KevinJ/Danforth-Coxwell

I hired Mathew from Leslieville Geek to wall mount a brand new (still in box) 55" flat screen TV. The scope of work included attaching wall mount bracket to the wall, mounting TV to bracket, mounting Bell recevier to wall behind TV, installing new electrical outlet behind TV, cutting a hole for HDMI cable (from TV to DVD player) behind TV and cutting another hole in wall for other end of HDMI cable. Mathew came to my house to provide quote but more importantly, he had good ideas about how to execute the job and the kind of wall mount to use. Plus he had experience working in old houses such as mine with lath and plaster walls. On the day of installation, he and his colleague arrived on time and got right to work. They worked efficiently and effectively to complete the install by end of day. Then they set up the TV to make sure all the channels/services worked. They cleaned up after the work was done. I highly recommend Leslieville Geek for wall mount TV installations.

As a homeowner, often you don't know what you don't know. That's why it pays for hire a professional such as Benny. He knows his stuff when it comes to drywall, plaster and painting - especially considering the quirks of 100 year old homes such as mine. He has the years of experience in the trenches to tackle any kind of drywall, paint or plaster job. Benny brings a dedication to his craft, a keen eye for detail, professionalism, fair pricing and best of all, a good sense of humour. Plus he can tell you some great stories! I hired Benny to replace my stucco ceiling, repair some damaged walls and do some repainting. I really appreciated that he was a one stop shop for these services. The job took a bit longer than planned but Benny held the line on his quote. Benny was constantly juggling many priorities at home and on the job but still managed to maintain great communication and he kept his eye on making sure that my project was completed to my complete satisfaction. These are messy (dusty) jobs but I was really impressed with the cleanup that Benny did after the job was done. Benny also offered some really great suggestions for other home improvements that could add value to the house or just enhance my enjoyment of the home. Benny was the only contractor I called to quote this job. My faith was rewarded and yours will be too. One call to Benny will do it all.

New Canadian Plumbing and their technician Winford were very understanding and responsive to my plumbing repair needs. I was super impressed (more like amazed) by my first contact with their office. On Canada Day holiday, my toilet developed a bad leak and desperately needed to be replaced. The next business day, I called New Canadian at 8AM - not only was their a live operator, but they scheduled my service for later the same morning. Often when it is an emergency situation, you feel alone but New Canadian made me feel good that Winford would come to fix my problem. Installation of the toilet took just about an hour and the work was done professionally. Best of all, Winford took away all the garbage including the old toilet! That was a really welcome (and unexpected) bonus and saved me some trouble. Thank you to the New Canadian team. I highly recommend their services.

Fast and effective repair to a bathroom pipe (buried inside a wall) that was leaking through the ceiling below. Jeff from Great Plumbing Company was prompt, professional and courteous. He got right down to business diagnosing the problem and providing me estimates along the way to fixing the problem. His work reinforced to me the importance of hiring the right pro for the right job. I've had this problem for some time and have had other contractors look at it. Jeff is the only one to properly diagnose it and fix it. Best of all, he did the whole job from problem identification to solution in about 2 hours. One visit and problem solved. I wish that I had hired Jeff for my previous plumbing requirements. I certainly will hire him again for any future needs.

This started as an eavestrough replacement project or so I thought. Mark from Ontario Downspout did a through check of siding and roofing and correctly recommended replacing them all. I chose Ontario Downspout Services on the basis that they provided all 3 services that I needed (saving me time, money and hassle) and on basis of their stellar reviews on HomeStars. I did not get any other quotes. My faith in Mark and his crew was rewarded many times over. They were very professional, polite, prompt, friendly and most of all hard working (sun up to sundown each day)! They are a true credit to their profession. Mine is a small house but a huge job which took about 8 days total. There was a lot of demolition (years of decay and poor repairs) before the real work even started. Mark consulted me on his recommendations and walked me through the process. Other than that, I just let him and his crew do their work. No babysitting required. Just check-ins and progress reports as needed. This is Mark's family business and he was on site working alongside his crew the whole time. He really cares about his work and his clients. Attention to detail was always top of mind for Mark and crew. No corners were cut. Even cleanup (daily and after the job was done) was immaculate. You get what you pay for. This is not an inexpensive job no matter how you look at it. Best to get it done right the first time with Ontario Downspout. The improved curb appeal and added value from having proper infrastructure is many times over the cost of the job. If you are in the market for any of eavestrough, siding and/or roofing, I recommend that you stop searching for a contractor. You need only place one call. To Ontario Downspout. You'll be glad you did!

My basement floor drain was clogged and rainwater was backing up onto the basement floor. I called Canada Waterproofers to schedule them to come have a look/fix problem. The main office passed my call along to their team member Carl who promptly called me back to schedule an appointment. We discussed that it was not urgent and that he would come in a few days. Carl was prompt - actually called ahead of time to come over early. He quickly assessed that this would likely just require some plunging - not a snake or a camera inspection. It took him little time to plunge out the clog. He was super professional and very courteous - a credit to his team and to all contractors. Carl refused payment for this service - this has never happened to me in my experience. While I hope to not have any other drainage problems, I would welcome the chance to hire Canada Waterproofers for another job.

My furnace (22 years old) and air conditioner (24 years old) were at or near end of life. I chose to replace them both with power vented models. I selected Cozy World based on the many positive reviews from Home Stars. They were the only company that I contacted for a quote. Boris was very understanding of my requirements and paid me a visit to assess the job and make recommendations. He was very helpful with my follow up questions as well (even on the weekend). The job was scheduled within about a week of his visit/quote. The air conditioner that was quoted was not available and so he upgraded me to a better air conditioner at no extra cost. The installation team consisted of 2 people. They were prompt, pleasant, professional and very thorough. They worked really hard (including drilling through brick for vent installation) to complete the job within the day and made sure to tidy up afterwards and remove all the old parts. I was exhausted just watching them work! Following the job, Cozy World's office followed up with me to provide the product warranty info and to check on my satisfaction with the job. I highly recommend Cozy World for any HVAC requirements.

I sought 3 quotes in December 2006 to remove/replace the knob&tube wiring in my 800 sq. foot 1920's era 2 story house w/basement. I received quotes from 2 highly regarded electrical contractors from this site. One offered me the "Gold medal" service at higher price point and the other offered me a "Bronze medal" service at a very reasonable and low price. I am confident that either Gold/Bronze could have done the job on time and on budget. But I was not satisfied - the "Gold" would have done more drywall/plaster damage, been too expensive and taken longer than I cared to wait. And the "Bronze" just seemed too good to be true - the contractor seemed too over confident with the scope of the work and low quote(though that may just come with the territory). I called Jim from JTL Electrical out of the yellow pages. He came and walked through the whole house room by room, floor by floor, making notes on his PDA. We shared some ideas and recommendations. Jim took his notes back to his office and - after careful consideration of the job - came back with a quote a day or two later. His quote fell in the middle - about $1000 above the "Bronze" service and half the price of the "Gold". Jim's crew consisted of his son and one apprentice - all 3 were on site for about 85% of the duration of the job. Sometimes Jim or his son would leave to work on another job but it never jeaporadized my job. They started at about 8AM on a Monday and wrapped up Friday afternoon the same week. The work was performed competently, professionally and cost effectively. Jim created the absolute minimum amount of damage to the drywall and plaster. (When I had the drywaller come in after to repair the damage, he was shocked at how little work there was to do considering the scope of the rewiring job). Instead of moving the electrical outlets out of the baseboards and up into the drywall (creating more damage to walls/costs), he left them in the same place but with new/proper wiring. Jim even squeezed underneath the kitchen extension to perform the necessary rewiring rather than making holes in the kitchen walls. It would have been far easier and safer for him to just cut holes in the walls rather than crawling around outside/underneath the extension - especially on a cold December day. But he has a customer's mindset and knew that his extra work would save me time and money in repairs later. Same thing in the attic where he worked diligently to do as much wiring as he could without impacting the walls. As he was doing all the wiring, Jim offered (at no extra cost) to install any and all light fixtures that I purchased. This was a huge benefit for me. It would have been so time consuming and expensive to install new lights afterwards. My breaker panel was outdated but rather than replace it (a costly solution offered by the 2 other quoters), he offered a creative workaround that resulted in him installing a separate small additional GFCI panel to control the bedroom outlets/lights. Rewiring creates a mess - Jim and crew were very diligent about cleaning up after each days work. He even bought me lunch the one day that I stayed at home while they worked! When it came time to total up the final bill, it came to slightly below the initial estimate. Jim also arranged for the Electrical Safety Authourity to inspect the work and to issue a certificate of approval. (This is standard procedure - though I think some contractors can also self-certify the work on behalf of ESA). I don't think that Jim took any "shortcuts" to completing my job in such a fast time and such a good price. He has a lot of experience and some creative workarounds (and low overheads) that can save time and money. This was not an easy job at all. Jim and crew worked really hard and really long hours and earned all of their money. I would never hesitate to use Jim again or to recommend his services to anyone. Jim and crew were all nice and pleasant. Knob and tube wiring replacement is such a common and expensive job that it makes sense to get 3 quotes. Consider adding JTL to the mix and compare their quotes and references.

The basement storm drain in my 80+ year old house was clogged. As a result, rainwater was backing up from the drain into the basement. I was looking for a solution that would be fast, efficient and cost effective. I needed someone who was familiar with all types of drainage systems and would get to the cause of the problem. I called Roy at Mayday the day after another huge rainstorm that had flooded many streets and basements in Toronto. He was courteous and friendly on the phone - no easy feat when your phone is ringing off the hook with people with similar problems. He promised me that he would be at my house the next day and would call when he was on his way. True to his word, he called when he said he would, and arrived promptly. He quickly assesed the situation and determined that he would not need to use the (expensive) video camera. He "snaked" the drain and was able to clear up the problem. Total time on site less than an hour. He also had some good tips to offer me relating to rainwater management (ie. downspouts, etc). I give Roy my highest recommendation.

Tom and crew from Mega City Roofing replaced my old tar and gravel 8' x 11' flat roof in November '06. Tom was very pleasant, easy to deal with, professional, easy to reach and very prompt. I appreciated that he was able to come out on a weekend to look at the roof so that I did not have to take time off work. He and his crew worked efficiently and effectively to replace the roof. They did the job in the half day time that was promised. I was fully informed about the methods and materials that would be used to complete the job. Everything was presented to me upfront and I felt that I got good value and high quality service. At the end of the job all of the garbage was removed - it was like they were never there. Thanks.

I recently had knob and tube wiring removed from my home. The electrician had to make several cuts in the walls/ceiling in order to do so. Kevin from Buckner Plastering came in to make the repairs and do some upgrades such as installing a new drywall ceiling. I was really impressed with the quality of his work. He brings really great ideas to the job - he thinks beyond just getting the repairs done. Kevin makes suggestions for doing work that will enhance the appearance and often the value of the home. Best of all, he is pleasant to deal with, very professional, prompt and flexible. Communication was excellent. I will definitely use Kevin on future projects. Word of mouth is the best advertisement. Ask around and you will find out why I rated him so highly.