Naomi @Van

Bought a few pairs of nitrile work gloves, and some siding tools (siding removal tool and siding tool punch) to fix the house siding after removal of a satellite dish. My fiance and I visit Summit Tools often because they have friendly staff (lots around if you have questions or need help) and we find that 70% of the time, tools are cheaper here than at places like Home Depot or Rona. They also carry a variety of tools - high-end DeWalts and Bosch caliber tools and lower-end cheap tools, so you have a choice depending on the project, and how often you think you'll be using it. Occasionally DeWalt or other brands set up a booth outside, showing their tools and offering promos.

(On sale from $120.) We found this little product at Busy Bee Tools. Great for our reno work, keeps our work area clean (esp when we are cutting flooring and baseboards, or sanding down drywall), and much more portable than our full-size garbage can system. Busy Bee was friendly and helpful.

We retiled kitchen, laundry, and bathroom in our condo (ourselves). Olympia Tile has a great showroom with tiles on display. They had some really great porcelain tiles on clearance for $1.40ea; we bought about 15 boxes, loaded right onto the truck. We were refunded for any broken tiles or chipped tiles.

We purchased 700 sq.ft. of laminate flooring for a condo project. Price was competitive and the product was available in a variety of colours. The staff were friendly. They let us do a partial pickup, which was extremely helpful because our little borrowed pickup couldn't fit it all; just marked down how many boxes were picked up on the receipt. Unopened boxes could be refunded.

The water pipe from the city valve into the house sprung a leak and created a water feature in our front yard. The dispatcher explained their rates and gave an approximate time for the service manager's arrival; he was very patient answering questions. The service manager looked at the site, the water regulator in the house, and explained the possible best and worst case scenarios, along with approximate costs, potential problems. He's not paid on commission for the service we choose, so his advice was candid and unbiased. Drainage guy arrived within 30 mins, dug a 3'x4'x3'deep hole to find a huge boulder on top of the leaky pipe! He dug around it as much as he could while waiting for a proper drill and tools to be sent over to split the boulder. After the boulder obstacle was removed, they epaired the leak without problem. Milani was very reasonable - Service was charged from the time the drainage guy arrived and began work - didn't include the service manager's time, nor the time waiting for the drill tools to arrive. Very professional attitudes and manner.