Brenda McNeilly from Toronto

I had been using another company for over 15 years to clean out the gutters of two houses we own, and over the past 3 years noticed a lapse in service so we reluctantly decided to make a change. I am glad we chose Toronto Clear View for the job. Even though there were weather delays and it was late in the season (near Christmas, due to the other company not showing up or saying when they could) after speaking with Brian on the phone, I was pleasantly surprised when the crew showed up at both homes the very next week. The people who came to do the job were lovely, very pleasant and professional and they cleaned up everything beautifully. Due to a lot of construction on our street, our high up front Bay window was coated with all kinds of construction film -- they did a great job cleaning that too, and quickly. Not only that, but just a few days later, their office called to do a quality check and follow-up. I would recommend Clear View for great service, well priced and excellent follow through. So if anyone reading this, like me, had been dealing with eaves cleaning companies who you had to hound to show up, Clear View would be a good choice for you.

We recently used AC Electrical and had an excellent experience, we would definitely use them again and highly recommend them. Nick showed up promptly at 5 minutes to the agreed upon time, was super polite, clean and professional, got to work, cleaned up after himself, explained everything he was doing for us, and what was incorrect about the previous (old, being replaced) exhaust fan installation. The work involved Nick going into our attic. Because this company works in East York I did not have to tell him what to expect in an East York bungalow attic. Nick was here at 9, finished by 10 and cleaned up like he was never there. Super nice guy and great company, we highly recommend. They will be our go-to electricians for the next things we need to do and upgrade. Also great that they are so accessible in our area.

I have a rather unique and old collection: Halloween antiques ranging in age from 80 to 100 years old. It had been a dream of mine to have a "hobby room" with lighted, custom cabinets and dimmers designed to showcase and protect my collectibles so that I could enjoy them year round. As Malcolm had designed our kitchen several years earlier and we couldn't have been more pleased with the results, the first contractor I spoke to was Malcolm. The day he said 'yes' he began to send me pics of visual inspiration and ideas for the museum room. These included photographs of the Pitt River Museum in England, and assorted "cabinets of curiosities". Any apprehension I had about converting our rec room in our East York bungalow into the Museum Room of my dreams dissipated. There are a whole bunch of things about working with Malcolm that are hard to beat. He works with you, not for you. He is a font of creativity and ideas. He brings a passion for his craft and is a true craftsman. He takes an enormous amount of pride in his work. Once the spark is lit in him on a particular project, you just have to let him work, and let him do what he does best -- create. He's uncompromisingly picky and discerning -- if any of his crew do something that is not 100% to his satisfaction, he has them redo it. Must drive them nuts, but as a homeowner I love it! There is never EVER an instance of having to have an uncomfortable conversation and point out to Malcolm that something is not quite up to his standards -- he is always one step ahead. He is resourceful. If he can't find a piece of molding he wants, he'll make a mold of it and create it for you without even being asked. He's an unusually good problem solver. He's direct and honest and will tell you if he thinks you are making a choice in an appliance or design of fixture that you may regret later. He was instrumental in sourcing an antique style of cast iron gas fireplace that would complement the somewhat unusual atmosphere of my collection and it's vintage. I showed him a photograph of an Art Deco wooden mantle I liked and he built it. He even installed the marble surround for our fireplace. Though I must have driven him crazy with all the various heights and sizes of cabinets needed to house my collection, which ranges greatly in size, he never showed it. I think he saw this as an opportunity to do something cool and complex that he had never done before and he was committed to making it amazing. When we ran into an issue with a third party contractor I had brought in installing something improperly, and being quite shoddy, he called my attention to it and helped me manage them. He sourced and found an electrician who had experience with museum lighting, as the needs were quite complex, multiple separate switches and dimmers, pot lights in the ceiling, etc. He not only designed and built my cabinets and room, but he project managed the whole build. I took photographs at every stage of the project, from before, to various stages of the demo, insulation and drywall, lighting, cabinet and fireplace install. You can view them all in this photo album on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostofhalloweenspast/albums/72157688645478090 Basically, I think I've been spoiled rotten by Malcolm and his (fastidiously clean) team! And on the subject of the cleanliness of his team, they vacuumed and cleaned up EVERY day not just at the end. It really is hard for any other contractor or supplier to come close to the standard he sets. I would not hesitate to recommend Malcolm and his team, and we fully hope to work with him again in the future.

Our front-loading washing machine had begun to emit a rather funky door. It still worked, but the odour became problematic. High Tech Appliance Service had been recommended to me by a neighbour. They were super responsive and came at my earliest convenience. Being very familiar with all of the modern washing machines, they knew that the issue was most likely the motor which had ceased to expel all the water each time we ran a cycle. As a result, the water sat and became smelly. Though the repair person tried to repair it, he was unable and the motor had to be replaced. Luckily though as this is a fairly common problem, he had the part on hand and was able to replace it immediately without need for a follow up visit. He was super polite, honest and totally knew what he was doing. I will definitely be using High Tech again and tell all of my neighbours about them.

We had water come in our cold room walls and ceiling one winter. We hired Joe to recommend what needed to be done, waterproof our cold room from the outside, and resurface with flagstone. Also to resurface the flagstone on our porch and waterproof it. He assured us he had done a lot of waterproofing, as we had only used him for stone masonry before, with good results. Joe provided a signed estimate which detailed procedures and materials, and a two-year warranty. One day we came home, and the site was backfilled. I could see neither the edge of a vinyl membrane nor any parging/tar, etc. When I asked Joe about that, he told me he decided not to use vinyl water membrane as agreed to, he used something he said was “even better”. The work was completed in July. Just 4 months later, in October, water started leaking into our cold room again in the same locations as before, walls and ceiling. When Joe came over to see the problem, he became defensive, and told us that the leak could not be because of the work he did, or materials he did not use, such as the vinyl membrane listed on the signed estimate. It must be something else causing it. He gave us reason after reason of what it could be, each more unlikely than the last. Bottom line, he accepted no responsibility for the failing waterproofing. Not only was water still coming into our cold room in the same spots, but there were now net new problems too: 1. Water forms a sizeable pool on our porch. Instead of waterproofing and resurfacing our porch as promised, Joe only removed a few stones, painted something on and put the stones back -- unevenly. Now there is now a recess in the middle of our porch which causes a pond of water to accumulate in the summer and ice in winter. 2. Water now runs toward our driveway steps and ices. We asked that the flagstone surrounding our cold room be sloped away from our house and steps and towards a hedge. Instead, Joe sloped it toward our driveway steps which are now covered in ice and dangerously slippery in the winter. 3. Water leaks in a new area of the cold room. Joe had previously excavated the landing adjacent our cold room to rebuild a stone retaining wall. There had been a vinyl membrane against the cold room wall, which seems to have been discarded when his crew did the work. That wall now leaks into our cold room too, and never did before. When Joe came back to investigate, after our cold room started leaking again in October, he promised not to “leave us high and dry”. He came back one day to do some caulking and cover the landing with a tarp. We never saw or heard from him again. Joe was great -- until something went wrong. Then nothing was his fault, and our two-year warranty wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on. We are out of pocket $7,000, and have to pay someone else to redo the waterproofing and resurfacing properly.

We had a large stone garden retaining wall adjacent to our driveway, which had been poorly installed years ago. It was falling over and needed to be rebuilt which we wanted to do using the existing bricks. Also our flagstone staircase needed cement repairs. Joseph and his crew were excellent, respectful, polite, neat and tidy and the work they did was exceptional. It looks amazing now that it is finished and we could not be more pleased. When I needed to speak with Joseph he made himself available and so the communication was great -- I find not all contractors make themselves available by phone when you need them, Joseph did. The original quote was what we paid plus some extra work we requested in addition, at a most reasonable price. We quoted the job out to 3 different contractors and this price we determined to be very fair -- plus Joseph didn't try to tell us we couldn't re-use existing materials which one other contractor tried to do to drive up the price. JD's writeup when I had researched the company specified masonry repairs and that is what we were most interested in. The crew of JD Build Masonry were honest, hardworking and did a super job. Other than a couple of days of rain which only slightly delayed their progress, they finished right when they said they would. I would highly recommend Joseph and his team.

We just finished renovating our bungalow kitchen in East York, and selected Malcolm McGrath for the job. Of all the people who quoted, he was the only one who brought ideas to the table. The direction we gave him was "modern retro with a strong art deco influence”. His approach was thoughtful and collaborative. He knew exactly what to do with that space from the day he walked into our house. He first asked to see the other rooms, and then came up with the notion of integrating the look of the kitchen with the vintage wooden furniture in some of the other rooms. We loved this idea. Malcolm brought creativity and vision, skill and dedication to the project, creating custom moldings and sweating every detail of our kitchen. He and his crew showed up promptly and worked tenaciously every day. They also cleaned up and vacuumed daily, and meticulously protected the other rooms from construction dust. This is a photo album of images from our renovation. It’s called Kitchen Kung-Fu, because that’s what the job he did in our small and challenging space amounts to! I would not only recommend Malcolm, I wish we could hire him for the extra bathroom we want to put in. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostofhalloweenspast/sets/72157649907480242/