House Calls Renovation Advisors

Renovation Advisors
Toronto ON
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Renovation Advisors
House Calls Renovation Advisors
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Reviews for House Calls Renovation Advisors

Average customer rating:
9.7 10 (82 reviews)

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Stewart in North York
Stewart in North York
1 review Toronto, ON
10/10

What a relief!

Our home was built in 1928, with a very small, cramped ensuite.

Jay helped us hugely improve the bathroom with a new custom shower, vanity and new finishes. Critical to the success of this project was Jay matching us with an experienced, skilled and honest contractor who completed the work on time and (to my amazement) on budget.

What a relief to have a beautiful new bathroom that was completed with a minimum of disruption to our household.

Thank you Jay!

Approximate cost of services:
$1,500.00
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Company Response

Thanks Stewart. I was happy to help. Glad to hear you are so pleased with the results.

angelo in Toronto
angelo in Toronto
0 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Major Renovation/Contractor issues

Jay was a saviour. Nearing the completion of my $1 million plus project I needed someone to guide me on how to handle issues with my general contractor. There were billing issues that involved holdbacks and overcharges. With Jay's determination, the gc cleaned up all the billing paperwork to industry best practices and government standards. By doing so, he effectively enabled a clear understanding of what was owed. In addition there were construction issues that he guided me through on how to best deal with the general contractor on how to resolve. Once Jay was involved, I found the contractor much more responsive. Unfortunately, I brought him in at the eleventh hour. I wish I had found him at the beginning of the project, it would have saved me so much trouble, stress, grey hair and money.

Jay is a great person, trustworthy and honest.

Angelo

Approximate cost of services:
$9,000.00
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Company Response

Thanks Angelo. As you say, my involvement in this project came fairly late, and after much of the construction had already been completed. I was pleased to see that my expertise in construction contract administration resulted in an accurate understanding of the true financial situation with your contractor.

Private User
Private User
Private User reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Money-saving advice

If, like me, you often feel at the mercy of unscrupulous contractors and tradespersons, then straight talk from a knowledgeable source is to be sought out and highly prized. Such is the benefit of a consult with this company and its principal, Jay. His recent advice about a questionable quote for an electrical job saved me hundreds of dollars (actually $600) and ensured that I would have at hand the facts necessary to recognize a more legitimate quote.

Approximate cost of services:
$600.00
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Company Response

It's my sincere pleasure to be able to provide useful, practical and money saving advice to all my clients.

Simon and Sheryl
Simon and Sheryl
3 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Consulting on a Solar Tube

I contracted with a roofing company (whom I've used a couple of times before, and been happy with them) to install a Solar Tube. For those who don't know, it's kind of like a skylight, but cheaper and simpler to install. I wanted the largest size. The company brought that (a 22" one), but found that they couldn't install it simply, because the rafters were too close. They said they had to come back, and first cut away one joist and reinforce the adjacent ones.

I called Jay to find out the implications. He walked me through the process and sent me links to some videos so I could see for myself. With that information it became clear to me that I didn't want them doing that disruptive work. After all, I wanted the solar tube precisely because it should be simple and quick to install. Jay also told me that there was a 14" tube which would fit between the joists, where the company had told me that my only choices were 11" or 22".

With that helpful information, I got back to the company and told them to scrap the plan for the 22" tube and to order and install a 14" one.

It's wonderful to have access to Jay's knowledgeable and reliable advice! Thanks, Jay.

Approximate cost of services:
$100.00
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Company Response

Thanks Simon and Sheryl. Always a pleasure to help you out. I'm glad to hear you were able to sort this out with your installer. I do look forward to one day soon being able to safely visit and see the final installation, post Covid. Regards, Jay

elisheva.bouskila in Toronto
elisheva.bouskila in Toronto
1 review Toronto, ON
10/10

Guidance on home reno

We were struggling trying to figure out how to make our small 2 bedroom house on a large North York lot work for our growing family. Jay helped us work through a wide range of possibilities for a potential renovation and addition. After lots of discussion and in depth conversation about what we were looking for and our budget, he designed a set of plans for a beautiful renovation that would grow our house to match our needs, as well as referring us to builders and sitting in on the meetings to provide input. While we were working together he also very generously provided advice to us on unrelated house problems that came up (e.g. a basement leakage - he came over and helped us solve the problem). We so appreciate his thoughtfulness in listening to what we were looking for rather than developing plans for a cookie cutter house. Due to COVID and other factors we were not able to move forward with the reno.

Approximate cost of services:
$6,000.00
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Thanks so much! Truly, it was a pleasure working with you both on what would have been a great new home for your family. Unfortunately this past year has deeply affected all of us in so many unexpected ways. I offer my best wishes as you navigate wisely over these next few years. I do believe things will improve for all of us.

Rob B.
Rob B.
8 reviews Mississauga, ON
10/10

Pre-construction services for basement and main floor renovation

A basement flood at the end of 2013 was the impetus for a complete basement and main floor renovation. We had some ideas of what we wanted and set out to find a good company to hire for the job. After extensive research, we interviewed a handful of highly rated contractors and a few of them actually provided quotes. However, we found that most people we spoke to expected us to have a full-blown design while we were looking for a company to help us firm up design options. So, then we met with a couple of architects and quickly discovered that the cost of the designs would eat up a large portion of our budget.

At this point, we started researching renovation consultants and came across the Homestars site for House Calls Renovation Advisors. After reading all the reviews and exploring the House Calls website, we decided to give the owner, Jay, a call. Jay visited, listened to our story and explained his architecture background and the process he follows to make the renovation process as painless as possible for clients.

We liked what we heard and hired House Calls to provide pre-construction design, scoping, and contractor sourcing services for our major reno. Jay took the time to understand our motivations, discuss various design options for all the elements important to us in completely renovating the basement and main floor. He provided multiple drawings to help guide and clarify our vision of living spaces and provided input and expertise on construction materials. For example, Jay's concept of moving the stairs going to the basement was key to re-envisioning the main floor to improve flow and open up the space.

With Jay's assistance, we assembled our project scope documents and went through a competitive bidding process to select a contractor for the job.

The 3 month project started out fine but the contractor soon started missing deadlines and our worst fears were realized when the project went completely off the rails to the extent that we had to fire the person after the job was still not completed 12 months later. Thank God for Jay who provided professional, moral, and emotional support over a period of several months to help us survive and eventually recover from our nightmare of a contractor.

We consider Jay a friend of the family and have no hesitation in recommending House Calls to friends and neighbours.

Approximate cost of services:
$6,000.00
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Company Response

Thanks Rob for your detailed and very positive review. Despite a few unanticipated difficulties, your patience, good will, and especially your good humour was truly appreciated during, and after, the renovation. I know all were very pleased with the result.

Jordan in Toronto
Jordan in Toronto
3 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Roof Replacement Tendering and Project Oversight

Jay with Housecalls Renovation Advisors was contracted to tender, review proposals and make recommendations in the selection process for a commercial building flat roof replacement. He helped source a very cost-competitive bid, and then when the project was awarded, made regular on-site visits to meet with the roofers (and our staff) to review the work, help sort out various roof-related technical issues (for example, removing the old roof anchors), monitoring the progress of the project, site acccess issues, reviewing incoming progress invoices and supporting documentation. Very satisfied with his service. He saved us time, money and made sure our project was completed without any problems - on budget, on time.

Approximate cost of services:
$200,000.00
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Company Response

Thanks for this very supportive review Jordan. Given the extra constraints placed on you and your staff during this dreadful and dangerous pandemic, well coordinated teamwork and excellent communications between all parties made this project a pleasure for me to work on, and work with everyone connected to this project.

Avine
Avine
0 reviews Aurora, ON
10/10

Front deck and walkway

My husband and I needed help to design and construct a new deck at the front of our home in addition to a walkway. Jay was extremely helpful, generous with his time, and patient as we executed this project. He provided us with multiple designs and walked us through the construction details. We are very happy with the final project. Thank you Jay!

Approximate cost of services:
$1,500.00
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Company Response

Thanks so much for the positive review.
It was a pleasure working with you both, and I'm happy you are so pleased with the results.

Marc
Marc
2 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

A great coach to take us through a complicated basement reno

We waited as long as we could, but we finally had to bite the bullet and reno our basement. It was a daunting task, as we wanted to gut it, lower the floor, move the hot water, furnace and all associated plumbing and ductwork, waterproof from the inside, put in a radiant floor, etc. So it was a lot to think about for the first time that we had ever done a significant reno like this. After meeting with a few reno advisors, we decided to work with Jay because of his broad base of experience, his ability to create detailed CAD drawings of different parts of the project, and his network of high quality contractors.
Jay asked us all of the right questions to make us think about priorities for the project, helped us visualize what various layouts could look like, helped us make critical cost-based decisions like whether or not to underpin the foundation to get more headroom (which we ultimately decided not to do — no regrets there), and prepared everything we needed to get solid quotes from a number of high quality contractors.
Jay was very flexible in the planning process, helping us to go through a few iterations of the plan before settling on the final one, and saw us through the entire project by coming in for construction reviews at critical points in the contractors' work.
We ultimately ended up using one of the contractors that Jay introduced us to, and the quality of all of the work was exceptional.
Thanks Jay!

Approximate cost of services:
$6,700.00
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Company Response

Thanks Marc. Working with you and your family was a great pleasure for me too. From our conversations, I know that your timing for starting, and then completing this project proved to be just perfect, as you now have a wonderful and comfortable family space that everyone shares frequently.

AJM Toronto
AJM Toronto
2 reviews Toronto, ON
10/10

Moisture issue in a Victorian house

Water was seeping into the front room of my Victorian house but I could not establish from where the moisture was coming. I wasn’t certain where to begin in terms of getting it repaired. Jay did a thorough inspection and identified the areas on the outside of the house that could be causing this problem. He provided a detailed report of the problem issues, the types of repair required and suggested tradespeople who were experienced in undertaking such repairs. I was more than satisfied with his service. It saved me time, money and a lot of frustration. I also appreciated his continuing follow up.

Approximate cost of services:
$300.00
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Company Response

Thanks so much for your great review. It was a pleasure working with you too. Your home will "appreciate" all your love and care, especially now that these critical improvements have been completed.

The reviews on this page are the subjective opinion of the Author and not of HomeStars Inc.

More about House Calls Renovation Advisors

House Calls is a multi year award winner on HomeStars for good reasons.

By far, your biggest risk comes from hiring the wrong people to complete your project.
Why take that risk?

BEFORE you hire any contractor, contact us to LEARN how to minimize or completely avoid renovation risk.
We will COACH you on how to SCREEN and VET contractors, eliminating those who are not suitable or qualified to do the work.

We pride ourselves in working closely with you and your family at all stages.

We help smoothly navigate the complexities of construction, while helping avoid many of the costly pitfalls that lurk in the renovation minefield.
With years of experience and hundreds of successfully completed projects, House Calls Renovation will expertly guide you through the many challenges of your project.

If you are already involved in a difficult situation with your non-performing contractor, House Calls can help here too.
In disputes, we have acted as an Arbitrator or Mediator. When necessary, we have represented them in Court as an expert witness.

House Calls offers 1) many years of professional construction industry experience, 2) one of the highest client ratings on Home Stars, 3) several "Best Of" annual awards, 4) the successful completion of hundreds of residential projects of all types and sizes, 5) the ability to provide practical, 6) cost effective design solutions with your budget in mind, building permit drawings and permit applications to the City, and project management services during construction.

For more information, please connect with us at www.jay.charendoff@sympatico.ca OR call: Jay Charendoff Mobile: 647-889-4357

CATEGORIES
Renovation Advisors and Design/Project Management
SERVICES
COACHING homeowners before, during and after home renovations or construction.
SPECIALITIES
COACHING homeowners before, during and after home renovations or expansions.
WEBSITE
https://housecallsrenovationadvisors.com
YEAR ESTABLISHED
2007
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
1
PAYMENT METHOD
Electronic transfer, cheque or cash
MEMBERSHIPS
LEED AP, Canadian Green Building Council, 2008
DIPLOMAS
B. Architecture, UBC; B. Science, York University;LEED Accredited Professional
WRITTEN CONTRACT
Yes
Company profile information is not moderated by HomeStars. Ask the contractor to verify before hiring.