pwhitehead

We contracted with Mike to remove an old jetted tub, install a new free standing tub and tub filler, replace the existing boring white tiles with new beautiful grey tiles, fix some plumbing issues the previous incompetent contractor messed up and paint the bathroom. The completed project is perfect. The workmanship, especially installing the tile, is outstanding. Mike is very easy to have in your house and is absolutely reliable, he showed up everyday when he said he would and he completed the project when he said it would be done. Mike subcontracted the plumbing work to Duke Plumbing and I would highly recommend their service as well. Justin did a great job for us. I highly recommend Mike and told him to feel free to share our contact information with anyone looking for a reference.

Austin replaced a leaky wax seal on my toilet. He was efficient, friendly and respectful of my property. The final price was more than fair and was a few dollars cheaper than the quote even though an additional part was required. I would not hesitate to recommend Austin and when I need plumbing services again I know who I will call.

Lets start with the positive. I contacted them on Thursday, they were at my house by 0900 Monday morning. That surprised me a lot, I thought I would have a couple of weeks to wait. Two men, a plumber and an apprentice, arrived dressed nicely wearing ties. I guess that's where the gentlemen name comes from (a little gimmicky but as long as they are capable I don't care what they wear.) They were very respectful of my house, wearing booties and/or taking off their shoes. I had already purchased the new toilet so all they had to do was remove the old one and install the new one. I had to have the dishwasher repaired a month or so ago and the repairman told me that the grey pipe used to install the dishwasher was not up to code and should be replaced. The plumber disagreed, his quote was "if it ain't broke don't fix it". He did suggest changing the main water line that supplied the dishwasher with new pipe and a new shut off valve. I am not sure I needed the new water line but the shut off valve I had did not work so now I have a working shut off valve and more reliable pipe. The third task was the easy one, less than 10 minutes work. Remove the valve that fed my humidifier from the input pipe to the hot water tank (undo 2 screws) cut the pipe, install a new sleeve over the cut and solder it in place. The quality of the work seems fine, it has been a few days and no leaks. I have a one year warranty on all of the work, labour and materials, so that is comforting. The 2 guys that were here very nice, friendly, outgoing and did not hesitate to answer questions and offer explanations. They were neat and tidy, no mess after they left. Nice guys, good work but OMG it was expensive IMO. They charge by the job not by the hour which is good and bad. The initial cost quote for the 10 minute humidifier removal was close to $300 ($289 I think). I balked at it and said forget it. Then the price dropped to around $200 which I agreed to although I think it is way over priced for the amount of labour and materials to do the job. I am a senior and I have installed toilets and done soldering when I was younger. I just have no desire to do that kind of work anymore so I have to pay for it and in this case, I think I paid very dearly to have the work done. I would not hesitate to recommend them to my friends based on quality but the recommendation will come with a warning about the price.

I called Moe to repair a gutter that leaked and would not drain. He came out and suggested a fix and we planned the repair for about 2 weeks in the future. As I thought about his suggestion, I didn't like it and emailed him my idea. He agreed with no hesitation. Moe and Mohammed came as promised, fixed the issue the way I wanted it and so far everything is fine. The gutter drains and doesn't leak. They even added flashing to ensure proper runoff into the gutter. I am very satisfied. On a personal note, Moe is one of the nicest men I have had do work for me. I would not hesitate to recommend him

We were very pleased with the work done by Greg and Norm. They replaced 2 shower doors for us. Gregg discovered that the original installer had taken a few short cuts and as a result Greg had to install the frame for the upstairs shower twice to cover the mistakes of the previous installer. I wish Homestars had been around when we remodeled the bathroom originally. Both installers were careful and respectful of our home. I wouldn't hesitate to use these guys again.

We had five windows replaced, the garage sided with vinyl and the front of the house sided with hardie board. Using Home Stars, we obtained three quotes. Boulevard was not the cheapest or the most expensive but they did have the best estimator. It is so obvious that Maurice has “been there & done that”. He instilled confidence that Boulevard knew what they were doing. The project did not run smoothly. Two of the five windows were manufactured upside down; the water drain was at the top of the window not the bottom. It would seem to me that there are at least four times in the process to inspect the product; when it come off the assembly line, when it is being prepared for shipping, when it arrives in the warehouse of the installation company and finally when the installers pick it up to take it to the job site. If any of these inspections happened due diligence was not performed well. By the time the defect was discovered, the old windows had been removed and basically demolished so the installers had no choice but to install the defective windows. With cooperation from Boulevard, we had scheduled the window install first followed by the siding install so there was no danger of the window install damaging the hardie board. Since there were two defective windows and we were leaving to go out of the country for a month, Boulevard installed the siding and re-ordered two new windows. We would have to take our chances on damaging the hardie board removing the defective windows and replacing them with new windows. There were a couple of minor blemishes on the siding install. Two boards were left very loose, one end of them had not been tacked into place and one of my downspouts was not reconnected. These were fixed while we were out of the country. The new windows were ready for installation when we returned and the installers removed the defective windows and installed the new ones with no damage to the hardie board. There were a few minor painting touch ups to finish the job which were done promptly, although I had to convince the project manager to come and do the final walk through. While I am not completely satisfied with the entire project, the finished product looks great and Boulevard was very cooperative about scheduling around our vacation and there was no push back when I demanded that the windows be replaced, not repaired. For the most part, the window installers and the siding installers were professional and competent and were easy to have around the house. Basically, nice guys! Boulevard did a good job for me, the finished product is what we were aiming for. However, I cannot hold them blameless for the defective windows. The defect should have been caught upon receipt of the windows from the factory and it obviously was not noticed. I suggested in an email to Jason that they improve their receiving process and according to the installers, the windows they picked up had an “inspected” sticker on them. Also a five minute walk around by the siding installers would have discovered the glitches of the installation.