Royal Home Improvements

I hired Royal Home Imp. about 10 years ago to build a garage and was very happy with their service and product. This year, in late May, I contacted them due to a rotting front porch, and some wood rot issues above it on a small balcony, plus some other small projects. The porch is fairly small, about 16 ft. wide, and about 12 feet deep with 3 porch steps coming up to it. I met with Paul and he quoted, for the job, i thought pretty high but i wanted that same quality and service. At that point he took a 20% deposit, and then another 40 % a few weeks later, but still the workers didn't show. Finally , in July, after a few prompts from me because I was starting to feel ignored, workers showed up and worked on the porch and were done in 1 day, and then a worker showed up to finish it up. The porch was fine but the work above wasn't completed corrtectly so I called yet again and Paul came out and agreed to send back the carpenters to finish that up. At that point , I summarized a few more jobs around the back yard, fix up some rotting wood on flower boxes, and repair a door on a shed, and replace some bent trim on the house with some cedar planks. He quoted 4,200 plus tax for that plus tax and charged the whole amount that day. After all the work was completed the carpenter wanted payment for some parts, and I knew they were included in the price, but i paid him for it anyway, about 140.00 because somehow i felt he would get stuck with the bill if i didn't , and besides i liked him so i agreed to pay it. I brought this up to Paul and after some arguing on his part I was able to prove it was included and he agreed to give me the refund. Well, that took over 3 weeks with a weekly reminder to Paul that I was still waiting, and after spending one huge amount for such little jobs I was irritated I was getting jerked around for 140 bucks. He put the charges on my card that day with no hesitation but getting back a little bit for an overpayment was a task.

Also included in this quote was a ramp of ashphalt up to the garage floor from the outside. It wasn't very long, the length of a two car garage, and about 3 or 4 feet from the lane up to the lip of the floor. Well, they poured the ashphalt and said don't use it for a day. I didn't use it for 2 days and it wasn't hardening, in fact my shoe would sink into the stuff and then of course , track with me into the house. I called Paul after about a week or so and advised him of this, he said, well it's been pretty warm lately. Then 2 weeks later, this stuff is still soft, i could make a snowball with it, and my car was tracking tar all over the place and on my paint. Finally he agreed it needed to be done over again, and that took yet another 2 weeks.

So the final product? not bad, but for this crazy price of these very little jobs and the hounding I had to do to get the job started, fixed after the job was finished, the length of time it took, and the little refund that I had to fight for , I 'm naturally disappointed.

So my options as a disappointed customer are few. But I can post an honest review of what happened, and I can never call them back. Just bad service and no real concern about how they treated me as a customer.

So, we had Royal Home Improvements (RHI) renovate our kitchen in two parts: the first in the Autumn of 2017 and the second in the Spring of 2018. We were so pleased with the results that we decided to hire them for other projects, too, and thus, our next story begins...

Paul visited our home, as he had done before, reviewed the areas of concern, provided several options we could choose and worked with us on our budget with patience, understanding and good humour. As with our kitchen renovation, we felt our needs and concerns were considered. Paul listens. It shouldn't be extraordinary, but it is rare to find someone, especially the person in charge of the company, who personally consults with the clients, responds to emails and texts, and is so attentive. Pluses all the way.

Things we wanted addressed this time included a better fence across our driveway, for privacy and for keeping our two dogs from running into the street, heedless of traffic and unable to find their was back home. Claudio, who worked tirelessly on our project, built a taller and sturdier fence with a lovely gate before he took down the old fence, thus ensuring the dogs could still safely go into the back garden to do their business.

Then he focused on our basement windows. When we purchased our home, we noticed the two windows that had been added at the side, just above driveway level, had some issues. They were older and narrow and obviously not part of the original specs. Some cement-saw-wielding DIY-er had created the holes and stuck the windows in without using proper exterior materials, like nails and trim (the nails were interior, inferior and rusty and the trim was suitable for framing a photo... maybe), and without installing lintels. The old windows didn't open well, one of the panes was badly cracked and they didn't allow much light to enter. We want to utilize this lowest level of our home and making it less like a dungeon seemed prudent.

Claudio excavated the area beside the wall all the way to the front corner, not just under where the new windows would go, and properly water-proofed and so on. You know, the sort of thing you see on 'Holmes Makes It Right' when a basement has been flooded because the exterior wall hadn't been properly done with a protective layer and gravel and all that. We have this protection now. The windows are deeper and they crank open vertically and lock securely. There are window wells now, too. And the amount of light we have now... It doesn't feel like we're in a basement at all!

The next item was the fence between our neighbours and ourselves. Our driveways run beside one another and the section of fence here was leaning. Our driveway was cracking and eventually there would be the remnants of a fence, dirt and our crumbling driveway on our neighbour's property. Not a joyous scenario. Our driveway was higher than our neighbour's and there was no retaining wall to prevent the inevitable. Claudio removed that section of fence, excavated to the correct depth, poured cement, installed thick posts and built a solid retaining wall before building a new section of fence of the same design as the one he constructed across our driveway: taller and much sturdier.

That fence isn't going anywhere. Ev-er.

Throughout, Claudio was professional, accommodating and understanding (especially of my slightly confused mother, the dogs and clearing the digging equipment so the trick-or-treaters could safely reach our front door) and tidied and hauled away the mess when he was done. We are very, very pleased.

Thank you, Paul, and thank you, Claudio. When we're ready to tackle another project, we'll give you a call.

Cheers!
Amanda & Peter in Mississauga (who apologize for being so bloody late with this review. Mea culpa.)

Home renovations come with unexpected glitches especially when they involve many elements requiring a variety of skills, e.g. Insulating, drywalling, tiling, painting and plumbing. Our recent bathroom renovation was no different. We chose Royal Home Improvements because they are a Renomark and BILD member, recommended by CARP, offer a 2-year warranty and, most importantly, assign a dedicated project manager to the job. Keith Rout was our project manager and was responsible for the successful completion of the renovation, from helping us to select tiling and fixtures, scheduling the crew members, literally going the extra mile by driving to multiple supply stores to find the right vanity, and in general troubleshooting and fixing issues. We have always found any type or reno very stressful and Keith was able to minimize this because of his communication skills and attention to detail. He was always reachable via phone or text, was very punctual, and patiently answered all our questions. So...thanks to Keith, and his crew!

I am very happy with the how the bathroom renovation turned out. I found the project manager, Keith Rout, and his crew to be hard working and professional. Keith was very helpful when choosing the fittings and fixtures and I was happy to take his advise. He also made sure that any concerns I might have were taken care of to my satisfaction. Only then would he sign off on the finished project.

I enjoyed working with my project manager, Keith Rout, and his team. They were very professional. I'm really pleased with the bathroom reno. Almost everything I noticed, Keith already had on his list to be fixed. Thanks for the good work!

Royal Home Improvements has just completed an upstairs reno for us. It included 2 bathrooms gutted to the studs (one enlarged), new hardwood flooring, doors and trim, and wallpaper removal and painting throughout. The reno went well thanks to our project manager, Keith R. He was always on top of the details and kept us informed as to when and which trades would be at our home. Despite some challenges renovating an older home, Keith managed everything professionally, always checking that the work met our expectations. Thanks Keith for making the project run smoothly. We are very pleased with the results.

Royal did a fantastic job renovating our 2 upstairs bathrooms.
Mark Davies was our project manager and he kept things running smoothly-on time and on budget.
Unlike some other companies they handle every aspect of the renovation.
The price was reasonable, the workmanship was flawless and comes with a five year warranty.

We heard about this company on the radio and commercials. What a huge mistake!! They were unreliable, messy, job took over 6 months to complete even when they knew there was a newborn in the house. Changed project managers multiple times and first subcontractors made a horrible work, which by the way, had to be redone. We used top of the line products and the final product would have been better by DIY. DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY AT ALL!

I heard about them through AM;740 radio station. They proved to be just as advertised. Fantastic workmanship , quality products, gorgeous layout. They design of the apartment was like we had hired a top notch interior decorator , layout, color scheme, product quality and flow suggested modern living and style. Staff was very knowledgeable and personable. During our renovation we had Christmas and a death in the family and they were very respectful with us throughout that period.