Somerset Construction Ltd.

We found Graeme and his team through our designer, Debbie at PAS Design Group. She had worked with them before, so as first-time renovators we were relieved to know that we could trust the quality of their work for such a large project.

We hired Somerset to conduct a major top-to-bottom renovation of a 100-year old home in the Annex. They tore down five walls, replaced all the knob and tube wiring, renovated our kitchen including trimming and repainting the cabinets, painted the entire interior of the home, replaced the flooring, and turned a tiny ancient bathroom and an adjacent laundry room into a spectacular marble bathroom.

We were very happy with Somerset and would gladly recommend them to others for a major gut-job for 3 reasons:

1. The team. Everyone at Somerset was very easy to work with and very easy to reach. We were in email and phone contact with Sandeep, our project manager, and his team nearly every day throughout the three months of the project. He did a great job coordinating the timing, the ordering and delivering, and the trades to make sure the project was completed on time and reasonably close to budget. On the site, Denis, the foreman, and his team (including his father, Jesus and brother, Aldo) were absolutely a dream. They were the nicest guys, worked very hard through long hot summer days with no AC, and even worked late into the night and on weekends to meet our tight deadlines. The week before we were scheduled to move into the house, they worked until midnight many nights to make sure we would be comfortable. We can't say how much we appreciate the great team we had.

2. The quality of the work. The team took pride in the quality of their workmanship, and did a beautiful job with everything --especially our bathroom. We had a lot of challenging tile work in our design, and it turned out beautifully. If we were ever unhappy with how something was done, Denis and his team would re-do it right away.

3. Integrity. In home renovations you hear a lot of horror stories about contractors leaving homeowners out to dry. We are glad to say we had the opposite experience. Towards the end of our renovation, there was a problem with the plumbing which caused our new bathroom to leak and cause a flood in our kitchen. Graeme and his team responded immediately and brought an army of specialized plumbers and contractors within hours to rip up our kitchen ceiling, fix the pipes, snake the drains and patch it and paint up before we even got home from work. If Graeme hadn't called us multiple times to apologize and reassure us, we would never have guessed there was such a huge undertaking to fix the plumbing. Not only that, but they absorbed the cost themselves which was the right thing to do. Also, we have a young child, and only had two months to complete the bulk of the work before we had to move in. Somerset managed our expectations by telling us the work would take three months to complete, but were able to finish most of it in 2.5 months to make the house liveable and safe for our family on move-in day.

Of course, as with all renovations, not everything went perfectly, and from time to time we did disagree with Somerset over budgeted vs. additional costs, and who was responsible for what. However, given the magnitude of our project and the tight time frame, this is understandable as we did not spend a lot of time going through a detailed budget up front. If we had more time between and more experience we would have invested more time to clarify costs up front.

Overall, we are very pleased with Somerset and would happily use them again.

We initially contacted Somerset Construction because we needed some advise with a very small Reno , Graeme Sperber the owner was Spot on. When we decided to do a major renovation Somerset Construction was our choice

I can't tell you how professional they were ,our project started and was completed on time and within our budget. The teams they use are approachable for any concerns . Changes that had to be made were never an issue. Where Somerset Construction are fantastic is they are not there to just squeeze you for every cent in fact we managed to save quite a bit going with Graeme's suggestions.

Our house looks beautiful and are proud to show it off .

Well-done Somerset Construction

After researching, interviewing and checking references for several general contractors, we made the decision to entrust our house rebuild to Somerset Construction.

Rebuilding a house is a major undertaking and Graeme and the staff at Somerset kept the process on schedule and under control throughout the 10 month build. The quality of the work was excellent overall, on schedule and on budget (plan to spend more than you thought... you will make changes and upgrades as you work through the project!).

We set out to build a high-quality home for our family and having now lived in the completed house for a few months we are delighted with the result. No project of this scope is without challenges and the Somerset team was always accessible and responsive to our questions and needs... calls, enquiries and concerns were quickly responded to and properly addressed in every case. I always felt like I was their only customer and that my satisfaction was their sole objective.

We chose to engage Somerset on a project management basis, which allowed us to have control over all choices of subtrades and finishes, fixtures and materials selected for the job. In most cases we selected subtrades that had established relationships with Somerset but there were no issues in the few cases where we chose a subtrade on our own. Somerset had excellent subtrades, they performed high quality work and kept to the required schedule.

While we have done many small renovations over the years to several homes, this was by far the largest project we've ever undertaken. Our highest priorities were to have a contractor we could trust, that would do a high quality job for a fair price and would be responsive and compentent... we believe we exceeded all of those goals with Graeme and his team at Somerset.

We made the error of relying on reviews appearing on sites such as this one. We had carefully planned, down to meticulous detail, our home renovation. After all, we were not inexperienced at this. We had done a home reno at your previous house, and that was a happy experience. This one was the last one we ever wanted to do. We loved where we lived. We were going build the house our children would grow up in, the house that they would forever associate with home and a happy childhood.

The experience was nothing short of nightmarish. I scarcely know where to begin to list all the headaches. Basically, it comes down to:
• Lack of a competent site manager: what you need a general contractor to do is to be around and understand what is needed. The general contractor has the entire picture, and acts as the point of communication between the clients and the trades. The general contractor needs to provide direction and co-ordination to the trades. Utter and complete failure on this front. Somerset weren’t even a competent dispatch service (getting the right people to show up on the right dates); much less providing a management or oversight function. Completely useless.

Please read more on my blog http://susanhanmt.wordpress.com/

After years of planning our renovation, (we took a 1150 sq.ft 1 1/2 storey and built a 2 storey, 2600 sq.ft home) we now needed to find someone to build it. After reviewing Somerset's work and meeting Graeme Sperber, we knew right away who we would be hiring. My husband and I connected right away with Graeme and new we were in great hands. The entire Somerset team was a pleasure to work with and the trades were just as nice. We had a great experience with the build and if any issues came up Graeme was able to solve the problem and we felt very comfortable with any decisions that had to be made. We are thrilled with our new home. We've had compliments after compliments on it and we thank Graeme and his team for helping us make our plans and dreams come true. Very highly recommended.
Rose & John, Don Mills, Ontario

It was critical that we find a contractor who would do quality work, on schedule and within budget. We stayed in the house during the reno and we needed a company that would be willing to work around and accomodate us as best as possible. We did a design build with Somerset. They came in on budget and on schedule. They went out of their way to acomodate us while we were in the house. The standard of the subcontractors, both in their profesionalism and pleasantness, was notable. In the few instances where there were issues with contractors, Somerset was very supportive and resolved the issues for us.

We had an outstanding experience with Somerset.
What really impressed us was the courtesy and professionalism displayed by each and every trade and person that Somerset involved in our renovation.
We completely gutted our main floor [+/- 1,100 s.f.] and the renovation included the installation of a new kitchen, low voltage potlights, hardwood flooring throughout, a new powder room etc., etc.
Somerset advised that the job would take 6 - 8 weeks from start to finish and they completed the work within a day or two of that timetable.
The site supervisors were very knowledgeable, a pleasure to deal with....and they ensured that we were at all times on "the same page".
One often hears about nightmare renovations!
Ours was thankfully not one of those - in fact it was an almost painless [it takes time to forget the airlock that was installed between our living quarters and the workspace and which we "tolerated" for 6 weeks] experience.
We are absolutely delighted with the end result - our renovation has exceeded all our expectations.

It took my husband a number of years to decide to take the plunge and renovate our house. After doing extensive research and interviewing eight different contractors, we decided to hire Somerset Construction Ltd. (Graeme Sperber) and have not regretted our decision.

Our reno project began in August 2008 and we told Graeme that we wanted to be back into our house in six months. It was evident that Graeme did everything possible to push the project along (without sacrificing quality) and got us in within our time frame.

One of the greatest benefits in working with Graeme (and Somerset) is that his trades people appreciated and understood the latest interior design trends, working with trendy materials and recommended the best places to purchase these materials. We are really pleased with the outcome and how beautiful the reno turned out.

Graeme (and his team) are professional, hard working and very responsive. I would definitely recommend Somerset.

Stephanie – April 2009