B.B.G. Carpentry, Inc.

John Groves and I discussed the project and he gave me the sense that he was a true professional at his carpentry trade. I had a tight time line and so he started work immediately after I approved his reasonable quote. He took pictures and emailed them upon completion. The work was of highest quality and he was very neat and clean - taking care of the carpet etc. This company is honest, hard working and professional. They offer great value by providing top quality work for a reasonable price. I feel so fortunate to have had this company on the project

BBG carpentry came highly recommended from this webpage. We had intended expanding the height of two closets but after recommendations from John decided to stay with the original dimensions but add two towers with two bars on either side from which to hang the clothes. John’s advice was invaluable; he kept us informed either through the phone or emails, completed the work on time, and most importantly completed everything to perfection while allowing for on the spot tutoring about what was happening. I learned a lot from this undertaking and while I seldom pass on perfect scores to anyone, I have no hesitation in awarding John an Olympic gold medal for excellence. Very grateful and happy with the work. As an aside--John deserves a Monty Python award for humour for his ability to tell funny stories.

John and Paul came to level a second floor bedroom which had become very slanted. They removed the old subfloor, sistered all the joists to create a level surface, and laid a new plywood subfloor. It was all done very quickly and easily and cheaper than I expected. I wouldn't hesitate to call them for any other carpentry needs I might have.

John came to assess the job and knew what he was up against. I have a 100+ year old home and installing a door is not the most straight forward thing. He provided a quote and I knew based on what he said that he was an experienced guy. He was very pleasant and got the job done on time. He consistently asked for my opinion along the way to ensure there were no surprises at the end. I really appreciated that. He is honest and was a bit of a perfectionist as he said so himself! Nothing wrong with that. He put in 100% effort even though it was a small job. I would strongly recommend him to others and would definitely consider asking him to do other carpentry work in the future.

Situation: Mid summer 2011, we demolished the old basement staircase and adjacent sun porch and needed to fill the space by extending the first floor. We knew what was required to build the extension and how to price materials labour and time.

We interviewed several carpenters. Half of them revealed themselves to be competent but over-priced the job.
Some carpenters were incompetent.
A few were highly skilled but busy with a list of clients.
John presented himself and his work with pride and professionalism without being stuffy or formal. He was among the busy carpenters whose schedule was fully booked working on decks and porches during the warm months. Due to his backlog of clients, he would not be free for at least 4 months. However, he proposed that if we were flexible with our renovation schedule, he could work at our house during rainy days since it would be impossible to work on the deck and porch jobs in the rain. We agreed.

As per John’s suggestion, I got the lumber and most of the other building materials delivered to the house to be ready for John to come over on a moment’s notice.

It soon rained hard enough for him to start the project. John does not simply start cutting and installing, he takes the right amount of time to assess the room, how to deal with all the quirks of the existing structure, how to prep for future construction tie-ins, and works out engineering issues in advance. His use of traditional and new technology tools makes him very efficient.

The floor extension took John and his apprentice about 2 days to complete. Our building inspector was happy with John’s work and commented that it tied in perfectly between new and old structure making it one with the house. His only criticism was the half dozen screws driven through the subfloor that did not hit the joists. I cannot directly fault John for this as I know that his apprentice was working on that particular side of the floor. Since it was easy enough to pull the screws and re-set them, I did this myself.

My own main criticism was about cleanup at the end. Cutting is normally done outside but since they worked on rainy days, I allowed all the wood cutting to be done in my (yet to be finished) basement. As a rule, I always return things in the same or better condition and I expect the same. After John and the apprentice finished a great job and everyone was happy, I went down to the basement to look around. I would expect to see scrap lumber at the end of a job but to see it left all over my basement by paid professionals, was unpleasant. The 2 hours I spent sweeping and cleaning up was time I should have been doing something important. Back when I was a lowly apprentice, the menial tasks and cleanup duties were ones I willingly took ownership of. If John hasn’t yet taught these basics to the apprentice, I hope he does soon because he is a good guy and has lots of potential to become a carpenter.

John’s own work is outstanding. He has a strong work ethic. He enjoys his work. He takes pride in his work. He likes people. He has a great knowledge of what is going on in the world (i.e. he doesn’t bury himself in his work).
He is easy to talk to and he can figure out very quickly the technical details, the scope of work, budget and materials.

Without John’s professionalism and his apprentice’s hard work, the job would probably be rated a 7.5 or 8. If John had built in a little more time to oversee quality control of his apprentice’s work and to get the apprentice to clean up, then I would have rated the job a 10.

Overall we are very pleased with the new space. We hope that John is willing to come back to build the next phase of our construction.

BBG Carpentry has done 4 different projects for me over the last few years, the recent project was to remove a damaged wall and re-built with studs and drywall after we had water damage. He is efficient and on time wi his projects. Would highly recommend John and have snacks on hand for his partner COCO ( the dog ) Great work John.

John was not the first contractor I interviewed for my basement reno, but he was by far the most impressive and trustworthy. My basement was semi-finished, but needed a gut and to be redone. John gave a thoughtful and reasonable quote, started work on time, came every day (even when it was only his subcontractors who had work to do), and finished the job, on time and on budget. No hidden extras, no unpleasant surprises. I have recommended him to my friends and family.

We found John on the Homestars site, call him for a quote on work that needed to be done. The reason for calling John was the close proximity to where we live and the reviews posted on your site. I must say that my first impression of John was extremely positive, he seem to know his stuff as well we got to meet his son Oliver. John presented us with his qualifications and and the fact that he's a master carpenter from England. We ran through all the work that needed to be done including the drawing of the internal wall unit of sorts. So he went downstairs took all the measures as well pictures of doors, trims and baseboard. The quote was provided within a week I thanked him for his promptness, he mentioned that he had a busy schedule, and wouldn't be able to start till the fall. I indicated that I would call him back of and when we were ready to proceed. Long story short we contacted him in November he came by to a once over and order the material required. The work began at the beginning of December and I must say I'm totally impressed with the professionalism as well as his detailed work. We will be bringing him back in the spring to perform the deck and privacy screen for our back yard. Cheers.....

John was wonderful to work with. He definately knew his stuff!! I had called him in a lurch because my previous contractor did not finish the deck that was promised. He left me with a deck and no rails or proper stairs. Despite the fact that i use a can and have mobility problems, he was a no show after 3 months.
John came to my rescue. He not only built us those proper stairs but re -did the entire deck. After taking a look at the origional deck, John noticed that it wasn't secured to the house properly and the supports on the bottom were not up to par.
Despite the fact that John does not like to take over previous work, he did for us. Thank G-d.
Now, we not only have a safe front porch, but a beautiful one at that.
John's team was very professional. They showed up when they said they would be there and worked for long hours in the cold to get the job done.
He listened to my design ideas and followed through to a tee.
Thx john