Lou from North York

This is the update I promised earlier on 2013. I simply was told that the painting of the railing could not continue because the guys were in -5 degree weather, and the paint was sticking. They promised to be back by May, 2014, in time for an event. They came back as promised and finished the work, leaving some touch up paint behind as a courtesy. Alex said he would return, and he did. People, it is so refreshing to see that someone in the trades industry recognizes the value of honesty and integrity. Beautiful job, class A service, honest and attentive. I wish I could say the same for the door people, but that's another story for another time.

I received a stunning railing exactly the way I wanted it; bottom line. These guys take pride in their work and it shows. From initial call through to installation, no stone was left unturned regarding the look I wanted and the way to install it. We've only had this railing for a week, and already we're the talk of the neighbourhood. Why the fourth star for satisfaction and not five? You can look at it two ways. If I ask how long the railing will take to be installed when I first call for information, and I'm told 4-6 weeks, that's important detail, esp. If I'm calling around end of August. That time frame puts me at mid-october (which is acceptable). But a few weeks more were explained in terms of the galvanizing taking longer than expected. After seeing the end result and experiencing the service; whatever. The extra time could either be seen as them dragging their feet (NOT! the installers busted their tails in -5 degree weather on a late November day to carefully install), or it could be ther result of their popularity (so many unexpected orders) because they're that damn good. The second one applies here. Now, you ask, how do you get semi-gloss iron paint to set properly in -5 degree weather? Answer: it doesn't. But, there's a way to deal with it. Get as much on to at least protect the iron from rust. Worry about aesthetics later if you don't have to pay extra for it. So I took up the issue with Evgeny (great metal artistry, kid, btw), and he simply had the installers sign that they or someone else from artmetal would be back in the spring by a certain date to complete the painting properly. Now don't think the paint job is awful by any means. It's just not perfect, and they had no control over that (believe me, the guy painting it tried real hard). But had they been doing it in mid-October, I wouldn't be saying anything about imperfect rail painting. I will update this review after the date which Artmetal agreed to come back by. If they live up to their wods and contract for the spring return date, they get a 10 star rating. People, these guys are awesome.

I don't review anyone because I have no time. For this company, I will make an exception. My wife and I endured 7 years of constant screetching and cranking with a wooden garage door that would sound like the house was crumbling when it opened and closed. Our garage is at the end of a down-sloping driveway, and underneath our living room. The headroom in the garage is low, so the wood door had the spring coil bar at the back, rather than at the front, where the door meets the enclosure when it closes. So I call A few contractors who saw the low headroom issue and I felt like they used that as a crutch to inflate the price. Not Dodd's. Mike came to the house and immediately took ownership. He was going to make the coilbar fit in the front one way or another, with enough headroom for a minivan to enter and exit without issues. Now mind you, I luckily called them during a fall garage door sale (it was luck of timing, i didn't plan it that way). From initial call, right through time of installation, customer service, was impeccable. I believe in such things as "no such thing as dumb questions." They do too. And the guys that installed the door were awesome. Treated the garage like it were their own. They were respectful of the property and absolutely unintrusive. They communicated everything extremely effectively. One more thing about Michael, the salesperson who addressed the low headroom issue: he left without leaving any issues unanswered. I even knew to get regular lightbulbs, rather than CFL bulbs, to prepare for the opener they were going to install. Regular bulbs don't block remote signals when you're opening the garage door from a great distance. Mike told me that without me asking. All in all, fantastic service, reasonable pricing, and top-notch workmanship. Those ads you hear on the radio about them?; no truer words have been spoken.