i.t. in Toronto

I bought a used fridge three years ago from Gus, and it works beautifully. He delivered it to us for no extra cost. A few weeks ago we also bought a stove for our rental apartment. Also Gus delivered it to us within 1/2 hr of purchasing (!!!!!) (we helped load it up). and that one we had trouble with the plug (not the stove) and Gus was nice enough to help us by lending us his voltage meter and showed us how to use it. Afterwards, when that problem was resolved, one of the eyes of the stove didn't work and Gus came by and fixed it. He is a fixture in our neighbourhood in East York on Danforth, a truly nice person and very helpful and honest. We will make sure to support his business whenever we can.

We've used CANSPEC on two different occassions. First when we purchased our own home in 2000 by Tim Purtill. It was a detailed, straightforward and simple to understand report. The second time, Tim already retired or moved on to teaching seminars on home inspection (not exactly sure) however the person who did the inspection on our prospective investment property did a GREAT job too. Also, they were available to do the inspection at a moment's notice, and were respectful and patient with us. With houses, you don't know what's hiding in the dark corners :-) so I highly recomment hiring a real professional company like Canspec.

Jiro designed and built our deck two years ago, and it turned out beautifully. He understood our requirements, both cost-wise and design, and took all into consideration before building. He also installed our door that replaced the window. We are sooooo pleased with the deck. It is a wonderful way of enjoying the summer. Here it is! http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4110/4846240265_b2940394e1.jpg now everybody in the neighbourhood is building one :-) we started something.

By far the most stressful experience I have ever had with an electrician, or any handyman. Here is the work executed,(see invoice): "Found that stove was not hooked up into the panel. Wire was not long enough to reach and had open connection, so i rode a junction inside a 4 1/16" junction box to extend the wire into the panel. Circuit 14/15." (pics of invoice) http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7114/7587836092_21d7fbb234_k.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7587833060_7025214b63_k.jpg The price initially was 850$. I negotiated down to 695$. You decide if it's too much. If there`s an electrician out there willing to explain this to me, I am listening. The initial 80$ covers just travel. So you now have an electrician in your house, great. What do you do? You have to accept the "diagnostic" price which is an additional 246$. They tell you that it is possible that it might take hours to diagnose, and it's all included even if it's 10 hrs, and that it is possible that they could fix it in minutes after they diagnose.. Imagine your surprise when they finish the diagnostic ****in 7 minutes flat***** and now they're ready to give you the price tag for the whole project. IMhO that means they grossly overestimated the scope of the work. And any honest company should revise the price tag. But no. And imagine your surprise when that price tag in total ends up to be more than 850$ for less than 1.5 hr of work. That includes at least 45 minutes of conversation of the polite electrician trying to make us "happy". So I asked the manager, how come it costs 850$ for 1.5 hrs of work. He starts telling you about their straightforward price structure. And parts. And transportation. And their expertise. And training. But if you try to find out how much out of the 850$ is for the parts, or for the permit, good luck! they will not tell you. I'm not out there to get the lowest price - but I didnt' realize until afterwards, how much more extra did I pay. But it works!!