We hired Stuart M [last name removed - ed]/CCR near the end of 2007 after reading positive comments from previous clients. We needed to do a serious reno of our Victorian in downtown Toronto and hired him based on his years of experience working on similar houses in the UK. Things started out okay but after the rough work was done, Stuart disappeared for months on end. He would occasionally call complaining of labour shortages and/or truck problems and would endlessly promise to turn up to work a few days later. He wouldn't show up of course. While the quality of work was fair to average at the beginning, it declined as his interest waned. We always paid Stuart on time, whenever requested. We certainly bought into his "nice guy" routine and truly believed he would return to finish the work he'd started (and been paid for). He didn't. We are now hiring other people to finish off the jobs and clean up the mess this jackass left behind. We are stuck with shoddy workmanship, jobs half finished and in some places need to be completely redone. Trimwork is crooked, plaster and drywall is rough and unsanded yet primed over, pieces of 100-year-old Victorian trim unique to the house were mangled or thrown away. Stuart, of course, offered to remake them but has never followed through. The punchline: I asked him to return our housekey after finally giving up on him. His response: his labourer broke it off in the work van lock! Hilarious! Stuart and his team could provide fodder for Mike Holmes for a whole season of shows. Do not hire this guy to do anything that cannot be completed within a day's work. Actually a better idea: Do not hire him at all.