We bought an older home in East York (approximately 80 years old) that had knob & tube wiring (with some "new" wiring in the basement and kitchen which was shoddy). Our home inspector strongly advised we get all of the wiring pulled out and redone properly for insurance and safety purposes. After reading many on-line reviews and talking with people who've had similar work done we got 4 electricians in to inspect the house and quote on the work (all of them highly rated).
3 quotes landed within about a $ 1000.00 of each other - including Kiya's. But Kiya stood out immediately. Some of the other contractors quoting were not willing to patch holes or try to preserve the original baseboards of the house.
Kiya stood out for other reasons too. After meeting him it was clear to me that he had a tremendous amount of experience with rewiring older homes (specifically with knob & tube wiring and lathe & plaster walls). He just knew what he was talking about. It was also clear that he takes his work very seriously; that he takes great pride in what he does.
Not only was he willing to patch holes and preserve all of our baseboards, but he also pointed out many issues with the layout of fixtures and switches and offered to put everything where it should be. (IE: some light switches were in the middle of a wall or so far from the doorway that they couldn't be reached, stairway switches could only be turned on from one location, lights placed in impractical locations, rooms with only one or two outlets, upper rooms with no ceiling lights, no hard-wired smoke and gas detectors, etc.). Kiya offered up a new design on the spot - which made much more sense than the one that was in place.
Additionally he placed a number of lights and outlets where there were none before (in 2 very dark closets, in the upper hallway, a second light at the far end of the main floor hallway, and one in the backyard of the house).
I'm very glad we went with Kiya and his guys. I was around for the entire week he and his crew were in to do the work. He's a perfectionist and his crew follows suit. Our house had a great many surprises once the walls were opened up - none of which fazed them. These surprises meant his crew had to work longer days - and two days beyond what was planned.
It was very difficult work to run the wiring in our house. At times 2 or 3 different approaches had to be attempted just to get a fixture exactly where we agreed it should be. They also had to cut into the attic (which was sealed) to service the upper rooms. This was messy dirty work. But they got on with all of the work without a complaint - and cleaned up the mess and sealed the ceiling back up once finished.
On one occasion we had changed our minds about the placement of a hallway fixture after they had already placed it and wired. They happily moved this without any complaint. Kiya and his crew just wouldn't quit. They didn't stop nor did they ever cut any corners. The pressed on through the weekend to get the work done in time for us to move in. Despite this extra time and effort the bill remained unchanged. We were charged exactly what we were quoted.
In summary, the entire crew were pleasant and had a great sense of humour. Their work exceeded our best hopes. They made the smallest holes possible. They cleaned up after themselves each day. All holes were patched up once done. Everything looks great and works perfectly. On a funny note, my wife and I had noted that we actually missed them once they had gone.
I don't know what else to say. It's amazing to walk through the house now. Everywhere you'd expect to need light there's light. Anywhere you'd expect or need power there is a socket. The switches are placed exactly where you'd expect them to be. Everything is at a uniform height or location at door entries yet nothing draws attention to itself. All clean and tidy and elegant.
These days it's rare to have an experience like this. If you hire Kiya you'll get someone who shows up when they say they will, who is creative and intelligent with designs and plans, who does the work exactly as agreed, and who charges no more than what was agreed upon.
I give Kiya Sunrise Electrical the highest recommendation I can give. If I ever need work done in the future I wouldn't hire anybody else.
WORK DETAIL:
Rewired entire 1100 sq foot house (removed all knob and tube and supplied permit).
Second Floor: Removed 4 wall fixtures & patched, rewired 7 outlets and 4 light fixtures, installed 5 new outlets and 4 light fixtures, rewired & replaced all switches and installed one 2-way switch and one 3-way switch, installed wired smoke/gas detector.
Main Floor: Rewired 8 outlets and 5 light fixtures, installed 6 new outlets and 1 light fixture (including special outlets in kitchen), rewired & replaced all switches and installed two 3-way switches, installed wired smoke detector.
Basement: Rewired 8 outlets (including appliances) and 6 light fixtures, installed 1 new pot light on the stairs, rewired & replaced all switches and installed one 2-way switch, installed wired smoke/gas detector. Tested wiring to jacuzzi.
Outside: Rewired porch and back yard light fixtures and 3 outlets, installed 1 new motion detector light (which he supplied at no charge), rewired & replaced all switches.
Overall: All lathe/plaster walls on upper level patched, all drywall in basement patched. Installed all new fixtures (we bought separately). Three detectors are interconnected and communicate to each other (on one separate circuit). Cleaned up our panel and wiring into panel (was a mess before). Installed new circuits/breakers within existing panel to accommodate new lights/outlets. Installed new second smaller panel for bedrooms and kitchen. All work permitted and done according to code.
