Michael Klatt from Maple Ridge

I had Aaron and Silverback Electric do a job for me about 4 years ago for which he did a 10/10 job on. I didn't hesitate calling Aaron to get a 100 amp sub panel brought into my garage for power tools (wood working) and eventually a level 2 electric vehicle fast charger. He made sure he had all the materials (#2 wire, panel, new outlets, breakers) when he showed up to get the job done and as usual everything was a neat and tidy when completed. What I like about Aaron is he fits in the small jobs and doesn't charge you an arm and a leg like some of the other outfits do. Super easy going personality and explains everything in easy to understand terms. Thanks again Silverback for a job well done!

This past November during a 24hr period of constant rain, we suffered a flood in our homes basement due to a crushed drainage pipe. Our insurance company put us in touch with PPD Restorations and indicated they had good success in referring customers to them. I usually like to find my own contractors but given our basement was under 2 inches of water, I went with the recommendation and I'm glad I did. They arrived within an hour or two and immediately began the process of removing damaged materials and sucking up all the water. They even provided us with some people to help move what could be salvaged to the upper floors. Everyone that came into our home through PPD was top notch. Kind, friendly and clean. Ana who was our project coordinator kept us in the looping at every step of the process and always followed up to make sure we were happy with that had been done. You're at a pretty low point when something like this happens as it always occurs at the worst time but PPD made the experience a whole lot more bearable then it may have been otherwise. The basement looks the same if not better than it was before the flood and this is the important part. They made sure the same if not better materials and workmanship went into everything and we really appreciated that as homeowners. Even things like bringing in all the commercial grade dehumidifiers and 14 huge fans to make sure every bit of moisture was removed before starting shows they care about what they are doing. Thanks again PPD.

I had the C&H the sweep come to do our annual chimney cleaning and while they were on site had them check out the chimney which was leaking around where it met the roof. Cliff did up a nice estimate well broken down and went through the areas he thought needed attention and how he'd fix everything up. We had a couple of other quotes before this and C&H was reasonable and fair so decided to give them the job. They removed 3 layers at the top, formed it out (4" overhang so water won't run down the sides) and added two new caps. They also cleaned, re-pointed and sealed the chimney. We had a small miscommunication in regards to a "rain water diverter" but Cliff and I worked this out which made both parties happy. I'll have them come out annually to do my cleaning from this point forward and would probably recommend them with a note to have every detail in the quote as to the job and the type "materials" being used.

We had Networx come quote for new windows in our 32 year old home. Mika who came to quote was excellent going through all the available options and going into great detail (with good examples) as to why doing new window vs retrofit was a better choice for us given we're be updating siding soon. He came back with sample windows for us to try out and look at something none of the other companies did for us. Their price was extremely competitive and since they were so well reviewed here, we decided to go with them. Rick and Shelby were our installers and did a phenomenal job (Rick's attention to detail is absolutely amazing!). Both are personable and easy to talk to and cleaned up each day and generally made themselves invisible while they worked on our house. The windows look great and we've gone through out first fall and winter with no issues at all. We'll definitely have Networx quote on our new doors this year as a result of the great service. Thanks again guys!

After getting quotes from a number of different renovation companies, carpenters and "handyman" services, I settled on Brian's Handyman Service. Brian got back to me with drawings for his proposed deck and cover along with information on the various building codes. He explained how he would tie in the deck roof with the main structure so that water would not get in behind the siding where it met as well as ideas for future changes (like a stairway down the front to a fire-pit!). He also broke down each days worth of work in terms of what he expected to complete. In addition, throughout the project he gave me a detailed break down of material costs and labour. Brian is a friendly and approachable fellow who is easy to work with. The deck itself is beautiful and the way he built it you can now tell it will outlast the house itself unlike the other DIY deck the previous homeowners built that was rotten throughout and built with untreated 2x4's!!! His attention to detail is amazing and I've had many people who visit us ask who did our deck as they love it. As for Brian, you can tell him what you want and he won't give you any static in terms of telling you how you should design your project, rather he takes your information and then goes through everything with you making suggestions along the way (unlike like some of my other contractors who didn't realize I was paying THEM not the other way around!). We had some issues with the pine board we used for the deck ceiling to give it a finished look and Brian came back and fixed the issue very quickly. The choice of materials was ours and probably not appropriate for the application but Brian made it work and ensured we were happy. I will be bringing Brian back for a number of other project as we are very happy with the deck he built and know we'll get an awesome result when he's finished.

As part of an extensive renovation to a home we purchased we demo'd the existing deck and had a new covered much larger patio built. We wanted to add recessed lighting to the covered portion of the deck as well as lights added to the posts supporting the covered portion. I found Silverback via Homestars and went with Aaron based on the reviews here. He showed up when he said he would and his rates were extremely competitive compared to some of the other electrical work I had done. He added in a 3 gang box in place of the existing 1 gang to allow us to control a patio ceiling fan, the recessed lights as well as the post lights independently and then ran all new wiring out into the patio. He also sourced all the materials for us which included the specialized pot lights that allowed them to be installed on an angle as they would be in patio cover. Aaron is a kind and personable individual who I could tell takes pride in his work. I will be in touch with him in the future when other small electrical projects come up.

As part of a larger renovation project, we replaced about 2,000 sq/ft of old fir flooring with laminate. We hired HerTouchFloors to do the install based on price, the few reviews I could find on them as well as a couple of phone conversations I had with Bob. Bob put us in touch with a company in Richmond for the material who he indicated they had good success with so we took his advice and purchased our flooring form them. The product itself (VanFloors) looks really good and so far my 80lb German Shepherd hasn't put a mark on it where as the fir floors were damaged by her very easily. Bob, Brenda and Jeff showed up at the time the delivery would occur (at Bob's advice) and this made things a lot easier as there was a lot of flooring to unload! They first asked if they could do cuts inside the house and demonstrated the system they use as to avoid dust in the house as going up and down a flight of stairs was going to slow things down. I agreed to it as I knew the price they were charging they needed to maximize efficiency and I as the consumer had to live with some minor inconveniences. For the most part, dust was minimal but we still needed to pretty much wipe down walls and everything when the job was complete as we had a newborn in the house. If your house is such that's it'e easy to access the outside and install the floors, you probably won't have this issue. You can tell all three take a lot of pride in how the job looks. Bob explained how he liked to lay out the flooring so that the joints were very random when you looked at it and kept making sure that the way things were progressing were to my liking. I could tell Brenda was big on tidiness and it showed as she was always making sure the floor was clean before the underlay went down or that most of any saw dust was removed form the underlay itself before the laminate floors went down if for some reason it got dirty. How the floors went down and the cuts these guys made were perfect pretty much everywhere. Once the baseboards are back up, everything is going to look seamless thanks to a job well done. Overall I was happy with how things went and will recommend them to family and friends for any flooring needs. I wish I had of found them before I had my basement carpet installed as I think they would have done a much better job.

As part of a basement reno, I needed to have the supply and return ducts changed out and also moved closer to the floor joist to allow for maximum head clearance. Big Valley did a great job of this. In addition I had bathroom exhaust fan ducting installed as well as the range hood ducting. They did these and everything was fine, what I didn't like was the 30° elbows on both runs just before they hit the exterior wall when they could have gone straight out the wall if they had piloted out the hole before drilling the big 6" hole. Minor, but I've always been told to only add elbows when 100% needed and in this case I didn't see the need other than the 6" was drilled first, then the ducting added after. I talked to the sales guy and was asked to send pictures but never heard back. That said, everything is working fine and neither the bathroom fan or the range hood seem to be making more noise than they should. Again, just a little detail that I find separates "the best" from "the rest". I think if they had followed up with me after I sent the pictures, explaining why they had to put these elbows in, it would have showed me they appreciated my business, but since they didn't, I felt like they had their money they were done with me. This is too bad as I'm now looking for a furnace and AC unit but will now shop around to see if there are better options in Maple Ridge before contacting them for a quote.

We finished a basement reno and decided to install carpet after going through all our options (and ensuring we didn't have any vapour / water issues). We received quotes from a number of places (including big box stores) and decided on Bryan and his company McDonald Flooring as the price was extremely competitive. Bryan came out and did the measure and gave us excellent information on the various types of carpets and underlay. The team he had come and install the product were top notch and very polite. We only had one small issue and that is one of the seams is showing more than we thought it should but they are coming out to correct the issue with no hassle at all. It felt good to support a local company and the level of customer service McDonald Flooring provides is second to none.

We purchased a home that had an existing wood burning fireplace. We wanted to install an efficient wood burning insert so visited their "comfy" showroom in Maple Ridge. Lisa who works there is very friendly and helpful and is extremely knowledgeable. At first I wanted to go with an insert that utilized a catalytic converter but Lisa steered me away from those as we'd be mainly burning Alder, Birch and Vine Maple from our property and you really need high BTU species so you're not cleaning and replacing the catalytic converter constantly. I did some research on my end and sure enough, Lisa was spot on. She recommended a high efficiency Regency unit but our fireplace was too small. She organized another fellow locally to come in and take 2 courses of bricks out so the big unit would fit in and he was also top notch. The install went smoothly and the guys who did the install were professional and courteous. We've been using the wood insert to heat the top 2 stories of ours home (2200 sq/ft) and it does it perfectly. We'll be looking for a gas fireplace/stove for the basement and will be paying Warm Hearth a visit for that need soon!!

My wife and I had Tristar Roofing and gutters install a roof on our home located in Surrey, B.C. in 2006. It's been about 7 years now and the roof has performed flawlessly with no leaks or problems to speak of. Paul really takes pride in this work and it shows through the photo galleries on in his website where he documents poor installations, why they failed and how to do it right. We had 5 quotes when we installed the roof and Paul, although not the cheapest (middle of the pack) explained the quote in a great deal of detail where as the other guys just throw numbers at you expecting you to understand why "that is the number". We're going to be hiring Paul and his team to install a roof on a new place we've purchased and we didn't bother with additional quotes as we know they do a great job at a fair price.

My wife and I had the pleasure of having David from Fairbairn Inspection Services check out a home that was built in the early 80's. David is extremely knowledgeable in regards to all aspects of home building and explains things in plain English not expecting you to have been in construction business yourself for the last 10 years! He found a variety of issues of which he broke down into a list of pricey fixes, needs immediate attention and then a short term/long term list of items. I felt this is good as it's easy to go into an older home and expect having to fix everything that's wrong but David took a practical approach and made recommendations in order to accommodate our maintenance budget. Also what I felt was good was that he recommended secondary inspections when he wasn't 100% positive of the condition of something rather than giving it a pass/fail (in our case it was the foundation drain tile system as there was efflorescence on the basement cement walls). The biggest thing I liked about David is you feel comfortable around him and at ease during the whole process. The report he provided was emailed to us within 24 hours and was easy to read and understand. I will be recommending David to all my friends and family if they should ever need a home inspection.