Keri in Riverdale

The Curbz team did a great job of completing our retaining wall and parking pad project. We really appreciated the process of developing the 3D drawings with Ian and Sylvie, as it definitely generated lots of good discussion and ideas. With clear plans, we were able to focus on the finer details during the project. The team (thanks Dave) was courteous, hard-working, and happy to answer lots of questions. Our project involved many challenges due to the need to tie into pre-existing work, and Ian and Dave were great problem solvers, and never let a set-back defeat them. The work looks great and the Curbz team met their commitments at each step of the way. Thanks guys!

We had a friendly Enwise energy consultant come to our house in the Fall of 2009. He arrived early, was courteous, and gave us lots of information. He warned us that our attic wasn't open for viewing the way NRCan wants it to be(the house's attic was always a living space, going back to when it was built in 1914), but that he would take lots of photos showing that it was clearly in original condition and that we should take before and after pics once the ceiling was done and before the new one went up. This would ensure we would qualify for the attic insulation grant. The fellow that came for the final audit this Spring was equally courteous. He noted the problem with direct access, but asked for the photos and promised to keep in touch with how the application was going. That was the last we heard from him. Turns out they filed our app without the attic grant and didn't tell us. They have explained it was because of no direct access, but refuse to acknowledge the verbal comments of BOTH energy auditors. Further, we demo'd the attic the day after the first guy came and would have happily taken a hammer to the plaster to show him what was underneath if we had thought it was in ANY way necessary. We know there is a problem at Enwise there because the manager is picking up calls to the phone lines (incl cell) of the energy auditor. His supervisor will not return our call. This has reduced our application by $600-750 which is real money for us. At a minimum, we have asked that they put us on a call with a supervisor and the energy auditor to clarify what was said. They will not communicate with us, and so we are left wondering what to do next. One additional note: We did not use their services for any of the work. We did get a quote from them on the furnace, but the sales person they sent was inexperienced and couldn't answer some straight forward questions about ventilation without getting back to us. The other two companies we contacted answered the questions with ease.

We were looking to replace our 15 yr old furnace with a new high efficiency one. We spoke with three vendors, one that was old-school in a not-so-good way, one who knew all the technical specs on the furnace but didn't know much about installation, and Pinewood who seemed to know both aspects, and was happy to spend the time to explain it all. All three were within $200 of one another, so it came down to the service element and the brand (Carrier). The installation went smoothly and the after-service care appears to be good. We would caution, however, that the furnace is new and hasn't been tested by a winter. We will revise our comments if there are any issues.

We did two major projects for our home with the excellent guidance of Robert, Nathalie and the rest of the team at Lieux. We still chuckle watching HGTV shows when they run into problems mid-project that would easily have been caught well beforehand by a good architect. It's money well spent, especially when you are doing structural work or dealing with the City's permit department (which is as bad as you've heard). They are a practical, well-researched gang (you won't hear them say "Just do it, my gut says it's a good idea") who will educate you more than you ever expected about the techical issues behind the work you are doing. The expertise, calm nature, and sage advice made the projects go as smoothly as they could. Our house (an old Riverdale home) is now a highly functional modern family home.

Since we didn't have any first hand recommendations we ended up calling on a few (ok 4) companies to quote, including a lower end outfit just off of Winston Churchill, and the premium group from California at the high end. We enjoyed our interactions with Marty and Eliott and found them friendly and happy to trade ideas. They gave us their honest opinion when we were looking at over-engineering the set-up, saving us money. While I wish their showroom was open on weekends, I managed to visit during the week, and I suggest anyone looking at closets do the same. You just can't compare quality and styles from small sample pieces and pictures. You wouldn't order a bedroom set without seeing it... I had two minor issues: one being an original design that had a cramped corner that one of their competitors noticed, and a small error on just one part of the shelves that required them to come back a second day for completion of install. Other than that, I found them timely, courteous, and kept their word. Their design software can't compare to the high-end outfit, but an apples to apples quote was 50% higher, so I can do without whiz-bang 3D models. BTW, doing your closets is something you will completely, totally love unless you live in a big house. It was worth the spend and then some.