Rose in York

From beginning to end, Chris and his hard-working crew made us feel like we were getting our money's worth. Underpinning is a huge undertaking and a little nerve-wracking, but Chris was extremely clear in his explanations and made himself available by phone or email whenever we had questions or required clarification. CityWide took care of the engineers and permits for the job. Additionally, the crew were extremely hardworking and efficient. The workers had to hand dig the foundation since machines wouldn't fit through any of the openings to the basement - layers of concrete, dirt, mud and clay were all hand dug. They cleaned up the job site at the end of every day (even the neighbours commented on how respectful they were!). There were a few very minor issues that required some trades coming back to fix some things after the fact (toilet drain and minor driveway damage) and Chris took care of these things immediately and responded to my concerns in a timely manner. These are honest and good people. With underpinning, you don't want to take any chances on a company that doesn't know the ins and outs of engineering, permits and structural stability. CityWide knows what they're doing, and that's you're paying for (that and exceptional customer service and attention to detail). We've already recommended them to neighbours who are looking to do similar work on their homes.

Update: I revised my original rating to reflect my satisfaction with the original job performed. That, and after reading this post, the new office manager (who seems to care) called to discuss my frustration. My issues still remain in the lack of return of phone calls or emails once the job is done. Ian and his crew came out to landscape the front of my house - they installed a new parking pad, laid stone on the verandah and built a stone wall around the front landscaping. While we are satisfied (although not overly so) with the job, if you need ANY sort of follow-up or repair done, you can forget it. One year after installation, the driveway required some touchups, and some of the stones had shifted. It required multiple phone calls to even get a hold of Ian, let alone have someone come out and repair the work. Additionally, we tried to have Jude do some plant landscaping to the front of the house. We gave her a very modest budget of $1000 (it's a small space) and a list of plants we wanted planted. She just wrote all the plants down that I named, not even once recommending that certain plants (we would later discover), were completely unsuited to the front of the house due to sun exposure. She came back with a quote of $2,500! (We later went to a garden centre and for $50, got a detailed design plan specifically for our home, complete with sketch, and 10% off plants). Two years later (June 2012) and a major interior renovation later, our contractor's machines damaged some of the stones on the front parking pad. He tried to contact Curbz to PAY them to come and repair, and Ian was less than helpful. In the end, the contractor called his own landscapers who were in and out in no time. This company has left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Beware the positive reviews. Customer service ends when the final bill is paid. I would *never* recommend this company. Don't let them tell give you excuses about the negative reviews. There are enough companies that do care about good relationships - if these folks don't care, find someone who will. STAY AWAY.