Epic Paving & Contracting Ltd

What could we do to improve the appearance of the front of our home?! Our stairs were old and crumbling. Our retaining wall was leaning and our front 'landing' was a small, uneven and obstructed space that was really just a cobbling together of dated 16x16 patio stones. We needed to install new stairs, repave the driveway, create a functional patio space, regrade and re-sod the front lawn and replace the retaining wall.
We preferred to have one company for all the work in order to avoid having to coordinate with different trades ourselves. After a Google search and several quotes, Epic rose to the top of the list, providing a detailed and competitive estimate over and above the other companies we consulted with. It took a bit of time before our schedules meshed for a start date, but once the crew was ready, it was full steam ahead. Their crews (asphalt, masonry, etc) were professional and courteous. They worked skillfully and quickly. The end product is better than I had imagined, and we are so pleased with their work. Our neighbours can't stop complimenting us on the change and pleasing impact of the work we've had done. Curb appeal? Achieved!!!! One neighbour told me she hopes to be invited for tea some day soon on our lovely new front patio. Done and done!

*Thank you to Francesca for your timely responses to emails and voicemails, as well as for your professionalism, advice and patience in getting the details for our project just right.
*Thank you to Anthony, Salvi, Miguel and the rest of the site crew for bringing your best forward each day.

We would definitely recommend Epic Paving and Contracting Ltd. 10/10

Resurfacing my rear laneway driveway was the last step of a multi year plan to revitalize the rear area of my house. For the past couple of years, my parking pad has been comprised of compacted soil mixed with some gravel that my general contractor put down for me when they were constructing the rear addition. Every time it rained, I would have to be inconvenienced by getting mud on my shoes as I got into the car to drive to the office,or not being able to shovel the snow around the car during winter time.

Well enough is enough. This year, my plan was to hire a company to resurface it with three options: Concrete, Asphalt and Interlocking Stone. I started my research back in January here on Homestars and selected 3 companies I felt good about contacting after reading the reviews.

Of the three companies, Epic was the only company that replied and followed up promptly. My parking area is approximately 300 sq/ft and in an older downtown Toronto neighbourhood. From my past experiences of trying to obtain estimates for work on my house, a lot of companies will not respond due to the location (citing the difficulty in finding parking or the small contained space to stage & work) or the smaller scope of work.
This wasn’t the case with Epic. They assigned Giovanni, a project manager to help document my requirements and offer resurfacing options with associated estimates. Giovanni made arrangements to come visit the site and take measurements for a proper estimate. This was during the winter season when there was snow on the ground. I was impressed by the professionalism of Epic and how they value their (potential at the time) customers. After multiple discussions, I decided to go with interlock paving stones over asphalt and concrete. Giovanni understood that I was going for an old world Europe cobblestone look and referred me to their partner stone supplier’s catalogue (Bestway Stone) to select the right style of stone. Meanwhile, I shared project details and the positive engagement with Epic with my neighbour. He also had a mud & gravel parking pad and was interested in resurfacing it this year. Encouraged by my dealings with Epic, he also signed up to be part of this project.

As most of you know, it was an extremely wet spring with lots of rainfall. Giovanni was in touch with me almost on a weekly basis to share updates on their project schedule and a forecast of when my project would start. I read a lot of reviews here about project delays but I can’t see how any company has control over the inclement weather that we get here.

Giovanni gave us a heads up a week before when the work was slated to start on our driveways giving us ample time to make arrangements to find alternative parking for our cars and for some of our adjacent neighbours.

The crew completed both projects in a timely fashion (less than week) . They arrived early at the same time each day and worked very diligently through out the day. There were some unforeseen issues with my property as there was an old tree stump that eat up half the day to clear out to ensure we had enough depth. There was no complaints or extra charge for the effort.

The results speak for itself. Both my neighbour and I are very satisfied with our new driveways and the entire process with Epic was smooth.

Thanks to Giovanni, Anthony and the entire crew.

We were very impressed with professionalism of salesman/project leader, Anthony. Employees were polite and hard workers. Their workmanship was exceptional and greatly improved the front yard appearance. They did everything they said they would. They responded swiftly to our phone calls due to rain delay.

We contacted seven different companies when we started this job and received estimates from three of them - Anthony from Epic was the only one who took the time to listen, talk through our plans, make useful design suggestions, and give us a detailed written estimate that stayed within our stated budget. Work was completed quickly and neatly and the entire crew were pleasant and hard-working. Our new driveway and stone walkway both look great!

Although it took some time to get started after ordering, the work was done all at once, and the men worked efficiently, cooperatively and the result was amazing. I love my new sidewalk and ashphalt driveway.

I hired Epic Paving to do a job for me, went over the specifications with the Project Manager, what expectations there would be for the 3-part project: 1) Interlock the backyard and side walk way; 2) lay concrete for a new side walk way (which would connect to the interlock portion of the side walk way); and 3) lay concrete for a new retaining wall for another walkway leading to the veranda. The Project Manager and I went over next steps, paid a deposit, knowing the project would only get started Spring 2018.

Come spring, I had to chase the Project Manager down to get a date for when the project will get started only to hear about “weeks of delays”.

Part 1 of the project: Once the project began, the first red flag went up when they started laying down the bricks. Instead of what was agreed upon to lay the bricks right up to the property line, they chose to do a box situation “because it would look better”. However, the changes were made because it was easier on the labourers. The labourers laid bricks 7” away from the property line! That was part 1 of the project.

Part 2 of the project: This part was to raise the walkway, so you would take a step when entering the property from the sidewalk. This would also separate the walkway from my neighbour’s driveway. However, the Project Manager called me during the day saying for water reasons they could not make it a step anymore but a long ramp. So, now there are parts of the walk way that are flush with my neighbour’s driveway. (Note: One of my neighbour’s cars drove up the ramp within hours of the wood forming being removed from the project! That is how shortsighted the decision was.) The way they did this ramp doesn’t even push the water down either, the water actually pools at the first step into my side walk way. Three other issues with this job: 1) The top landing area of the ramp is crooked, where there is a curve into my property; 2) the end of the walkway onto the sidewalk was not properly shaved down; and 3) the workers broke the concrete on my driveway on both corners. This decision to remove the step, even though it was in our contract, sounded more like a cost savings one. Similar to how they didn’t even use metal rebar to ensure quality and longevity of their concrete pour.

Part 3 of the project: This part of the project was to remove the old wood retaining wall, as it was tipping over and no longer secure and replace it with a concrete retaining wall. I informed the Project Manager before we started the project that after you remove the wood there would also be 2 more feet of wood in the ground that will need to be removed, as this was holding up the home entrance walkway. He said that was common. However, on the day of the work, he complained that there was so much wood!! Seriously? In another call, the Project Manager said they were going to design the edges of the retaining wall to look similar to my other neighbour’s retaining wall. He made it sound like he was doing me a favour, “outside of the standard”, when that was what we first discussed before we started the project. After the concrete was laid for the retaining wall, a worker came by to reset the interlock bricks that was already at the home entrance; this should have been an easy puzzle because the stones would fit in the same spots they were in previously as the retaining wall did not expand from the previous dimensions, but I had to intervene as he was cutting stones in half to place in smaller spaces—it was mind boggling why he didn’t even consider using the already cut stones that already fit without cutting. Mind boggling! Nonetheless, this part actually ended up closer to vision than the first 2 parts. There is a slight curve on one end, so it is not straight, but this is not a big deal.

Up front, the job looks great, but there are these little nuances that make the job look unprofessional, as there was no on-site management; and, also, not following the agreed contract is why I rated this company poorly.

They did a good job repaving our asphalt driveway, however, the job was rescheduled multiples times over 2 months. I had to constantly chase for a confirmation date as to when they could a) excavate b) repave.

Workmanship was good. Scheduling was not.

I contacted Epic Paving after researching a few other companies and hired them to repave my 20 year old driveway. They were competitive in their pricing and worked with me on my timelines when I asked them too. They arrived and did a beautiful job and cleaned up after themselves. The driveway looks new and their experience is evident. I am very pleased with the work they did and would recommend them.

We hired Epic to provide a 16 ft x 15 ft concrete pad to serve as a base for a new backyard shed plus a patio space, as well as a 16 ft x 3 ft pad at the rear of the house for our natural gas BBQ and air-conditioning unit. Start to finish there was always excellent communication -- from initial planning through scheduling to the completed project. Francesca was super friendly and extremely helpful. The crew was very professional and took great care not to damage anything during the construction process, and even came back after-hours when a thunderstorm came up to protect the curing concrete with burlap and plastic. They take pride in a job well done, and it shows. Their workmanship and attention to detail is excellent. I would recommend them to anyone.

Epic went above and beyond to help us bring our mutual right-of-way into the 21st century. Along with our neighbours, we were looking to replace the front portion of our mutual laneway, which was half-grass and half-concrete. (It's also the main entrance to our house.) Anthony took care of our project from start to finish. He provided a prompt professional quote and several options for use to choose from, including asphalt, concrete, and interloc. His rates were competitive. And, once we signed on, Anthony was able to manage the project according to not one but two household schedules. His crew completed the work in two days. The new concrete looks amazing and now melds seamlessly into the existing right-of-way between the houses. Anthony and his crew listened to our needs and to the needs of our design-conscious neighbours, delivering exactly what they asked for. And, when we asked for a bit of extra TLC around portions of our house which had previously experienced water-damage, they went above and beyond to ensure that everything was caulked, sealed, and parged between old and new. THANKS A MILLION! WE'D DEFINITELY HIRE EPIC AGAIN!!