Tara from Edmonton

We had a landscape designer put together a "new" backyard for our 15 year-old house, which included plans for a new deck. Jon reviewed their high level plans (basically the footprint), and designed a really awesome deck for us that met our budget - two tiered, lights, glass railings, privacy fence, PVC construction, engineered screw piles, etc. etc. His recommendations were amazing and the attention to the details was great. We can't wait for some warmer weather to get out on our new deck!

We had a pipe burst in the ceiling of our finished basement and Titan was recommended by our insurance company. The service was outstanding and they were very clear about the steps in the process, what was coming next, and what to expect for timing. They coordinated various trades and service companies efficiently. Now that the work is completed, you can't even tell where the repair was done.

Our home inspector advised us that we should have the chimney cleaned in our new home. I found St. Albert Chimney Sweep on Home Stars and was thrilled with their service. They booked the appointment on the first day that I was available and showed up exactly on time. The two gentlemen who were here did a thorough inspection and a great job of cleaning the chimney. The left the house as clean as when they arrived, which I was very pleased about it. I was also impressed that they charged exactly what I was quoted on the phone and they didn't hassle me with any upsells or upgrades.

Based on the recommendations on Homestars, we had Young Guns come to our house to put a shutoff valve on an existing gas line for our BBQ and to flush the hot water tanks. The gentlemen were very fast and courteous when they were here and I was pleased with the service. My only complaint is that my whole day was wasted for 20 minutes worth of work. They were supposed to call me at 9am to give me a time window. I called at 9:45 and left a message. They called back at 10:45 to say that they would come between 11-1. At 1:30 I called and left another message. They showed up at 2 and were gone before 2:30. A little bit more consideration for my day would have been appreciated - even an estimate of "afternoon" or "morning" would have negated me to sit around all day and I could have run my errands in the morning.

We pre-booked Aegis several days in advance to re-key all of the locks after we took possession of our new home. The gentleman who did the service called on the requested day to confirm what time we wanted him to come over. The work didn't take long and he was professional and polite. He was also not phased that we had a number of other people around the house working on the same day - just went about his thing and did a great job!

We arranged furnace and carpet cleaning for the day after we took possession of our new-to-us home. The gentlemen who did both pieces of work were friendly, professional and thorough. However, I took far too many calls to get it booked. I submitted the online booking form and got a call back (1) to confirm everything. Two days prior I received two separate calls confirming my booking (2, 3). On the day of the service, I received five calls about what time they were coming. Five! For a total of 8 calls for a pretty straight forward booking. All of the phone calls were a hassle given that I work and we have a zillion other move-related activities going on these days.

We used Outer Edges to completely re-landscape the front- and back-yards of our inner city home. We met with the owner, discussed the plans, negotiated price and were very pleased with his willingness to meet our needs. The project execution was an entirely different matter - based on our discussions, we developed trust for the owner and expected things to be done as talked about, but the contract was vague and work was not completed per our discussions. For example, the contract specified patio stones would be laid (and we got them), but we never got to pick the color/shape of the stones and were stuck with "tumbled" stones (which means chipped/cracked corners and edges, which we never would have agreed to). We also had a privacy wall built for our hot tub and had talked about putting some design patterns in it to allow light through but still partially obstruct the view. The wall that was built is completely solid tongue-and-groove. There were also problems with the order of execution of the tasks. For example, the hot tub was moved back against the privacy wall before the wall was stained (meaning that it is not fully stained behind the hot tub) and all of the rock for the rock beds were put into place before the shrubs. One year later, we get lots of compliments about our yard, but it was painful getting here.

We are relocating from Calgary to Edmonton and wanted our home inspected in Edmonton as part of the conditional purchase. Stuart spoke to us on the phone prior to us hiring him and answered a number of our questions. He arrived at the home on time and did a very thorough job - he explained in detail everything in his report and even included photos of some of the things that were a little bit harder to understand. He also taught us a little bit about how some of the things in the home worked (e.g. where to turn off the water for the outdoor taps, how the in-floor heating system worked, etc.). We would recommend him again!

We used Kelly on two different occasions to help with our new home. The first time was to help us decide where to hang all of our art and what color to paint the walls. We get lots of compliments on both. The second time was for Kelly to help with the makeover of our master bedroom: she helped select new furniture, bedding, accessories, and drapes. We just love it!

Elizabeth from Timeless Home Décor is amazing! She helped us pick out Hunter Douglas blinds for every window in our brand new home and paid close attention to our budget and personal style. The order, payment, and installation went without a hitch! We loved our blinds so much that when we made over our master bedroom, we had Elizabeth come back to help us select custom draperies. Again, absolutely perfect!

Neatfreak cleaned our house for three years. They always came on the same day/time and their service got progressively worse over time until we fired them. Our cat was frequently locked in the basement, they were always breaking things or bashing walls and sometimes forgot to lock the front door when they left. The broken things were always reimbursed but it was still inconvenient.