Reviews

10/10

So, I called last week, and Gates gave me a very decent appt time. They showed up about 15 minutes early. Did a complete and meticulous job. They were extremely pleasant and professional. I highly reccomend this company. Thank you for your great service

Approximate cost of services:
$250.00
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Company Response

Hi Arthur, you are very welcome! I want to thank you for writing a brief but such a comprehensive review. I love it! Brad Gates, B.Sc., Owner / President, HomeStars Best of Award Winner 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

10/10

I found the company to be very responsive. They did a great job, and were a pleasure to deal with. I would definitely recommend using them. Thanks for the great service, and your positive attitude

Approximate cost of services:
$300.00
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Company Response

Thank you , it was a pleasure to serve you and we appreciate your business!

10/10

Ok, so evicted is a little strong, but my roomie was going to be a little upset. The job They showed up almost 1/2 hour early. Great, cause Saturday was a day you didn’t want to waste inside Did a perfect job, went above & beyond. Really nice guys who were polite to a fault. I’m highly recommending this company. Good work!!!

Approximate cost of services:
$400.00
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Company Response

Thank you so much Arthur the business and the feedback . Much appreciated . We are so happy to be of a service and we look forward serving you again in the near future .
Adel majd and the 416-SO-CLEAN team

10/10

Ok, I'm a fairly fussy guy. I like people to show up when they are supposed to, do a good job, and give me comfort that they will stand behind their work. We had some really bad floor squeaks owing to severe vibration when we demolished our master bath. Really loud in 2 places. So, I searched the web, and found these guys. What they did made sense, but you never know if you are buying a solution or snake oil. I called them, and the owner, Leve, came to my home. He thoroughly convinced me that he was more than capable of solving this. We talked for quite awhile about joists, floors, etc. His background is robotic engineering, and he's quite smart. So,,,, game on. They booked an appointment for 10am today. They showed up exactly on time. The two gentlemen were extremely knowledgable, and very pleasant. They got right to work, and had an excellent array of tools to do the job properly. Two hours later. Squeaks gone. So, hire these guys because: They know how to fix your problem They are extremely hard working and honest The owner developed an excellent solution, and he deserves the business.

Approximate cost of services:
$500.00
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Arthur, it is because of clients like yourself, who notice and value the hard work we put into getting the job done right, that we keep up the high standard of professionalism at our company.

Thank you for such strong words of support. Enjoy your newly silenced floor!

0/10

We approached splash works about doing a compete upstairs bathroom Reno. We asked for references. We went to 3 homes, and saw work which was OK, but several shortcuts, and crummy finishing in areas. I told Gerry we wanted a top quality job, and we were willing to pay for it. They quoted us approx $40k, which we didn't quibble about. Just wanted it done right. Gerry tried to get us to immediately decide upon everything down to final paint color. We told him that we felt that it was rushing us into making hasty decisions. He told us we were going to get 3 meetings, and that was that. He then drew up a very complex statement of work, which we signed off on. He immediately insisted we give him a substantial down payment, and said that their "crew" would start immediately. I paid the bill. Well, the crew ended up being 1 or 2 guys, and some days none. First issue was that there were substantial piles of garbage being tossed out my side door. I asked Gerry when a bin was coming We approached splash works about doing a compete upstairs bathroom Reno. We asked for references. We went to 3 homes, and saw work which was OK, but several shortcuts, and crummy finishing in areas. I told Gerry we wanted a top quality job, and we were willing to pay for it. They quoted us approx $40k, which we didn't quibble about. Just wanted it done right. Gerry tried to get us to immediately decide upon everything down to final paint color. We told him that we felt that it was rushing us into making hasty decisions. He told us we were going to get 3 meetings, and that was that. He then drew up a very complex statement of work, which we signed off on. He immediately insisted we give him a substantial down payment, and said that their "crew" would start immediately. I paid the bill. Well, the crew ended up being 1 or 2 guys, and some days none. First issue was that there were substantial piles of garbage being tossed out my side door. I asked Gerry when a bin was coming. Gerry gave us the excuse " Bins cost too much money for a job like this, and it wasn't in the statement of work", and "they'd remove the stuff as they could". This was infuriating, as there was a ton of broken glass out there. One of his staff asked if they could have our large mirror that was over the sink. I said "OK", expecting it would be gone. Well, the guy decided it was too big to take in one piece, and tried to cut it, smashing it in the process. Instead of removing all the broken glass, he just staked it up with the other garbage. So, every day the heap of drywall, floor tiles, broken glass, empty cans of (whatever) kept piling up, and only when I escalated my requests would some of it disappear. The next fiasco..' Prior to the renovation, we installed a very expensive shower door from a local company. They installed it perfectly, and it slid like it was floating on air.' I asked Splash works to have this company professionally remove it, and re-install it. As this might cost them a few bucks, they refused. In the course of removing the sliding door, they bashed the lower brackets into many pieces. They simply left the parts in a pile of junk in the bottom of the tub with other rubbish. I immediately recognized this essential part, and reported it to the job foreman. He ASSURED me that it would be no problem whatsoever. I called up the Shower Door Supplier 2 weeks later to ensure they ordered a replacement . Of course not.' So, I waited, and kept checking.. Nothing. So, then it was time (eventually) to replace the door. I got a call from the job foreman. He said they were having "difficulties" in re-hanging the door. No kidding... The parts were missing. So, I politely calked Gerry, and told him that the door track was damaged by Their guys when the door was pulled. He literally BELLOWED at me. "We're not responsible for demolition costs!!!" I had previously explained to Jerry that his guys broke it, and told them (and emailed ) saying this. It took them almost a month to simply replace it. Problem was it was minimum 2 weeks lead time. Jerry then stared blaming his job site supervisor, (as he did everything) and it took another wasted week to order it. I told Gerry I wanted the door supplier to re-install it. He refused. His employee hung it wrong, and it has never closed properly. This was after making 3 trips to the house to try and correct it. Then, in an effort to try and fool me that it was hung straight, the employee pulled the rubber seal away from the door, and made it "look like" it was closing properly. Issue is that its only sitting on the glass by 1/4" at the top, and 1/2" at the bottom. Very amateur. As well, the mounting holes were drilled in the wrong location. We made it clear on our order that we wanted a simple fixed shower head, and Not one that slides up & down on a pole. We made this abundantly clear. Despite this, he had his crew show up with the totally wrong unit, and of course didn't have the right one. Worse still, he invoiced us $800 on our next progress payment for the totally wrong one. It should be noted that this bathroom shared a wall with the adjoining bedroom. When they cut out the drywall in the bathroom to make room for the medicine cabinets, they cut RIGHT THROUGH the bedroom walls, seriously damaging them. They assured us that repairing this was "a piece of cake", but nonetheless this has never been repaired properly. We were assured a high quality bathtub was ordered to replace the original. In a style which was coming quire familiar, splash works opted for a thin plastic tub. This ended up being a big problem, which creaks badly when you step in it. Splash works solution to this was to chop out tiles, and spray in expanding foam. This made the whole bottom of the tub a lumpy mess, because the plastic was so thin. It still creaks to this day. Throughout the Reno, the bathtub was literally a garbage receptacle for plaster, packaging materials, etc. The job kept slipping, and we would go for two week stretches without having even 1 person on site. Meanwhile, we were going through a MAJOR kitchen renovation, which was easily 5 times more complex than this simple bathroom. The kitchen (done to perfection by another reputable firm) started 1 month after the bathroom, and was totally finished while splash works was still messing around fixing bad construction, etc. Gerry was adamant that we could not supply anything. He claimed his taps, sinks, etc. we're of the highest contractor grade, and he wouldn't install "junk" Well, the toilet he installed (with a significant mark-up), broke one week after installation, causing a flood. His plumbers came in, and replaced the "guts" of it, saying that the one he ordered had numerous known problems. They said the valve was really inferior, and they put in a better one. We then got an invoice for approximately $6000, staying the job had reached the "substantial completion" phase. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The list of non-completed items was over a page long. Gerry said this was "news to him" I reiterated to him how many phone calls and emails I made to splash works to try & get the job completed, with no response. Well, the next day, there were 4 guys at the house, scrambling to finish things. It was a circus. Here was one typical example: If you recall earlier in the review, I stated that we wanted to wait with paint color until the very end, This makes sense. Well, one of the "finish-up crew" was a painter, and he brought a gallon of off-white paint with him. I told him that we hadn't decided final paint color, as we were waiting for Cindy to show up to advise on this. (she never did) I called Gerry immediately, and requested that he & Cindy come over, (as they promised), to advise. Gerry said they were too busy, but if I wanted another paint, I should choose it, and he'd get it immediately. Fair enough. My wife called our decorator, (as we gave up on Cindy), and we selected a paint color. It was a standard Para paint. I sent Gerry an email, requesting that this be procured immediately. His response was that "that Splash works was unable to get Para high quality paint" I found that absurd. He told me to buy it, and he'd pay for it. I drove over to the paint store, and bought it. I then brought it back to the painter, who thanked me "for buying good quality paint". He told me that the stuff that Splash works made him use was very inferior, and it didn't cover well. Splash works never reimbursed me for the paint. Gerry then called me, and said everything would be complete in 1-2 days, and he was keeping all the guys on the job until it was 100% finished. I told him I really appreciated that. At the end of that day, the foreman came to me, and said he was instructed to take a cheque back to splash works with him. (The substantial completion amount). I felt a little uneasy about paying this, because there was still a lot to do. I called Gerry & voiced my concerns. He assured me that the crew would stay until I was 100% happy. So, I gave the cheque to the foreman. (I have NEVER had issues with paying contractors, as I like to try & trust them. That was a HUGE mistake, which I regret to this day. The 4 guys now turned back to 1, and then the job sat uncompleted. My calls and emails were an exercise in futility. I had to hire other contractors (at my expense) finish up areas including painting, door jam, tile back splash, etc. The $1600 floor heating never worked, because they cut the wires in the floor when they installed it. This was verified to me by splash works' own electrical contractor. This in itself was a crazy experience: I complained to Gerry that the floor heating didn't work. He sent over his employee, who made me sit with him for almost 2 hours waiting for the floor to raise in heat once it turned on. The ambient temperature in the room was about 70 degrees, and we set the floor heat to 85. About 40 minutes later, the temp went up 1 degree. (it was summer & the window was open) The Splash works guy tried to convince me that "they take awhile to heat up" I said this was nonsense. We waited an hour. The temperature never changed. He then said that he agreed it didn't work. Next, the Splash works electrician showed up. I need to mention at this point that I am electrical Engineer, and have been for more than 40 years. The Splash works electrician started to remove the control unit from the wall, and I asked him if he wanted the breaker shut down first. He said no. (This was very dangerous). He then asked me if I had the manual for the unit. Splash works did not supply us with anything. After messing around with it for almost an hour, he said that the wires to the floor were cut. He said the control unit was fine. He said Splash works would need to break up the floor tiles to find it. He then left. Fifteen minutes, the doorbell rang. It was the electrician. He told me he needed to go back to the bathroom. I asked him why? he said that Gerry wanted him to bring the wall controller back to Splash works. I reminded him that he just told me it was fine, and that the problem was in the floor heating. We did prove this an hour earlier by taking his multi meter and measuring a total open circuit to the floor resistance wiring. I told him that I would let him remove the unit, if he had a replacement. He then got Gerry on the phone, who just started screaming at him. He literally held the phone at arm's length from his ear. I since had this repaired by another firm, as I was incensed that this was never operational. About 2 months ago, there was a leak around the new window they installed. I went up into the attic, to see if there was any reason for it. I couldn't believe that there were 3 large green garbage bags stuffed full of old insulation, wrapping from parts, juice boxes, sandwich wrappers, and tons of other junk. When they took the ceiling down, they just threw all their garbage in the attic. If you look at my reviews on Home stars, I have left fabulous reviews for other contractors I've used. I'm not a complainer. (look at my other very positive Home stars reviews) I'm a guy who has a lovely home, and doesn't mind spending top dollar to get a first rate job. This experience with Splash works was a disaster from start to finish. I have never met someone as uncooperative and just plain hostile as Gerry. I truly suggest you take my advice, and use another firm.

Approximate cost of services:
$38,000.00
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
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10/10

We were steered to Select through our kitchen cabinet supplier (Bellini Kitchens). They said we'd be impressed , and we were. The selection was amazing. They had materials in every price category, and the quality was top notch. Renato is extremely passionate about his business. He took all the time in the world to explain different grades, finishes, durability, etc. He knew that we wanted a premium product, and quoted us a very fair price. The stone that we liked had a number of slabs in his stock, and Renato had the crane operator leaf through each one, like they were a deck of cards. I certainly speculated that just the act of living these slabs could damage them, and I'm sure that most places will just assure you that it's not necessary to do so. After we picked our stone, Renato looked at the counter top drawings, and selected the orientation and cutting paths to highlight the optimal features of our stone. Then, we went upstairs for cappuccino, while he proudly showed us photos of how he travels to the quarries, and carefully selects his stock. In addition to his passion for his work, he was keen to show us how his family accompanied him on these "missions" The stone was a very important part of our kitchen. We wanted the best, and we got it. I highly and sincerely recommend Select to anyone who wants a quality product from a company that takes great pride in what they offer. I'm sure there are many granite suppliers in Toronto, but can't imagine a better experience than the one we had.

Approximate cost of services:
$15,000.00
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Hi Arthur,

Thank you very much for comments and for your business.
Yes, we are passionate about stone and our selection and Renato best exemplifies what Select stands for - customers and materials first.

Thanks again.

Frank Micalizzi
President


First Review

10/10

Gemkin is an absolutely first class company, with superb craftsmen. My home had a very difficult problem, where the window surrounds were deteriorating pre-cast concrete. Furthermore, the stucco surface of our home had many cracks on several surfaces. The job started off with loose definitions, as we weren't really sure if the path we were going to go down. My original expectations were that we were going to patch the concrete, and mesh the house. It became apparent 1 hour into the job that this was the wrong way to go, and would end up with a mess. Gemkin rose to the challenge, and found a way to achieve the very difficult task of removing all of the pre-cast concert, and patching all of the areas with cement board. There was a lot of damaged wood behind the pre-cast, because it was never sealed properly. I need to mention that I was extremely worried that this massive deconstruction would damage the house. Gremlin took huge precautions to ensure that not even one window pane was cracked. They then took complete charge of picking beautiful stucco window surrounds, and designed and fit very complex custom stucco mouldings to replace all the existing rotten wood mouldings at the top of the house. The job lasted approximately four weeks. At the completion, I have what looks like a brand new home, and I am thrilled beyond all possible description. The Gemkin workmen were incredibly considerate of my neighbours, and went so far as to cover their cars so that dust wouldn't cover them. I know this sounds odd, but I had their entire work crew using our basement washroom facilities for a month, and they treated it like their own home. I cannot thank the Gemkin guys enough. The leader Arby is a gentleman of high character. The crew leader Suri is an artist. All of Suri's crew were constantly upbeat, and extremely proud of their work. I need to also mention that Arby took complete control of hiring wonderful sub trades, who most expertly re-caulked the entire house. Also, they brought in a first class eves trough company, who did a first class job of replacing all of the eves trough to match the new stucco color. I have always been very proud of my home, but over the last 3-4 years I was getting very depressed looking at the sad shape of the exterior. I had no idea how I would ever find a way to get all of the issues fixed. Not to sound repetitious, but Gemkin was a privilege to have working for us. I thank you for such an incredible effort. First, first class.

Approximate cost of services:
$35,000.00
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10/10

I called Peter, and he came out the same day. Bombed my house, and I now have some dead ants. He is extremely courteous and passionate about his customer service. My recommendation is to hire him. Attached are photos of my ex-problem

Approximate cost of services:
$275.00
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Company Response

Hi Arthur,

Thank you for your review. Hopefully your ant situation will be gone before the spring starts, but give me a call in a month so that I can do a follow up to make sure you have a pest free spring and summer.

10/10

Alan Waters came to our home, and thoroughly explained his plans to install the system. He was very well prepared for his presentation. The work was done on time, exactly as promised. Slight glitch, that our phone line got cut. The only reason I mention this, is because they took ownership of the problem (no excuses), and worked with Bell to resolve it. When Alan was at our home, he stressed that whenever we would call, we would speak to a "live person", and not voice mail. True enough, each time we called, we always had someone pick up: no exceptions. Alan is very proud of his reputation. I had a chance to talk with his install crew, and unlike a lot of employees, his guys always spoke in the best complementary terms of "the boss" I have no idea if other firms charge more or less. What was important to me was having a knowledgable contractor install and maintain our sprinkler system. Too many fly by night guys in the home Reno business, and I've been stung too many times. So, when a guy shows up who clearly knows his business, that is worth more to me than trying to save a few bucks by getting a bunch of quotes, and bottom fishing. I wish everyone I have dealt with had as much pride in their reputation as Alan. Now, I haven't had a chance to fully test the system, as it was just installed late fall. But, I am 100% confident that if I have any issues that Alan will make it right.

Approximate cost of services:
$3,500.00
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Company Response

Thank-you for your great review. It is very much appreciated.

10/10

Vince showed up right on time and did an excellent job. The oven just looks amazing , and his plumbing work solved a nagging issue I've had for years. Thanks so much .

Approximate cost of services:
$2,000.00
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10/10

I hired Nick, for what started as repairing a small leak. I ended up having him completely redo the roof. He is very passionate, talented, honest, and pleasant. If you can get him, grab him.

Approximate cost of services:
$10,000.00
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Thank you Arthur for your kind words!

Nick