Built By Pros

The team at Built By Pros comes precisely as advertised. They are consummate professionals who take great pride in doing a great job and ensuring customer comfort, peace of mind and satisfaction. I have lived in my home for 10 years. Several upgrades have been required along the way. Unfortunately, a difficult previous experience with another contractor made me wary about proceeding with the work I needed done. On the recommendation of a good friend I hired Built By Pros with an assurance that this company employed a different and effective design and construction strategy.

From the initial consultation in my home, Suzanne and Ricardo demonstrated a genuine interest in helping me achieve my renovation goals. Their in-house interior designer Petra gave my vision form with vivid renderings. She provided me with attractive available options within my budget for fixtures and finishes. This helped me visualize and anticipate the end product that would make my home what I wanted it to be. Their on-site crew and sub-trades were punctual, clean and took measures to ensure that the work was done with little disruption to my workspace. Suzanne always made time to answer any questions I had along the way. Ricardo regularly attended on site to ensure the process remained smooth and on schedule. After 10 years of hesitance to improve my most valuable investment, for fear of hiring the wrong people, I am happy to say that I have found the right ones in Built By Pros.

We worked with Built By Pros for a comprehensive renovation, including an addition. We were very happy with both the process and final product. Suzanne, Ricardo and the team were excellent communicators, always taking the time to answer our questions, address concerns and explain technical aspects. Suzanne's background in design helped us modify/improve our original plans and the trades were easy to work with. The team worked steadily and we were pleasantly surprised when our project was completed ahead of schedule. They were adaptable to challenges and changes, always maintaining a sense of composure and professionalism. We continue to highly recommended working with Built By Pros.

We purchased our first home together last spring and we knew upon purchase that the first order of business would be a large renovation. We were pretty nervous about it because neither of us had ever hired contractors for a large job and we knew that this renovation was the thing that would make the difference between us being happy in our new home, or hating it. We researched contractors for at least a month and met with at least 5 different companies. We really wanted the renovations to start immediately upon us taking possession of the house, so we wanted quotes prior to us having the house. We brought our top choices through the house on one of our ‘inspection’ visits to the home. Built By Pros was by far the most co-operative company that we contacted. They had us come out to their office to go over everything and then they also came to the house for one of our inspection visits. Out of the companies that actually came out and saw the house and gave us quotes, we felt that Built By Pros was the most reasonable, the most professional, and the most understanding of what we were looking for. We felt very comfortable with Suzanne and Ricardo and we liked their proposal. They had us back to their office to go over all the fine details and come up with the final quote. We hired them before we even had possession of our home.

Suzanne and Ricardo are very responsive, they are great at keeping in touch and keeping the homeowners in the loop along the way. They got started as soon as possible and had a reasonable timeline for the work that we needed.
Our home needed:
- a full gut of the 2nd floor, our new master suite area (including moving/removing walls, plumbing, electrical, insulation, and adding a gas fireplace, flooring, a feature wall, a 5 piece master bathroom, and walk-in dream closet complete with make-up vanity)
- adding HVAC to about a 3rd of the home that previously had no HVAC run to it, and adding an air conditioner
- spray foam insulation of garage ceiling and around all the new HVAC running through the garage to heat & cool our 2nd floor
- gut and then frame/insulate/re-drywall/finish our very large front foyer (which the previous owners added as an addition and we discovered had zero insulation!)
- fully insulate our 2 attics
- a full gut of one half of our basement, including removing/sealing up an old window, removing all the exterior walls and adding insulation/drywall, adding new flooring, a full wet bar with custom cabinetry and built in appliances, adding electrical and plumbing)
- waterproofing our basement from the exterior

There are a million more details I could add about the work that was done, but really, they transformed our home from a place I would never live into the home where we will raise our children!

Their team was fantastic. We absolutely fell in love with the guys who we saw every day… they were there from when we moved in almost every day until mid-winter… the house felt so empty without them when they were gone!! They felt like family! (Will, Mau, Marco, Bastian, and the team… cookies for you anytime you want to stop by!)

The guys were truly helpful in every way. Always willing to help us out and always sought out clarification from one of us if they weren’t sure of something.

Suzanne and Ricardo remained always responsive throughout the project, and helped guide us through decisions we weren’t sure how to make. I can’t tell you how many times we were messaging them from stores…sending pictures and asking for opinions!! Our house wouldn’t look right without their help!!

We also appreciated Suzanne always sketching everything out for us; it helped us all to visualize the final product and to feel comfortable that we were all on the same page.

The team was very thorough throughout the project and in completing all the little things at the end that we pointed out were missing and/or not quite finished (as promised), and the payment schedule was as discussed and they were always willing to clarify any questions we had and/or go over anything we didn’t understand.

We did learn a few things about budget (being our first large reno), and that is to be very clear at the beginning regarding the scope/size/expectation of what you want. We ended up going well over our original quote, but that was partially due to numerous add-ons that we decided on throughout the project (added electrical items, added the attic insulation, the entire front foyer work, expansion of the waterproofing work due to water we found upon taking possession of the house, etc.) and partially due to some mis-communications between us at the initial proposal/quote phase (our basement wet-bar was much larger and more like a kitchen than what was budgeted for, and our taste in finishings was also higher than the budget…). I will say that Built By Pros will work very hard for you and with you to keep you on budget if your budget is strict, but we were more concerned about getting everything that we exactly wanted than we were about staying on budget (or time) for this project. We really appreciated them working with all of our changes and add-ons, we know it made the project much bigger and more time-consuming than they had planned for.

There were, of course, bumps along the road (as is expected with any large reno), we had some issues with getting the new HVAC to really work properly (they came back numerous times and had the mechanical engineer come back a few times to look into it), some issues with the electrical (they had the electrical work re-checked and in some cases fixed by a 2nd master electrician), and a few other little things, but they always responded to our concerns and fixed them as soon as possible.

We keep in touch with Suzanne and Ricardo; they have helped us with numerous recommendations since our project ended and they have come back to help us when we had further waterproofing concerns. We very much feel like they actually care about us, the quality of their work, and ensuring that we are happy. We have a few jobs right now that we are just waiting for them to quote on, and another, much larger one that we really hope to be able to proceed with in the future, and I highly doubt that we would want (or trust) anyone else in our home!

Our basement was the last part of our house that had to be renovated and we had been avoiding it because it was such a big job.

Built by Pro's spent the time to investigate exactly what we needed to do and provided us with a detailed project plan and budget.

They delivered the project on time, on budget and it transformed our basement into a dingy dungeon into a bright, clean and dry family rec room.

Their work team was polite, as unobtrusive as they could be and very hard working. Highly recommend this company for any renovation work.

We had our farm kitchen renovated. The renovations were extensive, with a new laundry room and back entrance also included to this century old home.
The results were amazing! We couldn't be happier!

We had interviewed two other contrators, and eventually we signed on with "Built By Pros" because they made us feel very confortable. Ricardo and Susan presented themself, with a high sense of profesionalism, listened to our needs and wants, gave us their input as they walked us through step by step.
At the end they presented us with a proposal that fitted our buget and we got what we wanted.
The work was completed within the time promised.
Many thanks to Ricardo and Susan
A job well done

My wife and I had never before explored extensive home renovations and were very concerned about finding the right contractor. If you also find yourself leery of the industry and don't want to be taken advantage of, then look no further! Built By Pros introduced themselves to us at the GTA Home Show last year and we never looked back. With Suzanne's design and project oversight, as well as Ricardo's wonderful team of workers and craftsmen, we couldn't have imagined going through this with anyone else.
Our main floor from front to back was completed in 8 weeks flat, on time and on budget, with outstanding results. Our dream kitchen is finally a reality, along with all the other nice-to-haves we always wanted. Having lights and outlets just where you want them, or modifications you didn't think were possible are all in a day's work for Built By Pros.
Suzanne proactively pointed out other design elements we had not considered, which is exactly the kind of advice we had hoped for. With her skills, there was no need to pay thousands to some other designer.
Ricardo expertly coordinated his tradesmen to ensure that the right work was being done in the right order, quickly and efficiently. Even our neighbours were impressed by the steady stream of progress. The workers we met during the renovation were so down to earth, professional and courteous we almost missed seeing them every day as the work drew to a close.
Every renovation is different and will surface its own sorts of problems. The differentiator is how the issues and customer concerns are addressed. Suzanne and Ricardo were constantly on top of all our issues, and encouraged open communication via group chat. Even after the renovation was complete, they both came back to the house to tidy up any loose ends and make sure my wife and I were completely satisfied.
Suzanne and Ricardo from Built By Pros aren't in this for a quick buck, they are in this to showcase their high quality work, foster long term relationships and earn future referral business.

The professional team at Built By Pros came in to repair/replace/clean up and complete a very messy/unprofessional/unfinished home renovation project from a unreliable contractor that I had previously hired. It was a reno nightmare! Prior contractor butchered my home and left without finishing the work at a very high cost to me. I was so grateful when Suzanne and Ricardo took the time out of their busy schedule and came to the rescue - they are great people to deal with as well as their skilled, friendly, clean and professional work team. They understood my uneasiness of trusting a contractor . . . they understood what I wanted, what was required and eager to help with the issues at hand. I was happy with the payment schedules. They made the uneasiness go away. They took time in explaining each step of the renos and their work. They knew what was needed, as well as going over any issues/concerns that they had or I had and correcting them immediately. I am very pleased with the finished project - I finally have half my home back - and am eager to have them back in January to complete the main floor of my house. I would definitely recommend them highly on the great job they did! Built By Pros are true home renovators that can be trusted!
Anna

Working with Ricardo and Suzanne was a breeze. We completely gutted our living room and Dining room, taking out a support wall and making our main living space more open and bright. This project was done completely on budget and on time! All the tradesmen that worked on various parts of the project were not only courteous and polite, but also professional and amazing at their jobs! I am so happy with my new living space as it has added so much light throughout my house! My new stairs and hardwood floors and fireplace are SO BEAUTIFUL, I still cant believe it is my house! I would recommend (and already have recommended) Built by Pros to anyone looking to do a major home renovation!

Suzanne, Ricardo and their team were professional, friendly and competent. We moved out for 3 months and the job was done on time and on budget. Issues were resolved in a satisfactory and timely manner. My kitchen is functional and beautiful. I have lights everywhere to showcase the "new" house. Overall, a job well done!