jpw from Scarborough

In August, I had a large silver maple limb cut because it was beginning to grow over the south west corner of the house. Unfortunately, when it was brought down, a small limb attached to the larger limb made contact with the roof and punctured a shingle. Not major damage but something that needed to be repaired so rain or snow didn't make the problem worse. Quality First Roofing did an A-1 job replacing the roof in 2020 so I contacted them again. Michael tried to wait until they were in the area for another job to reduce costs but nothing materialized so a repairman came out on Nov. 26'th in the afternoon. The roofer also did some work on animal related damage. The cost was a bit high but only because they had no other work in the area during the interval and it had to be fixed. I would recommend them to anyone requiring roof work.

QuickContractors.com was contracted by another company on Oct. 2'nd On Oct. 30'th, an installer and an aide arrived and installed the toilet to send an installer to my home. The toilet was delivered prior to the installer's arrival. The job was done quickly with no issues whatever. He did a good cleanup job after he was finished and even took the old toilet and box to the garage door from the house to spare me the trouble. It was excellent service from beginning to end. That is the good news. The bad news was the first installer sent previously was rather incompetent, giving incorrect advice and I had to request another person to take his place. The grade given was because the roughly 2 weeks spent dealing with the bad installer represented a minor inconvenience.

My first Home Stars review citing poor service and, Im sorry to add, questionable conduct. It concerns 3 American Standard Trent toilets purchased in 2015. Within 3 years, all had the same problem. When flushed, water filled the basin but then slowly drained out again. On Sept. 13th 2024, I submitted a work request through the Home Stars site. Drain King Plumbers responded; the plumber came that afternoon. He inspected all toilets, gave an estimate(which I agreed to) and left to obtain replacement flappers(the problem part). When he returned and installed the flappers, he mentioned the first toilet had a missing hook(the flapper arm attaches to this) and tried selling me a new toilet. He denied breaking the hook but I contradicted him for the following three reasons: 1. As mentioned, he examined inside all toilet basins initially in my presence and the missing hook, easily visible(see photos), wasnt mentioned. 2. Why did he wait until all were finished before telling me and install a replacement flapper if the hook was missing? He later removed the new flapper. 3. Most important, during the plumbers absence, I used the toilet, flushing it by removing the basin lid and adjusting the existing flapper. Both hooks were present which was before the repairs and after inspection. I complained to the office and a supervisor contacted me later that day. He also insisted the hook was broken before the repairs. We agreed to disagree. The feeble unsupported alibi offended me more than the breakage(accidents happen). The broken hook means more expensive repairs or new toilet. Two toilets were fixed and the excellent customer service reps accounts for what little grade was given.

My 17 year old Trane air conditioner stopped running on July 5'th. Owing to its age, I was sure I was on the hook for a new unit. I've had exceptional experiences with Spring Home in the past and this one was also good. Rodina, who is excellent in customer service, set up an appointment right away on July 8'th and Amir, the technician, actually arrived well ahead of schedule. As it turned out, all the unit needed was a replacement 'capacitor' part and it was up and going again. Its always a pleasure to deal with Spring Home!

My previous furnace, which was 15 yrs old, required a major repair so I decided to purchase a new Trane model. I've done business with Spring Home(mostly furnace inspections) for some time now. The customer service rep. I spoke to is very friendly and accommodating. The 3 workmen arrived on schedule and work was completed on schedule. I was shown how to operate the new touch screen thermostat. The site where the work was done was cleaned up so you would not know they were there. I selected Spring Home though Home Stars and have never had reason for regret.

Last Thursday(Oct. 8'th), my furnace stopped working. I had similar problems previously, twice with an 'ignitor' and once with a faulty control board. I phoned Spring Home Heating and Cooling and spoke to the customer care representative. She had me do a test and, when that didn't work, made an appointment for a service rep. to come out Friday Oct. 9'th. Spring Home was busy with other tasks so I considered it lucky to get such a quick response. It turned out this time the problem was with the furnace 'burners' being clogged. I have a Trane furnace about 13 years old and when the furnace senses a problem with the burners, it shuts down. It took the technician about 20 minutes to fix the burners and get the furnace up and running again. I can't recommend Spring Home highly enough. The customer care rep. Rodina is pleasant to talk to and knowledgeable as was the technician Kiril who explained what the problem was in detail and showed me the burners so I could see the problem areas.

(I hope this is the right company - I dealt with the Scarborough rep of Orkin Canada). A little while back I started hearing scratching and burrowing noises coming from my upper attic(I have a backsplit). Initially I had no luck using a 'snap trap' so I called Orkin(who I have dealt with some time back). As it happened, I did catch a rat in the snap trap just after I called but decided to have the rep. come anyway in case he/she saw evidence of an infestation. The man came last Wednesday(Oct. 7'th) afternoon. He did an inspection of both the house and attic and determined no evidence of any other mice present in either the attic or in the house. Based upon that, I just paid for the service call and that ended it. For those who think that the pest control people will 'take them to the cleaners' and charge for services they don't need, that wasn't the case with this man. He also inspected the yard for possible entry points and gave a couple f suggestions. I was pleased with the service.

My neighbourhood is deluged with fly by night(here today, gone tomorrow) paving companies that offer cheap rates. Hearing of other people's experiences has made me avoid these. You get what you pay for! My driveway was somewhat run down(cracks, vegetation growing, etc.) and the garage floor, which was installed in 1968 was becoming pock-marked and cracked. I had had 2 favourable experiences with Northland Paving in the past so I contacted them again on this job. I wasn't disappointed. The estimate was thorough and well explained, the workers came exactly as scheduled and notification was given well in advance. The work itself appears to have been first-rate. I dropped by their office with questions a couple of times while the work was in progress and those present were very polite and knowledgeable. Northland Paving is a long established company with excellent reviews in the area and those looking for good results will not be frustrated or upset.

I selected Quality First Roofing through Homestars in July 2020 after doing some research. The person doing the estimate was very thorough, explaining the work in detail and courteous. Considering the size of the roof(I live in a backsplit with 2 roof areas), the cost seemed reasonable. A neighbour in a similar sized house paid $15,000 a couple of years ago! The workers arrived promptly at the time specified and appeared to have done a first class job. They also made a couple of amendments at no extra cost to improve the ventilation and added side flashing. I was up the next day and had a look at things. The other much appreciated items was after the work was completed, they went around and cleaned up the area to such an extent that, aside from the new roof, you wouldn't know they had been there. Based on my experience, anyone choosing Quality First Roofing will not have cause for disappointment.

My humidifier, which was about 15 years old, broke down and I arranged with Spring Home to replace it at the same time the annual furnace maintenance was done(Sept. 7, 2019). Unfortunately the furnace, which was shut off during the summer months, did not work because a control board installed last May was defective. Fortunately the board was still under warranty. I was a bit irritated that a part broke down after about a month's usage(from May to June when I turned the furnace off) but that is not the fault of Spring Home. I guess better it broke down now than in mid winter. Spring Home ordered another control board which was installed yesterday(Sept. 18'th) so the furnace is ready for fall and winter. The maintenance person spent the time to show me how to operate the new humidifier, change the filter, etc. and even cleaned the furnace burners free of charge! Owing to traffic conditions in late afternoon in the GTA, he arrived later than he probably wanted but didn't try to do a rush job so he could leave ASAP. Rodina and Kiril did a superb job on this task! John

I had noticed in mid May 2018 that the rubber gasket on a vent pipe had cracked and was letting in water. I had made a temporary repair and contacted another roofing company that indicated they were busy with the May 4 storm damage but would get back to me. To make a long story short, I got no response until I phoned the company July 4 and the repairman indicated my address(south-east Scarborough) was too far for him to come. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. I contacted Roofing Repairs Co on July 4 and a crew arrived on site within approximately 20 minutes of my call. Wow!!! The man provided what I considered a reasonable estimate to fix the rubber gasket and some other small things he noticed during his investigation. I was pleased with the service I received. Service was prompt and the lead repairman obviously knew what he was doing.

I have 3 American Standard "Trent" toilets which were installed in October 2015. On July 4, the water kept running on one as it did not shut off when the float cup raised. Using "Homestars" to search for a well recommended plumbing company, I decided to call "DrainRooter Plumbing". The lady who took the call was very courteous and arranged for someone to come the next morning. She also called the next day to notify me he was on his way. The repairman fixed the issue(parts needed replacement) promptly and was very informative. I would highly recommend this business to anyone needing help with plumbing related issues. The business possess good customer service skills and competent staff. I wasn't too pleased about the toilet breaking down after less than 3 years but that was not the fault of "DrainRooter Plumbing".

I switched to Spring Home in 2016 following dissatisfaction with my previous company. Since then, I have had 2 maintenance inspections and, recently, 1 repair to my furnace. In all cases the staff were courteous and the visits punctual and effective. The repair took place on April 12'th, 2018. The previous evening, I noticed the heating wasn't working and got a prompt response when I called the "after hours" unit, both from the on-call person and technician. By mutual agreement, the technician came the next day and promptly fixed the problem(faulty igniter) after explaining the options open to me. I would highly recommend Spring Home to anyone looking for expert help with their furnace/AC units or who wish to buy new units.

I chose Clera Windows and Doors based upon reviews read on the Homestars site. Mr. R. W. was very thorough, prompt and helpful in explaining the process to me. A 3 man team led by Mr. Y. S. came by the house on Thursday, June 23'rd and was able to complete the work in 1 days time although it did take 9 hours to complete. The team was very polite and took special pains not to leave any kind of mess behind. Mr. W. dropped by the site to see how things were going. I don't qualify as an expert on windows or installation but I thought they did an excellent job and was highly satisfied with the results. I would highly recommend this company to anyone considering windows or door replacement. John Winegarden Scarborough

I own a 2300 sqft backsplit in the Lawrence/Meadowvale area. My fuel bills and my own investigation led me to believe more insulation was necessary. This company was highly recommended on Homestars and with good reason. The added insulation has caused my furnace to hardly run anymore. The workers were careful of the house interior and thoroughly cleaned up after themselves. All in all, excellent work.