Design-Build Company in Toronto, ON

George and the Renovate by Design team did for me a very good job. When I searched for the service George was one of the quickest in responding to me. Preliminary quote was pretty competitive and fare, made over the phone based on sq footage and the scope I described. I had a few face to face meetings before we started the project. Most of the details were discussed prior we signed a contract. Request for down payment and further payments were absolutely reasonable. They completed the job quickly with good quality, always consulting with and propose to me alternative solutions in case of questions. George was always available by phone and by e-mail. He and his team was professional and friendly! His team has experience and is capable to do all king of works, related to renovation. After the project was finished, they left my place clean from all construction garbage. I would definitely recommend him to anyone that is renovating. You may trust him and his team in doing professional job at competitive prices!

Andrew.

George and the renovate by design team did an amazing job. They gave me a preliminary quote over the phone based on sq footage that was very competitive. Before they commenced the project George and his team came by and had a look, we signed a contract, I gave a down payment. They completed the job very quickly and even primed the walls, there were no issues. George was available by phone if I needed to contact him, he was professional and friendly! I would definitely recommend him to anyone that is renovating, I understand he does all aspects of renovation unfortunately I already had people for the other trades. You can trust this guy, he's fair and has competitive prices!

Flavia

We hired George and his team to do a complete renovation of my parents condominium. They did an excellent job in terms of their ideas, workmanship, professionalism, finished product and follow up. George also works with an excellent interior designer who made everything come together. Further, George's team is filled with really creative people (this include George himself) who pride themselves on quality work. The project did run a little behind schedule but that was not due to undue reasons, George and his team strive for perfection and the wait was well worth it.

Renovate By Design is highly recommended!! George is absolutely amazing, excellent at keeping you in the loop, is friendly and is simply a good person. He was able to work with my budget so I could renovate the kitchen and bathrooms for my parents. Duran did a superb job, was very meticulous, took pride in his work and delivered incredible results. I felt completely comfortable and trusting having them work on this renovation and I had no concerns whatsoever. I truly recommend them for any jobs you may have. Do not even bother calling around. You will find everything you need with them! Thank you Renovate by Design!!

Our daughter contacted George at Renovate by Design to surprise me with some renovations to our main bathroom, powder room and kitchen as a Christmas gift. She had contacted other contractors, however her limited budget made it impossible for them to give her a price she could afford.

After speaking to George and having him come to look at the work to be done upon hearing it was to be a Christmas gift he offered her a quote she could handle.

The work done was absolutely beautiful. A new tub was installed, drywall replaced, gorgeous wall and floor tiles, new vanity and fixtures as well as baseboards. They even suggested a company that supplied us with a granite vanity top for our powder room at an excellent price.

George the project manager checked in daily to make sure we were happy with the work done so far as well as the progress and to answer any questions we had.

What a wonderful Christmas gift and many thanks to George and Duran for their superior work and customer service. We are grateful for all they did for us and will certainly be using them for any future renovations. We highly recommend them to anyone thinking of having work done in their own home.

George and his team renovated our only bathroom in the exact time they had promised, on budget, and with a clean finish to it as well. We returned home from vacation to find a beautiful new addition to our home that was beyond our expectations. George stayed in touch with us while away and was polite, courteous, and professional. I would recommend him for any home renovation project. He also is skilled at design and conceptualizing your space and interpreting your dreams for your project.

What work did the reference have done?

George worked with us to redesign a very tired house that was built in the 1970's. We added on a 2 bedroom in-law suite addition and we extended our bedroom. George was hired to work with us to design a home that would have curb appeal, add value, and comfortable to live in.

When was the work completed?

We started the design process in Mid-March 2010 and ended in June 2010 when we submitted for permit.

How did the reference hear about this contractor?

We found George through the handy Canadian Website. It was destiny.

Did the reference interview other contractors before hiring this one? If yes, why was this contractor chosen?

Yes, we interview 8 other design and build contractors. George was chosen because he made a good impression. He seemed well organized and had a vision that was consistent with what we were looking for. He understood and explained that the design process would take time and that was was happy to flexible work with us as we solidified what we were looking for. The design process could have gone faster but we kept changing out minds.

What responsibilities did this contractor have for the project?

1) Redesign our existing home so that we could see a transformation in terms of curb appeal

2) Prepare and submit for permit approval with the city

What was the best aspect of working with this contractor?

1) Patient

2) Cordial

3) Friendly

4) Good listener

5) Flexible

6) Attentive to detail

Would the reference ever hire this contractor again?

absolutely!

Work ranked according to the following scale: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor

Quality of work - excellent

Ease to work with - excellent

Kept to budget - Good (we had a few extra unplanned cost)

Kept to schedule - Good

Adhered to Contract - Excellent

Communicated with project owner throughout project - Excellent

Kept project owner informed of progress - Excellent

Offered sound advice, good suggestions - Excellent (still allowed for my opinion and design ideas)

Was willing to work through problems - Excellent

Was easy to talk to - Excellent

Was easy to work with - Excellent

Managed crew members and any sub-contractors well - Good (There were a lot of people in the background doing work for George....for the most part we did know they were there until the permit stage....would have been good to know)

Delivered what was promised - Excellent

George is and excellent designer. I highly recommend him.

Once the house is finished I will add photos to this review.

We hired Renovate By Design initially to redesign our home. We wanted to explore the possibilities of adding on a bigger front porch, redesigning our kitchen and upper floor with a possible addition. From the start, George, from Renovate By Design, was very pleasant and easy to work with, fully understanding that our renovation would be done in stages. He was very knowledgeable and presented us with some great design concepts.

The first stage was our front porch and by the end of the design process, we felt so at ease with George that it was a no brainer for us to ask George to also go ahead and complete its construction. The carpenter that George brought in was friendly, very professional and best of all, had such keen attention to detail. The finished porch was more than what we had hoped for. We loved the look of the porch so much that we decided to carry on, hiring Renovate By Design to landscape and refresh the complete front faŕ§ade of our house. Each trade George brought in was again friendly, professional and had great attention to detail. The end result was a completely new looking house, a house with great curb appeal.

Best of all, throughout this whole porch project, George had been in constant contact, arranging all the details and always making sure things were done, as well as making sure that every little detail was perfect. He made it easy for us from the start to the end.

Now that our first stage is complete, we are looking forward to our next project with George and Renovate By Design. We would definitely recommend Renovate By Design to anyone.

October 23, 2010

George

Renovate by Design

Thank you so much for the help that you gave us in addressing our problematic basement door.

This seemed like a simple job but as you pointed out -- and we knew -- because of the original construction, there were some issues that meant structural work.

What we especially appreciated, George, regarding your approach and service was:

• your hiring of experts for the things we needed done. For example, for the masonry you had a masonry specialist, for the tiling, you had someone especially skilled come in for that, and for the carpentry work there was another individual with those skills assigned

• your checking in frequently with us and the workers and reviewing the quality and pace of work

• your willingness to do a small “re-do” when we felt that the seal of the door was not quite right.

Your personable attitude and service quality means we would not hesitate to recommend you to others.

So thank you again for fixing that basement door. We are happy with the results.

Please feel free to use this letter to recommend your services. All the best, George and we will be calling you for our next project.

Sincerely, Keith and Lyn

We hired DRR to do two projects for us – the first being to help us redesign our home, and the second being to undertake an initial, large portion of the reconstruction. Off the top, I must say I appreciated that DRR had no issue with splitting the work into smaller projects in order to make us feel comfortable.

George from DRR helped us redesign our entire house from front to back, and top to bottom, and spent a great deal of time with us listening to our ideas, questions and concerns. We found him to be professional, considerate, knowledgeable and thorough. He is a valuable source of design advice and guidance on anything from structural issues to detailed finishing and colour schemes. He took care of everything on our behalf –dealing with local zoning, by-law and forestry issues; obtaining all required stamped drawings; obtaining all permits and approvals; discussing the project with neighbors; etc.

We chose to continue to work with DRR on the construction as they were very willing to work with us to define a mutually agreeable scope of work for a price that was within our budget. Once the work started, Ted and his crew were very professional and worked hard to address any issues or concerns we had – they even emailed us pictures of the work to keep us up to date on the progress while we were away on Christmas vacation. Again for this phase DRR dealt with all of the issues related to the construction – project management and site management; dealing with workers / subcontractors; dealing with questions (and complaints) from neighbors and passersby; dealing with inspections, etc.

We are greatly satisfied with the quality of work done by DRR and their subcontractors. I am particularly pleased by the fact that they went beyond what’s required by code, especially in terms of the structural work. I also like the fact that they take ownership of, and deal with, any and all issues to ensure we were happy. I would gladly recommend DRR; they are fair, honest, courteous, professional, and have a great deal of integrity. They genuinely take pride in their work, and care a great deal about the quality of their workmanship and that of their subcontractors. They approach their work understanding and appreciating that this is not just another house, it is your home.