Hiring a contractor - some resources

Hiring a contractor to work on your home can be one of the most stressful experiences in your life.

We recently watched an excellent episode of CBC's MarketPlace where they absolutely trashed the Toronto contractor Max Pies, the Hummer driving rip-off artist who leaves behind dozens of unfinished jobs and unhappy clients.

Go check out the show online - CBC has posted the entire episode.

Also, check out Mike Holmes site - he's got tons of excellent tips for anyone thinking of having any work done at their home or office.

Some of the basics (from CBC):

• Get Bids - make sure the contractor comes to your house, and thoroughly understands the work.
• Check references. Actually talk to people who have had work done. Also check the BBB, and the contractor database.
• Get a contract. Get it in writing. Make sure that the contract specifies in great detail everything you want done, including things like permits, insurance, completion dates, who's going to pay for the dumpster, etc.
• Check the contractor's license. Make sure it's valid.
• Check the contractor's insurance. Often, your home insurance will NOT cover the costs if the house is damaged by a contractor while they are working on your house.
• Make sure the contractor gets building permits for all the work. Specify this in the contract.
• Split the payments up. Pay no more than 25% down payment, and then pay out bits along the way when you are satisfied. Have a 15% holdback that is not paid for a month or two after the work is complete.
• Check out the CBC's Red Flags section - watch out for these signs that the contractor is a fraud, or at least, worrisome.

Have you had good or bad experiences with contractors in Ottawa? Let us know here at ReviewOttawa.com either via email, or by a comment to this blog entry.

Tony's Snowblowing / Tony's Roofing

Tony's Snowblowing provides TERRIBLE HORRIBLE AWFUL SERVICE. This company advertized heavily in the fall of 2006, including circulars in the Citizen multiple times per week. Their rates were competitive, but we didn't check any further than that before signing up.

Fortunately, we've had a very lean winter in terms of snowfall. I say fortunately because if we had been relying on Tony's Snowblowing for any service what-so-ever, we'd be in a terrible state.

We've had two snowfalls which would merit their actions, and both times, service has been terrible. The first snowfall, Tony didn't bother to show up at all! We waited all night, and all day, but no snowblowing. We finally phoned the next day, and their voice-mailbox was full! We couldn't even leave a message!

The next snowfall occured just a couple of days ago. Tony showed up late at night and cleared 1/2 of our driveway, didn't bother to clean around the car we have to leave parked in the other half of the driveway, and certainly didn't clear our walkway. We called again, left a message, and still haven't heard from them. TERRIBLE SERVICE.

Further digging has shown lots of unsatisfied Tony's customers:

• Canuckflack
• Bad listing in the Ottawa Better Business Bureau
• And even a news story by the CBC showing how terrible they are!
  

Update: March 02. We had a big snowfall today, and Tony's up to his usual tricks. Check the comments for more confirmations of Tony's terrible service. At least this time, he showed up and cleaned part of our driveway within 24 hours of the snowfall - but he left a huge swath uncleaned in front of our garage. If YOU'VE had terrible service from Tony or any other contractor, let us know! Our email address is near the top of the page, or, leave a comment!

Update: March 18. Some of the comments have mentioned a CBC story on Friday March 16 saying that Tony's has been sued! I'm only sorry there hasn't been a better opportunity for more of us to get in on the suit. I'll update as more info becomes available.

Update: September 2007. Tony has sent out a contrite letter explaining last year's issues and promising to do much better this year. I'm stunned that he would think that ANYONE would use him two years in a row. Here's a link to the letter he sent, and this year's contract. I don't understand how the contract says "Under New Management" yet the letter is signed by "Tony Putinski!!!!

Update: Dec 9, 2007. Tony's still up to his same old tricks in 2007/2008. Many many complaints are being posted to this and other blogs and forums. I'm sorry if you got caught using Tony again, and I'm sad Tony has not improved.