Angel from Thornhill

We met Dan at the 2013 Spring Homeshow and out of all the contractors we met that day, he stood out with his friendly and easy going personality. We had plans to do a few things around the house asides from our closet and pantry, and Dan was able to get all the projects done for us alongside Paul from CPI (including a new patio door, new shelf in garage, and frame/drywalling a section in our basement). Paul and his team were fantastic. They were so detail-oriented and Paul did not let us settle for anything less than perfection. When problems came up, they dealt with it without complaint (if anything, they were pickier than we were). I think that says a lot about how good a contractor is, especially after dealing with other contractors who weren't great with following up when problems occurred. We were a bit concerned with all the little details and whether we would be nickeled and dimed (especially bc our front closet required additional support when they took a wall down), but in the end, we paid exactly what we were quoted from the very beginning. My only complaint about the project was really the timeframe we were given for project completion. I'm not sure why we were told 4 days when putting up a new wall requires so many days of touch-ups. In the end I think it took about 4 weeks for total completion. It wasn't that big a deal for us since we weren't in a hurry and some days only took about 15 minutes. We're happy with these guys and glad to have found contractors we trust.

We found rat droppings in our pantry and caught a mouse with a trap 2 nights in a row. Decided we would sleep better knowing we were in a mice-free home. Kevin came a couple hours after I inquired about his service and rate. He was honest, professional, friendly, and had interesting analogies to help me understand the problem. We haven't seen any new droppings since and hope it'll stay that way!

This project was completed in August 2012 (apologies for the delay). I dealt with Jeremy who was friendly and honest and easy to work with. He made recommendations for our project and we decided to complete the driveway/walkway/retaining wall using Oaks Ridgefield Plus. It rained on day 1 but they were able to excavate everything in preps for the interlocking the next day. They completed the project a lot faster than I had expected - it took basically 2.5 days (would have been even faster if it didn't rain). Ofer was around when they were finishing up, and even took the liberty to reseed the edges where grass was damaged. I was absolutely THRILLED with the final product, until I turned on my irrigation system. It was obvious damage was done when they dug out the areas around the driveway. Water was coming up from underneath the pavers and gushing out the end of the driveway. I contacted Jeremy immediately, and he sent his irrigation guy 2 days later. The irrigation person had to dig out some of the pavers to fix the problem, so the team had to come back to patch it up. The following day when I returned home, I was so upset with what they "fixed". The beautiful driveway was destroyed with the awful patch work they did to fix up the damaged areas. One paver was obviously cracked, another was raised and not even with the rest of the pavers, one paver at the end of the driveway wasn't even the same material - it was a different colour! I couldn't believe this was their work because they did such an amazing job 3 days earlier. I emailed Jeremy and Ofer and they told me they would send someone to fix again in a few days. We were away for 3 weeks following this fiasco, and we were happy that it was fixed when we returned. However, we noticed the polymer around one of the new pavers never set, making us think it wasn't polymer they put in. I emailed Ofer again and he said he would send someone right away. Few days after, I could still stick a key into the "polymer", and then I just stopped checking. I haven't thought about it all winter and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my key isn't going to sink right in when I check it once the snow melts. Overall, the driveway is beautiful. It's definitely not as perfect as pre-damage, since the patched areas are still not 100% (but only my husband and I know it's there). I would still recommend Land-Con (and I have), but what makes a good contractor a great contractor is how well they communicate and how they deal with problems if and when they arise. I hope this review will help these guys deal with problems with more care in the future.

This project was completed in May 2012 (apologies for the delay). Julian was my main contact person and he was extremely easy to contact and talk to, and probably a huge reason we decided to go with Royal Decks over another company. We were extremely excited when our project start date got pushed up. Jesse and his partner worked really hard (12-14 hour days) and by day 4, the deck was close to done. Unfortunately, they ran out of material and fascia boards were on back order, and that's when things started to turn south. We were concerned about animals getting underneath the deck without these fascia boards, and when I expressed this concern, I felt I was just being brushed off. We were then away for 5 days and when we returned, the deck was still incomplete, but the back-order material was sitting on our front lawn. I had to follow up a couple times to figure out when they were coming back to finish the job. One day without notice, I came home and the deck was completed. Great, but just wish I was informed and could have been home for it. Lastly, some material from the very beginning was still left on our lawn for a few more days after the project was completed. I also had to follow up to see when it would get picked up. This resulted in a giant dead patch of grass we ended up having to fix ourselves with reseeding and fertilizer. Overall, we are happy with the final product, and the service was good up until the back-order. After working with another contractor on another project after this, I have come to a conclusion that contractors in general are not the greatest with communication, and I have come to terms with this. I think what makes a good contractor a great contractor is how they deal with problems if and when they arise. I would still recommend Royal Decks to others despite our issues, in hopes that this review will help them improve their business.