Krista in Etobicoke

It was difficult for me to find a roofer that would come to my home which is somewhat remote. Chris was great from the first contact and kept in touch until he was finished his current job and it wasn't raining. He drove over an hour and started work right away. We'd agreed on this in advance because of the distance, etc. I don't normally agree to that but I've done a lot of renovations and met a lot of trades and I could tell from the way Chris spoke and the way that he kept his word that this was a good guy. He arrived when he said he would and took out the chimney stacks that we needed to get out before moving forward with the interior renovation. He charged me a very fair rate, was easy to work with and did the work while whistling. You can't ask for much more!! Seriously, I've done a lot of renovations and I'm a Housing Manager so I have fired a lot of trades - I know a good person when I see one and Chris is definitely that guy that you want to come and quote on your job.

Found Lifestyle through a flyer, contacted them and Phil Briggs came out to give me a quote. It was a big order for me but I trusted Phil. He was easy to work with and was able to answer all of my questions. Before my doors were installed, I had to get a large bay window replaced. This time I got quotes from other companies, including Lifestyle and Phil beat every competitor in terms of price and quality. It felt great to know that I'd made the right decision the first time. The icing on the cake was when Cory L and Wes B showed up yesterday to install my doors. These are custom made steel doors going into cabins that have no straight lines! Not only did Cory and Wes do an incredible job installing these doors to perfection, but they were also wonderful to work with. They were respectful, kind and helpful, just like Phil and the office staff so that tells you something about the company. The doors are gorgeous, well made and were installed perfectly. I couldn't be happier.

I hired Sam to do my flat roof and from the pictures, it looked like he'd done a good job. I hired him to do other outdoor jobs, such as re-installing new fence posts to replace broken ones. A week later, I noticed that the posts were put in so badly that they turned and pulled the fence forward. Then I noticed how badly Sam had wrapped my chimney and how the rubber membrane was never cut flush with the brick on my house so it stuck out and looked sloppy. Sam had mixed the cement for the fence posts on my new deck boards, which he installed, and now I had a huge cement patch on my deck that I had to clean again and again to get rid of the cement. I had scheduled Sam to do more work, but wrote him to say that I wouldn't be hiring him again because his work was sloppy and unprofessional. I knew I had to go on the roof but when my contractor and I finally went up, I literally wept. I've never seen a "brand new roof" look so bad. I know I shouldn't take it personally but I felt completely ripped off. There were broken seams everywhere. The flashing was drilled so tight in areas that it bulged out. The solar tube was wrapped with no flashing ring at the bottom and a big slice down the front so it gathered water. I could go on but let me just say that my insurance company was called when a tree fell on my neighbour's house. I have their full report where they have stated that the only reason my roof is not leaking is because of my old roof. The only reason I got a new roof, even though the old one wasn't leaking, was for resale value. Now I'm $8,000 in the hole, which I paid to Sam, and have to spend the same amount to have the work he did ripped off and completely redone. I've emailed him to ask him to reimburse me before I start legal action, but I have yet to hear from him so that will be my next step. I would be happy to attach the photos that the insurance company's roofer and my own second roofer sent me, along with their evaluation. To sum up, Sam threw boards down on my old roof, didn't attach them, threw rubber membrane on top but didn't secure it properly and left me with a roof that does not meet any standards. Insult to injury was when I specifically asked him not to leave any roofing garbage on my roof. He didn't. He threw all of his garbage on to my neighbour's roof. Thank goodness I found it and got rid of it before they found it.

Tom arrived at my home to do a quote on repairing the locks on two doors. First he told me that my locks were crap. They're not. He tried to sell me his $400 locks in the van. I wasn't interested. We made an appointment for the next day at 10am for him to come back and fix both locks since I might have to do a run to Home Depot for parts. As I walk him to the door, he grabs one of my screwdrivers and starts working on my front door. Doesn't bother to ask if this is a good time to do the job, even though I just said to him that it was 4:30 and not a good time to start work that day, which is why we made the appointment for the following day. I am renovating my own home so I had other jobs I was in the middle of it, but Tom wouldn't do the work on his own. I had to sit there and listen to him go on and on. He was not invited to stay and do the work. It felt like an invasion of my privacy. When he finished the first door, I paid him the $100 he asked for the 15 minutes of work he did on my door and ushered him out as soon as I possibly could. As a single woman, I encourage other single women to not have this man in your home. His "advances" were not welcomed at all. Perhaps the company has better employees who understand that they're not allowed to barrel into people's home and not leave when asked to. It was very uncomfortable for me which is why I can't recommend this company at all.

I am doing a whole house reno and needed a complete furnace and AC install. Reliable was the fourth company I interviewed. I say interview because I needed a team I could work with because I was moving the furnace location and the duct work I needed done was very unique in my 100 year old TO home. I wanted to keep as much space as possible and turn a once unused basement into useable space. I had a vision and Rob from Reliable was the first guy to "get it". The duct work is a piece of art and my basement looks incredible. There were some hiccups along the way so I couldn't give full marks. Gotta keep them on their toes. ;-) But Rob was amazing. I'd been getting conflicting info from other installers but Rob was clear about what I needed and he was right. The air quality is fantastic and the products are exactly what I needed. As a single woman, I have the added difficulty of dealing with the trades by myself so a special shout out to the women out there - these are good guys.

Hired Fred yesterday to scrap and reglaze my clawfoot tub. I asked him 3 times to cover my just renovated tile floor and baseboard before doing any work . He assured me he would. Regardless, he didn't cover the entire floor and baseboards so now I have red flakes in my grout. He also didn't cover the recently stained baseboards. I even have a white tear drop mark down one baseboard. None of these marks were there before Fred started. I was really disappointed. Sure the tub looks great, but now I have to deal with the mess he left behind. What is so frustrating is that I asked him repeatedly and he just brushed me off. As the client, I feel like he ignored my repeated request for something that was so easy to do. All he had to do was extend the length of the paper or plastic to cover the entire floor and the baseboards and do that at the start of the process - not just before he was about to paint. I was really disappointed in his attitude and lack of consideration. All this and he asked me for more money at the end of the job because it took longer than he expected.

I can't say enough good things about Sean. Great attitude and very knowledgeable about, well, it seems everything. Sean re-wired my house (and fixed what the terrible electrician I previously hired did wrong), moved some plumbing for me for safety reasons and drywalled a bedroom and basement ceiling. While he was working there, he noticed that my hot water heater had sprung a leak and he immediately fixed the problem without any extra cost. If he hadn't been there and knew what to do, my basement would have been flooded. He gave me sound advice by coming up with workable solutions that no one else had offered before and he told me when my ideas were not going to fly instead of attempting them in order to add more hours to his bill. But what I really appreciated about Sean is how he took the time to explain everything to me and didn't talk down to me or treat me like I wouldn't understand. I would absolutely recommend him and in fact almost didn't want to leave this review because I don't want him to be too busy to take my jobs!

I bought a Groupon for this company was very happy with the service. Matt and Ryan were on time, friendly and explained how the service worked, how I could help my furnace to run better and even did some minor maintenance regarding a humidifier I am no longer using. I would definitely recommend them.

Arauco installed the breaker panel upside down and loaded all the breakers on one side of the box instead of on both sides. Paid $120 extra for new wire to be run to an outlet and later found out he only put new wire at the outlet so that it could go to a different breaker but used the old ungrounded line going to the panel instead of a new one. Instead of pulling the wire properly through the joists in the basement, he left a long loop of wire hanging from the ceiling. Have since hired a new electrician to finish the job who has confirmed that Arauco's work was not up to code. I arrived home one night with half of my house with no power and no note from him to explain. He arrived angry when I called him to restore power to my home and began to pack up his tools, although the job was not done, and insisted I pay his invoice in full. I guess he thought I wouldn't figure out that the job wasn't done so he would get me to pay and then he'd just leave. Later I learned that when he reconnected an outlet so that it would work again, he didn't ground it. To me, that just seems like a standard thing to do for the safety of the customer and ensuring your work is up to code.

Owner came to my home to sell me additional products on top of my Groupon and when I didn't purchase his couch cleaning (because he surprisingly demanded cash when I thought I could pay by VISA), he left saying that the cleaners would show up in 20 minutes to do the carpets. The cleaners never showed up and my calls were not returned. Afterwards I looked at my notes from when I first made the appointment. After describing my couch, I was quoted $59.95 over the phone but when the owner showed up, he quoted me $170. That's quite a jump in price. I had also considered recovering the couch and he said it would be between $1,500 and $2,000. It seemed odd that he couldn't give me a more precise number considering he was right there. He also didn't bring fabric samples which lead me to believe that he had no intention of ever covering my couch. Later that day I called another company to see if they could come and they quoted me $75 to do my house which is 2 bedrooms, a 3 foot hallway and 12 stairs. That was less than he was quoting me to do the santizing/protective coating spray that was on top of the cleaning. It was terrible experience for me because I had worked hard to finish some work on the second floor to be ready in time and had also moved all my furniture the night before in preparation.

Phoned Waterworks and Jean was great - answering all of my questions and took away my anxiety. Very comforting. Then Michael showed up - early even! - and was completely professional. Gave me a couple of options and helped me decide the best course of action. Job was completed that day and I was very happy with the results. Aleady know that I will recommend Waterworks to others.