We are the original owners of a 27 year old, 2,700 square foot, two storey, 4 bedroom home in the 'Lion's Gate' area of Erin Mills. With the exception of replacing kitchen cabinets and some ceramic flooring in the kitchen and main floor hallways, the house was basically 'as built' in 1986. To say it was ready for a major 'make-over' would be a bit of an understatement.
We decided to make our renovation a two stage process; first we would replace every window as step one - and once that was done we would find the best available contractor to 'rebuild' the interior of our house. Casa Bella did a great job on our windows (previously reviewed) - so now it was time for the serious work.
I spent hours reading reviews on Home Stars, and I narrowed my short list down to three renovation companies serving the Mississauga area. Of the three finalists, I was intrigued by how every review for P & P Painting & Renovations talked so positively about 'Natanael' - so I decided to talk to them first.
I contacted P & P by email and was able to schedule a meeting with Natanael at my house within a week. We met for about 90 minutes to discuss the extent of the renovation project, potential timing etc.
Just based on that initial meeting with Nataneal, I decided not to even check the other two companies out. I knew that we had found the right guy; he was an honest, straight talking, no nonsense man and obviously passionate about his craft. The job was his if the quotation was reasonable.
A week later he was back with the quotation and contract covering the entire project, including a detailed description of the work, the materials, the timing and he budget. basically, we were 'rebuilding' the main floor (except kitchen cabinets & ceramics) and the entire upper floor. Every other piece of flooring was to be replaced with new hardwood, every baseboard, every door, every plumbing fixture, every bathroom sink and vanity, every electrical fixture, a couple of walls were to be moved, replaced, every ceiling was to be 'scraped' / flattened. And the highlight was the new oak staircase to the upper floor. Finally, every wall and ceiling had to be painted.
We shook hands ad the deal was done.
The project had an estimated 8 week time-line - the entire months of June and July of 2013. My wife and I moved out of the house and into a rental condo near Square One.
The initial phase of 'destruction was almost mind-boggling. The interior of our house was basically gutted. I don't remember how many massive dumpsters of trash were hauled away. But then the rebuilding process was under way.
I was truly blessed to get Mauricio as my project manager. Mauricio basically lived at the job site for two months and oversaw ever single detail of the rebuild. Mauricio was made from the same mould as Natanael -- passionate about his work, and never satisfied until he knew that we were satisfied. Mauricio's 'crew' were all hard working tradesmen -- but every single one of them was polite and respectful towards my wife and I; and I was at the job-site almost every day of the project. At the end of every work day, they actually cleaned up the work site. A project like this can be very annoying to the neighbours who didn't get to move away like my wife and I did - but we never got one single complaint about the job site, the noise, the 'dirt' or any of the tradesmen. In fact, a couple of our long time neighbors commented repeatedly about how good the workers were and how tidy the job site always was.
When move-in day finally arrived, my wife and I had a brand new, custom-built home - but we still had the neighbourhood we love and the wonderful neighbors that we have had for so many years. It was a perfect solution!
After settling back in for a while, of course we found some minor things that had to be touched up or fixed; it is absolutely inevitable after a renovation as extensive as we had done. Every little item that we needed or wanted addressed, was handled completely. Mauricio made sure that every detail was to our satisfaction.
Five months after getting our 'new' home, we are still 100% satisfied with the 'investment' that we made - and have never second guessed the decision to do what we did. P & P definitely have our complete confidence - and respect.
About the only part of our house the we didn't have P & P rebuild was our basement. But we have just met with Natanael again this week to take care of that. My ONE 'demand' for any work on our basement was - I had to get Mauricio and his crew to do the work!!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $100,000.00