Raj in Seaton Village

Manual single garage door in an old, detached garage (with very low clearance). Someone came out to do thorough measurements and left me with an all-in quotation. Price was not outrageous compared to another quote I got. The guy talked through the options and I never felt like I was being over-sold. Work was done while I wasn't even home and I came home to shiny new garage door. I was disappointed there wasn't an exterior foot bracket low on the door and someone came out to install one free of charge (thanks!). Great phone service.

[September 7, 2016] I called Priority Plumbing to unclog a bathtub drain and fix a toilet that was refilling slowly. A friendly technician came by early June 2016. He checked out the whole house's plumbing and gave a series of quotes, ranging from a several hundred dollars (to unclog the drain and to replace the toilet fill valve) to about $4,000 (to also upgrade a bunch of other water valves). Whoa -- that's for a day's work by one guy! (Albeit including materials costs.) I went with the lowest quote to just unclog the drain and fix the toilet. He ordered a new toilet fill valve which he would come back to install in a few weeks. As for the bathtub drain, he ran a snake and came back up with bad news -- tree roots. He told me he needed to run a camera to see how bad it was, so I bought their annual camera inspection plan. But we had to remove the toilet to run the camera. They charge $400 to remove and replace a toilet (!), so we agreed I'd take the toilet off myself and he'd come back the next day to run the camera. I appreciated his agreeing to come in on a Sunday, but as it turns out he never showed up (and no phone call), so I wasted a lot of time taking off and replacing the toilet (not to mention waiting around). I never heard back from the technician after that despite several phone calls to their dispatch line. They told me the toilet fill valve was on back-order but it's been a few months now and it hasn't arrived yet. My invoice didn't itemize costs but it was over $600 for running the snake and prepayment for replacing a fill valve. Add on the annual camera plan (which I never got either) and taxes and we're up to $771.15. I originally gave a 3 on this review because I gave up on getting the toilet fixed. [UPDATE September 8, 2016] I got a call from the company right after writing the above review. They told me the technician has been on training for the last two months and that the fill valve will be delivered and installed next week, and they have offered to refund the cost of the camera inspection annual plan. I have revised my review from 3 to 5 as a result of their preliminary efforts to make things right. [UPDATE October 1, 2016] The part finally came in and the toilet was fixed a few days ago. The (new) technician did a thorough job and said he would look into replacing another part that seems to be slowing down the water line. I am revising my review again from 5 to 8 in anticipation of getting a refund on the camera plan I never used. [UPDATE November 26 2016] The technician proactively came back to install a part that makes the toilet flush like new again. I'm pretty impressed by the follow-up -- especially since I already paid in full a long time ago. I have to admit, you get pretty good service for the high price. Changing review from 8 to 9.

Very pleased. Kaz will be my new stand-by electrician. Initial contact was responsive and punctual. It was clear from his assessment that he is knowledgeable and experienced. He gave several options and explained them. (We ended up needing a new panel to install a dryer circuit). His quote was very competitive. He put in an unexpectedly long work day, including hours of drilling a hole through a cinder block wall for the dryer vent. Still, no surprise costs. True to his name, he is environmentally low-impact, driving a very fuel efficient vehicle and minimizing waste. No green-washing or guilt-premium here -- he walks the walk and doesn't charge extra for it.

I got several quotes from high-ranking companies and SIMMCO's price was the lowest. The office lady was friendly, helpful and easy to deal with. The crew (Slava (?) and his helper) -- and their shiny red truck -- arrived a little late (but not unreasonable, with Toronto traffic). I don't know much about duct cleaning but they worked quickly and seemed to do a thorough job. Amazing how much crap came out of the ducts! The cleaned up afterwards and wore shoe covers. Bonus points for helping me out with a leaking gas stove for no extra charge (he's also a TSSA certified gas technician). Great experience, highly recommend.

Good communication and the work looks good to me. The roof deck was re-built incredibly quickly, and I appreciated being given options on how it would look. I only got one quote but the price seemed reasonable.

August provided a reasonable estimate, including with and without leaf guards. The work was done punctually and with good workmanship. Good communication throughout the process, including explaining my options, dealing with an unexpected situation (rotted fascia boards) and ensuring that I was satisfied with the work.

Otto looked at the porch and provided me with a few options. He clearly knew what he was talking about. The work started earlier than first estimated, although his crew ended up needing a couple days to assess what materials they needed, etc. I got the feeling they weren't fully briefed on the work that needed to be done at first, but we cleared that up pretty quickly. Otto's crew (Jim and his helper) were great. The workmanship was very good, they kept the site clean and minimized any disturbance. They worked quickly and punctually. They were even nice enough to re-parge a small portion of my foundation wall and clean some bricks with acid as a free extra (much appreciated!). The quality of the materials was great. Very nice bricks and column caps. Afterwards, I had a few issues (some of the concrete slab not repaired; steps repaired using a darker mortar). To Otto (and his office/area manager Tony)'s credit, they took care of these very quickly. (The "after" picture is from before these were fixed.) Excellent communication throughout. I'd definitely use Otto's again.

Dwayne's quote to replace my ancient furnace was significantly less than one of the "big guys", so I gave Culzac a shot. I wasn't disappointed -- he did the job within a few days, he was on budget, punctual, neat and respectful, and was even honest enough to not charge me for an unecessary flue liner. I liked the way he thought things through on his first visit, and appreciated how he kept me updated thoughout the process. I think Culzac only installs Goodman furnaces, so that might be an issue if you're picky about your brands.

The ignitor on my gas oven needed replacing. I called Downtown on a Saturday morning and Richard was there in the afternoon. He did the job at light speed, and was even courteous enough to take his shoes off in the house. Price was reasonable. He was a little curt on the phone, but otherwise I was very satisfied and would definitely call this company again.

Ted's quote was higher than most others but I hired Astron anyway since it was clear they knew exactly what needed (and did not need) to be done to get my electrical system up to code. Alex and his guys were extremely neat and tidy -- you could barely tell they had been there some days. They worked very quickly and got the whole house done in less than a week. Best of all, they caused minimal damage to the walls and did a good patch job. There's a lot of gripes here about Ted. I did have some miscommunications with him, and my calls weren't returned as quickly as I would have liked, but I don't think he has an "attitude" -- he's just a kinda weird guy. If you're willing to pay a little extra for reliable, quality work, I'd definitely recommend Astron.