Becky on Bowen

I contracted with Hamza weeks in advance, for noon on June 10, and paid $99 deposit. He specifically said they would come at my convenience. The day before the move Hamza texted and asked to come 4 hours early, at 8:00AM. I responded immediately and said no, my wife has a chronic illness and needs her sleep. I offered to let them come at 10AM. He ghosted me for 6 hours. I texted multiple times and called him 3 times over 6 hours and he finally picked up in the evening and said he could do 10AM. Then he sent the movers at 8AM anyway. They woke us both up , I was asleep and at first said I'd try to be ready by 9AM, but then realized that wouldn't work and texted Hamza saying tell them not to come until 10. He ghosted me. I texted and called MANY times. Nothing. (But both times the mover texted him he responded right away.... Hmmm...) The movers came at 9AM. The movers were GREAT. Alp (the head mover on my team) was a WIZARD at fitting everything in. He packed my 20 foot shipping container all the way to the ceiling, all the way back. There was hardly any air space in the container. I was INCREDIBLY grateful for his packing skills because otherwise a lot of my stuff would not have made it into the container. He was kind, polite, efficient, and incredibly talented. In short... Owner: Zero stars out of 10. Packers: 10 stars out of 10. So: if you don't care when they come, it's a good deal and talented packers. If you want decent communication and want the movers to come when promised, look elsewhere.

I got two sets of solid oak exterior French doors. Michael was great to work with. The doors are gorgeous and close with a very satisfying sound. I can't describe it other than to say lovely. And classy. And real. I had replaced old doors with cheap doors from another company. Those doors were ugly, you had to slam them to close them, and they smelled: two years after the installation I still smelled toxic chemicals leaching out of them. So I replaced them with real, solid oak doors from Traditional Door Design. I can't tell you how much I wish I'd gone with Traditional to begin with!! The doors are high quality and beautiful. The installation was professional. Michael even gave me a bit of extra trim (not normally included) to go beneath the outer threshold to dress up the final look, at no extra charge. I also REALLY appreciate how seriously Michael and the installer took my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity medical condition: They let me supply my own caulk, and verified all ingredients of the doors to make sure nothing would make me sick. My only (minor) frustration in the entire process was how long it took to go from first contact (winter) to finalizing the order (spring) to installation (summer). But to be fair, everything in the world was slowed down by the COVID pandemic. And if a little waiting is the biggest frustration I have with a contractor, that is a HUGE success!! The doors were well worth the wait! Save yourself a lot of heartache and START with Traditional Door Design instead of wasting your time and money on cheap, cheesy doors first!

I had two sets of French doors and two vinyl windows installed in a bedroom and study in October 2019. I waited nearly a year to review these doors and windows just to be sure they are really as bad as I thought they were. Sadly, they are. Just awful. I have never left a scathing review on HomeStars before, but I feel I must warn people. The installation was fine. But the doors and windows they choose to sell and install are extremely poor quality. I desperately want my old doors back but they are of course gone forever, so now I’m saving money for new doors to replace these. First: the windows: They REEK of new vinyl smell. I have had other vinyl windows (different brand, different company) before and they were fine within a few days. But these still reeked of vinyl 9 months after installation. I left a window cracked and a fan blowing out all winter (and couldn’t use the rooms!) hoping they would air out, but they never did. After 9 months I found a product (from AFM Safecoat) that sealed in the vinyl smell so that I’m not hit in the face by that smell every time I walk into the room. Sadly, when the vinyl smell was gone, I could smell the (probably formaldehyde?) smell from whatever the “metal” doors are made of. I stupidly assumed that metal doors were made of metal. Nope. They are made of some sort of composite wood or foam or something smelly/toxic sandwiched between a sheet of metal on each side. And whatever that inner material is, it still smells strongly like unfinished plywood a year after installation. I air out the room every day (I have an industrial fan for that purpose) but each morning when you walk in it smells like plywood in there. Even my smell-impaired friend (who isn’t bothered by his cat’s litter box in his bedroom closet!) recently commented that it smelled “like a wood shop” in that room when he walked in. I tried putting many coats of the same sealant I used on the windows on the doors, but the toxic stuff is inside where I can’t get to it, and the chemical smell persists. I have Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and cannot use the study at all. My wife is not chemically sensitive, but she notices the smell every time she enters the room and wonders what she is breathing all day in there. One set of doors is in the bedroom, and I slept in the basement for 2 months after installation (leaving the windows open and fan on to air out) but the smells never went away. Finally, in desperation (tired of sleeping in the laundry room!), I built a wall down the middle of the bedroom, and installed a ventilation fan (essentially a dryer vent with an outgoing fan constantly blowing) in the part of the room where the toxic doors are, and now I can sleep in my bed again. But 1/3 of the bedroom is now walled off and useless. The company was not able to offer any resolution, and refused to even discount me the profit they made on the project. I wasn’t asking for a full refund of my $8,000. I just wanted them to give me back whatever profit (mark-up) they made so that I would have a small discount on the next doors I have to buy to replace these. Nope. They just kept saying they were “very happy” with the quality of the doors and windows they sell. Oh, speaking of the windows: the bar that links the crank to the casement window fell off one window the very first time I opened it. The screws had been stripped at the factory. To their credit, the installer came out the next day and fixed that. Then the crank on that same window broke off a few months later. They fixed that too. But I’m telling you, these windows and doors are garbage. The door threshold is made of flimsy vinyl and bends whenever I step on it. I assume that will crack soon. The doors have a weird vinyl insert (holding the glass portions of the door) that sticks out a full inch from the surface of the door. This design meant that the lever handle I had chosen could not be used without skinning my knuckles. I had to pay extra to buy a different handle that could accommodate the weird protruding trim. The installers are fine. But the products they sell are terrible. If you use air fresheners you won’t notice the lingering smell (though you’ll still be breathing those toxic fumes!), but if you live in a scent-free home, you will still smell the vinyl and/or plywood-like smell a year after installation.

Pete was great. I have an obscure dishwasher with an obscure/weird problem, and he stuck with it until he figured it out. He had to order several parts to troubleshoot it, and even tho I'd agreed to pay for them beforehand, he only charged me for the one he ended up needing. He also under-charged me for the labour time he actually spent. He was conscientious, kind, pleasant, and more than fair. I will definitely call him next time an appliance breaks down. Highly recommended.

We had all the knob and tube wiring replaced in our 1920s home. Victor and his helper were great! I liked that they charge by the hour, which meant that I could decide exactly what I wanted done. While they were here anyway I had them add many extra electrical outlets and light fixtures--something that would not have been included in other contractors' estimates. He could give me a rough estimate of how long the additional task might take, and then I could decide whether I wanted to have him do it--the flexibility was very nice. I got lots of sensible stuff done while he was here, for far less than it would have cost to have another electrician come back later to do them. Victor is delightful--polite, considerate, pleasant--which made it much easier to have workmen in the house for several days than it would have been with most companies. They were prompt and efficient, working long days, barely taking time for a quick lunch. They came when promised and kept working until the job was done. I have recommended them to friends and have had them back several times for small jobs. Years later, when replacing a light fixture, I discovered that when Victor replaced the wiring he forgot to change one box over from the old knob and tube style to the modern style--perfectly safe, but it makes it hard to install the new light fixture. When I called him about it (remember, this was YEARS later!) he came within a few days and made the switch and didn't charge me anything! Highly recommended!!! --Becky in East York

This is the second project I've hired Douglas for. He did a great job jacking up and re-shimming the beam under an addition that had not been properly shimmed (from before I owned my house). He was knowledgeable, professional, and pleasant to work with, so I hired him to build my deck. He quoted me an extremely reasonable price and did a meticulous job. He really takes pride in his work: everything was beautifully level, and meticulously measured and cut. Lovely work. He was professional and cheerful (even when running into unexpected extra work, like having to break out some old concrete blocks in the way). When my vision and his differed, he was willing to do it my way. He's a really nice guy, which matters if someone is going to be in your home for a while. And he's a police officer who does these projects on his days off, so there's some peace of mind there, too. He was lovely to work with, from start to finish. I am going to need some ceramic tile work done soon, and I will definitely call Douglas first! I confess I actually hesitated before suggesting I review him on Homestars.ca because once he gets better known, he might be too busy to take on my projects! --Becky in East York

Andy and Steve are the best! My 1920s home had no soffit venting. It was a small but complicated job: remove a section of old aluminum siding under a roof overhang, drill venting holes into attic, then replace old solid siding with vented soffit siding. They came for a free estimate and took down part of the old soffit siding to see what had to be done, then drilled pilot holes (at my request) to be sure the holes they planned to drill would get air into the attic properly, then put it all back together perfectly. The free estimate took them over a half hour--maybe 45 minutes. They were helpful, informative, and cheerful. Their estimate was very reasonable, and once I called to set it up, they arranged to come the following week, and came when they said they would come. They were thorough, tidy, and professional. They matched the existing siding colour well. They even helped me lift some heavy stuff into my truck that I needed to return to Home Depot, and when it became clear the 16 foot lumber could not hang out of the back of my truck like that, they even threw the lumber on their truck and drove it to the Home Depot parking lot for me!! I'm telling you, these guys are NICE!! A pleasure to work with. If there were a rating higher than 10, I'd give it to them.