Alan from Toronto

I had my 30 year old boiler, that was venting up my chimney with my hot water tank, replaced with a new wall mounted high efficiency boiler by an HVAC company. As a result of the new boiler now venting separately out the wall via a PVC pipe, the diameter of the chimney liner for the hot water tank was now not to TSSA standards. After checking reviews online, I requested quotes for 2 highly rated Chimney repair companies. One has still yet to respond to my request BUT A1 Quality Chimney and Repair responded within a couple of hours if that. I spoke to Owen who was/is very kind, professional, knowledgeable and clear. I hired A1 to do the work and they were able to schedule me in a short time period. Owen gave me a two hour window when he would arrive. On the day he texted to give me an accurate time within that two hour window. He diligently worked and did a nice clean job. He even removed the leaves and twigs that were in the eaves and opening to a downspout in the area of the chimney. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A1 QUALITY CHIMNEY AND REPAIR!

Re: Work Order #458450. Last year I bought a new gas range with some issues (mainly ongoing ignitor issues) and Elite Appliance Service was the authorized repair company used by GE and some other appliance manufacturers. I was contacted by Elite shortly after contacting GE/Mabe about my warranty issues. Elite was able to provide a quick appointment date and about 1 day before the appointment date, they contact you to provide a 3 hour window of the technician’s arrival. At my previous 3 or 4 appointments with Elite for my new stove, the technicians came within the 3 hour window. They were able to obtain my warranty parts quickly and returned to instal them for me. Well now my approximately 6 year old LG washing machine had a leak underneath near the front. As I was very impressed with the warranty service of my GE Cafe range, I called Elite Appliance and Ace came by and quickly diagnosed a tear in the door gasket near the bottom drain hole. I then received an email from Elite Appliance Service with a detailed and clear quote of the cost of the part and other charges. I agreed to the quote and about a week and a half later, they had the part (along with other parts for my range again under warranty) and Ace returned to install them all. Ace is very kind, respectful, knowledgeable, detail oriented and efficient. A hard worker. Only at this visit was Elite running a bit behind of their 3 hour window but 45 minutes prior to the 3 hour window expiring, I was updated by a text message advising Ace would be there in about an hour. So he arrived only a bit after the 3 hour window. Excellent communication by Elite Appliance Service. I highly recommend Elite Appliance Service.

My gas range broke down so I purchased a dual fuel range. From the manual, I knew I needed an upgraded larger diameter gas line. I bought a larger natural gas BBQ last year and suspected I needed an upgraded larger diameter gas line for that as well. After checking Homestars for reviews, I contacted GasGuys.ca and spoke to George. He was very helpful over the phone and was not rushed in providing me information and answers to my questions. I emailed him photos of my current flexible copper gas lines and provided the model of my 3 appliances and other information he required to give me an accurate and detailed quote. He was very detailed in his response and told me what I needed done and why (i.e. in compliance with a certain code, etc.) and what did not need to be done. Although he said the diameter of my gas clothes dryer line was sufficient, I decided to have George replaced that to a larger diameter stainless steel gas line as I had some corrosion on my original copper gas line attached to the exterior block wall at some of the mortar joints. Should you leave a message for George, he returns calls in a timely manner. He does the same when you send him an email. He arrived on time with his father Bill. George and Bill are very kind, professional, knowledgeable, thorough and hard working. After the work is done, he checks for leaks and checks that all appliances are working as they should. If he is installing a new appliance, he will set up the time, etc on the appliance and will walk you through the operation of the appliance. He also provides tips on maintenance for longevity of your appliance and for your safety. I had a new stainless steel stove gap filler for the space between my new slide-in range and the wall. I was going to cut it to size with my hacksaw but George graciously cut it for me using his portable bandsaw. I highly recommend GasGuys.ca Inc. for your natural gas needs. George will definitely be my go to person for all my future natural gas work.

As per Enercare contract, customers are responsible to ensure the maintenance of their appliance with Enercare is performed. As part of the maintenance listed in the GSW water heater manual and/or widely known otherwise, is that the anode rod must be inspected regularly and should be changed at most every 5 years, much more often if you have softened water. This is to ensure water safety, prevent corrosion of other internal metal parts amongst other benefits. I called and made it clear I wanted the Anode rod replaced as my tank was 4 years and 9 months old. I told the call-taker to ensure it is noted for the technician to have the anode rod for my model water heater for the appointment. The call-taker said he did. The technician called me on his way to my place and when asked, he said he did not have the anode rod. I told him there was no reason to attend. I again reviewed the Enercare contract to terminate the contract by me and it stated I must buyout the water heater using the buyout schedule on their website. The buyout schedule listed for my CV50 water heater between 4 - 5 years old was listed at $969.00. I called Enercare and the lady advised it would be just under $1200.00 plus HST. I told her their contract and buyout schedule on their website states $969.00. After not agreeing with me I asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold, the same lady returned to the call and said she was sorry, made a mistake and I was correct that it was $969 plus tax for a total off $1094.97. She asked if I still wanted to go through with the buyout and I said yes. She said she would get my confirmation number and pout me on hold. After being on hold for a short while, the line went dead. I called back and now was speaking to another lady. She told me the other person did not make any notes on my file and she did not initiate any buyout as I agreed to prior to the line going dead. This different call-taker put me on hold and came back with a buyout of $1188.00 plus tax. I again advised that the Enercare contract and buyout on their website stated $969.00. She said NO. I asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold for 24 minutes, the same lady came back on the phone, not a supervisor. She said she spoke to a supervisor and said there was nothing they could do about the price, it was $1188.00 plus tax. I said no, they are going against their own contract terms. She said she will have someone call me back in the future. So after being on the phone for a total of 1 hour and 10 minutes, I still could not cancel the contract by buying out my water heater as per the terms of THEIR contract.

Daniel just did my annual service on my old gas boiler and he was amazing! Great demeanor, professionalism and very thorough in his service. Belyea Bros has been very consistent in their excellent customer service, knowledge, detailed and thorough work and communication with their customers. This praise is for all at Belyea Bros I’ve dealt with (i.e. calling to make an appointment, after sales/service follow up, technicians).

18 years ago I had all new eaves, fascia, soffits, window trim and other aluminum trim put on the house. The colour was a light beige but over the past 15 - 16 years, black stains (dirt and mold?) began to develop everywhere. Some areas where there was more shade were worse than other areas. I checked online reviews and hired Maple Window and Eaves Cleaning after a few emails back and forth with Yitzie, the owner who provided an estimate after I sent some photos of the house exterior. I could have done the window exterior myself but decided to have Yitzie's crew do that as well for the added fair cost. His crew of three, Narase, Daniel and Chris arrived on time and in addition to doing a great job (cleaning the interior of all eaves and downspouts, cleaning the exterior of ALL beige aluminum, cleaning of window exterior), they were all so kind, easy going and professional. The following is MY FAULT. Most of the exterior beige aluminum came out about 70-80% cleaner than before with the remainder coming out like new. Now, had I called to have the exterior cleaned every 2 - 3 years since newly installed, all stains would have likely come out. I noticed the stains beginning about 2 - 3 years after being newly installed and I ignored the stains which just continued to get worse for the past 15 - 16 years. I only wish I hired Maple Window and Eaves Cleaning much sooner. Highly recommended! I included before and after photos.

After some research I first used Ontree in 2005. Jody came by in short order and provided a detailed estimate outline my instructions. In 2012 I was again due for pruning of 4 trees and cabling of two large trees. Jody again was available in short order to provide a detailed written estimate. All of the workers on site have been amazing, thorough, friendly and efficient and open to my small input when I ask for an extra limb or two removed or pruned back a bit more. I find myself now due for more pruning and cable adjustments and will be calling Ontree very soon.

Around March 2018 I contacted a large waterproofing company with excellent reviews on HomeStars. I had a partial flood in my basement after a thaw of snow in February followed by rain a few days later. Vladimir (the father) with his two sons Alex and Eugene, who would do the work, were made available to me as I had some specific questions. As a result I hired them and they were available to do the work almost immediately. They worked everyday including weekends until the job was done. They excavated and properly waterproofed about 1/3rd of the exterior of my foundation, the only areas of concern. After the job was complete they advised me that there would be some settling of the backfill (this is normal once an area is excavated) even though they compacted it as they backfilled to grade. He advised they would return in some weeks to add more soil and for me to contact them anytime if I had any concerns. Wow I wasn't expecting them to add more soil after settling but this was a much appreciated additional service. As promised, they did return to add more soil to bring the settled areas back up to grade. In fact after they added soil some weeks after completing the waterproofing, I had an unrelated issue along my rear yard fence and called them if they could bring me some additional bags of soil at their convenience. Within a few days, they delivered several bags of excavated soil as a favour to me, no charge even though my home is in east Toronto. They again advised should I have any concerns in the future, to contact them. Last week we spoke again as a follow-up and they offered to do some minor concrete repairs for me for free. When they were doing the waterproofing 6 months ago, they noticed I had some cracks and chips in my concrete walkways. They came by yesterday and repaired 2 concrete slabs with cracks and broken off pieces of concrete. They thanked me for being a great customer and it goes both ways. Vladimir, Alex and Eugene are very kind, professional, knowledgeable and hard working. They do the job right!

After learning I needed a sump pump installed, i knew my electrical panel had no additional room left to add any more circuits for 2 dedicated receptacles for the new sump pump and back up sump pump. I called my electrician and found he retired. He advised me to check the ESA website and check the box ACP as he recommended I chose an ACP certified electrician for my future needs. I found a couple of ACP electricians in my neighbourhood and received estimates in a timely fashion. KNT Electric's estimate was lower and I chose them. The estimate was very detailed, listing the cost of the individual work and parts line by line. The work was able to be started in a short time which I appreciated. Ken, the electrician assigned to my work, came when promised. He was hard working, reliable and kind. The work (new exterior mast and wiring, meter moved to the exterior, new electrical panel and breakers, removal of old separate main, air conditioning panel with screw in type fuses and sub panel, 2 additional dedicated receptacles, new ground wires for gas and water lines, relocation of 110 volt and 220 volt clothes dryer receptacles) was completed in a few visits. I met Tim, the owner on a couple of occasions and had contact with him over the phone and via email. I found Tim to be easily available and responded to any questions I had in a very timely manner with thoroughness. I trust Tim, Bill and the workers employed by them and would not hesitate to contact them for any future electrical needs.

Have an old tired looking cast iron tub. After the job was done and waiting sometime before opening the bathroom door and inspecting the work, I first was impressed how good the tub and new finished looked. But soon after it was obvious there was too much spray added in an area which caused a raised drip from the top of the tub down the side to the bottom where there was a small blob at the end of the drip. This drip was along the side but near the end of the tub at the opposite end of the faucet. No one in the family used the tub that day or even the evening before to ensure the tub area was dry. I inspected it that morning and tub and everything in the tub area was completely dry. I called the company and a woman answered and asked some questions as to the location of the drip and if it was raised or concave. She agreed that it was a result of overspray as the drip was raised. Then the owner stated it was due to a dripping faucet. The faucet is 3 feet away from where the drip was and I replaced the faucet cartridge months earlier as it was getting stiff to turn the temperature handle. I am very handy and keep on top of all maintenance inspections and issues with the house, car, etc. So they came back to re-spray. Later when I checked their work, it was obvious they only masked off the immediate area about a 2-3 inch section on either side of the drip and re-sprayed and polished only the area they repaired. So now I had a definite noticeable raised line where the tape was used going down the sides of the tub and along the bottom as the repair made the paint thicker there. Now the area that was not re-sprayed around 2 feet on either side of this "repair" was not glossy anymore like it was previous to their touch-up and the area re-sprayed. I felt it and it was now rough like 120 grit sandpaper. Obviously they did not cover the wider area around the tape to ensure the overspray did not spray there. OR they could have polished that whole area to smooth out the overspray and bring it back to the gloss their initial spray and the smaller repaired area had. Following their instructions, prior to the initial work, I had bought Palmolive liquid dishwashing soap and mixed it with water into a hand sprayer. We used this to wash our tub as instructed and it did a good job. However the tub now did not look much better than before other than being whiter because of the shoddy "repair". I did not call them back again to have them correct this issue as when I did this before, they blamed a supposed dripping faucet from 3 feet away and I don't need to hear another false excuse. Mistakes happen to everyone but just admit to it and look after it. Now the "warranty" is over and I hate giving poor reviews and that is why I did not post this sooner but after all this time, my wife and I still occasionally mention how this was a waste of money. I will say the woman who answered the phone and the technician and owner who came by the home for the repair were kind but the earlier false excuse really put a sour taste in my mouth. I should have left the raised drip mark as it was as it looked much better than after the partial repair. It's too bad as I had high hopes for this type of repair given the amount of very high reviews.

During the recent snow thaw followed by a couple days of rain I experienced a low-level flood in my basement originated from a corner area of my house. I looked up Homestars.com for well-reviewed waterproofers in the Toronto area. As a result, I contacted A and A Masonry and another company. David from A and A Masonry arrived in short order to provide an estimate. He also brought along the waterproofing crew in the event I had any specific questions for them. I found David to be kind, informative and professional. As I had done a lot of research into waterproofing materials and techniques, I did have some questions that the waterproofers in attendance answered to my satisfaction. After receiving estimates from the two companies, I called my father in-law who had his whole exterior foundation waterproofed and insulated about 6 years earlier. It was then I realized he had used A and A Masonry as recommended by Homestars reviewers. He advised me they were very hard working, kind and did a thorough and clean job. Now my father in-law is a retired tradesman and is a perfectionist like me so I know he kept an eye on the work and his opinion to me would have more merit. Now A and A Masonry’s estimate was higher than the other well-reviewed company but now with the extremely high endorsement from my father in-law, I chose A and A Masonry to do the work as I wanted to be as certain as possible of a future dry basement. I was surprised at how soon they were able to begin work given the news advising of several homes in the Toronto area with water damage due to the melting snow with rain afterwards. The waterproofers that I was introduced to during the estimate process were a father, Vladimir with his two sons, Alex and Eugene. Just as my experience with David Vena, Vladimir, Alex and Eugene were so kind, hard working, very thorough in their work and patient with me (as I said earlier I am a perfectionist and questioned them along the way during their work and they always kept me informed and treated me with kindness, patience and professionalism). They arrived everyday including Saturday and Sunday until the work was completed and the area cleaned. As a bonus, this company also does concrete work so after the new fill settles for several months or longer, they can be hired to repair the concrete if any needed to be broken up during the waterproofing process. I highly recommend A and A Masonry.