Nathalie

When we unexpectedly discovered asbestos wrapping around two forced air heating registers in our home, Andre came recommended by the environmental consultant we were working with. He responded to my email on a Sunday promptly, and we were able to have a chat about the scope of work, the cost and what to expect by phone on Sunday evening. On Tuesday, Andre arrived on time and with his assistant, made quick work of removing the offending registers safely. They were very respectful of our home, moving furniture carefully where needed and left the work areas meticulously clean. Importantly, they removed exactly what we needed them to and Andre even took the step of removing as much of the asbestos wrapping on the supply duct as he could, so that my husband could add in a new register safely without disturbing the asbestos that wrapped the duct. Andre was courteous, efficient, cost-effective and did his job very well. I will not hesitate to use his services again in the future.

Towards the end of the summer, we realized that we had some pretty serious issues with crumbling mortar between the bricks on our almost 100 year-old home. We requested estimates from a number of companies, but due to it being the end of the season, we didn’t get many responses. Otto’s team however, responded right away, sent someone to take a look at areas we indicated and provided us with a clear written, itemized estimate via email. Otto’s team saw a few additional areas that needed touching up, and added those to the estimate for us to consider. There was one area where there were a few options for how to address it; Otto provided cost estimates for both options, which helped us make a decision on how to proceed. With Otto’s busy schedule and the weather, we weren’t sure that we could get the work done this year. However, during a warm snap in early December, we reached out to Otto to see if even some of the work could be done before the snow hit. He responded right away and said they would fit us in. The work was done over two days, with the crew cleaning up meticulously after each day. We are very happy with the quality of work, as it looks great and addresses everything we wanted done (and more). Overall, we found Otto and his team to be great to work with. We are two busy professionals with a young child, and Otto made it easy for us to get the job estimated and the work done at what we felt was a reasonable cost and little effort on our part. Apart from running into the crew at the end of one day, we never actually met anyone in person! We were very happy with our experience and would definitely recommend Otto’s Masonry to others.

After moving into our new home, we wanted to lower our raised front walkway to be flush with our existing interlock driveway. We found Kurt and his team through HomeStars and were happy to see all the positive reviews of his team’s work. Although Kurt’s estimate came in towards the higher end of those we collected, the positive reviews plus our experience with him through the quoting process made us decide to go with him. Months later, we were very glad that we did! We had a tricky situation, with a number of other projects that needed to be completed around the same work area, which affected the scheduling of Kurt’s work. Kurt was extremely flexible and spent quite a few evenings on the phone with us, trying to figure out the best way to handle new challenges that came up with the work. Ultimately, because of Kurt’s patience, flexibility and commitment to doing good work and keeping his customers happy, we got a fantastic-looking new interlock walkway and wooden retaining wall to match our existing parking pad and landscaping. The work was done over two days while we were at work, and at the end of both days, you would never know a landscaping crew had been there demolishing concrete, moving dirt around and sawing wood: they left the site unbelievably clean. Kurt was meticulous in selecting the right interlock to match our existing, guiding us through colour choices and providing his professional guidance. The final product looks great, matches our driveway and is exactly what we had discussed with him. There were also no surprises with the invoicing, which is always a good thing. One item to note: if you need to reach Kurt, phone is the quickest way. Because the crew is usually out and on the road during the day, emails were followed up on in the evenings but phone calls were taken immediately.

We chose Rent-A-Son for our move from a 2-bedroom apartment to a three-bedroom home in East York. They were definitely more expensive than some other movers, but their reviews were great and we didn't want to deal with any headaches, as we were in the middle of renovations on the house and had a new baby to care for. Jeff and Nick showed up on time, but accidentally parked at the rear of our apartment building instead of the front where the loading area was, so we didn't start exactly on time. They were young guys (really, like sons!), but they knew what they were doing. Once they were set up, they quickly wrapped up and moved our stuff down and into the truck with the help of my husband. They had more than enough wraps, tape and dollies to help and despite the size of some of our furniture, they were able to lift and move it all. They packed the truck efficiently and all of our stuff fit (this may have been because my husband specifically requested a 24' vs. 16' truck). Once at our house, they rolled out some carpets so they wouldn't ruin our floors and then unloaded the truck. They were accommodating when I asked them to move the truck so our neighbour could get their car out of their driveway. When our queen-sized mattress didn't quite fit up the stairs, they asked for permission before using some force to squish it up the stairwell. All in all, everything made it into the house and into the right room. One piece (that we wrapped, not them) got slightly nicked and there was a small mark on our basement ceiling, but other than those minor things, there was no other damage. Erika, the booker was helpful when we needed to re-schedule our move. She also worked with my husband to estimate how much time and how many sons we'd need; after some discussion about 2 vs. 3 sons, the amount of time she estimated was exactly correct. My husband did complain that the office tried to upsell us with things like mattress covers, art protectors, etc., but I can also imagine that for some, those products might be helpful. Unfortunately, in the end, they billed us for the extra 15 minutes at the beginning of the move, where the guys parked at the wrong end of our building, even though we had discussed not doing that. All in all, they were good and we were happy with our move, and Nick and Jeff's personalities helped make a trying day a bit easier, but I felt that the price was a bit high.

Capp's Duct Cleaning is a great company to deal with. I called on Tuesday and they were able to squeeze me in for an appointment on Friday, which is exactly what I wanted, as we were moving into our house with our new baby after a major renovation. Paul and Joe showed up right on time and were very courteous (they asked if they should take their shoes off, said hello to the baby). They took a look around and then started to work right away. They told me the noise would be very loud and gave me time to get the baby ready for a walk before they started. They estimated how long the job would be and they were bang-on. During the cleaning, they walked my husband through everything that they were doing and explained every step. The amount of dirt and garbage they were able to suck out of the ducts was incredible! Payment was easy, via credit card and was the exact price quoted. They even followed up with a phone call a week later to ask how everything was. All in all, they were professional, delivered exactly what I wanted (no pushy sales tactics to upsell) and did a high quality job. I would definitely recommend them.