lucretius

It's been several months since the last job was performed by DrainWorks. I actually had them in on two different occasions, repairing different sections of the drain. On both occasions, they did a marvelous job of excavating the floor, repairing the drainpipe, and replacing the floor, and cleaning up. They are so clean that after they are done, you wouldn't even know they had been there, except for the fact that the drain now works and the cement is still wet. They are pricey (don't get me wrong - they are price competitive with similar companies in the industry) and as good as they are, I probably wouldn't use them for small plumbing jobs. Nonetheless, for any jobs involving excavation, I don't think I would use anyone else. And they guarantee their work!

The hardwood was purchased at the Victoria Park store, which also arranged for the installation. The job involved only about 200 square feet whereby the old floor needed removing prior to installing the hardwood. Problems include: - several installed strips had cracks. - they cut out a space and installed a 4" X 12" vent cover, even though the previous vent opening was 4" X 10". The deflector on the new vent cover would not even open properly. - they somehow managed to dislodge the baseboard from my plaster wall and it will no longer go back in place due to debris falling behind the baseboard -- they had been instructed to leave it alone because of concerns for the plaster wall. - the floor now squeaks although it did not squeak before. They were instructed to screw down the sub-floor prior to installing the new wood. They had already installed a section of the floor, when I discovered that they had not screwed down the sub-floor. The installer insisted that putting in screws was not on his list! What? I had discussed this previously with the salesman on more than one occasion. After I called the store, the installer's crew did start work on screwing down the floor from the other side of the room, but they also concurrently continued installing the floor. - They did not cleanup the huge mess left in the basement, underneath where the floor was installed. Remedies provided to date: - the installers came back and resized the vent opening by replacing some strips of wood. - they replaced some of the cracked boards. There are still 2 or 3 cracked boards which they refused to replace because they insist they are mars in the finish. No way -- these are real cracks, albeit they are smaller than the ones on the boards they replaced. Also, during the replacement of the boards, they managed to get glue stains on top of the wood. I cannot get these stains off even with nail polish remover. - they put caulking in the gap along the baseboard. The baseboard is still out of position and not flush against the wall and the caulking job was extremely poor, still leaving a gap and not flush with the top of the baseboard. The baseboard (which is original to the old house) will likely need to be removed and replaced (thanks to these guys). - No remedy was provided for the squeaking. The installer insisted that the cause of the squeaking was a damaged floor board. I'm thinking that the installer damaged the board during the removal of the old floor - they were not gentle -- since the floor did not squeak before. When I purchased the hardwood, after explaining the condition of the floor to the salesman, he told me that they would repair any damaged floor boards as they go along. They did not do this. Moreover, as professionals, I'd expect them to raise the issue of the damaged floor board and offer a solution prior to installing the hardwood. They did not do this. I have been dealing with the store manager about my complaints. At first, he seemed quite genuinely interested in fixing the issues. But after talking with him the last time, which was still prior to having the installer come back and fix the problems, he said that it was only 200 square feet of floor, and that I got the wood at a reduced price ($4.49/sq.ft) so I shouldn't be overly concerned with it and perhaps I would need to alter my expectations. (At no time prior did they inform me that because of the price that I should expect less than a perfect installation.) Well, dear reader, perhaps you should alter your expectations of the Hardwood Flooring Store too! I will still need to deal with the manager on the outstanding issues but really, who needs these headaches?

Before I found Perry and Trademark Electric, I had already talked with several electrical contractors. Most did not want to install the conduit and the meter in the requested location even though I spent several months negotiating with Toronto Hydro and then the ESA inspector, the location of the meter and the exact location where the service would connect to Hydro's wires. Two of these contractors, who had led me to believe they would do the work never got back to me with prices and when I chased after them several times, they bowed out, having wasted my time. Anyway, Perry did not shy away from the job. He called my contacts at Hydro and ESA as requested, before beginning the service upgrade. He performed the service upgrade, and other work, exactly as requested. He did a fantastic job, very neat and professional. He even straightened out some previously installed conduit. He did not rush and took the time needed to do the best job possible and listened to any concerns or requests along the way. When the connection crew from Hydro arrived to make the permanent connection, they even commented on the neat professional work. Thanks to Perry and Steve at Trademark for the job well done!

The folks at Canlik are very professional. They came when scheduled, did a fantastic job putting the laminate on, solved minor issues as they arose, installed the new doors nicely, etc. Vincent, the onsite leader, was amazing. He really knows his stuff. Initally, two of the new doors were not the right size; however, Canlik ordered two new doors and installed them. The silestone countertop, which was fabricated and installed by a subcontractor (Maple/Stoneworx) had a crack in it. Canlik worked with me and the subcontractor replaced the countertop with a new one. The only problem was, when installing the second countertop, the subcontractor did a terrible job of caulking the sink; there was some epoxy showing and the silicon was poorly done and looked horrible. Michael from Canlik came out and stripped the excess epoxy and silicon and recaulked with silicon -- the result was very professional. Michael had been out to my house once before to remove my old countertop before work began. He, like Vincent, also really knows his stuff. The office staff, Belinda and Gloria, were wonderful to deal with. They did their best to address any concerns and were very helpful in dealing with the subcontractor. Many thanks to Canlik Kitchens for a job well done!

This company is now called the Maple Group and they actually install countertops through their Stoneworx division. Stoneworx (Maple Group) was subcontracted to supply and install a Silestone countertop through Canlik Kitchens, which I engaged to do reface my kitchen cabinets and install a countertop. The Stoneworx (Maple Group) templater used a laser machine (and a laptop) to take measurements with the old countertop removed -- seemed quite professional. The day before they were scheduled to install the countertop in my home, they called Canlik Kitchens (the main contractor)just before closing of the business day to inform them that they could not do the installation that day because of problems they had with a machine breaking down. Hmmm .... do these folks actually fabricate the countertop the night before installation? Stonework (Maple Group) delivered and installed the countertop exactly 6 days later, during which time I was without a countertop or sink. After the installer placed the countertop on the cabinets, it was immediately obvious that the measurements were poor. One cut-out at the side was a few inches short and the installer proceeded to make the cut-out larger with his saw, right there in my kitchen. While that turned out OK (except for the stone dust that I was left with), there were some gaps as large as 1/4" along the back wall. What was the point of using a fancy laser machine mounted on a tripod and a laptop when the measurements were so poor? Fortunately, the Silestone backsplash (3/4" thick) covered the huge gaps. When the installer finished, I thought everything would be OK, since all the problems were either corrected or hidden. However, when cleaning the countertop 2 days later, I discovered that one side of the counter didn't clean up as well as the other side -- when the counter was wet, I could see many linear marks (in varius directions) that were evidence of much rubbing in that area. Then I noticed a long hairline crack (15"?) that had been repaired - you could stick a pin through the hairline crack. Further, it was obvious that part of the polished surface near the crack had been marred (probably during the repair process). I really can't believe this! I paid for a new countertop and Stoneworx (Maple Group) knowingly installed a countertop that had a crack in it. At no time did they disclose to me (or the main contractor) that the countertop had been cracked and repaired. I suspect that the countertop was cracked the afternoon before the original installation date, which would explain why Stonework called my main contractor at that time to say "their machine had been broken". Now, I am going to have to deal with this issue. If they pull out the countertop, there will certainly be collateral damage to walls, freshly laminated cupboards, and sink. If they merely repolish the surface, I'm still left with a countertop that has a hairline fracture,which could,over time, crack in the same place. -------------------- Update: Maple/Stoneworx replaced the damaged countertop. Fotrunately, no damage was done while removing the old countertop -- I was worried, since the company would not take responsibility for anything beyond the countertop and the matching backsplash (i.e. damage to walls, the new laminate, sink,or faucet would be my problem???). They did, however, scratch the bottom of my sink by placing tools in it. And they did a poor job of putting the epoxy and silicon on the sink. I've since had the excess epoxy and silicon stripped and the sink recaulked (by someone else). I still have the scratch at the bottom of my sink.