Robert in Etobicoke

I needed to have a whole home surge protector installed to protect some sensitive electronic equipment, and Direct Electric was the right choice. Ali called me the same day I submitted the quote request (everyone else ignored me) and was here right on time on the day we agreed on. It turned out to be a trickier job than originally anticipated: we have two breaker boxes so he first had to identify which was the primary, and it's a very old (40 years+) box, with little space to insall it. After moving some breakers around and cutting a space in the wall, he experly installed it in about 90 minutes, and it's working just fine. He obviously knows what he's doing and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. The final cost was a bit more than I expected but that was largely the result of increased materials prices.

The fan on our central air conditioner condenser had stopped working and the unit just hummed and got hot when turned on. I called Climax around 9 a.m. and Sam was there by 11. He quickly identified the problem as a bad capacitor and had it running within ten minutes. He also checked the basement unit to make sure everything was OK there as well. Very happy with the quality and professionalism of their service.

I was very pleased with the service provided by Valentin and his crew in installing a new backflow valve and three faucets. Val explained the issues with respect to the valve very clearly (for example, why it would be difficult to install it inside the house) and his crew did an excellent job excavating and restoring the site (which involved removing and replacing a mature 5 foot tall fir tree). The three taps were more routine but Val offered some addtional advice and service at no extra cost. For example, I mentioned we were about to have a dishwasher installed and he pointed out that we didn't have the right sort of connection. So he installed the correct valve free of charge! He also adjusted two of our toilets that run constantly, again at no charge. I have used a number of other plumbers in my 30 yeasr of home ownership and Strong Plumbing is far and away the best.

If you need an appliance repaired, Joe Corrado, The Appliance Guy, is your man. Joe managed to fix our fridge for a reasonable price in no time flat after repairing the damage my botched efforts had done. The bottom freezer drawer had been leaking water and icing up for some time. By the time I finally called Joe I had already made an ill-advised attempt to fix it myself, removing the complicated drawer assembly (a process that the manufacturer tries to make as difficult as possible for the DYI enthusiast foolhardy enough to attempt it), and finding nothing that remotely resembled the YouTube videos, I put it back together (badly), after much swearing and some minor surgery on the drawer rails with a hacksaw to make them fit back onto the tracks. A few screws were left over, which is always a bad sign, and the drawer wobbled and creaked alarmingly. Joe arrived right on time. I explained what was wrong. He took one look at the drawer slide and shook his head. “You’ve got a problem.” (This was the part in the reality TV show where the owner is about to hear the bad news just as they break for commercial.) “The rivets are gone.” And so they were. Where there should have been rivets were bleak empty holes. In my enthusiasm to remove the drawer (unnecessary, said Joe; he usually leaves it in place) I had apparently wrecked the whole thing. And one of the spring loaded catches in the back was DOA. It looked bad. Without a working drawer, the freezer was useless. But wait. With patience and skill Joe made a few small adjustments here and some careful calibrations there (who knew that drawer wheels had to be calibrated?) and in a few minutes had it working better than new. It now closed with a satisfying thunk and the gap between the gasket and the door had disappeared. Now having put my botched efforts right, Joe got to work on fixing the actual problem, which involved removing the back panel and snaking a steam hose (using a tool Joe made himself) into the outlet drain that had clogged. He reassembled everything flawlessly, and it now works fine, no more ice and no more leaks. Joe is a good teacher. (Check out his YouTube video on Homestars U: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGEcvUzutMA . Wish all the YouTube videos were this helpful.) With cheerful good humour, he carefully explains what he’s doing and why and he obviously knows everything there is to know about appliances. He’s a first class repairman. My wife has him on speed dial and I now understand why. Highly recommended.

One Saturday a few weeks ago I was on the garage roof cleaning the eaves-troughs and to my surprise came face to face with a large and not very happy raccoon. When he scurried away I found that he had started tearing up shingles, and he'd also been using our side garden and garden shed roof as his personal washroom, Although I hadn't seen any evidence that he had penetrated the roof into the attic I call AAA Gates to be sure. I wasn't home but my wife reported that Chris the technician arrived right on time and was extremely competent and knowledgeable, He screened off possible entry points, including the chimneys, pruned away overhanging branches from our 3 oak trees that gave the raccoon a jumping off point and even repaired a fallen downspout that Mr. R had pulled down trying to climb higher and which I had unsuccessfully tried to fix myself He also gave some good advice about how to discourage our furry guest in the future. When I got home that evening I inspected the work and was satisfied that Chris had done an excellent job. Highly recommended.

Two years ago we contacted Debbi to advise us on redecorating our aging and dated suburban house. We hadn't bought new furniture in 20 years and all our walls were boring off white. She was referred to us by a well known home service club to which we subscribe. We were initially impressed by her apparent knowledge of decorating principles and we were quite interested in the service she offered of producing computer assisted renderings of each room that would show how the chosen design would look in 3 dimensions. Her initial report made some recommendations which while a little vague seemed sensible enough so we went ahead, paying over $1400 for what was supposed to be a complete set of designs and renderings six rooms. What a mistake. After we finally gave up dealing with her after over a year, she had only produced two partial renderings, which took months. The designs were impractical and flashy and seemed to have little to do with our lifestyle. She refused to give any refunds despite the fact that the work was incomplete and unsatisfactory. Her design recommendations also seemed haphazard. She had initially recommended a gray field colour for the walls and we met with her carpet supplier to choose matching carpets for the living room and dining room and stairs. We later had second thoughts about the gray field colour, which seemed somewhat cold, so she recommended a completely different field colour, a sort of greenish beige. This seemed warmer so we went with it. Unfortunately she neglected to change the colour of the carpet and the result was discordant and unpleasing. She does appear to have a large network of suppliers but with one exception they were not especially competent. The carpet installer (one rather unhealthy looking overworked fellow for two very large rooms and two staircases) badly damaged the new paint job and did an indifferent job on the stairs that had to be partly redone. (To her credit Debbi did ensure that these deficiencies were rectified.) The paint job was spotty with wavy cut lines and gaps and "painters' holidays" everywhere. On her recommendation we also had new windows and doors installed. While the quality of the windows was fine, the installation was less than professional, with many badly joined mitred corners and gaps in some of the door frames. The one exception was her kitchen cabinet installer, who did a superb job of building and installing a new matching cabinet. The problem there was that Debbi insisted that it be placed near the door to the kitchen, disrupting traffic flow and sticking out like a sore thumb. We finally had to hire the installer to move it to a more sensible place at an additional cost to us of $500, which of course Debbi refused to absorb because we had "changed out minds" after she had dismissed our concerns about the placement of the cabinet because we and our friends were not "design professionals" and so could not comment on such things. Altogether our experience with Debbi was less than "magick", except for the magical disappearance of our money with little to show for it.

The tempered glass window on our double kitchen door off our deck had crazed and was about to shatter so it had to be replaced. It was at least 20 years old and had a decorative insert so I had little hope of replacing it with a matching piece. Just when I had resigned myself to replacing the whole door ($5000+) I checked the manufacturer on the inside frame -- it said Loewen MB. So I called Loewen Windows in Oakville and asked if there was any chance they could replace it. The clerk asked for my address and amazingly, within minutes, he retrieved the original receipt from 1993, described the dimensions and appearance exactly and quoted the price. $1380 seemed a bit high especially since they required an up front "deposit" of 85% but I decided to go ahead. About 4 weeks later the window arrived and their installer Pierre agreed to install it on a Saturday morning even though their installers do not usually work weekends. Pierre was amazing. I assumed he would have to splinter the trim to remove the old window, but no, he very carefully and skilfully eased it away from the frame perfectly intact. He meticulously cleaned the bed before inserting the new window, which fit perfectly and was a perfect match to the other window. The job took a few hours but it was well worth it. He cleaned up the mess and was on his way. It's always a pleasure to see a skilled craftsman at work and that's Pierre. Some people may find his manner a bit too familiar but I think he's just a friendly and gregarious Quebecois who enjoys his work and likes people. A job well done and I'd recommend the company to anyone.

The two Joes from Solutions did a very good job on several basic but important electrical jobs--they were fast, efficient, clean and courteous. We needed to have a large hanging fixture installed over a spiral staircase. Although probably not challenging to an experienced electrician this was beyond my basic handyman skills, especially since it involved getting access to a fixture that was about 15 feet above the nearest stair tread. (It had been sitting in its box on the landing for the last 3 months.) The fixture was also quite delicate -- made up of various shells and crystals -- and they were very careful not to damage it. They also fixed four outside potlights that had never worked. Two were about 40 feet off the ground. One of the potlights in our family room also didn't work. I have been trying for years to get this out of the ceiling with no success. Joe senior figured it out in about 30 seconds. Although he didn't have the part to fix it he told me how I could fix it myself, which to my surprise I did. They also installed a smaller overhead fixture. This was something I could have done with some sweat and cursing but Joe junior did the job with no fuss in about 10 minutes. All in all, they did a great job on 4 small projects for a reasonable price and I'd have no hestitation having them back or recommending them to a friend.

I had Cozy World convert our electric heat pump system to natural gas, with a new tankless hot water heater in September 2009. It has worked flawlessly ever since. Boris and his crew were very knowledgable, efficient and honest. Boris answered all my questions quickly and completely, knew exactly what the job required and completed a difficult installation that required a complicated conversion, drilling through brick and new ductwork in about a day. His workman carefully explained the operation of the new system and gave a number of useful tips. My only complaint was that the drilling generated a huge amount of brick and cinderblock dust in a coldroom that we use to store canned goods; these were not covered properly and the dust was not cleaned up. My wife was not happy (nor was I when I had the task of cleaning it up!) However, in all this was a very positive experience and I would recommend Boris and his crew without reservation.