Better Contracting Services

Let me begin by saying we (my wife and I) had called another of Toronto's large roofing companies in September of 2009 to fix a leak near the front of the house. The job was never done right and dragged on for months and in the meantime we found leaks in other areas so it was time to get the entire roof replaced, and I was glad I had found out how bad this first company was, and I called two other companies, one of them was Better Contracting, and the other company we'll call company X. Company X had a good estimate but wanted to use aluminum for the flashing on the roof, and we found out that painted steel flashing would be better, for it's weight and heft, especially in regards to wind. We met with Mike Graves, one of the owners of Better Contracting, and he personally did the estimate. He took a long time on the roof. He had the most detailed estimate of all the roofing estimates we had obtained in the last year and a half. We bought the house a year and a half ago, and knew sooner or later we would need to replace the roof, and had many estimates done at the time. It is a low slope, flat roof, originally covered with a barrier, tintex, and BUR, built up roofing, comprising alternating layers of felt and hot tar, and gravel on top. Mike sat and chatted with us for almost 2 hours that day. His office manager had scheduled him early in the afternoon to make sure he had plenty of light to view the roof. The first of many occasions where they looked at every detail. I had good vibes from him, found him very personable, and I signed a contract within a few days. We had to re-mortgage our house to afford the roof. Flat-roofs are expensive to replace, and when you're spending almost $50,000, it better be done right. They had to arrange all the materials, then they would start. Our house is more than 3000 square feet, so a lot of metal flashing and eavestroughing was required. I think the contract was signed on November 18, and they came about 2 or 3 weeks later, which was fine, because I wanted the roof worked on when it wasn't raining, but before the snow, and early December was perfect. I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and I have my issues, and Mike took note of it and was very kind and helpful. He made sure a foreman was there when the materials were dropped off, as well as the 40 cubic yard garbage bin for the waste. They spent about 3 1/2 weeks on the roof before Christmas, and returned early in the new year to complete the job, about another week. During the first 3 1/2 week period, there was even a gentleman working on a Saturday and Sunday! He seemed like a highly skilled employee, and was torching down the materials used in the 2-ply Bitumen process. It was raining on one Saturday, and he made sure the plastic tarps were properly in place over any exposed places while it was raining. The $43,000 included everything, even unforeseen damage, including rotting wood that had to be replaced, extra roof vents (original roofing didn't have enough), and new skylights (covers), one had to be custom made in B.C. Also included were the downspouts, eavestrough's, and siding on a raised portion of the roof (vaulted ceiling). They also included 1" or 1 1/2" of insulation. The foreman was there almost always. The weather was very cold this past December, and the crews showed up consistently around 8:30 each day. They took formal coffee breaks and a lunch break and worked like dogs the rest of the time, often in bitter cold. Several times the Foreman, Randy, knocked on my door and offered me more choices, including asking me about embellishments to the look of the black flashing especially in the front. I was continually reminded of their attention to detail. Randy and the owner Mike always kept in touch. In turn, I could reach the company at any time. I could send an email and be contacted back within minutes. They have a woman in their office named Mavis who I could contact by phone or email. She was always courteous and efficient. Get this, we ran out of money, and they accommodated us. We were about $4800 short, we found another $1000, and they were willing to carry the balance at 2% per month, we just come in every month and give them a few hundred dollars. Very fair. Needless to say, there was a mutual trust between my wife and I and Better Contracting. Randy was unbelievably nice and extremely proficient, I'm pretty handy and technically smart, and every question I had about the process was answered patiently, in detail. They kept saying the job had to be done right, because it would be more expensive and difficult for everyone if they had to come back and re-do anything. Some days there were more than 7 or 8 guys there, especially when the old roof was scraped off. I have several drain cleanouts in the front lawn, one looked like it might have been damaged by them, I mentioned it, they brought a plumbing or drain company around, and put a camera down the cleanout to make sure nothing was cracked and that no debris had fallen in. Turns out just the top extension piece with the cap had come loose. So, overall, $43,000 later, we are very pleased. I expect there will be one or two 'tweaks' needed this spring, and I'm sure they will be very responsive. Look, we're all human beings and no one is perfect, but 99% of the job was perfect. I found the odd roofing nail/screw and a few pieces of gravel here and there, but big deal. They were working under very trying circumstances, wind, rain, and snow, not to mention cold, so if they dropped a few screws or nails, big deal. Plus, I'm very obsessive, so I was probably looking for stuff before they even had a chance to clean up everywhere. Don't get me wrong, they did clean up every few days. I bought a magnetic nail 'rake' from Home Depot and I'll sweep the lawn this spring just in case, because we have 2 dogs. I'm not going to nitpick over trivial details. My concern was that they got the roof perfect. Roof's, especially flat ones, are very tricky, and I'm sure if I notice any touch ups needed that they will work with me, they've assured me they will return at any time if any adjustments are needed. Randy the foreman, and Mike, the owner, and Mavis are all to be commended for their professionalism, and above all, they were all very nice to deal with. My wife and I highly recommend Better Contracting, they did an excellent job replacing our roof.

Lack of communication within the company. Job was supposed to take 3 days, but took 2 months with constant emails and phone calls to follow up when they would actually finish job. BCS was recommended by someone, but I personally would not recommend them to anyone. For the amount of money spent, I expected better service and workmanship.

After deciding to go with Better Contracting Services, I was extremely impressed with the speed in which the job was able to be completed. From quote to finish, one week! Futhermore, it was a pleasure to deal with Mike and his contractors. They were knowledgeable, helpful, prompt and professional. And with so many other renovations going on with our house I truly appreciated them taking the time to make sure the site was nice and clean after they finished the job. The quality of the workmanship was fantastic and they exceeded my expectations by their attention to detail. This is a company I would definitely recommend! Thanks guys!
Frank

As a realtor, I come across many trades in different fields. I am ecstatic to say that my search for a top quality roofer is OVER. No wonder Mike Holmes holds Better Contracting in such high regard! I will definitely recommend these stellar roofers to my clients and colleagues. They leave nothing to chance, are thorough in their inspections and possess and excellent work ethic.
Thanks to Mike Graves and the whole crew for an incredible job.

Desmond came around, at the time specified to do the estimate. Estimate included complete eavestrough replacement on a 2300 sq foot home, and included gutter guards. Price only slightly higher than other contractors that did NOT include gutter guards! No complaints there!

Took them about 2 weeks before they could give me an installation date, and it was the next day. They lose marks there on scheduling - they should be able to set up the date with a bit more notice.

Installation team was competent, and explained a couple of installation quirks. Cleanup was OK, although there were a few small metal shards left around. Given the scale of the job, I'm not surprised they missed a few, so this was not a problem.

I liked the fact that an inspector came around the next day to see the job. They obviously take some care in quality control. He fixed up a minor item that the installation crew could not handle; they had run out of downspout, and so could not run an extension away from the house.

Overall - I'm quite happy.

Of course, like many other naive homeowners I hired these folks because of the good work I saw on Holmes on Holmes. So, first we had them replace our roof, which was actually a decent job. Unfortunately, we found that they forgot to attach the smart screen (only found out after I noticed water pouring over the gutter due to clogging two weeks later), left garbage all over the place, and left a considerable overhang of shingles over the gutters (over two inches). After the some of the roofing deficiencies were corrected we had them return to do our siding - big mistake. Apparently, they sub-contract their siding jobs rather than taking the responsibility themselves. The siding people left a considerable amount of waste behind and did a terrible job on the flashing around our windows. Not only that, but they didn't even fasted the siding to parts of the house and didn't even finish the whole siding job. Despite several phone calls, an email to Holmes on Holmes, and several return trips, many of the problems originally noted still exist and I've run out of gas trying to get them to return. So, all-in-all, I have to honestly say that their roofing work is decent (though not as good as they like to advertise), but their siding division is just terrible.

If there is one contractor that has tarnished Mike Holmes' reputation for me, it's Better Contracting Services. The only thing that this company does "Better" is taking your money and never being accountable for it. I have withheld my comments for almost a year now, patiently waiting for BCS to turn it around, but they have only disappointed each time. I signed a contract with Murray Collins on October 16, 2009. Work did not start as promised, but was delayed until the week before Christmas. The crew left a mess on the property, with shingles and a glove hanging out of the front gutter. I called Murray and someone returned to half-heartedly do a cleanup. I spent a weekend in the spring sweeping and picking up roofing nails. With the storms this past summer, I noticed water overflowing from the eaves on the S/W corner of the house. Called Murray in July, with no response. Called multiple times again in mid-August including his cellphone, and finally got a hold of him. He seemed surprised that nobody and addressed it and said it would be taken care of - mentioned that Sue would schedule the work. Still no response for two more weeks. Called and left messages but no one returned my call. Drove to BCS office on Sept 3, 2010 - spoke and shook hands with Jan (co-owner) and Mike Graves. Both seemed genuinely upset and appalled that no one had addressed my issue yet. "We can't do anything about the storms we've been getting, but we can certainly give our customers a better response." I believed them. I gave them my contact info as they promised that they would send someone out and have Sue schedule the work. Still nothing. I called an eavestrough contractor to come by for an estimate b/c I couldn't wait for BCS anymore - they found that the downspout was clogged full of shingles and debris from the crew last year. Meanwhile, my neighbour's backyard has been flooded with the overflow from the eaves and his lawn destroyed.

I chose BCS b/c of Mike Holmes and I have come to regret it. If you are reading this review, please save yourself the grief and choose another roofer. BCS has received an overwhelming amount of business b/c of Mike Holmes, but they have failed to adapt - they neither have the resources nor management skills to properly run their business. There is a good reason why the Better Business Bureau gives them an "F" rating: http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-reviews/gutters-and-downspouts/better-contracting-services-in-york-on-1038717. You might luck out and have no problems with them - but if you ever do, you won't be able to count on them to come back. Don't take that chance, it's NOT WORTH IT!! It cost me $4000 to find out, you don't need to make the same mistake and pay for it.

The company had very friendly workers. The workers were very clean, quick and efficient. They were very clean throughout the process and cleaned up their mess in the end when the project was complete.

Our old Victorian house had 3 layers of roofing, including the original slate. Total weight was 7 tons that came off! The pitch of the 3-storey house was a big factor in prior patch jobs and the excess weight ended up costing more than the average roof. We had several quotes. Better Contracting removed all the layers and did a great job. The roof looks fantastic.

We had our eavestrough, soffit, facia and siding replaced. We had three previous quotes and Mike from Better Contractors came out and his quote was very competative so we decided to give them a try after hearing great things about the company. The following week Sue called to give us a date and the crew arrived on time and completed the job in a couple of days. We are very satisfied with the look - thanks Mike for helping with the colour choice - you were right, our house looks wonderful! We would recommend Better Contractors to anyone for their service and quality of work.