Raakss Reno

Found RAAKSS on this website and chose them based on the positive reviews. Rob was friendly, helpful, informative, professional, hardworking and quick. He helped do many odd jobs and finishing touches for our new home. The jobs included...Installing trim on skylights, installing ceiling lights, installing a kitching faucet, installing light switches (with timers and motion sensors).

We are planning to have Rob back to help install the glass for a shower and mount a ceiling fan.

We would have no problems recommending Rob's services.

We recently hired Robbie once again, this time to install some new hardwood flooring in out family room and living room. Robbie did all of the work quickly, efficiently, and without comprimising quality. He ripped out the old carpets quickly and in no time was installing the new floor. There were some tricky cuts around our circular fireplace base and moldings but they were no match for Robbie's many years of experience. Rob suggested we ditch the old base boards in lieu of new ones, good call they look great.

Just about when Robbie was done we decided that we wanted to have a window seat built in the living room, No problem said Rob, in a flash he had the materials and the job was done.

Thanks Rob you did a great job! Look forward to you coming back soon to tackle another job.

Working with Robbie was a wonderful experience. He is a professional who pays attention to details. As designers who want to give our clients the best workmanship possible, it's important to work with someone you know will be reliable, efficient and who makes your clients' interests a priority. Robbie is a delight to work with and we will definitely hire him to work on future client projects again.
Rating: 10
Dominique & Ian Jones

Robbie did some work for us earlier in the year and when we had to replace all of our knob and tube wiring (done by an electrician) we called Robbie in to repair ALL the walls and ceilings in basically the entire house. We had also decided "while we were at it" to redo our kitchen, all new cabinets, plumbing, tiles etc. If I were to list all the things Robbie has improved in our house it would take about 10 pages, but suffice it to say that we have been thrilled with all of his work. In addition to a beautiful and MUCH more functional new kitchen, we also had Robbie build a huge back deck and front deck. Robbie had great ideas and suggestions, worked very well with our designer and always had a solution when there seemed to be a design problem we could not get around. He is now back to re-do our basement (we bought an old house that obviously needed a ton of work) and he is not only levelling out the floor and putting all new drywall in, boxing in a furnace etc, he is putting in a new washroom. Someone posted about finding Robbie pricey, I am really surprised by that as his quotes are always reasonable and the work is stellar. We have recommended him to several friends and will continue to do so!

Robbie was terrific - he did a very professional job and throughout the process was a delight to have around. He made constructive suggestions for areas I had no idea as to what to do. The quality of his work was exceptional and he completed the project swiftly without compromising on anything. I look forward to my next project that I can ask Robbie to take care of for me.

RAAKSS fulfilled the specs of the project and did so on time and on budget. Overall an enjoyable experience, we are delighted with the results and would hire them again.

I recently hired Robbie to take on the renovation of my basement. He did a fantastic job - it looks better than the rest of the house! He gave me an estimated price and stayed within that budget. He gave me an estimated time for completion - and finished sooner than expected. He is an honest, hardworking guy with a pleasant demeanor and a great eye for design and layout. Best in the business, hands down!

When I found Rob my old house was in dire need of a renovation. He did a fantastic job with the budget I had to work with. Renovating was new to me so his expertise, patience and professionalism made it a pleasant and painless experience for me. Rob renovated two bathrooms by re-designing the spaces and creating a beautiful spa-like atmosphere in both bathrooms. His suggestion to expose the brick wall in the upstairs bathroom maintained the original feel of my old (1926) but beautiful home. Throughout the house, Rob exposed and rejuvenated the original Oak and Pine floors. He is a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend him to anyone.

We hired this guy to reno our bathroom based partly on his homestars reviews. We wanted new tile on the floor and walls, new toilet, vanity and tub. By the third day the tile was up, but we noticed there was a gap between the tub and the tile on the surrounding wall; in some sections the space was wide enough that I could stick my hand in and behind the tile so I could feel the dry wall and stud - he told us that it was a new way of tiling that allowed the drywall to “breathe” and that the water and moisture wouldn’t be a problem. Sealing your bathroom is an “old fashioned” way of doing things, according to Robbie. He claimed it wasn’t necessary, but he would fix it by attaching strips of tile to the underside of the wall tiles just above the tub. We did not believe this was the way to fix this mistake. My father, who has 40 years of construction experience, came to look at it that night and right away said it was done incorrectly and must be fixed properly.

Robbie came back the next day and we gave him several options on how the problem could be fixed. He continued working on the rest of the bathroom and a few hours later he asked for FULL payment - for an unfinished bathroom! My wife informed him we would not pay until it was 100% finished and finished properly. There was no agreement made for any deposit or payment schedule. He began accusing her of ripping him off; he said he was going to call the police or destroy the bathroom with a sledge hammer if he wasn’t paid. In order to get him to leave my wife reluctantly wrote him a cheque for half the quoted amount. Later that day we talked to several people including the tub manufacturer, the store that sold us the tub, and friends in the trades. They all said there should not be that big a space between the tub and the tiled walls. The woman at Sterling Kohler said the space should only be big enough to fit a credit card - the tub installation instructions confirm this as well. So not only had Robbie misled us but he threatened to destroy our bathroom! Based on this we immediately canceled the cheque and sent Robbie an email explaining why we did this and we offered him the chance to come back and fix his mistake. Looking back I don’t know why we would ask someone back into our house who was threatening to "remove his work” from the bathroom, but we just wanted it done and over with as quickly as possible. He emailed back arrogantly blaming our “old crooked house” for the problem and that he was coming down to collect the money (he added: “whether you are there or not makes no difference to me”). We called him and tried to settle the issue but were told we would be hearing from his lawyer and were hung up on. We would have welcomed his lawyer to come to our bathroom and stick his hand in the hole in the wall!
Not knowing whether he would come back we asked a few other contractors to look at the job to get more quotes just in case. They couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the space between the tub and the tiles! Real contractors don’t like fixing other peoples mistakes and they would only quote us for a full bathroom reno. We sent two emails that week explaining how we wanted the bathroom fixed and again gave him the opportunity to fix it.

Robbie came back on Monday with a huge chip on his shoulder and proceeded to fix the bathroom with the solution that my father came up with. Not once did he admit he made a mistake or even apologize for his huge mistake or his attitude problem. The bathroom is done but the truly awful experience takes away any pleasure we might have had. We should have hired a real professional to do the job.

RESPONSE TO ROBBIE: Let's examine your claims one at a time:

1/ You didn't ask for a deposit so we didn't give you one. The reason you rec'd $0.00 is because the bathroom was not "completely finished". Why would we pay you for leaving us with an unfinished bathroom where I can stick my hand in the wall and feel the drywall behind the tile?

2/ We informed you that the gap between the tub and the walls was an issue two days after you started.

3/ As I pointed out in my review, the solution you have the nerve to take credit for was not yours at all. How dishonest can you be?

4/ Your response to my father-in-law (not my father)was correct that moisture goes everywhere in a bathroom - where was this logic when you were telling us that you didn't have to seal the tub because the walls had to "breathe"? My father in law was not there as an expert, he was there to ensure you completed the job correctly (ie. baby-sitter).

There are other false statements in your response but I will just warn anyone reading this: find yourself a real, honest contractor not a jack of all trades master of none.

We are not giving you permission to use the photos of our bathroom in any way.

My husband and I needed to get the drywall in our bathroom repaired after we had some plumbing fixed. After looking up RAAKSS on Homestars we were impressed with the reviews. We called a few places and Robbie was the only one to stay in touch through email and phone calls to try to accommodate our needs. He got back to us within a reasonable amount of time and set up a time to get the job done. Robbie was reliable, professional and friendly. He replaced the drywall and put our tiles on within a couple of hours. The next day he came back and did the grouting for the tiles. He also installed our new toilet. Now our bathroom is back to normal - you would not even be able to tell that we had a hole cut into our wall to fix the plumbing! Robbie explained all that he was doing and cleaned up after himself when he was done!