bill in Toronto

Extremely happy to find Mark and his company House Depot. For years I’ve been nervous if my electric furnace (25 yrs old now) was going to have problems in the middle of a cold snap and that’s exactly what happened. The manufacturer has long since folded so parts are near impossible to find. When House Depot comes, you get Mark, not some disinterested employee just putting in time. The other matter is he is an electrician as well as doing furnace repair, so that’s important for an electric furnace. A relay had fried and I had to shut everything down. Temp was -7C outside. Mark arrives and sets up the furnace so that it will work safely on a limping relay at reduced heat, with only 2 elements working. That’s amazing in itself. Since I had changed the other relay myself years ago, he gave me 2 options. Either have him come back with a relay (keep in mind they are very hard to find) and install it, or save some money and do it myself. I said I’ll try, so he gave me tips on how to do it. He said if I have any problems to give him a call and he’ll come over. OK, SO WHO DOES THAT THESE DAYS???? After a lot of searching I did find the relay at one location only in Toronto that caters to contractors. So I put it in using Mark’s tips and now everything is running perfectly. I’m hoping to have Mark install a heat pump soon. I have no problem recommending this company to anyone.

The Floormen is an excellent company. We had asked them to repair and sand our 90 year oak floor, adding stain and 3 coats of polyurethane. To accommodate the schedules of other contractors, I had to ask Paul to move their starting date back several times, and Paul completely accommodated this with no problem. They also completed the project in the projected time frame. They came on the agreed date and started the repairs. Some flooring had to be pulled, the worst area being where an old fireplace had been where the flooring was positioned 90% to the rest of the floor. What was really clever was their technique of interspacing old and new wood to cover the area. Obviously they had done this sort of thing many times and knew what they were doing. They kept in constant touch, in one case about the stain we bought. They sent pictures to our remote location so we could approve it. The polyurethane, Polywhey, was again something we bought. They are aware of how to apply all the water based products and so nothing of the materials we supplied presented any problem at all. The result was a great looking floor and we are very satisfied with the company. We would use them again anytime, and recommend them to anyone.

We were out of the city due to the construction on the house, and they were able to help us decide on products completely on-line. Without us even being there, they made no mess, were careful of a recently refinished floor, installed the new cork flooring so seamlessly that it looks like one piece, and put the blinds in the best possible position. They were very patient, professional and personable.

Howieco is a superb company. They were recommended by a house insurance company in Toronto and they are highly rated on Homestars. Ken, the owner, made things so easy. He gave us a complete and clear overview of the job, answering all our questions and dealing with any issues we had. The estimate was competitive and inclusive, and subsequent adjustments were accurately presented. But what was most impressive was what took place after the work began. Things done without our asking were: installation of Siemens breaker panel, the best in the business, as well as a complete consolidation of the panel area (originally separate boxes for major loads), Decor outlets/switches, a 12 gauge wire for an outlet under extra load, extra dedicated outlets, installation of fixtures that we supplied, a last minute extra outlet we requested for the TV, adjustment of their schedule to accommodate a roofer’s roof vent installation, and then installation of bathroom fan and attachment to roof vent, checking of existing 14-2 wiring and immediate replacement when found faulty or in any way questionable, removal of existing outlets/switches from a load-bearing wall that might be removed in the future. This company seems determined that you will be satisfied at the end of the job. Krista was terrific, amazingly organized and thorough. Marty, who met us on the last day, was great, and gave us a complete tour, explaining what had been done and answering all our questions. Thanks to everyone from Howieco for making such a difficult task so easy and accommodating every change, even last minute, we made. I hope Howieco will be available when we add a new addition next year.