Grand Building And Contracting

We retained Grand Building and Contracting to conduct a complete gut/renovation of our semi-detached house. Our house was built in 1929, and had very little work done to it (IE there was no insulation). It was a challenging project, and we interviewed many contractors and design/build companies. Grand stood out right away from the first meeting. They came in, listened to what we wanted, got an idea of our budget and came back to us with a well laid out, itemized budget/plan. Right from the start they took us seriously and understood how important this project was for us. We underpinned the basement (unfinished) and gutted/renovated the main/second floor, which included opening up the floor plan, and moving our staircases. We had never done any kind of serious renovation before and really had no idea what to expect.

We really lucked out with Grand. We dealt with Adam primarily, who guided us through each step of the renovation process in a respectful manner, didn’t talk down to us and explained everything that needed to be done. Extra work was required along the way (which was to be expected given the complexities of the old house especially with the underpinning), and Adam advised us ahead of time what extra work was required, the reasons why, and the costs associated. When they ran into problems (which there were many), Adam always figured out a solution, keeping our needs (and most importantly our budget) in mind. Adam was extremely responsive, upfront and easy to deal with. We never worried about checking up on him or the project, as Adam would keep us up to date and it was evident that work was being completed when we were able to visit the site - we never felt the need to “check up” on them. Their vendors and trades were very friendly and great to deal with as well. Grand was great with our neighbours, which was really important because it was a small site and dealt with any of their issues in a prompt and polite manner. They also established a great relationship with the City Inspector. The project ran longer than anticipated, but again, noting the age of the house and the issues encountered along the way, this was to be expected. Adam did a great job of managing our expectations, keeping us on budget, keeping us informed and helping us when we got stuck making decisions. When Adam wasn’t available, either Jason or Alex were available if we needed them.

Grand Building and Contracting turned our house from a cold, drafty place that was not very functional into a warm, safe (up to code!), and open space that is truly a pleasure to live in. We really lucked out with Grand Building, because as I said, we really didn’t know what we were getting into, and in this case it felt like we were family in that I always felt confident that Grand had our best interests in mind. I can’t recommend them enough and intend to use them again for further projects in the future.