum siding to see the quality of the sheathing underneath, make the necessary repairs, then hire a professional to install vinyl siding, this saved me a lot of money.

I contacted a few companies to get some quotes on a garage pad and sidewalk. C & J Construction was short listed and after reviewing some of their past work, I decided to engage their services. Everything was going fine until we noticed the grade (4” over 26’) coming back towards the house on the forms, the day before the concrete pour. We told the contractor about our concern and they stated, “we’ll fix it”. The next day the concrete was poured and when I got home from work to look at the pour, I noticed that the contractor put a 1.75” grade on a 3’ wide sidewalk. The entire length of the sidewalk looked horrible as it was sloped drastically to one side and it was difficult to even walk on as well! The owner came out and he didn’t see anything wrong with it, even though I stated there should have been a 4” step from the garage pad to connect the sidewalk back to the house. He said it was more work for them and this is just as good as they do this all the time. This is another example of a contractor trying to cut corners! The only good thing I can say about the work that C & J Construction performed, was that the concrete surfacing finish was exceptional. However the forming has to be solid as it is the structure, and from this experience I will never use or recommend C & J Construction ever again!

I engaged five companies in an effort to gain quotes and define the scope of work. Upon using City Wide Excavating, also known as City Wide Services Ltd., I expected the work to be completed as per contract. The contract stated, "All areas backfilled and compacted with a Hoe Pak". City Wide Excavating started the work and everything seemed to go according to plan, until a couple of weeks went by after the work was completed and a sink hole developed. I called out City Wide Excavating to ask what happened and if they compacted the soil. The owner, Trymer Morrow stated compaction wasn't required and the ground wouldn't sink anymore, as this would be the end of the settling. I started to do some research and engaged an Engineering firm that specializes in geotechnical and materials engineering and site investigations. Their assessment validated my concerns, that excavated soil needs to be compacted by layering, that is backfill then compact every few feet. This was never done by City Wide Excavating and over the next several months I would experience further sink holes and unsettling of soil and ground movement up to 20 feet in diameter. After further discussions with City Wide Excavating, they finally came out to assess the situation, they refused to rectify the situation, and stated that they were willing to add some clean fill to the area, which still doesn't resolve the root cause. The following week City Wide Excavating came back and unloaded a dump truck full of contaminated soil on my yard, there was even garbage in soil and a foul odor coming from these contaminated soil. I immediately contacted City Wide Excavating on this incident to express my concern with their solution. City Wide Excavating also made a mess of the backalley, which my neigbhours complained to me about, which I was forced to addressed, a simple call to the City of Calgary aided my concern, but only on the alley. Over the next several months I contacted City Wide Excavating, however they ignored me since they already received payment. The engineering firm that I engaged advised me to wait three years for the ground to stop settling before I build on top of it. Good advice, as the ground continued to shift and settle for nearly the next three years. I would never recommend City Wide Excavating to anyone, unless they want a contractor who cuts corners, provides low quality work, with an end result of future problems!

Although the work was done 10 years ago, I do remember the guy doing a fairly good job, and the cost was reasonable. I did take pictures as well, so the job was done properly.

Big Rock came out to replace my overhead door spring. He was professional and his price was very reasonable as I phoned around for quotes prior to getting the work done. I would use Big Rock again.

We used Roto Rooter for emergency sewer backup. Although they arrived on time and completed the work the service guy was a bit difficult to work with. His battery died on the inspection and I was still charged for it, the entire job was too expensive in my opinion.

Brian Cooper's work is top notch, his attention to detail is second to none. I would recommend Brian to anyway wanting to do a small to medium job on their house exterior. Brian has done two jobs for me now, one on my house and one on the garage.