BH in Toronto

Larry and his team helped us renovate our basement family room - they did a really great job and his team were outstanding. The work included removing a structural column and installing LVL beams, new drywalling, new lighting, new flooring and trim, new doors, and painting. Larry is very good at keeping his trades coming in right after each other so the project doesn't lose momentum and finishes as fast as possible. His team always cleaned up after themselves and their work is detailed and high quality. Larry kept us to date on progress and timing, and he was helpful in suggesting approaches that were budget conscious. This was our second time working with Larry after a much larger reno on our upstairs' floors. He is the best contractor we've worked with and I highly recommend working with him.

Top marks to Avanti! After being ghosted by several other companies who spent time to give me quotes but never followed up, Avanti always got back to me. We first met in Nov/Dec and planned towards a May work schedule - which happened as originally planned. Through that planning time, Adnan was very good about following up and working with us on design options. He was easy to work with and made good suggestions for us. The crew (led by the amazing Dmitri) were very impressive. They did the whole project in 4.5 days, everyday arriving early and regularly working to 5 or 6pm or even later to stay on schedule. They cleaned up the street and sidewalk very well every night and neighbours commented on how responsible they were. We have received many compliments and are very happy with how it all turned out.

We reached out the HIP to help us with a full renovation of our kitchen, our ensuite bathroom and many other facelifts around our home, including: new flooring throughout, new interior doors and trim, new potlights, new banisters, new ceiling beam cladding, painting (or wallpaper) throughout, plus a handful of other specialized items. After getting numerous quotes, I was most confident in their professionalism and response time. Their pricing was also fair and clear. We worked with Charlotte, who was very accommodating to our very specific requests on the kitchen design, and with project manager Larry who was a real taskmaster with the trades. They had estimated about 8 to 10 weeks to do the work, and they were on-site every day. Sometimes I would pop in on weekends and find trades getting detail work done to stay on schedule. Unfortunately, there was a mix-up with the floor company and the incorrect flooring was delivered (this was not HIPs fault at all) so it took an extra 4 weeks as we waited for the correct flooring to arrive, but Larry ensured that things moved as expeditiously as possible then. There were several items that came up during the process that I communicated I wanted to be done differently or to a higher standard, and they promptly addressed those issues to my satisfaction. Our new home looks great and I endorse them - many thanks to Larry, Charlotte and their colleagues.

Glen was very friendly and he was very efficient in getting a bunch of repairs done around the house. He fixed some broken drawers, electrical outlets, secured a wardrobe, reattached a door closer, and patched a wall. Very happy with his quick and good work. Recommended!

Dmitriy did an excellent job helping us plan out new laundry room cabinets for our recently completed laundry room in our basement. Because we have a low ceiling there, he was able to come up with a floor to ceiling plan that "hacked" some ikea pantry cabinets by cutting them down and combing doors meant for smaller shelves. His pricing was very reasonable and he was super quick in giving us the layout and available in short order to do the install.

We have just finished renovating two of our bathrooms and our basement laundry room and have been delighted working with Jeff of J. Roberts & Assoc. He and his team surpassed expectations, and made us happy customers. Our project included: total tear-down and remodelling of 4-piece bathroom, total tear-down and remodel of powder room, completing unfinished basement laundry room (dry wall, tiles, plumbing, electric, etc.). Elements of working with Jeff that we appreciated the most: - Schedule: Jeff gave us a week-by-week schedule and hit final deadlines, to the day -- essential as our infant and toddler children could not be in the house during renos but would be back by scheduled end-date. The team worked weekends and holidays when needed to stay on track. - Accessibility/presence: Jeff was extremely prompt in returning calls, emails, texts. He was present regularly to inspect and direct work and ensure quality control. - Commitment to quality: through the reno, some items (mostly small) would come up that were done by sub-trades that Jeff (and we) were not 100% satisfied with -- or other installation issues would become apparent later. He would ensure that everything was redone to a high standard even if it meant recalling folks and/or eating the cost on supplies himself. - Price/budget: Jeff gave a fair and competitive budget and stuck to it. We were extremely happy with the work, the team and especially the tight schedule and look forward to working with Jeff again.

Aaron was quite great in helping me remove a solar hot water tank from my basement. There were issues with how it was installed and he figured out workarounds. He is accessible and reliable in returning calls/emails, which is more than I can say for other solar trades in Toronto. I will be working with him again on the next part of this project later in the year.

We live in an older home in downtown Toronto. We were having issues with the strength of our AC this year - the system was working, but not it was very weak. I called in another company (one of the top-rated on Homestars) and their technician looked at our AC unit and furnace and did some measurements. He insisted the system was working just fine, and could not find anything wrong. A few days later I had another company come in (also top rated on Home Stars: AtlasCare). By this point, our coolant line had ice forming over it (which was a new symptom) and was in even worse shape. They were very pleasant and helpful. Clearly, something was wrong and they diagnosed the problem as insufficient air flow getting to our coil because of the unconventional (and not ideal) installation of the furnace and coil by the previous owner. They told me that I was at risk of a flood from the coil freezing over and that this problem was the reason for our poor AC performance. Their recommendation was a full replacement of the entire AC system and re-installation of a new coil into the furnace and change of airflow vents. This was a $5000-$6000 solution. I was worried about not having AC in the middle of a heat wave (we have an infant at home), so I almost said yes. But, I called in CoreTemp to give me a second opinion. In 5 minutes they diagnosed that, yes, we had an air flow problem but the solution was easily found by removing the filter from an old, legacy (and redundant) electrical filtration system that was totally dirty and thus blocking the return air. Once they took out these redundant (and grimy!) filters, air flow improved amazingly and our AC has never been stronger. It has been one week and system seems OK. We will see how it does in heavy heat. So far, looks like they saved me $5000. For the record, the first company that said everything was fine: I tried writing a mediocre review of them here on Homestars. They disputed the validity of the review and I could not prove it because I did not ask for a receipt/invoice. Lesson learned! Thanks CoreTemp for your quick help and not proposing a major expense!