Dan

We just had our family's fourth window and door installations done. At our house, the ground floor and upper floors have been completed. At our daughter's house, the new upper floor windows and the front and back doors finished the second renovation of her home with Platinum in the last few years. At our home, we immediately noticed a significant change in energy usage throughout the year. The comfort level is now consistent throughout the house in every season. At our daughter's home, after the ground floor installation done previously, she noticed that street sounds were greatly diminished in her living room. Upstairs, the day after the work was done she woke up perspiring because the furnace heat was no longer escaping through the poor window installations done by the builder. She had to readjust her heating vents to accommodate for this newfound retention of the energy for which she had been paying all these years. Her front and back doors are also energy saving, far more secure than the old ones, and they add a beautiful look to her home. We are going to miss dealing with Jim in sales, Maggie in the office, and our installer Miro. They brought a lot of joy and a very human touch to dealing with a home renovation company. I can't say enough good things about our time with Platinum Windows & Doors. Perhaps the most important point is that we had them twice in our home and twice in that of our daughter. What could be a possibly higher recommendation than that? We will miss both the people at Platinum and the joy that comes from having our homes greatly enhanced by the quality of their work and the care which they take in doing it.

I checked out Discount Pothole and Sealing on HomeStars and quickly gave Chris a call based upon the excellent customer ratings. He answered promptly and we arranged a service call to get our 1 yr. old driveway sealed and protected against oil leaks and the weather. Chris arrived at the arranged time and went to work. In half an hour our two-car driveway was sealed to perfection. The job was very well done from start to finish. Chris made sure that there was no over spray at all. During the work Chris took time to scrape down his equipment to avoid leaving any puddles of excess sealant on the driveway. I examined the driveway the next day as I was watering the lawn. The dried sealing looked just as good as it had when freshly wet the previous day. I have already recommended Discount Pothole and Sealing to family, friends, and neighbours who stopped by to look at the "new driveway". Chris was always very professional, approachable, and courteous in our dealings. What more can I say? Thanks Chris for the peace of mind that a well done service brings to a homeowner. Dan Thanks for a great job Chris.

Our 35 year old Beam central vac gave up the ghost on Saturday. I researched on HomeStars and found Etobicoke Service Centre Ltd. to be highly recommended. I called and talked to Bill. We had a brief, pleasant, and professional conversation. We discussed options and settled on the right unit for our needs. Bill showed up as arranged on Tuesday and in no time the work was done. The new unit has been installed; the old one was taken away; the work area was left as clean as it was before; and the installation is neater and more compact than the previous one. I can't say enough good things about the experience of dealing with Bill and the company he represents, Etobicoke Service Centre Ltd.. I am not prone to superlatives, but a score of ten out of ten stars doesn't do justice to this experience. They are the best.

We had been having issues with 6 windows and a patio door that had been installed at various times over the last 30 years. There was some fogging, some condensation, and the door was not sliding well any more. We got a very helpful visit from Jim to discuss our needs and options. With good recommendations from a friend and reviews on HomeStars, we signed a contract. Zoran and his crew member came out on the appointed day -- a cold and windy one in December. They worked non-stop throughout the day to ensure that the house temperature stayed reasonable. I had expected that I would have to do some repainting inside due to the need to get at the window frames in order to remove them. Not only was there no need to repaint any new wood, there was not even one scratch on any of the old painted surfaces. Zoran found a rotted sill under the old bedroom window. He pointed this out to me and then fearlessly worked on a ladder 2 stories up in the wind and cold to remove and replace the damaged part of the structure. Both gentlemen were amazing with the care and skill that they showed in removal, repair, installation, and the exterior capping. The cleanup that they did was exceptional as well. The quality of the windows is also something to behold. As an example, the patio door slides smoothly, effortlessly, and quietly (which gives our dog a head start on the squirrels in the yard). But what surprised my wife and myself most is that the interior glass is at room temperature with no condensation whatsoever even on the coldest days this December. We like to keep the humidity up a bit in our house and the windows are far superior to anything else we have in our home. I can't say enough about dealing with all the people at Platinum. I recommend them most highly. They are now the go-to window company for everyone in our family.

We had had increasing problems using our house keys on our front door deadbolt lock. Sometimes the issue was inserting the key fully to engage the mechanism. At other times it was trying to extract the key smoothly. Fearing the worst that one day we would be unable to get into our house or unable to lock it upon leaving, I checked out Pre-Lock Security Services on HomeStars. I booked an appointment for later in the week and Alex showed up on time with questions about what our concerns were. He told us what options we had. Within minutes he took apart the malfunctioning lock, cleaned it, reset the mechanism, and re-keyed the lock. He also re-keyed the side door lock for us so that they now both operate with the same key. The bonus for us is that we didn't have to get new keys cut and distributed to family members as the locks are set for the keys we all already have. Alex was professional, courteous, and pleasant to talk with as he explained things and answered all of my questions. Pre-Lock will be the go-to company now for everyone in the family who needs these kinds of services. I recommend them highly.

After a bad windstorm my mother was desperate to find a roofer to come out and help with the damaged shingles. Although all roofers were backed up with calls, Tetyana at Quality First Roofing answered our plea. She sent Matt out after hours to apply a tarp which would keep the house safe and dry until permanent repairs could be arranged. Several weeks later Michael was able to squeeze us into their busy schedule. He did an outstanding job. He stripped the roof of the old shingles and applied new roofing to secure the house permanently against the weather. Later windstorms in Toronto this year proved that the job was perfectly done. Both Matt and Michael provided before and after pictures so that we could see the roof close up but from the safety of the ground. I can't express enough not only our satisfaction with the response to our needs, but also to the quality of work done on both occasions. Michael even came out weeks later to check the roof and reassure my mother that a piece of shingle that she had found on the street was indeed not from her roof. Now that's going the extra mile for a customer. My mother needed peace of mind that a first quality roofing job would be done from the get go. She got that and more with the work done by Quality First Roofing. Everyone we dealt with was pleasant, efficient, and professional. We cannot recommend them highly enough. Great job, even better people.

John Dima & his assistant (Sorry, I didn't get his name.) arrived promptly at the scheduled time. They put on booties to protect the floors and got to work immediately. John showed me a problem with installing the new toilet as the flexible pipe was too short for this taller unit. He attached an extension and a new valve onto the floor pipe. Problem solved. In hooking up the water line to the new fridge he showed me a problem with the previous installation of the water line from the sink plumbing. (I remember the previous subcontractor from another company. Sloppy work, poor attitude, no cleanup.) I was not surprised to discover, as John explained it to me, that the other plumber had installed the wrong clamp. It was compressing the plastic pipe and restricting water flow to both the sink supply as well as to the fridge. A couple of minutes, a few more tools, and some parts from the truck: problem solved. John and his assistant showed me how to flush the internal fridge system to get clean water throughout. The old toilet was disassembled and put out to the curb for pick up. All work areas were left spotless. A good morning for me with great service, high standards, ready solutions for unexpected problems, reasonable pricing, and personable, friendly people. Got a plumbing concern in their service area? You can't do better than Dima Plumbing. I recommend them highly for the quality of service provided and the peace of mind they give. I will definitely use them again.

Our old tankless water heater needed replacing. Our current service company wanted almost $7000 to install a unit which my research showed was more powerful than what we needed. Our plumbing company ExpressRooter recommended AccuServ. HVAC specialist Vlad came out for a discussion of our needs and an on-site inspection. Our meeting was very pleasant and informative. He recommended the Navien 210. After some more research, we called AccuServ to accept the proposal. Within hours we were contacted by Jake and we did all the formal work online in very short order. He was very accommodating to our timelines and a pleasure to deal with. Sooner than originally anticipated Ashok and AJ were out at the house for the installation. They did an impressive job redoing the plumbing and wiring connections to match the ports on the Navien. It was surprisingly less noisy and disruptive than I thought it would be. The look both inside and outside is neat, elegant, and professional in every way. Every effort was made by both men to explain the reasons behind all the work being done and the functioning of the system. I can't say enough about both the quality of work and the positive, dedicated work ethic of both Ashok and AJ. And they left our house as neat and tidy as they found it. The Navien 210 is working as expected: quietly and beautifully. In summation there are 2 important things that I can say about dealing with all the staff at AccuServ: 1. My wife and I have peace of mind that we made the right choice in selecting AccuServ as a service provider for our home. 2. We will recommend AccuServ to family and friends. AccuServ: good people, good service, good prices.

Our previous heating and air conditioning company is no longer in business. We had to seek a new and reliable firm for our home and that of one of our daughters. A recommendation and a bit of research on HomeStars led us to choose AtlasCare. Samer came to our home in Scarborough and Eric to our daughter's home in Markham. Both servicemen arrived within the short appointment window, greeted me in a friendly and professional manner, put on booties, and went about their work promptly and efficiently. They asked questions about the equipment, its performance, and our needs. Both provided a little extra service and recommendations for use of the systems. When he heard that we would be getting our tankless water heater serviced in the fall, Samer went back into the basement to record the model number for use by the serviceman later in the year. Eric removed the old furnace filter for disposal and provided us with replacement units and advice for filter options in future. Needless to say, we have found our new air conditioning and heating company. Outstanding representatives such as Samer and Eric who freely and willingly went out of their way to assist us give us great peace of mind and confidence that our hvac needs will be met reliably for years to come. Thank you AtlasCare.

We had decided to renovate our ground floor this past summer. Our contractor highly recommended Zoran Kitchens and Bath. As much as this could have been an intimidating process, Zoran put us at our ease from the first contact by phone. During a subsequent visit to the showroom, Zoran gave his full time and attention to discovering our wishes and needs. He then presented us with a variety of options in all the areas such as size, style, materials, colour, and hardware for the cabinets and countertops. The potentially overwhelming number of choices to be made was quickly and easily narrowed down as Zoran helped us to define the specifics of what we wanted our kitchen to become. He came out to the house with our contractor present and made measurements. We discussed a number of options involving removing bulkheads, widening a kitchen doorway and deepening counter tops to accommodate a deeper refrigerator, closing doorways, etc.. Zoran presented a strong case for completely modernizing our kitchen as one of the options, but he wholly respected our choice to retain much of the comfortable layout of our 33-year old room. He came by a second time with laptop layouts of 3 possible plans and let us see all the options in draft form. When we made our final decision, we were quite confident that we had made the best choice for the space, our wishes and needs, and the possibilities open to us. The cabinets were delivered with great care not to damage the new hardwood floors. The installer did an amazing job in putting them in. The granite counter tops made the perfect finish in picking up the colours of the floor and cabinetry. Zoran came by and kept in touch by phone and email during the entire process. No question was too small and no concern too trivial to be addressed to ensure our complete satisfaction. Family, friends, and neighbours have all been impressed with the look and quality of our new kitchen. A couple have contacted Zoran about getting work done in their homes. We can’t say enough about how pleasant the process was in having Zoran Kitchens and Bath in our home and about how much we are enjoying our new kitchen. Thank you, Zoran.

Our slow 30-year old toilets encouraged us to get some plumbing done around the house that had been on our to-do list for a while. We got a great deal on 3 high efficiency, low water consumption models. So we called our reliable contractor ExpressRooter Plumbing. On Friday of that week, Rob arrived at about 10 in the morning and left at the end of the day. In the bathrooms Rob removed the 3 old toilets and took them outside, installed the 3 new ones, and put in 3 new water shutoffs at our request. In the kitchen he took out the old faucet and a dead garburator, reconfigured the drain assembly more efficiently, and installed the new faucet and 3 new water shutoffs. On a relatively muggy day Rob kept the same hard-working pace until all the jobs were done to his and our satisfaction. His manner was pleasant, cooperative, and professional at all times. Each work area was left as neat and clean as when he arrived. It would be hard to imagine a better experience as a homeowner with a contractor in your house for the better part of the day Excellence is what we have come to expect from ExpressRooter over the years.

In mid-December we had a major failure in our roof with water cascading down a bedroom wall during a heavy rain. We called Better Contracting Services, did some research on roofing, and were able to get a major repair to rotting roof boards and a new roofing system installed before Christmas. We were very pleased to be rescued during our time of need and are very happy with our new roof. However, there were a couple of concerns that we had. The holidays intervened and unfortunately we had serious family issues to deal with for the next few months. In late April I contacted Mike at Better Contracting Services and explained our issues to him. He could not have been more open to our concerns even though much time had passed since the job had been done. His approach was "What can we do to address your concerns and make you a satisfied customer?" His offer was too generous for the issues that we had. So we settled for some things being done which addressed our concerns with a little extra service and product thrown in at Mike's suggestion. Despite all the rain we had this spring, Better Contracting Services kept my job at the top of their list. Rob came out today and spent the morning making things right. He was conscientious and diligent through the heat and humidity. Like all the staff at Better Contracting Services, Rob is representative of the professional, courteous, and respectful approach that makes this company stand out. We are very happy with the performance and security of our new roof over the past 6 months. We are also pleased with the new look it has given to our house. This is our second job with Better Contracting Services. We consider them as one of our partners in maintaining our home.

A major leak developed in our roof just before Christmas. Going up into the attic, I discovered that several 4 x 8 sheets of plywood had gotten mouldy and rotten. (The builder had decided to vent the upstairs bathrooms into the soffits and not through the roof. After many years of backflow into the attic and condensation on the underside of the roof, the structure had failed.) We hired a reputable roofing company to come in to install a new roof. However, the roofer was unable to redirect the existing venting up through the roof. We did not want to leave the problem in place. We had been thinking about hiring a handyman but were reluctant to trust a general and perhaps inexperienced worker. While investigating the possibility of upgrading our insulation to R 50, I happened upon Insta-Insulation (as seen on Mike Holmes’ tv shows). Their representative Sean advised me that I should correct the venting in the attic before I did the insulation upgrade. Fortunately for us Insta-Insulation also has handyman services staffed by attic specialists. A week later, we had 2 visits in the same day. In short order our attic venting was put right in the morning. In the afternoon other upgrades were completed including the addition of blown cellulose to take our house up to and beyond the building code. At all times Insta-Insulation staff were friendly, professional, and courteous. Those who visited our home were careful to leave the premises as clean and neat as they found it. I cannot recommend a company more highly than Insta-Insulation for any service that they may provide. It was a pleasure dealing with them. They have given us much peace of mind about the security of our attic and the savings and comfort we will experience in future. Many thanks.

We have had service a few times over the years from Dodds Garage Door Systems to do repairs to our old garage door equipment and to install a new opener. We were always very pleased with their work. Last week a leaning broom handle interacted with the track while the door was opening and the cheap double door -- not a Dodds product -- crumpled up like a pop can. I called Dodds on a Friday afternoon. Their representative came by for an appraisal on Saturday morning. By 9:30 am on the following Thursday we had a beautiful, insulated, smooth and silent running brand new garage door installed. It is such a great upgrade compared to what we had before that we are pleased that we had to have the work done. Once again the Dodds crew, Paul was the first of the team to arrive, did an excellent and professional job with a complete clean up before leaving. It was also a pleasure dealing with Angela in the office and Laurie the sales rep. Truly, nobody does it better than Dodds does.

I began hearing a new sound in the basement from my air conditioner last week. As owner of this house for 30 years, I have learned to be suspicious of new noises. They are seldom good news. I called Northwood Heating and Air Conditioning, explained the problem and that I was still getting cooling, but that I would appreciate a service call in the near future. (I didn't want to take time from the emergency calls for those people whose systems had broken down. As well, being in Scarborough, I was aware that a service call was more efficient for their technicians if they already had other calls in the area.) On Monday of the very next week, I got a call asking if I would be home on Tuesday afternoon. Now that is really quick service for what my needs were during a July heat wave. John, the technician I see most often at my home, spent an hour checking everything out, topped up the coolant in the system, assured himself that there was no leak, and explained the cause of the noise that I had heard. I felt reassured about the integrity of my air conditioner and the validity of the adage that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." I am confident that I won't see a weakening or a breakdown of the system this summer. Thanks to Gary, Mike, and John for continuing excellent customer relations and product service over the years. You guys are the best.

We had arranged last week with Northwood Heating and Air Conditioning for our annual A/C spring maintenance. John arrived well within the 2-hour window. He was courteous, professional, and efficient. He used the side door as requested, wore shoe covers upon entering the house, and cleaned up the areas in which he worked -- even putting off the lights when he was done. No detail was too small for John to attend to -- from checking the humidifier vent shut-off to inspecting the quality of the filter to hosing clean the evaporator coils outside. The standards are higher with the people at Northwood than with some other companies that we have used over the past 35 years. This is the normal quality of service we get when dealing with their staff. It is always a pleasant and stress free visit because they treat our needs and our home as though they were their own. We look forward to dealing with Northwood again in the fall.

I contacted Better Contracting Services after having seen their company numerous times on the "Holmes on Homes" tv show. I liked their open manner, professionalism, and desire to do the best job possible. Our current roof is 11 years old. The valley between the garage and the house had eroded a fair bit and I also felt that it was time to replace the flashing on the front and have the whole roof inspected in advance of the winter season. Even though we live in Scarborough and they are a west-end company, there were no issues about scheduling an appraisal, having a chat with the appraiser, and scheduling a repair date. The crew that came out to do the work was courteous, professional, and down-east friendly. In no time flat they were up on the roof working away. They offered suggestions with regard to improving both the look and the effectiveness of the new flashing. The explanation they offered made a lot of sense. And since there was no change in the original estimate, I quickly agreed to their proposal. We are very happy with the upgrade to the look of the front of our house and the repair of the valley. The flashing actually matches the windows and eavestroughing perfectly and much better than the previous work. Our home looks better and is better prepared to withstand the rigours of another Canadian winter. We are quite pleased with the work and the approach of the people at Better Contracting Services. We will keep their number handy for future work and will recommend them highly to friends and family. Sincerely, Dan Nazar, Toronto

Gary and Brian were in to do work last fall installing gas lines for a tankless water heater and an outdoor barbecue. Their work was exceptional, professional, and meticulous. Needless to say, we asked them back to maintain the furnace last winter and again just this past week to clean the ducts and furnace. Brian and his assistant took great care to cover the working areas of the floors with tarps. Their boots were always left at the door. They took great pains to remove all the registers and grills without leaving marks on the walls. The vents were covered so that dust released by air pressure would not escape back into the rooms. Using a camera, vacuum, and rotating brushes, all the dust, debris, and pet hair were removed from the supply and return sides of the system in the basement. I looked for myself and the interior of the duct was clean and shiny as new. It was a lengthy job taking about 4 hours, but it was well worth it to have the house looking exactly as it had been before they arrived, only much cleaner inside the heating/air conditioning/ventilating system. We are all breathing much easier today. Not only is the air we breathe cleaner, the air flow is better to all the rooms with a much more even temperature throughout the house. We are also breathing easier mentally knowing that a careful, experienced, conscientious, thoughtful, and hard-working approach was taken to give us a better home in which to live for the winter ahead. Thanks Brian, Gary, your assistant, and the lovely lady on the phone for giving us peace of mind about the health of the place we call home. Dan & Gloria in Scarborough