Tim Gokcen in Etobicoke

Doing a kitchen reno, my wife and I riped up the old flooring ourselves to lay wire and inspect the floorboards -- they were in terrible shape. Hired Walter & his crew to lay new plywood subfloor and porcelain tiles on top, then come back after the cabinetry was installed to lay the backsplash. Couldn't have been happier with the choice of WM Royal Tile. Walter was very knowledgeable and professional and his crew worked extremely quickly. He even helped patch one of the plaster walls that was crooked before laying the backsplash.

Old garage concrete slab was cracked and pitted, probably the original slab from when the garage was built. Wanted to fix it up because I like to work on my sports car in the garage. Alex came by to give a quote with no pressure; he recommended replacing the whole slab, which I accepted. Alex & his assistant were extremely speedy and quickly removed the old slab, laid down fresh metal sheeting, and poured the new concrete. He helpfully suggested some alternatives when I told him I was thinking of epoxying the floor as some car enthusiasts have done. A neighbour two doors over told me they redid their slab a decade or two ago and it cracked within a couple of weeks because their contractor used poor concrete and didn't make cuts in the slab to allow for shifting weights. So far, my slab is looking great! Will definitely call Alex again in the spring for a quote on a concrete patio in the back. Only complaint was that the dumpster company he subcontracted out to claimed he never called for pickup, although I was standing next to him as he made a call. Not sure who to blame there. I wouldn't ordinarily have minded the few extra days but we were having people over and I needed the driveway space, so it was a bit annoying but no great problem.

We wanted to start demolishing our old kitchen (countertops, vinyl flooring, linoleum underneath, plywood undelayment). I foolishly didn't quite plan ahead and wound up calling Mr. O'Leary to rent a dumpster on a long-weekend Saturday afternoon. Mr. O'Leary's communication was excellent and his price very reasonable. He managed to get us the dumpster on the long-weekend Monday and, although the contract was for 5 days' rental, let us keep it for an extra couple of days since it wasn't booked; we finished ripping up the flooring and were happy to have it gone. Would definitely use again next time we need a dumpster, and would most certainly recommend to anyone else.

My newlywed wife and I moved out of my father's house last week, and we selected Arby Cartage for our moving needs based on their excellent reviews here on HomeStars. The movers showed up promptly at 9 AM, as they said they would, and managed to cram our furniture and stuff (queen bed, large queen pull-out couch, dresser, bookshelves, BBQ, two bikes, two office chairs, and many, many boxes) into their white cube truck with excellent speed. We were done at the house in only an hour and a half, ahead of even my most optimistic schedule. The bed and pull-out couch were my biggest concerns but our two movers handled them with aplomb. Heading out to our house in Etobicoke, I suggested they take the road I usually took but they stuck to the 401 as their GPS suggested; my wife and I arrived first but not by much; it's best to arrive first anyways; we had a chance to make sure the house was ready to receive them (it had snowed the night before) and in any case I preferred that the movers take a familiar route rather than possibly getting lost on my verbal instructions. Once they arrived shortly after we did, everything was unloaded quickly; they even managed to get the enormous pull-out couch down our staircase and into the basement. We were done in about 3.5 hours; the minimum charge is for 4 hours but the price was exceedingly reasonable -- we had the minimum number of people (2) and I think the smallest truck. Would definitely use to move again.