Arama Renos

General Contractors
Ottawa ON K2J 4K4
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HomeStars  >  Architects in Embrun  >  Arama Renos  >  Who knew renovations could be this pleasant?
Brian L from Ottawa
Brian L from Ottawa
4 reviews Ottawa, ON
10/10

Who knew renovations could be this pleasant?

From the moment I requested a quote through Homestars, things were already looking up. Abe replied within less than half an hour that he was interested in the job and he came over a few days later. He listened to our needs and wants, made some suggestions, and, just as importantly, wasn't shy about telling us that something just wouldn't work or make sense in our situation. This frank discussion would be the first of many, and immediately showed 2 important things: that he takes even the small-to-medium size jobs just as seriously as the big ones and that he was very pleasant to talk to.

The job itself wasn't supposed to be anything special: replacing a vinyl floor with tiles, swapping an old hardwood floor with a new one, re-doing a small powder room, taking down old kitchen cabinets and replacing them with better ones along with a new small corner counter, plus a variety of small touch-ups to improve the main floor of this 50-year-old condo townhouse. A quote was written, updated after a couple of chats, an approximate start date was set, we purchased the flooring material to be used (after running it by Abe to make sure it would work out), and then we waited for our time to arrive, which was supposed to be in the early part of 2022, but some issues came up and Abe was able to swap our job with the one that was scheduled after ours, which helped greatly. Numerous other phone and email discussions took place during the waiting period to confirm the kitchen cabinets style and that everything was still on schedule.

When the time finally came for the work to start, Abe came over one last time a few days before to confirm everything and have that last walkthrough. Of course, before you can have the construction you need to have the demolition. For two days, Abe along with his right-hand man, Marc, and Miguel ripped out everything that had to go, and this is when a few interesting discoveries about the way one of the big-name builders built homes back in the 70s came to light. After the demolition, Abe and Marc prepared the floors for their makeover. This step required a lot of work to overcome the shoddy construction work by the aforementioned builder and sections of the sub-floor needed to be replaced altogether. While everything turned out great with the renovations, the tile work is where Abe really showed his dedication to getting the job done right. Uneven joists and crooked walls meant that he had to take extra care to make the floor as even and straight as possible.

The subcontractor Abe uses to install the hardwood floors was next and did a great (and VERY fast) job. The same can be said about the cabinet-maker who built and installed the new cabinets in the kitchen. Over the course of a couple of weeks, the Awesome Duo then took care of the rest of the work, including the baseboards and trims. Another awesome aspect of Abe's work ethic and willingness to help is the many, small requests that we dropped on him over the course of the renovations. The toilet in the basement even started leaking and Abe didn't hesitate to look at it, let me know that it was a goner and replaced it even though it wasn't part of the scheduled work. He even went to Home Depot with me to pick up the new toilet and bring it home in his van, along with the bathroom vanity. Anything to help us out, he was willing to do.

And so 3 weeks after the start of the demolition, the work was done. Abe even reached out to some of his contacts at our request and scheduled a full house cleaning with some cleaners he knows.

Throughout the entirety of the renovations, we never felt nervous about how the work was coming along, we had a blast interacting with Abe and Marc (Miguel was only present for the demolition but was also fun to chat with) and we are ALMOST sad (almost) that it had to end so soon. Abe even brought us lunch on his last day. We have already discussed our next renovations and I won't even look elsewhere. Abe has my business for anything and everything else we need done. Hire him for your next renovations, you will NOT be disappointed.

Approximate cost of services:
$17,000.00
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Company Response

Wow Brian, thank you so much for the review and for taking the time to write it! Means a lot!!!
It was a great pleasure doing your project and certainly enjoyed how comfortable you made us feel while working there.
Surely looking forward to getting more work done for you!

Cheers,

Abe