To put it mildly, 2021 has been an interesting year from a business stand point. Demand has been unbeliaevable, So many people have wanted quotes we can barely keep up, but the real kicker has been supplies are scarce!
In 2021, we have had some very irritated and impatient customers and I don't blame them. It's difficult for people to imagine or believe we gave them a quote in June 2021 and we haven't got the materials yet. To make matters worse the aluminum price has been soaring! From a business standpoint, this hurts us because we give a quote and people choose to go with us and by the time we do the job materials and labour have gone up in real time!
Yesterday, I had to drive all the way to Gentek in Scarborough, Ontario (about two hours away) to pick up two boxes of white pipes and two boxes of elbows. I got a rare glimpse into the warehouse and was mortified at what I saw!
Look closely at the blue shelves! They were empty as far as the eye can see! Underneath them is a few boxes of vinyl siding and there are a few aluminum products as well. I remember two years ago these warehouses were packed with aluminum and vinyl. Common colours were available immediately and special order colours were maximum two to three week wait times.
Covid has brought some very interesting times to our business. We pray the supply chain can correct itself soon but from what our suppliers tell us, this will continue through 2022. We greatly appreciate the patience of our customers during this trying time.
We are full for the 2021 season. However, if you would like a quote for 2022, we would be delighted help you. Please call us at 905-902-9424 or visit our website at https://theeavestroughcompany.com
When you want to hire a contractor to work on your home, you likely ask family and friends for their recommendations in your search for a good and honest company. You probably also look at their on-line reviews. In this day and age, we use on-line reviews for choosing movies, restaurants, vacations, and nearly everything under the sun. For home renovation work, the two popular review sites are Home Stars and Google. A company that has a ton of positive reviews seems like the logical place to call. However, If you are a discerning consumer, you also want to look at any bad reviews as they are often more revealing about any potential problems in a company’s service.
At The Eavestrough Company, we are really happy with our hundreds of amazing reviews which are all from OUR customers. Our company began in 2007. To date, we have 284 Home Stars Reviews and here is the breakdown of our Star ratings:
We have 271 10 stars out of 10!!!!!!
We have 7 9 stars out of 10!!!!!!
We have 2 8 stars out of 10!!!!!!
We have 2 7 stars out of 10.
We have 1 1 star out of 10. :(
We have 1 0 stars out of 10. :(
You have to admit, this is a pretty amazing track record! It says to me that our customers are extremely satisfied with our customer service and workmanship. If you read our customers who gave us the 8 and 9 star reviews you will see they were extremely happy with everything. Why did they give us an 8 or a 9 and not a 10? Beats us! I guess I'd compare it to when I was in university and some professors graded harder than others.
However, for now, let’s look at our 4 worst reviews in 14 years of operation. It is not only potential customers that learn from these. We always strive to learn and improve and so we study these, too.
We will save you time by consolidating our 14 years worth of “bad” reviews as well as our responses below. Here we go airing our dirty laundry........
Let's start with Mary from Markham who was our first and our worst rated review. We did her job in 2011.
Mary from Markham 0 out of 10 stars. OUCH!!!!
Extremely dissatisfied. They were late doing the job, but right on time asking for their money. It required several phone calls and many excuses before the project finally began six weeks after the promised start. After the first snow we had ice dams and icicles, where there had been none previously. Wendell promised to come and investigate. Six weeks later...nothing. Contacted him again after another snow and more ice dams and icicles. Passed the buck to the roofer who had installed a new roof several weeks before the soffit and fascia. In contrast, the roofer, came within an hour and verified that it was not a venting problem, but an eavestrough problem. He removed eavestrough and six inches of ice from roof. He will return in spring to redo the eavestrough properly. Apparently it was not installed properly and we would continue to have problems (more leaking, more water damage) with every snowfall. Would not recommend Superior Eavestrough (note: at this time we were known by our original name of Superior Eavestrough. We changed our name in 2013). to anyone because of their poor responsiveness and lack of accountability for worksmanship issues.
My Response:
I am not going to make a point by point answer to Mary's post. She was upset about having ice dams and if you know anything about ice dams, they are never caused by an improperly installed eavestrough. You can look into ice dams on your own. However, looking back, as a company, we did drop the ball on this one. We should have been more prompt and responded to Mary. Because Mary was in Markham and we are in Hamilton, I attempted to resolve and discuss matters on the phone. Her ice dam came and went. I felt the matter was resolved. THEN, lightning struck twice. We had another massive snow storm and the ice dam this time grew to epic proportions with 6" of ice on the edge of the roof! My problem, she contacted us in the evening and my wife and I were leaving for Mexico the next day! :o So I phoned a friend of mine who had also done her roof and he was happy to go. He had to carefully melt the ice. In the process, he accidentally damaged the gutter and removed it, all while I was on a beach in Cancun.
Mary wasn't happy with my sending the roofer. She didn't want us back on the property to re-install a new eavestrough on the section removed. However, unbeknownst to her, the roofer arranged another company to install the new eavestrough and we paid for it to be installed.
Mary's right, we did not respond promptly to her request. We learned from this mistake. We also decided we would narrow down our install area as Markham is just too far away to service properly. It's the last time we ever worked east of Mississauga!
Next, onto Shane.....
Shane from Hamilton 1 star out of 10! OUCH!
I am Extremely upset with this company. I paid $6127 for new Eavestroughs, Facias and Soffits and still have a leak dripping on me through a seam directly above the stairs to my door. There are many other leaks/dripping as well, but the one above the stairs is the one that leaks on me when I enter/exit my house. I called the company and they refuse to do anything, because they said it is a problem with the roof and a lack of roof trimming. I sent them pictures showing them where the leak was coming from, and the roof trim that they claim is not there, and they won't do anything about it. I could understand if the leak was coming from between the house and facia/soffits, but it's not. It's coming from the centre along the seam. Now I can either contact my lawyer or just go up with a can of Flex Seal to stop the leak. They only reason I gave them 1 star is because it looks nice. Unfortunately it doesn't do what it was designed to do. DO NOT use this company.
My response:
Shane was a bit perplexing to me. When I did Shane's quote, He pointed out an area right over his front door where water came through the soffit during and after a rain. I got my ladder up to look and pointed out a serious roof issue to him. He hired us to do the eavestrough, fascia and soffit on his house. My installers who did the work also pointed out this serious problem, took pictures for him and sent them to him. Both myself and the installers informed him he needed a new roof or a serious roof repair.
Less than a week after we completed the job he called us and advised us water was still pouring through the same section of the soffit. I returned and discussed the matter with him. I took more pictures, lifted the shingles in the problem area and pulled out some rotten roof sheathing and laid the shingles back down. He insisted we fix this problem and I once again advised him he needed a new roof. I'll never forget his response, "I paid you over $6100 and I expect you to fix it." All I could say was roofing was not our area of expertise and I would be happy to contact several reputable companies who I know could fix the problem. Shane informed me I could contact them but he would not pay them. Needless say, I didn't phone any roofing companies for him. Upon my leaving the property, Shane called out, "I'm going to write a review."
To be honest, I am not sure what I could have done to avoid this negative encounter or stinker of a review. Shane was a nice guy. I know it was his first home and he probably had little experience with roofs and eavestroughs. The one thing I do know is once he had a new roof installed, the problem went away.
Next, I will move on to Alaska (not the State...her name is Alaska! :) )
Alaska from St. Catharines 7 stars out of 10. But who started out giving us a 0 out of 10 in her original review.
It was a bumpy start with miscommunications along the way. In the end, we were able to reconcile. Wendell maintained open communication lines throughout the process which were not always taken advantage of by us. We are content with the outcome.
My response:
Alaska had a company install her gutters and it was a less than good job. She contact me personally and asked to have Alu-Rex Gutter Protection installed on her eavestroughs. The day I went to do the quote, it was pouring rain. Alaska missed our appointment and I called her. She informed me to proceed with measuring because she couldn't be home. I did as instructed. She accepted the quoted and we installed Alu-Rex Gutter Clean and cleaned out her eavestroughs prior to install.
Two weeks later she called extremely irate that we had not caulked her gutters which were leaking profusely. We advised her this was not part of the work order and we generally do not take on work to seal another companies leaking eavestrough. To say Alaska's temper blew sky high is an understatement. I don't blame Alaska, I think she thought this would be part of the job. I also explained the day I was there it was pouring, the gutters were clogged and water was spewing over the sides everywhere.
Alaska was REALLY mad at us. Whether it was warranted or not, I discussed the matter with my business partner, who happens to be my wife :). We decided to just give Alaska back all her money and she could keep the Alu-Rex Gutter Protection free of charge. I think the total amount of the job was around $800.00. One thing I learned from this is to try and clarify all specifics before commencing a job.
Next, onto the last one.
Bob from Oakville 7 out of 10 stars.
Good company but I had to do a lot of day-by-day checking/supervision to get what I wanted since not all the foreseeable job scope details (at least those that should have been foreseen by the company owner) were not brought up/discussed/options agreed and priced before the job started and therefore were not detailed in the quote. Owner, who supplied the quote, did not show up first day of job or anytime during the week- length job.
My response.
Bob was an interesting customer. My installers were constantly phoning me telling me he kept climbing their ladders several times a day. He also pulled up a lawn chair and watched them as they worked, which, I think most contractors would understand gives you an eerie feeling. During the course of the week, Bob told the installers to cap 6 windows, 1 complicated Bay Window, and 2 doors. All of these were not part of the initial quote and required a lot of work. When we completed the job, we billed Bob $1250 for the extra work which really barely covered materials and labor but my rationale was we made pretty good money on the rest of the house.
Bob disputed this $1250 and felt the cost was unreasonably high. Some how he through out a cost he felt was fair of $450. I let Bob know I had about that much money invested in just the materials and it took 10 hours labor to do all the extra work (most of it in the large bay window). Bob refused to pay more than this and I simply accepted the $450 he was willing to pay. This was really the only hiccup with Bob. Bob was actually extremely happy with the work and the finished product. The one thing I will rebut in this quote is my failure to show. I was there twice and my crew appreciated the coffees! However, I will say that I don't show up to every job because my 5 crews are that good!
The one lesson I learned from this is to always, always, ALWAYS provide the price before we commence extra work.
We aren't a perfect company and we never will be. The one thing I will add is we aim for perfection because if we aim for it we might just come pretty close! All in all, and I think you'll agree, out of 284 reviews these 4 reviews aren't too bad. It's been 4 years since our last bad (7 star) review. That's a pretty good stretch we want to see continue!
If you would like a quote for eavestrough, fascia, soffit, siding or gutter protection, please do not hesitate to call us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com. Based on our reviews, there's a greater than 99% chance you willed be thrilled with the work we do!
OK. So I figured since I didn't write a blog post for over a year, I would write two in a week to make up for lost time.....
You've heard most of these quotes before:
"Do it right the first time."
"Doing it right costs less than doing it over."
"It takes less time to do it right than to explain why you did it wrong."
"Do it right or do it twice."
I grew our company from nothing. I had faith The Eavestrough Company could be one of the best aluminum companies in the Golden Horse shoe region and my wife and I started it out of our house and by cashing in a ton of our RSP's (our accountant at the time thought this was a BAD move!)
Well, here we are 15 years later and cashing out much of our RSP's looks like it was a smart move. When we started The Eavestrough Company our objective was not to be the biggest. Our objective was to have the best reputation in the region and offer the best quality work.
However, as I drive around and meet over 1000 people per year doing estimates, I find out people are looking for different things when contemplating having their eavestroughs, fascia, soffit or siding done. Some are definitely looking for the cheapest price, others want the best quality job. Others are not sure what they are looking for and I try to talk them through it.
I determined when I began this business, I would only use the best quality materials and use the right materials for the job. I want this article to address the crowd that seems to want the cheapest price (which I usually am not).
I understand there are some people who own a house who have budgetary constraints. Some have a lower income, some are on pensions, the list goes on and on. However, owning a home costs money and there needs to be a budget for repairs and sometimes replacement. Every task you perform on your house should be with the desire to have the quality job done.
Every week I have someone ask if I can do it cheaper. By cheaper, they mean way, Way, WAY cheaper. My answer is always, "No". I mean, It can be done way cheaper but there are only a few ways to get a job done cheaply and here are ones I have encountered.
1. Hire people who aren't skilled. These are generally people who advertise on Kijiji or Facebook who think anyone can hang an eavestrough or install siding. I have seen such bad work from these people it would almost bring a homeowner to tears. Of course most of these people want cash up front for their work so if you get a bad job well....."suck it up buttercup" because they aren't coming back.
2. Hire roofing companies to do your eavestrough and siding work. With the exception of a couple companies in the area, Roofing companies are NOT skilled in aluminum work. I have found with roofing companies, they tend to wait until they have secured the roofing work and when they are doing the work they bring to the homeowners attention the awful state of their eavestrough. The roofers then do the eavestrough work. Below is a picture I took this year of a reputable roofing company who also did the eavestrough work on a condo complex two years ago. The condo complex contacted me because they can not get the roofers back!
There is 3" of water pooling in this eavestrough BECAUSE they did not take the time to slope it properly. Most of the water drains away from the downpipes! This is NOT an isolated case. I see this and other major problems numerous times every year. I can't be adamant enough. Don't hire roofers to do your aluminum work!
3. Hire companies who use builders grade materials or even the wrong materials. Aluminum is up over 300% in the last two years. Because of this, there are a number of companies flocking to buy a builders grade aluminum out of Concord, Ontario. This aluminum is about half the thickness of the aluminum I buy from Gentek or Kaycan. New builders are using it everywhere because it's cheap. I handled some of it recently and jokingly said to the guy trying to get me to consider it, "It's so thin I think I could wrap a sandwich in it." He didn't appreciate the comment. Here is their price list below. Nearly all are half the price I pay at Gentek or Kaycan.
The only thing on this list that isn't twice as cheap as I pay is the gutter coil but their gutter coil which is close to the same price, However it will do nearly double the footage of a Gentek or Kaycan gutter coil.
Other ways I have seen companies do jobs cheaper is to use cheaper caulking to seal the corners, space the brackets 3' to 5' apart (they should be no further than 2' apart), use cheap brackets with steel screws because the zinc screws you should use are 4x the price.
So you see, the job can be done much cheaper, but at what price? There is only one way to do the job much cheaper. Contractors are not charitable organizations. If you want a cheaper price, it's not going to come out of their pocket. If you want that cheap price it will come in the form of a substandard job or substandard materials.
When my wife and I started this company, we vowed there was only one way to do work....the right way! There is only one way to treat customers.....the right way! That's why we have 274 great reviews on Home Stars and 75 on Google. Our customers love us because we treat them with the utmost respect and we do great work.
If you would like a quote to replace your eavestrough, fascia, soffit or siding, please contact us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com
After nearly 15 years in the business, meeting thousands and thousands of people and completing several thousand homes, the most common question I am asked after someone hires us to do the work on their home is, "What colour do you think would look best on our house?" To me, it's a loaded question because we are all different and like different colours. I know what colours I like but its not necessarily what someone else likes. I generally give people advice but I always advise them of two things.
The first is to hire a good interior/exterior designer. These people are generally great with colours and can help people choose what colour would look best and what the customer would like. They are usually not expensive and cost around $150-$200 for an hour of time, which is more than enough time to choose your exterior colours.
The second is to use Gentek's Designer Services. Gentek is one of my suppliers and they have a feature on their website where you can upload a picture of your home and then put all kinds of different colours on it. You can also pay them $50 to have one of their Designers help you with uploading your pictures and help you choose what colours would look best on your home! How awesome is that?! Here is the web link to Gentek's Designer Service:
There you go! You are off and choosing your colours whether it's Black or Commercial Brown or even Wedgwood Blue!
If you would like a quote for eavestrough, fascia, soffit or gutter protection, please contact us at 905-966-2564 or visit our website at www.theeavestroughcompany.com.
