Erin in Hamilton

If you want to work with a contractor who displays personal and professional integrity, dedication to his trade and great customer service, look no further than Shaun at Urban Roofing. I obtained 3 different quotes(had 5 scheduled but one never showed and the other didn't have a permit to work in my area so he could only supply me with tips, couldn't actually do the work). All 3 quotes were within a few hundred dollars of one another for the same work; strip existing shingles and fibreboard roof deck and replace with plywood, GAF timberline shingles and accessories, and replace all roof vents and knock down remainder of my chimney. After verifying city permits and insurance coverage for each company I decided to go with Urban Roofing; not because it was cheaper but because of the following reasons: *Easy to reach, quick to respond. The longest I waited for a response from him, via either email or phone was about 24hrs *Shaun personally went up on my roof on the day of the quote and told me things about my existing roof that none of the other 2 companies I got quotes from did. *Advised me of the hole in my existing roof and provided advice on having whomever I chose as my contractor to include a patch of that hole in the cost of the roof to hold me over until I could get the full roof replaced. *Spoke to me frankly, didn't try to sell me on stuff I didn't need *Provided a full written quote, detailing exactly what work would be performed and how. *Company has experience in both residential and commercial roofing even being called to perform work out of province-this too me shows the quality of the work they do *Smaller company, about 15 or so employees. No outside subcontractors. Shaun advised that he would have 4-5 roofers working on my house(1000 sq ft) to make sure they would finish in one day. *He charged me nothing to take down the last few layers of the unused chimney; other companies were going to charge from $300-600 to do it. (note-this was not a full chimney dismantle, just about 4 layers; there may be a cost for a full chimney dismantle due to the extra weight in the bin, I don't know) *I was able to deal directly with the owner, no sales people. *They had the highest liability coverage of any of the contractors I spoke to *I simply got a good vibe from him and Steve, his right hand man as I call him. I didn't sense any BS or sales tactics. Once I hired Shaun my appointment was made for a Sunday, less than one week later(unusual day for roofing but the weather was going to be good, they were going to be getting busy in the coming weeks and due to the poor shape of my existing roof, it was considered a priority). Shaun sent out a guy to patch up the hole at the peak on the Thursday which was good since it poured the rest of that evening and possibly into the weekend. Materials and bin were delivered on the Friday, bin was picked up on the Monday. There weren't 4 guys there, there weren't even 3 guys there on Sunday. There were no fewer than 6 roofers working on my roof that Sunday; Shaun included. At times I counted 8 guys! They started at 815A and were finished around 5P, taking only a few short breaks from what my neighbours and I could tell(I was in and out all day). They worked with quick efficiency; roof was stripped in no time and they had guys working on all sides of the roof at the same time; there was no waiting around until all the roof deck was put on before doing the ice/water barrier; once the plywood was down, another guy was working on the ice barrier; then the deck armour over the rest of the roof; as that was being done, the shingles were going down right behind. There were guys on the ground bringing up supplies, cleaning up wayward shingles and garbage, someone else cutting plywood. When the work was done, they cleaned up after themselves. They had out rakes, shovels and brooms as well as the magnet broom to pick up any loose nails. One of my biggest issues with any contractor is cigarette butts thrown on my property. They did a very good job of minimizing this; I did still find some here and there and a handful of nails but nothing major. Now a job like this doesn't often come without a few hiccups. We did have a few instances that came up however Shaun was very quick to respond to my concerns and we had them resolved within 72hrs. A-I had asked for some of the good bricks from the chimney to be kept aside in case I needed them for future replacement on the house itself. While this information was communicated by Shaun and Steve to the other roofers, apparently they forgot. Shaun got on them at the end of the night to locate them but turns out that none of the ones they could find were of any use anyway. B)one of the roofers dropped a nail gun from roof height onto my front stairs damaging one of the treads pretty badly; there was also damage to one of my back stairs. No problem though as Shaun personally came back and replaced both treads himself. C)-Another issue did arise with one of his workers over a mistimed and unwarranted prank(meant to be funny but caused both Shaun and I undue anxiety) however, being true to form and taking personal responsibility for the actions of this one roofer, Shaun resolved the issue to my satisfaction within 48hrs. Shaun notified me right away of the issue, apologized on behalf of his employee, offered corrective action to me due to the inconvenience and immediately took care of the situation with his employee ensuring the issue would not occur again. In each of the above instances, Shaun could have easily fluffed it off as simply a part of doing business and placed blame on the employees themselves. But he didn't. He was sincere and remorseful, and took responsibility. He thinks of the customer first and places himself in their shoes. He is dedicated to his trade, honest, acts with integrity, leads by example and expects the same from his employees. I would hire Urban Roofing again anytime.

I had Beverley Hills come in 2013 to install 5 new windows and a door. Installer was very good, took him one day. I was under the impression initially that there would be more than one installer as I was told there would be a team, but the gentleman that did the installation was very good. The installation of the door jam was a little sloppy for my liking and I had to call them back to make some adjustments on the door which they did at no cost. Also beware that if the door shifts due to the house shifting(ie frost heaves) they are not responsible. I had and continue to have problems with my door latching in the warmer months but this is because there is only crawl space underneath, not a true foundation so it will forever shift with the ground. The windows were installed beautifully. I did have to call to have the handles on the double hung windows sanded down because they were not done during the manufacturing process and were rough, but again, they sent someone out to fix that quickly with no cost. They are on the pricey side but I think the quality of the product and their good customer service and prompt response to any issues helps offset that a bit.

I had a large leak behind the wall of my shower. I couldn't tell if it was the copper piping that was leaking or if there was an issue with the diverter on the spout. Not knowing anything about plumbing, I hired a professional because I could not find the same type of replacement spout. It turned out that the issue was just with the diverter. All I needed was a new spout. It was going to cost $219(for the diagnosis and the replacement spout) I was at work at the time so did not see the completed work until I got home. Not only did the plumber use my materials(cauliking) to complete his task but I had to recaulk when I got homeanyway because there were gaps that would have let water leak through to behind the wall. Also, the replacement spout was plastic unlike the old one which was metal. I am glad that the leak itself has been fixed but felt the cost was a little steep considering the cheap replacement material, the fact my caulking was used to seal the spout and it wasn't sealed properly.

$130 bin rental $85 cubic tonne $12 flat fuel surcharge This cost was comparable to other companies costs. Bin was delivered on time and picked up on the date requested. Driver was fantastic offering suggestions on how prevent dumpster divers and people from throwing their own trash into the bin I had rented. He got the bin right on the driveway and made sure to lay down some 2x4s to keep the bin from scraping my driveway. I would definitely rent a bin from this copmany again.

When I purchaed my home 2 years ago I needed to upgrade my panel from 70amp to 100amp service for insurance purposes. A colleague recommended Keidan Electric so I called them up. They did all the leg work for me. They took out hte neccessary permits with the city, contacted the city to have the hydro shut off and did the panel upgrade. I felt the value I got for my money was reasonable so I have used them since to install an outlet in the bathroom, convert several outlets to GFI, install a light, completely wire my home office and remove my old electric water heater wire from the panel. I wil also be hiring them again to install a new porch light, convert my outdoor outlets to GFI, install new motion sensor lights outside and install new outlets in the basement. Any job, no matter how small or large, Tyler and Jeff are professional, courteous, reasonably priced Master Electricians.

I contacted Instal-Insulation in the spring of 2011 to add more R value to my attic and to fully insulate my office space that was an addition that had no insullation at all. They had to come at 2 separate times as two different trucks are used for the insulation. They came not only on time but a few minutes early just to so they could prepare. Bruce was the guy who gave me the quote and explained the process to me initially. I had also seen their work on Mike Holme's shows and felt comfortable using them. The guys were all courteous, they cleaned up after themselves and answered any questions I had. They increased the R value for the attic from a R12 to R50 and for the spray foam they did it to the full 3 inch thickness i required to qualify for the energy grant. I would have thought that because they are sucha big name company and always featured on Mike Holmes that their prices would be astronomical. But I found them to be very reasonable. I have definitely noticed a difference in my home thanks to Bruce and his guys.

In April 2010 I hired Shipton's Heating and Cooling to install a brand new HE furnace. I did my due dilegence and got 5 quotes for the job and carefully considered each one. It was between Shipton's and another company and I went with Shipton's because they were in the industry longer and were part of the BBB. Since they also do duct cleaning services I decided to get that done at the same time. When the 2 HVAC guys showed up it was then that I found out that they weren't the ones cleaning my ducts after the job. So I called the office and one of the owners said he would call me back. He didn't but instead the sent the duct guy to bring his equipment out to my place. He left it for one of the HVAC guys to use. I was not happy with the lack of communication and follow up on this. This left only 1 guy to do the entire furnace installation. When all was said and done my ducts were cleaned, I got a dirty filter installed,they hadn't installed the furnace on a cement pad off the ground(they used bent up pieces of sheet metal instead), they didn't properly close off any gaps in the ducts(when I had one of the owners come and take a look at the work I was told this was normal and that some air leakage is common), there were chunks of brick left behind from where they had to drill to install the gas pipe outside which they just covered up with pieces of insullation and they didn't fix my floor that they tore up. My brand new furnace was also scratched up and dented. Now, having said that, I did call the owner to complain about the workmanship. He came over to review the work. Shipton's did send over a different guy as well as the guy who cleaned my ducts(I had no issue with him) to completely reinstall a brand new furnace on a cement pad, silicone the gaps, re-cement the floor where they other guy had torn it up and painted the floor where they had scratched it up. This is why I give them a 5 and not lower; because they came back and fixed the issue. I was not satisfied with the intial work but they did do their best to rectify the situation.