G. Anderson in Toronto

I have been eying a barbecue for over a year. I came across Dickson Bbq, in an internet search, and saw that they offered free setup and delivery in Toronto. Free setup and delivery were beyond anything I had seen other Napoleon dealers offering so thought I would take a stab at their Etobicoke location even though I live in Halton Region. I made an online inquiry on Sunday expecting that I might have a reply Monday if they were on the ball. To my surprise, Robert replied at 930pm Sunday. While he wasn't able to give me free delivery and setup exactly, he discounted my purchases by more than the cost of delivery and setup. A few more emails back and forth to which Robert replied very quickly. An easy online order system and I made the purchase. The online experience was all anybody could ever hope for and left me happy enough to write this review the same day as the order. This was a terrific experience and nice finding a family business that still seems to care. I will add I didn't have to pull teeth and haggle either, it was just an honest and square deal straight upfront. Thank you again Robert.

We needed to re-carpet 13 risers and an upstairs hallway. Most like anyone reading this review, I try to do my homework to find good business’s to deal with. HomeStars, didn’t disappoint in pointing me to Elizabeth and George at Kingsway Carpet and Blinds. Elizabeth was very helpful in the selection and sale of the carpet. George was great by coming to the house to measure and provide quotes. The Installer was meticulous and precise in his installation of the carpet. The job took about 9-hours from arrival to finish. Old carpet removed and disposed and new carpet and underpad installed. Carpet looks fantastic, job very well done, we are very happy and would recommend Kingsway Carpet to anyone that asked.

Most anyone can lay hardwood flooring in an empty room. Find someone willing to move all the furnishings; now that is a challenge. Unless of course you called Rick of McLaughlin Flooring Installation Inc. McLaughlin Flooring is an install company, while they sell a limited choice of flooring, their business is the installation. Buy whatever flooring product you want and McLaughlin is happy to install it for you. 900 Sqft residential install of hardwood flooring, remove existing carpet, move furniture. I found Rick to be professional and enthusiastic. Rick’s demeanor put me at ease straight away. I knew after talking to Rick that I had hit a home run. McLaughlin’s price was competitive. Rick showed up exactly at the time and day that he said that he would. His installers were courteous and professional. Sub floors were screwed and nails hammered down and the finished job looks fantastic. Any mess was cleaned and picked up, including old carpet disposed. I recommend McLaughlin Flooring, call Rick and then take a rest from your stress of flooring decisions. Thank you Rick and team.

We were shopping for 900Sqft of hardwood flooring and visited Darmaga’s Vaughan location April 15th. The salesperson was: pleasant, personable and knowledgeable. The store wasn’t busy and I asked for a written quote for material only. I would have thought the quote would have been same day or next. Four phone calls hounding and I received the quote April 24th. May 22nd, I asked by email to confirm delivery with no response. May 23rd, having paid in full, I again asked to confirm delivery. Expecting that I wasn’t going to receive a response confirming delivery, I emailed the owner also on May 23rd. On May 24th the salesperson both emailed me and called me to confirm delivery. Gail, called me to schedule delivery and called me again the day of to let me know they were running a little late. Stupendous follow-up and service and the reason my rating is not lower. The delivery Driver was fantastic as well. My experience wasn’t a “slip-through-the crack.” Four phone calls is a “fall- through- the- creator,” and a trend. A floor covering project is stressful. You have to: select a product, select a colour, shop around and get quotes, then basically plan to move your whole house out for the install, book time off work, be home for the flooring to arrive, find an installer, coordinate the installer for flooring to arrive and scrape together thousands of dollars to do it all. I drove 47-kilometers past many flooring stores to get to Darmaga; the additional stress of having to repeatedly ask for a quote and delivery confirmation just wasn’t needed.

Simply top-notch and I highly recommend Pro Concrete. Just what I wish every business operated like. Do what they say when they say they will do it. Polite courteous high quality work. Watch Mike Holmes, study on the internet what is supposed to happen when you pour a concrete driveway and these guys at Pro Concrete just do it all right. You do not have to tell them what to do or how to do it they just do it. What I learned about concrete driveways before calling someone to do my driveway and what Pro Concrete did without me even opening my mouth: 1) Small jobs like mine are really difficult to even get someone to call you back. Pro Concrete came to quote next day. 2) Minimum base 8" and compacted. Pro Concrete did at least that and compacted. 3) 5" thick concrete for driveway (some places only do 4"). Pro Concrete did 5" 4) Rebar reinforced. Pro Concrete does this. 5) Tie new structure into existing. Pro Concrete tied new step into existing with rebar. 6) Sufficient number of workers present on the pour to finish properly. Blisters, shrinkage, scaling, discoloration can occur if the concrete is not adequately finished quickly. Pro Concrete had seven people on the pour. 7) Cover the concrete after pouring to control shrinkage. Pro Concrete covered the driveway after pouring with a plastic sheet. 8) Wash, brush cut expansion joints. Pro Concrete was there next day doing this. 9) Seal. Pro Concrete will comeback in two weeks to seal the driveway after it has had time to sufficiently cure. 10) Control curing by watering daily. My job to water for next 10-days. 11) Do not park on driveway for two-weeks. 12) Use 32Mpa concrete. Pro Concrete do this. 13) Cleanup the mess. Pro Concrete do this. Driveway is beautiful Pro Concrete did a fantastic job, a real great company. P.S. Despite my glowing review I declare that I am not affiliated with Pro Concrete in anyway. I am simply a very satisfied paying customer. The good folks at Pro Concrete deserved the excellent review.

A couple of years ago a Technician that was servicing my old furnace made a comment that I needed a new furnace soon. At that time the old furnace was about 14-years old. I did a lot research on the internet about expected furnace life and most of what I read indicated that a furnace had a 15 to 20-year life span. The following year I noticed that my neighbor replaced his furnace, though I did not ask him why. I made my bonus at work this year so thought while I had the money it might be smart to replace the furnace. If I did not have the windfall of funds I would likely have waited until the old furnace forced my hand at replacing. I am not advocating that everyone should run out and buy a new furnace at the 16-year mark although prudence would dictate that you should at least be planning and saving for the event. I thought while I was on my spending spree, I might as well knock off the air-conditioner and water-heater. Water-heaters and air-conditioners have about the same expected life of a furnace, around the 15 to 20-year mark. My water heater was a rental so more research was needed to educate myself on pros vs. cons of buying versus renting. Pros being mainly centered around worry free ownership, which includes free service calls and repairs. Being smart enough to recognize that there are no free lunches, I surmised that in reality all that you are accomplishing is pre-paying a maintenance contract; a maintenance contract that you will likely never use. Additionally I like the independence and freedom derived from ownership (you know they will raise the rental rates). Research indicated that Western Canada predominately owned water heaters and rental was predominately an Ontario thing. However to be sure I ran the numbers for those (like me) more business inclined and found: $1921.00 investment (inc. HST) at 4% hurdle, `15-year expected life, $640 service call in year-10, showed positive NPV 14.5% IRR and 6-year payback. So I decided to purchase my water heater even though Renato of Air Heating Plus indicated that he himself rents. I searched Google for best furnaces; AC’s, water heaters and American Standard fared well in scoring though admittedly not the highest rated. However Consumer Reports study shows no appreciable statistically significant failure rates amongst any of the furnaces brands that they tested. A search on American Standards website indicated Air Heating Plus, as local distributer. Research on Air Heating Plus, indicated high reviews on HomeStars, and voila. I called Renato on a Saturday; he came to the house Sunday exactly at the time he said. We did the deal and agreed on install date and time. Renato and crew were there on-time, did the job to my satisfaction, did the job fast and were done. My review is only indicative of the service and work provided by Air Heating Plus LTD. Literally the job completed an hour ago so I reserve judgement on future state. However dealing with Renato I have no complaints or issues and I would recommend him to anyone looking for a reputable HVAC professional.