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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

Minor flooding in our basement after heavy rain caused enough damage that the insurance company ripped out flooring and removed a few feet of drywall. I've consulted Jay a couple of times for fairly minor problems in the past, and had excellent troubleshooting advice, so I called Jay immediately for advice.

Jay did what he's done before: looked around carefully, asked a bunch of questions, came up with a bunch of possible causes and solutions, analyzed the problem, and advised on a clear sequence of actions. He recommended three different contractors for three different activities, all of whom have been outstanding.

We now have interior weeping tile and a sump pump, with very high confidence that we'll have no more water problems in the basement. We also took advantage of the partially demolished basement to remove a no-longer-needed bathroom, move the laundry area and create an artist studio. Jay's help on all of this was invaluable.

All the work was done at a very modest cost and totally painlessly. Thanks, Jay!

We have only a small hall cupboard and needed a main floor bathroom.
Our plumbing stack is on the opposite side of the house.
Using the only space possible, Jay advised us on how to make it work, referred us to an excellent contractor, directed us to the right places for appliances and flooring. We then used the same amazing contractor to install new hardwood flooring throughout the main floor. We followed Jay's advice on the type of flooring to purchase. He supported our project all the way through. I highly recommend this company for both practical and aesthetic advice.