Canadian Property Care

When hiring a new contractor for a big job, if you do enough due diligence, things will usually work out for the best. However, there is always the possibility that something outside the contractor’s control could go very, very wrong. This is the REAL test of picking the right company, and I wanted to share with you our amazing experience with Canadian Property Care (CPC).

This spring, we desperately needed to build two walls of property fence between our two neighbors. We were wary of contractors that refused to tell us where they sourced their wood from or would refuse to commit to their pricing for a reasonable stretch of time.

In our first dealings with Canadian Property Care, they were quick to volunteer the brand of materials from the start, they outlined the process they follow when working with a customer, and they gave assurances that once we sign and honor a quote, securing that price is their responsibility. They were also able to provide a start-date and anticipated end-date in the contract. CPC did have a standard deposit requirement with the contract, but our neighbors shared our confidence, and we moved ahead.

After the quote was written, we had a week to sign off on it so we could get a contract taken care of. There was no unusual pressure to get the quote signed faster than indicated. Through this time, I occasionally called and emailed CPC with questions as they came up about our fence and the deck we have plans for. I was very impressed that if they didn’t answer their phone, they would always call me back. They also responded to emails during the evening.

As part of my due diligence, I also checked out CPC’s Facebook and Instagram posts, and it was very reassuring to see their projects being posted as they were being completed.

Our build happened in April, lumber prices have been on the rise, and demand for construction services are very high. We were pleasantly surprised that CPC could get started on our fence within a matter of weeks after the quote. With everything going on with lock-downs and so on, we expected the date to move. In our case, Canadian Property Care was able to send a crew to get started a day earlier than expected.

Our fence is 6’ tall, and each post was dug to 38” by hand as they planned. I checked the work, and everything was honored. I also checked the wood labeling and was able to confirm all the materials were exactly as promised.

Their crews have been extremely reliable. They arrived between 8AM and 9AM each morning and worked right through to the end of the day. This was not a case of them doing bits and pieces and moving between properties before the job was complete.

April has been a strange month in Ontario, and we had some snow flurries. We thought their schedule would slip, but the weather did not slow them down at all. Their whole team was a well-oiled fence building machine, and they all looked as though they enjoy the work.

After construction, the neighbors were happy with the quality of the fence construction. However, there was something about the wood that did not look right. The pressure treatment was uneven, and it left everyone feeling a bit uncomfortable. We were also missing a middle rail for the fence’s framing.

I emailed CPC that night with pictures of the fences. I didn’t criticize the wood; I just asked if this is normal and if it would look more balanced once the pressure treated wood had the opportunity to dry more.

Canadian Property Care called me the next morning. First, the rail was getting added to all the fences at no extra cost to us. Next, they told me that they were at the lumber yard complaining about the wood and that it really didn’t look the way it should. Our first conclusion was that the wood was saturated in treatment and it would balance out after some time. CPC offered to stain the wood at no extra cost to us later in the summer.

We would have been OK with the staining option, and I sent them more fence pictures for stain color matching. The next morning, Canadian Property Care called me to tell me they were taking the fences down. CPC was so dissatisfied with the way the fences looked with the saturated wood, that they arranged to have it all replaced under warranty with new wood so that it looks great from the start.

Our second new fence looks amazing, and all my neighbors are happy that we chose Canadian Property Care over the other options available to us.

We researched several contractors before finalizing on Canadian Property Care. Their pricing was competitive, they answered questions the way we expected a qualified contractor to answer them, and most importantly, they took great pride in their work through the whole process. They were their customer’s champion.

Our next project is going to be a deck. That is also going to be an adventure during these pandemic times, and I’m looking forward to sharing our results once it’s complete.

I’ve shared pictures of our old fence, our first new fence with the defective wood, and the final fence that Canadian Property Care built for us. We are very pleased all around!