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$25 for the lawn cut, and $75 for the tree branches trimming. Kevin regularly cuts the grass of our neighbours who we know well. The fella who usually cuts our lawn "a la carte" is often hard to get a hold of and does not return calls. We got fed up...one day when Kevin was next door cutting our neighbour's lawn, we asked him how he charged for lawn cuts. We have since had him come twice to cut our lawn. As well we have a huge tree in our front yard which had branches touching our roof, so we Kevin help trim back/cut some of the branches. He is very responsive. We can either call or text him on his cell phone. And he gets the job done. Thanks.

** Update Nov 1, 2012. Nick asked if I could update my comments/scores given almost 3 months have gone by since the repair was done. I am happy to provide an update. After a number of storms, including the most recent storm "Sandy"....we are pleased to say there have been no leaks. Thanks. ** Last week when there was a storm, we noticed that there was water dripping into our unfinished basement laundry room from the furnace/hot water venting. Thankfully it was in the unfinished part of our basement. We quickly jumped onto Homestars to research good roofing companies. We wanted this fixed ASAP to prevent any further issues. From a bad prior experience using another company for a diff type of job...we didn't just look at companies with high overall scores. Instead we went deeper in our Homestars research, looked at companies with high overall scores, more importantly read through the Homestars review comments, and we made sure to check if there were any low scores in all the reviews. We found Royal Roofing, read their reviews, and decided to call them. We also looked up BBB to see if there were any complaints against this company; they were not BBB accredited but they also did not have any complaints listed which was good. The dispatcher took our information. Louis (sp?) called me back later that same day. He said he and Nick would come that night at 8:30pm. Both were very pleasant and happy when they came to check our roof, ventings, and flashing. Nick took pictures to show us that the vent flashings needed to be sealed down, renailed, rechaulked, and repaired. He also showed us that the furnace vent needed to be repaired since there were areas that were rusted/exposed. And the chimney flashing was to be repaired. They told us they would send two guys the next day to do the repairs. When we asked what kind of warranty comes with this repair i.e. what if a leak occurs in the same spot....Nick quickly replied "don't worry, we will do a great job, and if anything is wrong you can call me 25/7" (he purposely said 25/7 versus 24/7 to make his point). Nick was such a pleasure to deal with that when he came to collect payment for the job, we also gave him some homemade cookies we just made. =) Nick and Louis both said Nick went onto the roof on Friday after their men completed the job to check the work. Nick and Louis told us, they count on good reviews and referrals for future business. We told them, we are always eager to start up a good business relationship with companies who do good work...this time it was a small repair job....if the small jobs get done well the next time it may be a large full blown roof job we'll entrust into their hands. Given we have not had a storm yet, we have tentatively scored them an "8". We will come back to update this post after a few months have gone by and we have a better idea how well the roof repair job was done. We can not go up there ourselves to assess (not about to climb up onto the roof of a 2-story house). Thanks for reading, we hope this review is helpful to others.

How would you like to deal with a company whose owner SWEARS at you. Well, Eddie (Drainworks VP/GM) who said he was the owner (which is strange in itself since their website says Terry is the owner!!)....swore to myself and my wife on the phone. He said the F-word a number of times. We were astonished that such verbal abuse was happening from a supposedly reputable company. We had called Drainworks for an easy job...just needed our dishwasher pulled out for something to be retrieved, and then re-hooked up. As soon as the Drainworks technician reinstalled our dishwasher and ran the dishwasher test cycle there was water leaking out of the door. Never in the 6+ years living in our house has our dishwasher ever leaked! The Drainworks technician said there was nothing he could do, collected $304, and left. We had to call other Appliance specialists to help with the dishwasher leak, and they said the Drainworks plumber who did the job did not level the dishwasher properly when he re-installed it back and also damaged the door seal when pulling it out. We simply called Drainworks back to discuss this situation with someone in a senior position. First, Eddie (Drainworks VP/GM) was abusive to my wife because I was on speaker phone while she was in the room (I do not like having the cell phone right beside my ear). He was saying things to her such as "GET OFF THE PHONE, this is a conversation between your husband and I, you do not matter". Well Eddie, she does matter because she's a co-owner on the credit card which the $304 was made on. And that is not how to talk to people. He was extremely rude and shockingly abusive. I told him that was not the way to speak to customers and hung up. I immediately called Drainworks back again hoping to talk to Eddie after he had a chance to calm down, Eddie picked up the phone and immediately SWORE at me multiple times and also said "you are not a customer, you are a rat!....F-word, F-word". I did not even raise my voice during the phone conversation (my wife heard the entire call from the speaker phone), and we were quite shocked at what was happening. Thankfully our toddler and newborn baby were not in the same room to hear such foul language. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!! They charged $304 for such an easy job. If you were to buy a completely new dishwasher from somewhere reputable, and had it delivered, installed, and the old appliance removed....it would typically cost you $140-$170. Drainworks charged more than DOUBLE for a simple unhook and re-hook of the dishwasher (very simple job...no new dishwasher needed to be delivered and no old one to be taken away). And on top of that, they SWEAR at customers. Go with someone else. Please note, we have a newborn baby at home. So time is really a luxury for us. I am using what limited free time I have to write this review (whereas I could be spending this time playing with my kids) because it is important for HomeStars readers to know about this situation. Do not be simply swayed by their "10" ratings. It's easy to give a company a "10" when a job goes right. The most important thing is to see how a company reacts to its customers when a job does not go 100% right. That is a true testament to a company's customer service. I wish I spent more time reading the "0" reviews. If you browse on the Drainworks Homestars reviews, you will find a few different "0" reviews...I encourage you to read those reviews and more importantly read how Drainworks responds to them. My wife and I both work for large Fortune 500 companies, and never would our customer service department or a VP for that matter respond to people in such manner. Hope this is helpful for others! ** Update July 7'12 in response to Drainworks' comments: Funny Drainworks should say my review is not accurate. That is exactly what they did for all the other "0" reviews, never is it their fault, always the customers. Have a read of Chantelle's review of them on Jan 4, 2012 (you'll have to scroll through a few pages to get there). She copied/pasted an email from Eddie, read the tone of the email and the words used. I wish I had taken my time to read her review and the other "0" reviews before hiring this company. Drainworks response and tone to these customers were very telling. Well, my cell phone records easily show that on July 3'12 I made only two calls to Drainworks. The first one was the one I mentioned above where Eddie was berating my wife who happened to be on speaker phone in the same room. I hung up on him (yes, I admitted to hanging up on my original review) because that was not the way to speak to a woman or anyone for that matter. I called Drainworks back a 2nd time hoping to speak to someone in charge, to which Eddie picked up and immediately knew it was me (guess they have call display) and said "who the F-word do you think you are!!" and then multiple F-words after that. That's also when he said "I AM the boss!". He knows exactly what happened on the call and what words were used. If Drainworks had a recording, great, that would validate what happened. Or maybe Drainworks does not have a recording of the 2nd time I called when Eddie swore...if he's the boss, he may know how to turn off the phone recording. Good thing video recording on cell phones are so easily available now!! We were so surprised at what was going on during the 2nd call, a cell phone was whipped out. Yes, it did take about a week's worth of phone tag with Eddie before I got him live on July 3rd. He mentions he called me and I could not talk, well yes, I was holding my newborn baby at that time just about to put the baby in the crib so I could not talk. When he called back, I was driving, and I do not pick up cell phones when driving (it is illegal here in Ontario). We then had a couple more times of 'he called/I called phone tag'. Drainworks mentions the awards they have won...well...some companies may choose to rest on their laurels over time. Again, my earlier comments....see how a company responds to customers when jobs do not go 100% right. That is the most telling. Read their TONE to these customers. The job Drainworks was hired to do: Easy unhook of dishwasher, move it slightly out, move it back, re-hook. Immediately after it was rehooked and the technician ran the test cycle there was water leaking. We had to get appliance specialists to look at the issue, they could tell that the Drainworks plumber did not balance the dishwasher correctly when rehooking it and damaged the door seal when pulling it out. That was the issue we had with Drainworks, which we wanted to discuss with someone in charge. My wife and I both knew the cost was $304, that was not the issue we had with Drainworks...I already waited 4 hours for the technician to come out (my time slot was 11-2pm, the technician came to my house late at 3pm). I took a half a day off work to wait for him...I did not have time to get another technician to come. However, I was not expecting to pay $304 and be left with a leaky dishwasher from the job! Thanks for reading.

Frank is such a pleasure to deal with. He was very friendly during our first phone call, and provided an email address for us to detail out the handyman jobs we wanted done. Frank booked us in the first slot he had available, and showed up on time. We do not wear shoes in the house (small child, cleanliness, etc) and advised Frank of that ahead of time. He wore booties over his shoes which was appreciated. The things on our list were: (1) Install new Moen bathroom faucet, (2) Fix storm door joint (3) Regrout a few shower tiles (we had already removed the old grout), (4) Repaint outside window sill, (5) Tighten some cabinets, (6) Install new light switch panel, (7) Install another smoke alarm, (8) Install toilet paper holder. He tackled that entire list with gusto, and was heard whistling throughout the job. We can say first hand Frank stands by his guarantee. We are both professionals, so finding a good and reliable handyman is great. We already plan to call on Frank in the future.

We used ShopEco before, the old owners were fantastic, very knowledgeable and helpful. On Aug 8, I contacted Anita, the new ShopEco owner to buy some eco-friendly paint primer. I told her I needed the product that following week given my baby was out of the house and I had scheduled contractors to come do priming and painting. I told her I was only going to buy the product from her if she could deliver it in time. She said she would use 1-day guaranteed shipping via Canada Post (and charged me for that shipping cost), the guarantee was for product to arrive Aug 11th (next business day). The product never arrived. I ended up having to cancel my contractors last minute (and incurred additional costs due to this). I called Anita to ask her to NOT charge me for product which never arrived. She said she still needed to charge me. I then called Visa to ask them to credit my account. The primer finally arrived a week late. I no longer could paint since my baby was back home again. Anita still charged me the full cost for the product and for the 1-day guaranteed shipping. She does not know how to do business. I already told her I am on many different blogging sites regarding eco-friendly products, and could be a huge advocate for her shop. However, she does not understand the important of retaining customers and word of mouth, and instead pocketed my $30 for product which did not arrive on the time it was supposed to arrive. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THERE ARE MANY OTHER ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES!!

Called D&D Crack repair. They do work for many of the commercial buildings in the city. David responded to my call. He listened to what needed to be fixed, and proceeded to explain the process they use to fix foundation cracks. The company has been in business over 30 years and they have a lifetime warranty (labour and everything) on all cracks they have fixed. I asked David, what % of residential cracks has he had to fix in the 30 years of business. He said, he can only recall a few and each one he knew exactly what the issue was. That's a pretty good track record!David said he tells all his crew to do the job right and don't take shortcuts because any re-dos cost the company money. He sent Ziggy who's been working for him about 12(?) years. I have a question-mark because I wrote it down on my invoice and I don't have it in front of me as I'm typing. Ziggy was very very nice. He was a freshening change. Very polite. Listened closely to questions. He took off his shoes when in my home (I had to insist to him it was ok to put his shoes on in the furnace room where the work was being done). He was efficient. And he cleaned up after himself..I didn't have clean the area at all after the job. Thanks D&D Crack Repair

Beware. During the sales call, they promise the world. After they get your money and there are issues, they ignore you. Spend your money elsewhere. It's no wonder they have had 5 Better Business Bureau complaints in the past 36 months. Most of their windows competition (at least the reputable ones with comparable or better products) have far less BBB complaints.

We decided to hire Cadillac Custom Shutters to create and install custom wooden shutters for our bay window. We just spent thousands of dollars getting new windows and frames installed, so wanted new window dressings to match since the bay window is the focal point of the room. Cadillac was not the cheapest, but we wanted quality first. Hy was our salesperson, he was very knowledgeable and personable. Hy was able to suggest options based on our room set-up and our furniture design. He was not "sales-man-pushy" which we like. Hy also spoke highly of the quality of Cadillac's shutters, and he showed us samples so can we see for ourselves. Brenda always answers the phones when I call, and is very nice. It is always a pleasure speaking with her. Danny was our installer, he has been installing for the company for a long time so was very efficient. I specifically asked that he be careful with my hardwood floors since they were new, and he assured me he'd be careful. Unfortunately, after he left I noticed a few things First, I noticed some paint touch-up was needed on a couple of spots so I called Brenda who helped arrange a time w/ a techican (JP) to have the touch-up done (needed a time when my baby was out of the home since she's highly allergic to paints and other chemicals). This was just a small cosmetic fix that needed to be done. Then upon further and closer inspection,I noticed a much bigger issue. My shutters and frames were NOT even (things were shifted to one side). I called Cadillac right away and Brenda passed the phone to Shlomo. I then sent some digital pictures to Shlomo to show him the problem. He understood the issue right away (installer shouldn't have installed the frames double-posted, rather they should have been installed single-posted). He has arranged another time to come out to my home to fix the install issue (Shlomo said he will personally do the install). As I inspected my shutters more, I also noticed that a 2nd set of holes were drilled into my new window frames (to connect the shutter frame to). It appeared a mistake was done and another set of holes had to be drilled. Unfortunately, that left 2 extra holes in my new window frame which doesn't look very nice or professional. I look forward to Shlomo's visit, and hope that everything will be fine. I also hope that all extra drill holes will be patched up. We didn't just spend thousands of dollars on windows and another $800 on shutters just for them to look unprofessional. I'll write an update after we get our 2nd install visit. Thanks for reading. _________________ Update: Shlomo came and fixed the install issue, he corrected the shutters to be single-posted vs. double. JP then came in Jan'09 to help fix up most of the cosmetic issues (a couple of spots he couldn't fix without taking down the shutters which we didn't want to do), and help fill in the extra drill holes. When looking at the filled in drill holes, one can tell since the colour is a little different. We noticed JP missed a couple of spots for touch-up. We'll need to make arrangements for him to come out to finish those the next time we can have the baby out of the home (allergic to paints/touch-up formulas). It's been more headache than expected w/ the purchase/installation of these shutters...especially w/ a baby at home. The company is very responsive which is nice. They try to attend to the client. They listen to the issues. I must say "thank you" to Shlomo and Steve for your responsiveness to the issues we have had. Based on the other positive HomeStar reviews on Cadillac, I'm sure my less-than-ideal experience was rare. Thanks for reading again....

We replaced our CAC and furnace units in Fall'06 with brand-new Carrier systems. We wanted a well-known and trusted brand name. We called around many different companies to see who were authorized Carrier dealers (we only wanted to deal with reputable companies). We did BBB checks on the companies, we confirmed they were authorized dealers, we had them come to have a look at our existing systems and provide us recommendations on what models we should choose and why. Hopeton Ormsby of Sears Home Central was by far the best. He WASN'T just your "typical salesperson trying to make a fast sell". Hopeton took his time to look at our home, look at what was required, and then explained to us what he recommended and why. He explained all the different models available and options available and showed us what systems were ideal for our home and environment and needs. Hopeton was patient with all our questions, and never made us feel rushed in our decision. Hopeton also carefully explained what rebates we would qualify for and how and submitted the paperwork for us. On top of that, we received Sears points for our purchase, which are worth something too. Sears's prices are competitive. We have already recommended Hopeton to friends of ours who were doing a home renovation. They too have been very happy with Hopeton and also ended up purchasing from Sears Home Central.

We replaced our CAC and furnace units in fall'06, and bought some expensive Carrier systems because we wanted a well-known & trusted brand name. Everything about the sales call was great (please see my separate review on Sears Home Central 2900 Steeles Avenue East location). However, their service department is just so-so. We have a 5-year full parts & labour warranty on our CAC and furnace units. We needed a few service calls, however....there were a number of times when a service call was booked and a date/time set...however no one showed up. We had to wait around the home the whole day. They didn't even call. We have a young baby at home. There were a couple of times when the furnace shut down during the cold season and we needed a technician. We already notified the call center that we had a 3-week old baby at home and couldn't have the house too cold (no furnace = no heat!). However, no one came the whole night. No one came the next morning. I had to call multiple times the next day to request someone to come out ASAP given there was no heat in the house. On another time, we needed our CAC service (it shut down). And even when we stated that our baby has bad ezcema which flares up when in a hot environment (they apparently put it in our file memo so the technician would know), I still had to call multiple times to ask why no technician showed up yet to fix our air conditioning unit. Again, a date/time was set, but no one showed up. I told their call center, this reflected very badly on Sears Home Central. Especially when they are supposed to be a trusted name. Thx.