Oakridge Roofing and Masonry

I live in an old row house in downtown toronto. James was doing work on one of the houses in the row and came by my house to ask if I wanted a quote to replace a rotting sill and tuck point bricks on the front of the house. He gave me his card and a quote. I looked him up on homestars and gave him the ok, since the rotting sill was something Id been meaning to get fixed for a while now.

The work took longer than probably either of us expected. The sill wasnt as rotten as thought - most of it was solid and very difficult to remove. James brought to my attention that his worker pierced some aluminum trim at the bottom of my window and that theyd replace it. I really appreciated that he didnt wait for me to notice it, or just fill the holes with caulk. When the new aluminum was put in, James noted that the caulking was messy - he brought that to my attention and said it would be fixed before the job was done. As I was looking at the sill during this conversation I saw that it was sloped toward the window (just a bit) instead on away from it. James said theyd put filler on it to reshape the slope, and then paint. Not ideal, but I was ok with the proposed patch.

He noticed that our tiny chimney looked rough and asked if it was ok to go up and give us a quote. I was fine with that.

The next day, another man (James father, Mark?) came by to show us pictures of our loose chimney bricks and a section of damage on the roof. He came across as a slick sales guy and quoted us $8000 to get the chimney and roof repaired as well as tuck point some other areas on the front of our house. I balked and said Id need to get an alternate quote at that price before proceeding. He kept saying that water would get in between my bricks, freeze and destroy the bricks this winter. I held firm. He then said he could do just the chimney and roof repair for $4500. I still wanted another quote. He said he needed to know by the next day because they were a Pickering company and would be finished their other work soon - it wouldnt be a job theyd want to come back for.

None of the other places I called could get me a quote in the timeframe I was given. James called to ask if we decided and I told him it was a no until we could get another quote. James asked for payment for the job they completed and I paid it, happy to be done with the company (James was ok, but the father was off putting ).

I didnt check to see if the sills slope issue was fixed. It wasnt (and the caulking was still a mess). I reached out to James and he said hed contact me once they are back around the area. That was a month ago. Im not sure if they have a plan to be back in the area.

I did get another contractor to do the chimney and repair the roof for a decent price (Half of what Mark was quoting). He looked at the sill and also noticed the slope issue saying that once the caulk gets old, water will enter my house. He also noted that the price I paid for that work was around what he would have charged anyway.

I waited to give this review, hoping that the sill slope would be fixed and I could review based on that. But here we are. Overall, James seemed decent. The other guy felt like a high-pressure sales guy. The sill job wasnt completed (slope) and Im a dolt for not checking before paying.