Brian from Ossington Village

I was having some problems with my dishwasher and realized I needed a part. Rather than call a repair person, I looked online to see whether I could find some place I could buy the part, as when my dishwasher broke last time I remember the repairman using this company. I went online and the portal was super easy to use. I went from buying a single part for my dishwasher to buying a part for my stove and a few new pieces for my BBQ, which is getting old. The portal was easy to use, but there was one thing that was slightly confusing about a part I was looking for so I called their help number, and the person on the other end of the call was enormously helpful. If you're looking to save money on repairs, or just need a few knobs or pieces for appliances. this is the place.

I have nothing but great things to say about the folks at Spring Home, from George who came and assessed the problem, to the techs who installed both a new furnace and air conditioner. They all explained exactly what they were doing along the way. They showed up exactly when they said they would (including a reminder call from head office to let me know they were on their way) and got the job done quickly and efficiently. They also cleaned up well after their job and left the area around my new furnace (in a rather dirty basement) spotless. My neighbours are also quite happy that my new A/C is much quieter than the old one as they sit outside their house near where the A/C is. We've made them happy too, which is always a good thing. Right now I'm loving the iComfort thermostat too, which allows me to adjust my furnace and see the temperature of my house from my Android phone. This is something everyone needs to get. They explained to me how to use it and got me all set up. If you have issues with your furnace definitely call these guys. <br>They are fantastic.

On friday before the long weekend I wanted to get some work done on our front yard. Ya, it was last minute, but that's the way I roll. I called Speelman on the suggestion of another garden centre to find some flagstone, (which is actually very hard to find in Toronto). They had it in stock. Could it be delivered the next day, Saturday of the long weekend? Of course it could! How good is that? The order taker even suggested the right kind of underlayer - limestone crush, and figured out how much I needed. They called before the truck left the office, and arrived about 3/4 hour later. A nice driver dropped things exactly where we asked with deft crane skills. I'll be calling them again if I need landscaping supplies.

I had no idea this service even existed, but when I saw a review float by here on HomeStars I thought, Hey, that'll save me a few hours of messy blackness and probably end up with a cleaner BBQ. I was definitely right. They came early Sunday morning (on Mother's day) and went at the grill with their various tools. By the end the grill was sparkling and the top and sides were cleaner than I've seen them in ages. This is a service totally worth doing.

What can I say except Jim is absolutely fantastic. We had recently had some pretty thick paint removed from the front of our house and needed the bricks tuckpointed and repaired. Jim came and clearly explained what needed to be done with some great knowledge of bricks - where my bricks came from, how they were cut, etc. His team communicated clearly every day what they were doing, and during the job kept the job site incredibly clean and made sure we could go in and out of our front door. I can't thank Jim and the team enough. All our neighbours have commented on how great the house looks now compared to how it looked prior.

This store is great to walk around and check out all the great, unique pieces imported from around the world. The staff are always friendly and you don't get that sales pressure you get shopping at other places. They know their stuff is unique and let you choose what you want. (and yes, as the other reviewer points out, their cats add a sense of luxury and hominess to the experience) We recently bought an entertainment unit and an armoire from them which are beautiful pieces. I was very impressed with the delivery folks who did a great job in getting the armoire up to the 2nd floor via an outside entrance. Love the old wood look.

When we put on a home show booth we want to look good. The Vancouver Home + Design Show is a feature event for homeowners looking for contractors and HomeStars had a booth at the event. Fluff stepped up and helped us out making it look great. The booth was right beside the stage, so it needed to look good. The furniture that Fluff provided for the booth was comfortable, and provided our space with a modern and inviting mood. During stage shows and during the show home show attendees made themselves comfortable on the sofa and chairs, which is a testament to how it looked. I was also very impressed with how Fluff handled the logistics. The furniture was delivered and ready for when the show began, and I didn't need to worry that it would all get cleaned up at the end. If I lived in Vancouver, and needed my house staged, these are the folks that I'd have do it. Thanks again guys, and hope to work with you again next home show.

When you pick Otto Wilkens for a contractor you shouldn't do it because you're looking for a deal. It's unlikely he's going to be the cheapest, but you're going to get value, honesty, integrity, and something I appreciate throughout any home reno process - good communication. Otto took care of a piece of concrete in the front of our house, and we're very happy with how it looks and how the whole process turned out. Definitely keep Wilkens in mind if you're doing concrete or masonry work done.

Our dishwasher had slowly been getting worse, and a few days ago it finally stopped working. It sounded like there were things going on inside, but nothing was getting cleaned. After reading some reviews on HomeStars I called Sam on a Saturday and he apologized for not being able to come that day (even though I didn't really expect that he would) and on Monday showed up right when he said he would. He took a look at the dishwasher and you could tell he knew what he was doing. What really impressed me about his service was that he explained what he was doing through the whole process, which I really like. He thought it had to do with a small screw that had fallen into the system below, (and he got that out using some creative engineering with a vaccuum cleaner) but it turned out that the pump was broken. A call to the parts store and the part was on order. Next day he showed up again with the part, and carefully removed the dishwasher and replaced the part. I really liked how honest and straightforward he was through the entire process and if I needed more appliance repairs, I'd definitely call him back. Great job.

I recently had the pleasure of having the great people at Telegramme Prints frame 3 posters. One was this cool word art piece of the Ossington neighbourhood, and the other two were old Russian propaganda posters from the 80s that I picked up on a school trip. The colour and style advice were so spot on and they are looking great. One of the posters (or can I say 3 of them) were a serious challenge. This was a series of three posters that fit together with a picture of Yuri Gagarin. It ended up being a massive poster and framing job, and they made it work, and provided me all the tools to get it up on my wall. Super happy at how it all turned out! They communicate well, and they have great style. I love all the inventory of other products in their store too. I'm sure we'll be buying from from them soon.

I was reading some reviews on HomeStars and came across this company, and what struck me was the picture in one of their reviews. It looked like something that might work for us. We live in a house in the downtown area which we renovated a few years ago and we've had makeshift curtains in our bedroom that we really needed to change. After a call to Irene and Viigo, they came over, measured our space and then invited us down to their showroom on Portland St. We looked at a bunch of different products and, with their great assistance and advice, picked a fabric. When we got home we decided it might not be right, so they were helpful in giving us the sample book for us to choose from when we were home. Once we got that it was much easier. They advice they offered on what kind of blinds and sheers to select was invaluable as we know nothing about these kinds of thing. Viigo came about a week after we ordered and installed the sheers, and they are looking great. He jokingly offered a lifetime warranty, but said he'd probably be in a nursing home when they break down. I believe him; they do look sturdy. Now we don't have to worry about our makeshift curtain falling down!

My furnace stopped working sometime over the summer. The fan was running, but when it was on heat mode it didn't seem to want to operate. I called Northwood and they sent someone over to take a look at it. He came over looked at the furnace in my basement (while taking off his shoes and making sure that my floors stayed clean) Within minutes he had diagnosed the problem and said we needed a new part. It was starting to get cold, so I was a bit concerned about how long it was going to take The next day they came back with the part and another technician installed the part and got everything back up and running. Both guys were so professional and really seemed to know what they were doing. If I was to give one small criticism, it would be that they could have communicated more about when they were coming and what the status of the part was. I called them a couple times and the person answering the phone - who was super-friendly - just didn't know the information. Investing in a bit of technology to keep your customers informed always makes a better service experience. Otherwise, great. Keep up the good work guys!

When we came to Calgary for the Home Show we found a great stager to help make our booth look fantastic. But we also needed someone to get that furniture to the show - our stager suggested Impact Zone, their regular carrier, so we called them. All I can say is: wow, great service. Not only did they bring everything to the Stampede Ground, right to the booth, they took the time to help get it all in the right spot and happily helped stager moved things around until she got it exactly right. Everything got picked up at the end of the show by Impact Zone right on schedule. Excellent, efficient, polite. What more could you ask for?

We do a lot of home shows, in many cities, and this past home show in Calgary was a delight, much thanks to Olga and Furniture Connection. They staged our booth so that it looked great combining some nice chairs, a beautiful white table, a sofa as well as all the other little pieces that made the booth look fantastic. What made it easy for us is her proactive attitude and willingness to help out. All during the home show many designers came up to us to tell us how helpful she has been with them also, as she doesn't only do the staging, but rents the furniture too, both for long and short term. Thanks again Olga!

Bill was excellent in helping me out dealing with my small urban garden in New York. I live on the Upper West Side and I have a nice rooftop deck which needed revitalizing. Bill came and did a fantastic make-over. His team was creative and energetic and within days had my rooftop looking fantastic. He was also clean and respected the other tenants in the building.

Paul came and did a fabulous job with our back deck. It was in need of repair being 10 years old, and he came and put a bunch of new board in, as well as added some nice features. I liked how he was clear in his proposal and his team cleaned up everything after they were done. I'd hire them again.

When we came to Edmonton for the home show we were looking for someone to help make our booth beautiful. Even though we hadn't met Rhonda in person she was incredibly helpful and communicative and, importantly, excited about the project. The furniture she brought looked fantastic and made the booth warm and cozy as well as functional - allowing a place for people to both write reviews as well as sit and rest their weary feet. It has been a delight to work with her and we look forward to working with her more in the future. This isn't a normal staging job - staging a booth - but given her enthusasm, professionalism and communications skills, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her to anyone staging their house for quick sales

So we've had this Jenn-air stove for a couple years, which be bought from the Brick and suddenly the fancy front panel buttons stop working. We call JennAir and they recommend a certain Toronto appliance company to come and diagnose the issue. We call them and a somewhat surly person gives me a four hour window, during the weekday that I have to be at home. Well unfortunately, running a busy online company I can't sit at home all day, so that wasn't going to work. I call JennAir back and ask whether there are other options available. They give me a couple others, one who didn't answer their phone, and then Leading Maytag. They can come on Saturday! They send Sam, their technician, who calls me Friday night to narrow the time, then shows up right near the time he calls. He diagnosed the issue and determined we needed another part from JennAir. He left and ordered the part. Although longer than I wanted (about a week and a half) the part arrived. Shawn, in customer service manning the phones, let me know the schedule for delivery as best he could, and it actually arrived a couple days before Shawn said. (underpromise and overdeliver) I said I needed the install to again be on a Saturday so they set up a time with him again. I called the day before and said my schedule had changed and I could manage to be at home during a weekday afternoon. No problem. Sam changes his schedule, again calls the night before to confirm. As a sidenote, I have been meaning to get a new fridge filter for a while, so I asked him whether he had one. He said he'd look into it. The next day, as promised, he calls before his arrival. He comes with the part, and the filter, and even helps me install the filter. Quick and easy installation, and I'm quite happy with Leading Maytag. I'd highly recommend them.

I bought a sliding door for my second floor balcony from Gem Windows about 2 years ago. Overall a great experience. I remember the salesman in the showroom showing us a bunch of options and offering a whole range of selections and choices in both doors and windows. I wish I had asked them for delivery, because getting the window to my place was a challenge. I recall a slow drive down the Queensway hoping the pieces wouldn't slide out the back of our SUV. But overall, highly recommended. Good price, decent service, lots of options. Gem was great and followed up.

Restore is the coolest place to shop if you're building. We ended up buying a couple windows for the house we were constructing a couple years ago from this place. But it was always fun when we were up on Caledonia hitting up some of the other places there to go into the Restore and check out their inventory. They have all sorts of great things and it changes all the time. Need a kitchen? they've got it (sometimes). They also usually have a great selection of antique doors, not the kind that you're going to find at the big box down the street, but real old ones from historical houses in the city.

I was looking for some fence posts installed, as I am pretty handy myself and knew I could build the rest of the fence myself. I sent a note to Steve from the site, and he responded quickly. He asked the right questions, gave me the numbers to make sure I'd received the digging permits - which I got - and then set up the time to arrive nicely in advance. The best thing about the whole process was he communicated the whole way along, answering my silly questions, and letting me know when he was going to come and making sure he had room for his truck to get in and dig the holes. Both him and his assistant were great the morning they installed. Quick, efficient, and made sure that all the property around was well respected (we had to drive through my neighbour's yard). I'd recommend these guys to anyone!

I keep walking by this store and wanting to go in, and finally a couple months ago I was looking for a little picture light for a nice picture in our dining room. They had a good selection in stock and the sales associate picked out one perfect for our needs. Absolutely have no complaints and wouldn't hesitate to go there for larger lighting needs.

I was looking for someone to build stairs for the house I was renovating in downtown Toronto. After searching the Toronto market for stairmakers, a friend of mine recommended looking at London Stair and Rail. I called them up and they sent their sales guy to look through the construction site and our plans. Measuring was tough as we were in the midst of a large project and our house, being old and crooked, presented a challenge for making sure the stairs they made would fit. A few weeks later when the product arrived of course the stairs didn't quite fit, but the folks at London Stair did a great job at making the necessary changes required to the great light oak stairs they had built. A couple months later, after more of the construction was complete, they sent a great carpenter who put in the railings with fine European pride in his work. That was almost 2 years ago and the stairs are still looking great. They even gave us some pine stairs to use for our basement thrown into the deal. Highly, highly recommend.

We used Rona on various occasions during the building of our house to get some stuff. The staff were always nice, but the selection could be better. I often ended up going over to the competition across the way and finding more product.

Tap Phone is THE place to go for getting good kitchen stuff. There are all sorts of restaurant quality plates, dishes, utensils, pots and about everything else you'll need for your kitchen. It's a bit disorganized, but always ask the great ladies at the front who do speak english and they'll tell you where things are. And did I mention prices? Can't beat them.

We had two old wingback chairs I inherited from my grandmother. As well as being beat up and scratched by both my grandmother's cats as well as mine, they were also an old 'grandmontherly' type print. I found Classic Touch at the home show. They called and Julio came to look at the chairs and gave us a quote and showed us a wide range of colours and fabrics. They were both flexible and reasonable in doing the chairs, and got them done just in time for visiting relatives coming for Christmas. Not only did they just cover the chairs with a very stylish print, but they removed the skirts to make the chairs more modern looking and polished and stained the legs to make them look good again. They even fixed up and old antique table for a very reasonable price at the same time. I highly recommend this company.

We hired McNally to move a piano between a relative's house and mine. They were quick, efficient, showed up on time and overall did a great job. I'd definitely recommend them and use them in the future - although I'm not looking forward to moving in the near future.

Went into the store after work on a Friday looking for a light for our bathroom vanity. The service was great and Kevin, our sales rep, not only showed us the selections from the store, but also walked us through the website and showed us the full selection. We found one we liked, not in stock, but he ordered it for us right there. Excellent service. Updated November 6th. The lamp arrived by courier and it's looking great

I reroofed my Garage about 3 months ago and needed some supplies for the job. I had never tried roofing before, but figured I could tackle the job - and it was only for my garage, so I wasn't too worried. (I wouldn't try this for my house; I leave that to the pros) I visited RoofMart on the advice of my Pro and they were very helpful. They got my the right type of roofing as well as help me select some of the specific tools I'd need, without breaking my budget. Well done Roofmart

Our house was a mess. Well it wasn't really messy but just, after quite a long time without a real cleaning it needed some work. I found Spick and Span and Yvonne here on HomeStars and thought I'd give her a try. It turned out great. She did a fantastic job. Turned up exactly when she said she would and really did some heavy duty cleaning. Wouldn't hesitate to use here again, but I hesitate to write this review for fear Yvonne is going to become too busy for us.

I've spent some time at Central Fairbanks over the last few months as I've put baseboards, window and door trim, and now crown moulding. They have always had all the items I need in stock, cut it to the right length, and their guys always come up with intersting ideas to make the trim more interesting and dynamic. Great company.

We found City Home while looking at signs down the edge of the Gardner expressway and stopped in to look at their granite. The staff in the retail store helped pick out some nice black colours for our kitchen countertops, guiding us through the various shades. The installation process was great, with some complexities in both making the counter level as well as having corners not quite square. Highly recommended.

I found Adanac Glass while looking for glass for kitchen cabinets. In their retail store I saw the nice shower stall, so we decided to use them for our shower stall installation. It took them a little time to get it done, as there were some issues with scratched and broken glass, but in the end they made sure they could do it right and properly. The installers were also very professional.

Ernie's crew removed a chimney from my house about a year and a half ago. The chew was quick and efficient. My only minor complaint was that they came back a second day, while I wasn't there and finished some work, but didn't tell me. So I thought it wasn't complete for the longest time. It was a minor communication issue, but the work was excellent.

We'd been looking for a nice front door for a while. Most of the ones we'd seen at other stores were pretty ugly, but after Lowes made their grand entrance to Canada we checked it out. The nice wood doors on display convinced me to go with them so we ordered the door as well as a few windows for our 3rd floor. They were slightly behind schedule on delivery, but were very nice when they arrived, and helped me take them and load them into my car. Highly recommended.

I've been using this Home Depot for the renovations on our house for almost 2 years now. Their service isn't always perfect, and they don't always have everything in stock, but overall I can rarely complain about how Home Depot does.

Ikea is close to the highway, and has good products at a reasonable price. Our closet is all Ikea, as well as some chairs, a mirror, and our bathroom vanity. It wasn't too hard to put together, and the staff was excellent about helping to get it out to the car, get it tied up and get my on my way. We still love it and it's hanging together excellently after a year.

Downtown Lumber is our local hardware store, only a block from where we've renovated a house over the last year. Their staff are great, and while they don't have every single product we need, the staff is great and tries very hard. It feels very much like a family business and they know us every time we go in there. They are also great with returns, which is useful when doing plumbing and electrical work where you don't always know what you want and sometimes have to buy extra pieces and return the ones you don't need. This place is beyond the local place, and others should travel to get here. And don't forget they have a full lumberyard in the back, and made local deliveries of plywood and lumber within an hour of ordering them at the counter.

Lee Valley is the place to go for great selection in little pieces of hardware such as knobs, handles, drawer sliders and all those little things. The store is also full of carpentry tools, which are a little pricy for the average carpenter, but are really neat to look at. They had the sliders and handles for our little project - cool and modern, and sliders that worked well.

Maia Plumbing supplies was incredibly helpful and efficient in helping us find fixtures as well as build our bathroom vanities. An efficient and organized little family business who not only found our sinks, faucets, and other fixtures, but also used another family member to custom make our vanities, for both our master bathroom and main floor powder room. They even assisted us in lending us a tool we needed for a short job. Couldn't be better.

As the writer of the previous, very positive review on Homestars for Bin There Dump That I was sorely disappointed the second time they came. I was replacing the roof of my garage, a project i was working on alone, when I called the company. They sent a bin which arrived around 12 and then said I had to have the bin full as they were going to come pick it up in two hours due to parking issues, all of which could have been easily solved via some communication. At that point I still had more roof removal to do and only had the bin about 1/3 full when they came to pick it up, and was left with about a third of my roof still on the ground. I ended up leaving a message with the company afterward expressing my disappointment with there service. After having upsold me to a larger bin earlier in the morning, I heard nothing back except a reciept in the mail for the full cost of the bin, - no note, not apologies, nothing. Very disappointing.

I found all siding by just talking to them as they were doing another job down the street. They provided a quote to me within a few days by e-mail (I like quotes by email), but then didn't respond to my affirmation that I wanted the job done by e-mail. I ended up having to call them. The job was done well and, despite taking a little longer that expected as they were working on other projects, it looks good. I had to ask them to finish off a couple of details that should have been taken care of, but apart from that we were happy with the project.

Adding to the great reviews here... I found Roy here on Homestars and he completely lived up to the reputation of all the other reviewers here. Helpful, knowledgeable, reasonably priced, and just plain good.

Plumber 4 U, or Peter, did the plumbing rough-in for our new house. It was poor workmanship, pipes not attached properly, some leaks, and in our powder room he even connected hot water to all the roughed in pipes, hot, cold vanity connections and the toilet. We asked for 3/4" pipe through the house to the second floor which he almost did, except he didn't replace the pipe to the hot water heater, leaving that the 1/2" pipe that was there. At the end of the rough-in job I agreed to let him attach a few end points, 4 short simple jobs, and he ended up charging 18 hours labour for the job, far too expensive for some short projects that should have taken a single professional plumber maybe an hour per job. Finally, one of those jobs was installing the shower fixture, for which he didn't put in air cushions to eliminate some shreek in the pipes. While I don't mean to be mean, I've so far had so many good trades, but this plumber, while a nice guy, wasn't particularly good as a plumber.

Bin There Dump That. Funny name, and great service. After not expecting much from a dumpster company they came through with great service, and for 5 dumpsters. They dealt with some parking issues, and odd timing with no problem at all. Billing was fair and reasonable.

We were looking for roofing for a couple of newly built shed roofs for the back of our house. Ricardo came and offered his very knowledgeable opinion on how to properly roof and also deal with the seams to our neighbours house in our abutting houses. Accord was not only the best price, but also the roofer who we knew really knew how to do the job properly. It's still new so we assume it's not going to leak, but we're assure that they back up their work.

When one goes to listen to a home inspection one wants to hear the plain truth. And Alex Welsh gives it to you. Yes, it made us think a little harder on our purchase, but we understood the issues much better than we did before. His clear, laymen's language provided us the information we needed to assess what the problems were in the home we were buying and allowed us to make an informed choice. Would absolutely recommend.