Steve from Mississauga

Valentin replaced 2 of my globe shutoff valves (house-side main shutoff and shutoff to backyard) with 2 ball valves. He has excellent communication skills as he is very responsive to text messages, keeps you informed of his estimated arrival time, explains what he’s doing during the job, and offers maintenance tips & advice afterwards. He goes above and beyond by fixing poor workmanship from prior contractors to ensure there are no leaks upon completion. Valentin is a trust-worthy professional whom I will definitely hire again for future plumbing jobs.

When my 25 yrs. old low-efficiency furnace broke down, I decided to purchase a 2-stage furnace from Convertible because: a) Chris was a knowledgeable salesman, and understood my desire to re-wire my thermostat to intelligently control the staging, rather than to have the furnace control board operate using a fixed timer, b) Their pricing was competitive out of the 5 Trane/American Standard dealers that I had identified, and c) A friend had recommended them based on a previous installation. Kamil and his helper, James, were my scheduled installers who arrived promptly at 8:30 AM on Nov 16, 2015 to begin the job. They were transparent with their installation activities, and maintained an open dialogue with me throughout the day to ensure we were on the same page to achieve my satisfaction. The guys truly treated my home as if it was their own. For example, when they ran out of drop cloths to cover the entire path to my furnace room, they found additional cardboards for the remaining pathway to ensure my carpet and floors would not get damaged. They were also mindful at removing their shoes when entering other areas of my home to set up the thermostat. Based on my observations, Kamil and James took great pride in the quality of their work. They functioned well together as a team by bouncing ideas and checking each other's work to ensure quality in their end products. Throughout the installation, they were meticulous in levelling the appliances, creating an air-tight custom metal transition, optimizing the placement and concealment of the 2 vent pipes, and fastening the pipes and drain hoses in place. They definitely had my best interest at heart by thoroughly thinking through and planning out how to do the best job for my home, even if may seem challenging, rather than cut corners for a substandard finish. The guys were professional and completed the installation and testing of my furnace and gas line by 3PM. They were hard workers who never took any breaks, except for a brief 30-minute lunch where they left for Home Depot to pick up some additional drill bits. Before leaving for the day, they took the time to clean up the work area, and to answer my final questions to ensure I knew how to operate and maintain my new appliances as a homeowner. As part of their thoroughness and attention to detail, they also identified a minor gas leak at my gas meter outside with the soap test, so that I could call Enbridge to resolve the issue immediately. When the Enbridge technician came to inspect my new furnace and piping, their second opinion confirmed that I had received a good installation that adhered to code. Overall, other than the last minute re-scheduling of the initial consultation visit, I was very satisfied with my experience with Convertible. I plan to use Convertible as my primary HVAC contractor moving forward, and I will highly recommend them to others, just as I had been referred to them by a friend.

When my Conventional Vent Gas Water Heater (non-rental) started leaking from the bottom, I decided to purchase a replacement from Home Depot through their Professional Installation Services, which is sub-contracted out to A Plus Air Systems for Water Heater installations. Even though Home Depot boasts of same-day installations, realistically, it’s a 1-2 day process as follows: You visit Home Depot and put down a $40 deposit upon which A Plus will schedule a Comfort Consultant to your home for measurements to help you select the proper water heater from Home Depot, and to suggest additional installation labour to be performed by A Plus. Once you have received, agreed upon, and paid the final work order for both the product & installation labour to Home Depot, A Plus will then schedule an Installer to perform the Water Heater delivery and installation. Note: During the measurement visit, A Plus will suggest additional labour that is not covered by the basic installation fee, such as: haul away & disposal of old tank, gas line grounding, water shutoff valve replacement, and new piping or ducts. Pete Donald was my Comfort Consultant. He came off as an honest and experienced professional, with a hands-on background in HVAC installations earlier in his career. I appreciated how he did not try to up-sell me on the more expensive water heaters, and actually down-sold me from the model that I had targeted, since it would have required an electrical outlet for operation. Pete also did not pressure me into agreeing to the additional installation labour that was not covered by the basic installation fee. Reza and his apprentice were my Installers the next day. They arrived promptly at my scheduled appointment time, and were mindful at keeping my home clean by wearing covers over their shoes, and laying out tarps on the floor – although they didn’t bring enough tarps to cover the entire path to the furnace room. They completed the installation in about 75 minutes, and Reza made sure there was no water leakage coming from the valves or pipes connected to the new water heater. Reza also certified the gas line, and applied an Ontario Gas Utilization Regulation Pressure Test Tag on my new water heater. Overall, I was satisfied with the A Plus team members that I was assigned with, and I plan to reach out to Pete Donald again to discuss the eventual replacement of my HVAC system.

My hot water tank (non-rental) had started leaking from the bottom one morning, and despite turning the tank shutoff valve clockwise all the way, I was unable to stop the flow of water from entering my faulty hot water tank. As such, I had to shut off the main water valve to prevent further leakage from my hot water tank, which also meant no water usage (hot or cold) for the entire house. Due to the urgency of the situation, I decided to use Enercare because a) I was previously their hot water tank rental customer, b) they offered same day service, and c) they had advertised on their website that for $79, they will send a licensed plumber for a diagnosis/quote, and their plumbers will arrive with the parts they’ll likely need to finish the job. One of the things that I did not like about Enercare is that their Customer Representatives will exploit the opportunity during a time of crisis, to pressure a customer into signing up onto their “Protection Plans” for 1 year, at an inflated price that differs from their website. For example, my Customer Representative attempted to pressure me into agreeing to a one-time cost of $178 plus a monthly rate of $16.49 in order for her to send a licensed plumber to my house. After repeatedly referencing the standard $79 diagnosis/quote option on their website, I was finally able to schedule a technician visit within a 4-hour window in the same afternoon. The technician that came to my house was named Alan Cotton, and he did arrive within the 4-hour appointment window. Based upon his diagnosis, he recommended repairing my existing hot water tank shutoff valve (Globe Type) by replacing the valve stem cartridge. I agreed to the cost, and he proceeded to repair the valve within 15 minutes, which allowed me to turn on the main water valve to the house, while shutting off water to my faulty hot water tank. While I appreciated the “quick” fix by Alan, I do wonder if it was the “proper” fix in hindsight because Direct Energy (now known as Enercare) had previously performed a consultation at my house, and had recommended that the existing hot water tank shutoff valve (Globe Type) be replaced completely with a Ball-Type shutoff valve instead. In fact, another HVAC installer that I have since consulted with, also made the same recommendation that a Ball-Type shutoff valve should have been installed instead, since they are more reliable than the Globe Type valves. Overall, I would only recommend Enercare if you are an existing customer of their “Protection Plans”, or if you are unable to obtain availability from other local plumbers for same day service.

The Torsion Spring on my 8' x 7' garage door had snapped and I was unable to manually lift up the door. I called Steve Esber on a Friday evening, and he was able to come over by Saturday morning. He seemed like a genuinely honest person, and showed quality workmanship in replacing the Torsion Spring. Steve also added a metal strut across the top section of the door for additional support.