Deborah MacAskill from Ottawa

We had a leaking skylight on our flat roof extension. One Ottawa company we contacted sent us a quote for $4000 to re-do the whole roof. I don't think they even sent anyone to look at it. By contrast, Guy Lemire of Roofmaster, came over, checked out the leak from inside and out, discovered that it was caused by a minor gap in the caulking and explained how to fix it ourselves at very little cost. When I pointed out that neither I nor my husband is remotely handy, Guy offered to see if he could squeeze us in between other jobs in the area. In the end, he popped round another day when it wasn't raining and fixed it for a small nominal fee. What a nice guy! I wanted to share this story because it tells you a lot about the man. And when you're looking for a contractor you can trust, it's the little things that tell you everything you need to know!

The quote from Reliance Holmes for a new A/C unit was very competitive compared to the one from a larger, national company for an almost identical unit. Response times were prompt - they actually pick up the phone and return calls! And the installation team, Warren and John, were polite, knowledgeable and patiently explained everything to us at the end of a very long day. My only reservation about the whole thing was the sub-contractor they hired to drill the hole in the side of our house, who was in a hurry to get in and out, and wanted my husband to tell him if he was coming through in the right place and to advise whether or not he should keep drilling. It came across as though he wanted to deny all responsibility in case something went wrong. No complaints about Reliance. And the drilling job went fine. Just some doubts about that guy. I'm afraid I don't know the company he was from.