When my wife and I decided to renovate our den/home office/guest bedroom in our central Toronto condominium apartment we first gave a lot of thought to what we wanted to achieve and decided on a built-in unit with an L shaped corner desk, shelving for some of my publisher wife's many books, an entertainment section for the TV, VCR, DVD player and accessories, drawers to store clothing when the room was used as a guest bedroom and for things we wanted to store out of sight at other times, and a large filing drawer. We then, on our own, drew up a detailed "to scale" design for the structure. As our next step we consulted the HomeStars website, where we found the customer reviews very helpful. We interviewed four of the seemingly most highly recommended millwork companies and, very fortunately for us, decided on NIICO Millwork Group Ltd.
Vladimir, one of NIICO's project designers, came to our home and spent considerable time hearing what we wanted, reviewing our drawings, confirming our measurements and recommending materials. Using computer assisted design, he suggested very important improvements to our plans and then produced very detailed and exact 3D drawings of the unit. Shortly thereafter, we went to the NIICO showroom where Vladimir helped us make the final selection of materials, colors and accessories. A cost estimate was comparable to the other estimates we had received and, we felt, very fair.
Our unit was built in a timely way and within the time frame we had agreed to. Ryan, the installer, came to our apartment with the unit in sections and spent 3 days very meticulously assembling everything beautifully. He then returned a few days later to apply the few finishing touches. The accompanying "Before" and "After" photos show why we are so happy with the result.
My wife and I, who are perfectionists and incredibly fussy, can't say enough good things about our NIICO experience. Vladimir, our designer, was extremely intelligent, professional and helpful and a very nice person to boot. Ryan, our installer, was also a very personable young man and, like us, a perfectionist. He did everything as though he was working on his own home. Phil, the project scheduler, was also very pleasant and helpful as was Tanya, an office administrator.
This spring we are going to start planning an improvement to our living room and will definitely take the project to NIICO!
The "Before" and "After" photos are below.
Dr Clements