Lingster

I really lucked out when I found this company. Maran was very knowledgeable and hard working. He arrived as scheduled and immediately went to work on excavating the basement floor. He did the rough in for a 3 piece bathroom and rough in for the kitchen sink. He did all this in one day. He was easy to work with and friendly. Really highly recommended and his pricing was more than fair. He will be returning to install the toilet as soon as the drywall and flooring are completed. 10 Stars for an excellent job. Photo is of the ground as he was breaking it open.

We decided to turn our basement into an industrial loft with an exposed painted ceiling. Roro (who refers to himself as Roy) is not as professional as others have written. He was friendly and seemed genuinely into his work however, he does lack framing skills. My husband said the basement framing job was unprofessional with huge gaps (upwards of 16” behind frames) so that Roy could cut corners and go around drains to avoid boxing them out. Windows have a minimum of a 4” gap from the frame. At one point, when I brought it up with Roro, he seemed to get upset when I told him I don’t want all that wasted space behind a wall. He said, well, you’re only going to get a couple of inches... (more like 12” extra). The framing around the circumference walls are a mess that has to be corrected and apparently, now that Roro has his payment in full, he has simply fallen over the edge of the planet. There shall be no corrections by him. Zero communication now that he has the money in his pocket. We overpaid him for the kind of work he did. He’s a one man show (where are people getting this Roy and his team from?). We only ever saw one other kid (maybe 17 years old?) when he hand bombed the 2x4’s into our basement window (and charged us a $300 delivery fee) and then another guy for the 4 hours they framed out a bathroom and a single wall. After that, it was all Roro. His days never started before 12. Usually he arrived closer to 1pm and would leave around 4 or sometimes 6pm. It took him a week to frame. Some frames he pushed back tighter against the basement wall after I insisted but overall, his work quality is poor and lazy. He did not want to cut short any pieces so if an 8’ board went beyond a corner, then he made the other side join it so both are far from the walls. A lot of wasted space. And he just kept on and on about how he was going to bring the drywall in. At that point I had decided there was no way I was going to pay him $5500 labour to drywall and pay on top of that for material (which would have made it $8000). HE DOES NOT HAVE A CONTRACTOR ACCOUNT WITH ANY HARDWARE STORE and so we ended up paying full retail price for whatever materials he used. Seriously, that is so ridiculous. He even rented a ramset tool then tried to pass it off in his receipts for me to pay for. He charged me HST but I do not believe he has an HST # and he won’t provide me with one. I did look up his company for reviews and they all seemed dandy. From what we experienced first hand, we find it hard to believe he as achieved 10 star reviews. Everything that has ever been written or said are not what we have experienced. No team. Just him. After he was paid (big mistake - thought the job was done) - he absconded into darkness. Our electrician commented about the ‘lazy’ work. One bathroom wall is 6” away from the wall. Another wall is still 10” away. We have hired another company to drywall. Their price includes all materials - $3500. A far cry from the $8000 Roro wanted. However, because of the ridiculous framing (no drywall boards line up to any studs - so reframing had to be done), it now cost us $4500 to drywall. There are no supports above any of the door frames. He also does not clean sweep after he’s done. He left a pile of sawdust, and over 600 pieces of cut wood. I think the photos speak volumes. Just look at the patchwork. In one photo you can see a long screw that barely touches the ceiling joist (guess he cut the wood too short for that one and left it) and in another you can see there is absolutely no stud attached to the joist to hold up the framing. For this he charged us $5000 to frame??? *The photo of the ceiling with the round vent behind the frame is in the bathroom. He was too lazy to frame around the vent in order to push the frame back against the wall. So instead I have a 6” gap there. I also have 5” of gaps between the window and the framing. Additionally, some of the walls are crooked as you can see - we placed a 2x4 against a ‘framed wall’ and you can see the huge gap in the middle. As well, while having the flooring installed we were shown how every single wall is slanted! There are zero square corners. There wasn’t a trade that came in that did not comment about the framing. They all said the job was worth maybe $2,000 but the way our basement was framed, they said they wouldn’t have paid a dime. I asked Roro to fix what he did and he refused.

Mike has been very reliable throughout this entire process. His team removed our old columns and replaced them with larger square ones - all within a week. It did take over 2 weeks to replace the railings but the work done was very satisfactory for the exception of the drain pipe which was left dangling over the side of the new railings. My husband and I fixed it ourselves by removing the drain and slipping it behind. The colour and style has updated the look of our home and truthfully we couldn’t be happier. I even debated whether I wanted the railings installed because I liked the look without. But once they were installed they completed the look. I would highly recommend Mike.

Scott had excellent communication. He and his team came out to my home to machine dig 4 holes and hand dig 3. They set the 6x6x12’ posts in no time at all. Friendly, easy going and they truly care about the work they do. I would absolutely recommend and use them again. The posts were set at almost the perfect height each. Very pleased with the work.

Originally, I was going to refinish the hardwood flooring in my Carriage House by myself. However, after having rented a floor sander without results, I called this company. An old guy showed up on Sunday afternoon (Vinny) and he quoted me $1500 to sand, stain and refinish. Then 1/2 hr later, his son Sebastian called to tag on an additional $200 to the job citing the grey colour I wanted would require a water base polyurethane (aren't they all water based?). Anyway, having wanting to get this done and over with, I agreed to this unexpected surcharge. Vinny told me I could paint the walls (that it was better to do it before the sanding so that I wouldn't have to worry about the floors since they were going to be sanded. He said I could leave the 1/4 round in place but that they would get stain on them. They were to begin on Wednesday morning, 7-7:30am. They showed up at 7:11am Wednesday. My husband let them into the carriage house and then he went back to bed. At 10am I went over to the Carriage House to see how things were doing - and noted their van was gone. When I entered the apartment, I noticed they had done absolutely nothing except to tear down the plastic barrier I set up to keep dust out of the kitchen (ceramic floors). I was shocked! I called them up and my calls kept going to voice mail. I left a message for both men under the two phone numbers I had. They did not return my calls. In fact, they BLOCKED my number. My daughter then called using her phone and they called her right back. I got on the phone and asked them what happened? Why didn't they sand the floors? Sebastian told me the 1/4 round was still in the 2 bedrooms and the place was painted. Plus there was plastic barriers up on the walls and doors and there was furniture (2 cabinets) in front of the stove). They didn't want the aggravation of 'damaging' the painted walls plus the barriers would have to be taken down and they couldn't access the stove plug. I told him if they had communicated to me those issues then I would have corrected everything for them. But they said absolutely nothing and what the old man told me was incorrect. So, I was pretty upset that after having painted an entire apartment (ceilings, walls, doors & baseboards over the span of 2 days) they opted out of the job they were hired to do. Also, I now had paint all over my floors!!! They were extremely unprofessional. They have poor communication skills and I would never, ever recommend them. I think it's important for others to know how this company treats their customers. This is absolutely unacceptable. They weren't doing me a favour. They were being hired to do a job and they accepted that job then disappeared without a word. They also told me I was not allowed to write a review about them.

We hired this company after the first contractor we hired to remove tile and concrete made a huge mess of our home and damaged floor boards (plus only did half the job). This company was recommended to us. His quote was on the high side but he came highly recommended so we conceded. We were told we had to protect whatever we didn’t want damaged so we did just that. It took two days to cover everything, including draping walls and staircases with plastic. They showed up on time and got straight to work. A crew began to immediately break up the old tiles and cement. They had the old tiles and cement demolished and removed within two hours. Then they laid down the cement subfloor. This was done quickly. The owner, Mario, was suppose to come by the next day to lay the tiles but then he said he would be back in a few days to let it set. I was okay with that. However, before he left he stated he wouldn’t be back for another week because he had another job to do. This really irked me because at this point, I had gone almost 3 weeks living with plywood floors and my house was in a shambles. I told him that was too long a wait and that he said a few days before. He shrugged his shoulders and walked out. After they left, I noticed his crew had ripped up the protective plastic and got cement and dust all over my staircase, wool rug and office wood floor. There was absolutely no reason for them to remove any of the plastic. My front door was a huge mess with debris and cement streaks all over the interior and exterior door. At this point I was so disheartened by the lack of concern given to my home and chattels. Are there contractors out there that actually care?! Anyway, we only ended up paying them to rip up tiling on one side of the house and then cementing two areas. Would I hire them again? No. Would I recommend them? Again a resounding ‘no’.

We hired Saxon to install our flooring when we were underwhelmed by the workmanship of another contractor. Saxon worked in a slow and meticulous fashion. He ensured each tile was perfectly laid and level. He did a wonderful job cutting tile to fit around our circular staircase and the many angles on our main floor. There were two sections on our main floor that spanned almost 500 sq ft (back breaking work) and he completed it in a week. Overall, we are very pleased with his work and would definitely recommend him to others. He was quiet and respectful of property. Great job, Sax!

Our combination boiler unit needed replacing after 18 years. We had no idea what to look for until we spoke with Larry of L&M. He was the 3rd contractor to come out and he knew his stuff. He didn't try to sell us an air handler because he said the one we had was working fine (basically they almost never die). Other contractors quoted us almost twice as much as what Larry did and that's because they wanted to change out the entire system....air handler and all. Larry came out the next day after we spoke with him. He recommended a Navien combo boiler. He gave us his price which we knew was very fair. Him and his partner had it installed within a few hours even while having to work in a small boiler room. They were both fantastic and I would highly recommend them. Both knew what they were talking about. Straight shooters and no nonsense. Exactly what you're looking for in a heating and air conditioning contractor (or any contractor for that matter). I highly recommend them and I'll post a picture of our new installed Navien. Many thanks, Larry. You guys are awesome!

We had a 5' crank window that lost a top hinge and was hanging dangerously. I called this company and Nick came out straight away. He assessed the problem and secured the window until he could return with the part needed. He came back the next day with another employee. Together they repaired the very heavy window. They were both very kind and very professional. I would definitely hire this company again and I would definitely recommend their services. 10/10 Bar none.

We hired this company at the persistence of the owner. He would not let up on us and kept texting me right up until 11pm at night. That should have been our first indicator that he was not right in the head. We wanted to have the front foyer and back door foyer & kitchen ceramic tiles replaced. We also wanted to have two full bathroom ceramic floors and shower enclosures replaced. Christopher Wallis (CW) practically begged us for the job. We had an Italian family friend who is a retired plumber and renovator come over for his input at the time of the quote from CW CW wanted to remove the tiles and use a 1/8th" ditra and then cement the rest. Our friend said that wouldn't work because the floors would never be level as some areas could need 2" and others only 1/2". He said mesh, dry pack and then thinset and back butter. CW insisted that was old school. After CW left we exchanged several texts and he finally agreed to use the mesh/dry pack method even though he insisted no one used those old school methods anymore. We discussed barriers and protection as our home has high ceilings and is open concept. CW agreed and said that's the first thing they would do. The next day CW showed up with one other gentleman to work. He immediately set out to removing the quarter round but not the baseboards. He then started lifting tiles and suggested that maybe that's all he had to do. He wouldn't have to remove the old cement. After some time, I checked in and noticed they had only placed a small plastic sheet on the back of each sofa. Nothing else was protected or cordoned off. I told CW there was dust everywhere in the family (open concept from the back door and kitchen). He said he had the window and doors open. I said no, there is dust all over everything. My drapes, tv, sofas, floors, etc. He then said he never dealt with cathedral ceilings before (they're not cathedral but 12' ceilings). Finally he put up a plastic barrier. He was using a staple gun and stapling it to my newly done ceilings. I asked him to not use that and to use tape. CW said he doesn't do tape. There was a huge sagging gap in the top part of the plastic and it hung about 3 feet off the floor. It protected nothing. He did not cover any chandeliers (I have 4 on the main floor) or any of the cupboards. What ended up happening was every single item inside my cupboards was covered in a film of fine white dust. From my pots and pans to small jars of spices. My walls, drapes, piano, wood furniture - everything was covered. CW said he would clean it. So he used all my paper towels to wipe my dark walls and basically just spread all the dust around in swirling marks. He became angry and told me he did really good work and that I had no idea how hard he worked. That he worked very hard. I told him if it was easy work why would I need to hire him to do it? Then I said he did not cover any of my cupboards. There was dust through my entire main floor. Everything was covered. Wall hangings, cabinets, plants. Everything. CW said putting up tarps would not matter because the dust would spread through my microhood vent and the floor vents. So, that's why you COVER them! He then said if he knew I wanted them covered I could have told him and he would have charged me for it. I reminded him this is what he promised he would do prior to us hiring him. I was so upset at the vast mess that I just left the area. Then CW went up to my husband and said he wanted 1/2 the money for the job and he would come back tomorrow to finish. But he never even demolished the front foyer (yet he wanted 1/2 the money?). At that point I knew he was not going to return. The work was more than he was able to handle and all he did was complain throughout about how thick the cement was ( 1" to 1 1/2"). He kept telling us he started from nothing and he built himself up to this and that he does the best work. Always patting himself on the back and expecting adoration from his clients. Shortly after that time our Italian friend came by. He saw the holes and gouge marks left in the plywood and the jagged cement along the bottom counters. CW started yelling at our friend and it looked like he was going to attack this sweet Italian man. My husband & I intervened. Then CW asked who I thought I was letting this guy (our friend) into our home. Seriously? I couldn't believe what this arrogant 'man' was saying. I reminded him he was in our house. He then started swearing at our friend with whatever Italian words he knew. He was completely and utterly unprofessional. Our daughter recorded CW yelling and refusing to acknowledge the wood transition he broke. I even asked him pointedly - does he see the split? His response? I worked hard. I do good work. Everyone knows I do good work. I asked him again - do you see where it's split in two? His response was the same. He worked hard. He then said I have no idea how much work he did and that I didn't appreciate the hard work he did. He then slammed down 2 receipts on the counter top. He wanted me to pay for his having to haul away 1 1/2 tons of broken cement and tile. This was news to me as it was never mentioned it would be a separate cost. CW was truly not mentally stable. Well before all that he said he wasn't coming back - nor did we want him to. I told him I was going to deduct $200 for cleaning because the dust was everywhere. My wood floors were covered. Everything was covered as you can imagine. I thought CW was going to blow a gasket or cry. In the end, my husband paid him for the work even though he created a huge mess and did not protect or clean up after. His idea of cleaning was to circle around the kitchen with wet paper towels. The next morning, I noticed all the dust I could not see under the evening lights. It was quite extensive. Every stick of furniture, every plant, wall, drapes, floor, flat surface was coated in dust. I text CW about it and the quote I received from a well known cleaning company was $400 + HST. I told CW I expected him to pay for it or at least half. That's when he did the most disgusting and vengeful thing ever. He said my dog bit his employee and he was going to call animal control (to have my dog taken away). I text his employee (we asked for his number because he was a really nice man and our friend is going to help him get work so he doesn't have to work for this 'contractor'). His employee said our dog never bit him and he has no bite marks. In fact, our dog was with us at all times. She was never, ever let out of the room with myself or my husband except to go for walks. So, I think it's very important that anyone who is ever considering hiring this company save their time and unnecessary aggravation and don't do it. Hire a professional. Which I have done today and I will be writing a review of this professional who I was going to hire before but could never reach him. My home is still apart. I have a non-working kitchen. I have dust everywhere and now I am out a lot of money because we are honest people and we paid CW for very poor. He did not remove all the cement and mesh. Some floor boards have so many holes and gouges in them that it is best to replace them. I would never, ever recommend this company, JFW Construction in Port Hope, Ontario. It took him 7 hours to demolish 265 sq ft of tile. He made a huge mess doing it. Did not tarp or show any respect for any of my chattels or home. He then verbally assaulted our dear friend and us. His employee was so embarrassed that he apologized to us and even told us that the night before, CW had a screaming match with another customer. Apparently this is what he does. And of course...he made it personal and fabricated an untruth about our dog. Who does that kind of thing? Seriously. Who? Only someone who is not stable.

We hired Foley's Restoration back in Nov 2015 due to a flood we had in our home. Work took a lot longer to complete but this was mainly due to their 'cabinet' guy. On July 16, 3 months after we signed off with completion for those repairs, we noticed water all over our kitchen counters and staining on the main floor ceilings. As it turns out, one of Foley's contractors punctured a water pipe in the 2nd floor bathroom when securing a baseboard - back in December 2015. The nail took 6 months to corrode and let water gush through our walls from the 2nd floor on down to the main floor. Parts of our new flooring on the 2nd and main floor were affected as was our newly done ceilings and walls. Our new kitchen cabinets that we only had up for 3 months (and were not completely finished) had to all come down and be replaced because of water damage). Foley's came out as soon as we notified them and they stopped the leak. Arrangements were made for them to complete the repairs using their insurance. There was a month delay because they wanted us to go through our insurance first and I refused since it was not our fault. The tearing down and drying out was fast. Work began in September and was suppose to be completed by the end of October. Work was not completed until last week (end of April 2017). I was not impressed this time with how slow work progressed. The issue seemed to be with their kitchen cabinet guys and then issues concerning who was going to pay for what...backsplash issues, etc. I was pretty much dealing with Foley's son and I felt at times he really wasn't very accommodating and we would butt heads. Some of the contractors they used were not ones that I would have chosen. They used the same flooring guys and I was not impressed with them as the men brought their 'women' with them and their women were walking aimlessly all around my house. The drywall contractor was caught by myself looking inside of my fridge. It took Foley's from November 2015 to July 2016 to near completion of our first flood and then from July 2016 to the end of April 2017 to complete work for a flood they created. As well, when our 2nd set of cabinets were being installed, a contractor noticed the drywall in our kitchen was wet. As it turned out, the previous cabinet installer had screwed an upper cabinet into our drain pipes (!). It was a good thing this was caught in time otherwise we would have gone through a 3rd back to back flood. As well, all we received was a 'sorry' for putting us through the huge inconvenience of another flood. Living out of boxes for many months is not a lot of fun and we went through Christmas without the convenience of kitchen cabinets because Foley's took their time. *Follow up October 2017. We realized a month back we are missing a shelf inside of one of our cabinets above the stove. It's been a nightmare dealing with Foleys. The owner is avoiding me and not returning my calls. As well, the flooring has split apart and is slanted on the 2nd floor. Foleys is refusing to deal with it. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!

Vision Woodworks was the 4th kitchen company referred to us by our restoration company to replace our upper cabinets because we had another flood in our house (caused by contractors who were repairing a flood). Matt came out and measured everything. He brought with him samples of doors and colours. We chose what we liked and he had the cabinets (including new doors for our lower cabinets) completed in just under 6 weeks. The cabinets were installed in two days. The workmanship is perfect. The quality of the cabinets is excellent. Matt even upgraded our handles by giving us longer bars at no additional cost. I really cannot say enough good things about Matt or Vision Woodworks. I highly recommend this company. If you're ever looking to change your cabinets - this is the company you should do business with. Very reliable and the work is done on time. Attached is a photo of the central part of the cabinets. Good job, Matt. Thank you so much for making this so seamless. Other contractors can learn so much from you :)

Woke up to our furnace squealing very loudly. It was still working but making a lot of noise. Read the reviews for this company and decided to give them a call. Sent photos of our furnace. Renato gave me a quote of $700 to repair ($635 for the part and he wouldn't charge for labour...so $700 in all(?). He was over within 45 minutes with the part and took about 1/2 hr to replace it. Furnace is quiet once more. Afterwards, my husband located the part at a store for $365. He said he could have changed it himself and I believe him because he's very mechanically inclined. Anyway, because of feeling 'ripped off', I am not giving a perfect rating.

We hired this company through our project manager. Sam was very quick to come out and take measurements and to provide cabinet door samples. He was very kind and easy to work with. The problem arose with the incredibly long wait time for the cabinets. Measurements were taken the first week of January and a promised date for install was mid February. Then mid March and finally, the cabinets arrived in April. His installers took 4 days to install the uppers. They used permanent marker on the white cabinets. Used an old blade that chipped the spacers. Cabinets were installed on an angle. Screws were missing from drawers as we noticed when we opened one and it dropped. Installers were also argumentive when I pointed out the chips in the boards. They used a white filler that was very noticeable and they used a lot of caulking that left a huge mess that they left behind. When I brought this up with Sam he said nothing. The quality of the cabinets was very good. But the timeline was extremely slow and his installers are a huge joke. We also ordered pantry doors from Sam and it's been 10 months and still nothing. If you can wait a few months , then I would recommend Alka Kitchens.but only if he uses different installers.

Hands down one of the best businesses I have ever interacted with. Not only were their rates very reasonable, but their knowledge and door to door service was second to none. We discovered one of our cats was peeing on a corner of our expensive hand woven carpet. The area was about 2' x 2' on an 8'x10' carpet. I tried to rinse it out and made a mess of it (I made it worse and even got some of the red dye on a light part). They came out on Oct 14th and returned my carpet today. The carpet looks and feels like the softest silk ever. It is clean - very clean and the tassels are white again. I had forgotten they were white (it's a 30 year old carpet). The urine stains are out and the carpet looks so much brighter. I paid an additional $100 to have they neutralize the odor on the carpets as I don't want my cats to smell any old urine. I give this company the highest praises and highly recommend them. Thank you so much for making my carpet look new again. Excellent, excellent job! Ling

Foleys sent an estimator to our home who did an initial paparazzi estimate. Camera clicking and flashing at all the damage caused to our home. A few days later, an estimate was provided and they were on the job without further ado. Simon, the estimator, pointed out a lot of things that needed to be done that we did not realize (holes made along the circumference of walls for drying (hidden by baseboards and usually overlooked when plastering). No detail was missed. They sent in a crew to properly protect our chattels and moved everything into a metal container they placed on our driveway. Their contractors were hard working and enjoyable to have around. They worked hard to have our home ready for us in time for Christmas (our house flooded on October 13th, 2015). There was a lot of work to be done. Ceilings had to be replaced in addition to walls and all flooring on two floors plus a small section in the basement. It was down to the wire...December 23rd, that we had our home back with freshly painted walls, new floors installed and furniture reset. The team they sent in to clean and reset were very hard working. The women rearranged my dining and sitting rooms and I actually liked it so much that I kept it that way. Although our kitchen cabinets were not as yet installed, we were able to celebrate Christmas in our newly restored home. We were happy to have our home back but sad to see the guys go. Our pets even missed them :). Foleys has a great team and we were very pleased with their workmanship and with how hard they worked to have our home ready in time for the holidays. Would we recommend them? Absolutely! In fact, we just had another flood (!) recently and yep. Foleys is on the job. More about that one in another review.

They were referred to us through the restoration company we used for flood repairs. They cleaned three full sized staircases in just over an hour. I had to ask them to clean the carpet on the outside of the spindles as they were preparing to leave. I could tell they weren't happy about it but they did it. Overall, the steps do not look very clean or very different from before.

Acadian was referred to us via DKI Foley Restoration. They replaced flooring for two floors. The sales reps who came out to take measurements and provide a quote were very easy to work with. They came by with samples and we chose a rustic grey laminate flooring that is just over 1/2" thick. Extremely durable and looks just like hardwood only without the maintenance. The job started on time. The main floor was completed in one day and the second floor in 2 days. Initially we were not happy with the first group of installers as they refused to saw the wood outside because then they would have to go up and down the stairs. Instead they used a newly painted bedroom to cut the panels in (without protecting the walls or vents). They also cranked the bedroom window as wide as they could and this irked me because it was December and I had the heat on. When I asked them to not saw in the room, I was ignored(!). I then called our project manager and after a few words with them, they moved the saw outside. Subsequently, we had to have Acadian return to amend the flooring for 3 separate rooms because the boards had either buckled or broke apart. This was caused by the floors being too snug. The installers tried to blame this on our baseboards (?). But once they amended the flooring, all was good. Notwithstanding the above 2 incidents, I have to say the workmanship was good. The floors look beautiful and we get so many compliments on them. Pricing was not the least expensive but quality in materials and workmanship is bar none. As well, follow up support was excellent. I highly recommend Acadian Carpet Sales & Service (not to be confused with another company with a similar name).

Don't let the price we paid scare you off. We have an oversized L shaped driveway. Frank came around to give me a quote. He's a very likable man. Excellent communication. They tore up the driveway within a couple of hours. Came back 2 days later with a crew of about 6 men and laid down a 3-4" thick black asphalt in no time. The driveway looks beautiful. I highly recommend this company.

On October 13th, 2015, our home suffered an extensive flood from the 2nd floor laundry room. Our insurance company sent out Winmar (Markham) to do the emergency services and to assess damages. Winmar came out on a Friday and immediately went to work with tearing apart walls, flooring, ceilings, etc for the drying process. They also sent in a crew to pack up our kitchen and other affected areas. Several drying out fans were set up throughout the house and our home became an extremely loud and uncomfortable place to be in. Their demolition crew are a young group. They tore off the sopping wet walls of the hall closet and stuck a fan in there to dry out the wood. Later that night we heard a loud crash. Got up to look and saw their crew had left the sopping wet ceiling in the closet (and it crashed down to the floor). If one of my cats were there, it would have been severely injured(!). Winmar treated our chattels like garbage. Property was not packaged safely with paper or bubble wrap. Our vintage wood wall hangings were taken down and stacked one upon another and then slid under our dining room table. Boxes, prints, chattels were stacked on top of our antique Asian furniture in the sitting room. In fact, our entire sitting room was used as a huge dumping ground for all our Chattels whilst our furniture an wool carpet was NOT adequately protected. I have photos. With Winmar, our chattels were not always treated with respect and it seems their crew was more interested in cigarette breaks. A lot of demolition took place without our chattels being properly protected. Our dining room table was used as a dumping ground for odds & ends (without any protective cardboard being placed on the table top). Even our live plants were simply placed under a plastic sheet. Our sitting room (aka, house museum) was used as a storage site for pretty much everything. Imported antique furniture had heavy boxes and odds and ends placed on them (see photos and you'll understand what I'm writing about). Wall hangings were not properly protected. The piano had a thin sheet of plastic laid across it (which kept falling off). Dining room chairs were used as a place for Winmar crew to rest removed baseboards (which ultimately caused several punctures in the fabric of chair tops). Shoes in the hall closet were tossed into boxes. Everything but the kitchen items were tossed into boxes. Kitchen boxes were marked in such a way that made zero sense to us. They were then stacked in front of the picture window in the house museum with labels facing the window and then boxes upon boxes stored in front. In other words, those boxes became completely inaccessible. Upper kitchen cabinets were taken down and the breakfast area in the kitchen became a second dumping ground. Winmar's idea of home restoration: Move all the furniture to one side of the house and replace the floor. Then move it to the other side of the house to replace the floor. Move the furniture around to paint the walls. So much shifting of furniture. Not professional and not respectful of chattels. Jim L. (the project manager) and I had a falling out. Although I initially thought he was a take charge kind of guy, he turned out to be more of a cocky guy who was more interested in his own opinions and not those of the homeowner. We were not happy with the lack of communication from his 'floor guy' and so we wanted to hire our own He said no. Either Winmar does all the work or they do none. I don't take too kindly to ultimatums. At that point, I looked up reviews on Winmar and decided I did not want to use them for the restoration part of our home. And I'm very glad I made that decision. We also noticed Winmar had scratched up the front and dented the side of our stainless steel refrigerator (in addition to punctures in our dining room chairs). Brian B. (owner) came over to view the damage. He was adamant Winmar did not cause the damage even though they were the only crew in our home that did demolition while we still had furniture in the house. I even showed him photos of how the damage could have been done (and was done). He had a horrible attitude. Walked into my home with his nose out of joint. He was very insulting. I would never, ever hire this company. If we were privy to what we were in for with respect to a house flood, we would have hired a company with a good reputation. Team Winmar Markham is not one I would ever want to deal with. Please note. Winmar may respond. But photos are louder than words. And the ones I attached below are just a few of the many that I took.

I really wanted to give a 10+ review but with so many screw ups there is just no way that I could. Initial communication was excellent. After we hired them to install the granite counters, it all went downhill. It seems Sam, the owner, can talk the talk but can't deliver. The morning of the install, I received an email saying they could not make it that day. They showed up the next evening. Yes, evening, at around 5:30pm. Our old counters were torn out. Drywall, plaster and under bar counter base was damaged. Even our sliding door frame was damaged when they wheeled in the new counters. The install was very fast. The pieces were cut reasonably well (considering all the angles). Our issues are with the shoddy way in which the two bar countertops were joined together. The seam is uneven and feels very rough to the touch. The granite, although beautiful on its own, has several areas that are chipped or damaged and repaired (my guess is by the company). It seems we were given 'seconds' or damaged slabs without being told this was what we were paying for. I am attaching photos of the areas that were obviously repaired. As well, we went with a 2" deep edge and you can see where the edge pieces were cracked or broken and repaired. One corner of the 2" edge is about 1 1/2" tall and gradually spans to 2". So, it isn't even all around. I did call Sam (the owner) about this and he said he would come out to look. Instead what he did was send the same installers out and they just repaired the cracks better. Very disappointed with this because I feel we received inferior slabs. As well, the installers had to cut some of the granite and a plywood base in our backyard. They did not clean up the mess. We had to go out the next day in sub-zero weather to pick up several small and large pieces of granite and plywood. Overall, if you don't look too closely at the counter tops you cannot see the grey 'glue' they used as a filler for the broken or chipped pieces on the counter. I would say there are less than a dozen pieces/chunks on the slabs that were filled in. I have updated this review because since having the counters installed, we have noticed several chips surrounding the sink opening. We have reached out many times to Sam, the owner and he either says he will come out to fix the chips or he ignores our calls/texts altogether. He was suppose to come out yesterday but at 12:30 midnight he text to say he could not make it. Unbelievable. Today is October 18th. Last week, the owner, Sam, came to our home to repair the damages to our granite. He explained in great detail how this granite, Antico Bianco has a tendency to chip away due to the various mineral patterning. The slabs are gorgeous but not enduring. He not only repaired the chips but also replaced a couple of grey epoxy pieces. His workmanship was so good that even I cannot tell the original stone from the repairs. I have therefore upgraded my review.

We could hear a family of raccoons in our attic. Called SOS on a Thursday - they came out Monday morning. They were able to remove the 5 babies but the mother got away. They set up a one way door on an obvious entry point and then secured the babies in a box with some insulation on the roof in front of the entry point. Over 8 hours had passed and the babies still sat out in the March cold. I called SOS as I was concerned about the welfare of the newborn babies. Sherwin returned in the late evening and I told him at that point that I saw the mother on the inside of the attic near the door. He then left to pick up materials to build a warming box for the babies. After having built a wood box with heating pads inside for the babies he left. I wish they had used a warming box earlier in the day as it was very cold out. Nonetheless, I could hear the babies crying and that assured me they were still very much alive. We set up another appointment for them to return on a Friday to seal up the entry points ($100 each and there were 7 of them). Prior to them returning, I called them up to let them know I could hear the mother and her babies in another part of our attic (above my bedroom). They came over Friday at 7:30am. I was still in bed and not a happy camper about this early morning wake up call. Either way, they were able to capture the mother raccoon and her babies. Only this time, there were just 3 babies. The other 2 were dead inside the warming box. I was really saddened to learn this because even though they were in my home and would probably cause destruction, they are still sentient beings. Sherwin and Jamie sealed up 4 entry points to our home and removed the warming box. Instead of charging us for 4 entry points they charged us for 3 plus the $250 and $80 for removal of mom & babies. With tax, it came out close to $800. That was about $500 more than what I thought it would cost. (As it turned out there were 4 easily compromised points and not 7 as earlier thought). Overall, the kindness and concern given by Sherwin and his team was very much appreciated. I can't blame them for the deaths of the two babies because they could have died from any other reason. Sherwin did return in the evening twice to protect the babies. Overall, I would highly recommend them. And if Sherwin is every by this way during the summer... please feel free to stop in for a coffee. Thank you, Sherwin.

Two words for this company. VERY IMPRESSED! We had been without hot water for our coach house for over a week as we were waiting over 5 days on another HVAC contractor (GTA Heating & Cooling) to get the (wrong) part from Winnipeg. One call to AirPlus and two technicians arrived at our house within the hour. They quickly found the problem (diaphragm) and said they would pick it up the next day for installation (parts are in Mississauga and not Winnipeg!). The next morning, they arrived with the part and fixed the boiler. The hot water is back in business once again. This company was fast & efficient. A little pricy for the part, but considering the service given, very much worth it. I would highly recommend them. They are clean, professional and true to their word. Thanks so much for everything.

At the time I was not aware that I was paying for carpet scraps. The installers came out to my home as scheduled. They carelessly cut the old carpet away using exacto knives and in so doing damaged the wood trim and the wood posts on the staircases. The carpet they installed did not match and it seems the installers just cut the carpet any way they could in order to fit it to the steps. The end result are steps that look completely mismatched and 'crooked'. I cannot recommend this company. They have a guarantee stamped on the back of the receipt but the owner does not honor the guarantee. Many phone calls without the courtesy of a return call and often a fax line kicks in. Horrible experience.

Job did not start on time; delayed by 2 weeks. Had several issues with the siding pulling away from the house & constant loud noise on the 3rd floor whenever the wind blows. (It sounds like a tornado inside the home ever since they installed the siding WITHOUT any support behind - just nailed up sticks of wood and slapped on the aluminum siding). When we complained about the loud noise, the solution was to add more nails. Great. Now we have lots of nails AND loud noise. It is very difficult to reach Contex Roofing. Their receptionist answers their phones but they never return your calls. I have left several messages - took months before they would come back out again to 'assess' and then another few more months before they banged in even more nails. During the winter, the siding pulled completely away from the house on the 3rd floor. And now, again, in the summer, the siding has come away from the Coach House. The caulking, after 2 years has separated from the house. It's a very poorly done job. We paid top dollar for crappy workmanship. There are a lot of dents and bends in the siding. I feel EXTREMELY RIPPED OFF. I would NEVER, EVER recommend this company. And if they read this review, well, they can save their 'tell us your problem & give us a chance to amend' talk. Just come out and FIX IT!!! We paid to have a good job done, not a crappy job. Yes, it looks fine from the sidewalk (except on certain angles where you can see the bends and where nails have been heavily banged in. Up close - it's a poor job that we overpaid on. So, if you want a contractor who will hire out another contractor to do the job, and if you want siding installed with lots of gaps and holes - well, this is the company for you. Recently my neighbours hired a contractor to put siding up on their house. They paid about 1/8th of what we paid Contex Roofing and they also had insulation placed behind the siding - something that Contex Roofing never did when our siding was installed. I wish I were a lot more informed prior to hiring this company.

Mike and his crew showed up to replace the roof on our 3 storey home and adjacent 2 storey coach house. The work was completed within 1 week - during the winter! They also came by several times for clean up (ensuring no nails were left on our property). Their follow up and customer service is 10+++. They even stopped by our home months later as Mike noticed there should have been an extra vent on the roof (we didn't even know). That was promptly repaired - no problem. If you're looking for a job well done, we highly recommend Cornell Roofing Inc. Thanks guys for a great job. You've made our home look beautiful! (If I can figure out how to add photos, I will do that). Thanks again, Ling

On July 17th, 2008, I paid & ordered carpeting from Fairview Carpeting on Kennedy Road in Scarborough, Ontario. The installers arrived as scheduled; however, they broke my new wood gate by pulling on it instead of pushing the door in - in essence, they came in through my back yard instead of using my front door as they should have. No idea why they would go through my backyard... So, they're here & they tore out the old carpet on 3 staircases and left a huge mess behind. All they took with them was the old carpet. They left carpet bits, staples & dust, pieces, etc behind. It took a long time to clean up their mess after they left. They also used exacto knives to remove my old carpeting and in so doing and because of their carelessness, they cut into the oak wood surrounding my staircases (which now looks badly marked up/scratched & gouged). After the installers left, I noticed one of the staircases had a completely different pattern carpet on it. The owner, Jim, said this was because they did not have enough of the carpet I paid for. Also, after they left, I noticed there were a lot of nails and staples around the bottom stair posts and the sides of where the carpet was installed on the stairs. It seems they cut the pieces too short and had to try to stretch the carpet to cover up the exposed wood. There is still exposed wood on the stairs. The 3rd floor carpet has a seam running down about 9 steps which is blatantly visible. I have called Fairview Carpeting many times since installation to have the poor installation and the mix up in the carpeting patterns fixed. On the one occasion when I spoke to Jim, the owner right after installation did he say he would come out the following Tuesday to inspect & fix it up. Well, needless to say, he did not show up. No phone call. Nothing. I called several times (their fax keeps kicking in). The times when a female has answered the phone (his wife), she takes a message to pass on to Jim and needless to say, he does not return calls. They have given me the run around; saying they have called but they have not as my phone did not register any calls from their number. I just spoke with the owner, Jim today, Nov 21, 2008 and he is telling me 'too bad, tough luck' live with the carpet as it is because he is not going to fix the horrible job nor the 2 different patterns they installed (not what I paid for!). I am going through my credit card company & filing a dispute to have my funds returned so that I can go to a reputable carpeting company to have the job done correctly and without using inferior materials and inferior labour. The carpeting looks horrible. The pattern is off center. 1 staircase is different from the other 2 (open concept home so it makes a huge difference). The carpet is falling apart at the seams. There are a lot of pulls throughout the carpet and overall, it looks horrible. It is embarrassing to have guests come into my home & see the poorly installed carpeting which is loose, coming apart and is not secured at the back steps. There are visible nails everywhere. The installation, to say the least, is horrible. I would NEVER recommend this company. They are UNPROFESSIONAL and a shady business. They sell inferior products which matches their inferior workmanship. Their 'warranty' is a joke because the owner decides whether or not he will 'honor' that warranty even if you have it in writing. DO NOT GIVE THIS COMPANY ANY BUSINESS unless you want to waste both your money and your time trying to chase them down to fix their screw ups.