DesignWorks Company

This is the second project for which we've hired DesignWorks, and once again, we were very happy with the experience. We did a major kitchen remodel, which included removing a structural wall, and finishing our dining room as well. Paul and his crew did excellent, quality work, and we got exactly what we paid for, with no surprises. The end result is beautiful, with zero regrets. Punctuality only gets a B because we had some delays on the tail-end largely due to a subcontractor. Excellent job!

I would give DesignWorks my highest recommendation, and they are at the top of my list of contractors to call for future work: Paul is excellent to work with. He is extremely knowledgeable and detailed, giving us a high degree of confidence that we'd know exactly what we were getting and paying for. He and his crew delivered on every promise; there were no surprises. They were on time, cleaned up after themselves, no loud music, smoking, course language, etc. We have young children so this was important to us; we felt totally comfortable with the kids when they were around. The workmanship was excellent, and we're very pleased with the new bathroom. At one point we fell behind schedule due to some city inspectors (not his fault), but Paul worked on the weekend to make up the time. In the end, we landed where he promised. Several months after the job was complete, there were a few minor cracks in some grout due to settling; Paul came back - free of charge - to patch it up. He even fixed up a few other things in the bathroom hallway (rehung a door that wasn't true, and fixed another that wouldn't latch); these were not part of the contract, and were done gratis. For full disclosure, I would only note two downsides, neither are deal-breakers: (1) He was the most expensive of the contractors we had to quote the job (by about 15%). He was candid about how he marked things up, and allowed us to source many of the materials ourselves to save some money, but it was still expensive. Those on a very tight budget may be priced out, but it is arguable that the peace of mind and quality is worth it. (2) I was a little disappointed in the electrical sub-contractor. While all the work was done very well, he neglected to clean up some wiring in the basement. It was not worth calling him back to do it himself, but disappointing given how well everything else went. Professional, timely, high quality, helpful and detailed. Definitely give DesignWorks a call for your next job!

Everything went well. Paul's estimate was spot on. He kept us informed daily of the work being done Who was coming in when, plumber, electrician, plasterer. Paul has a great attention to detail, our space is on the small side so instead of a standard door to lead to the cellar he suggested a pocket door leading to the basement, this gives us more room in the laundry room. He keeps his workspace very clean. At night when getting home from work you wouldn't have even known anyone had been there working. I highly recommend DesignWorks Company. We will be using them again as we are now in the process of having our kitchen remodeled.

I needed to remodel my bathroom due to a spongy floor and a cracked alcove porcelain tub. I got several quotes and Paul Keating's was in the middle. I chose Paul since he had excellent reviews online and his references were extremely positive. Since I live in a condo, I was concerned that the work might affect my neighbors but Paul made sure to coordinate work and approvals with my condo manager which saved me the hassle of being caught in the middle. Paul and his partner Jim showed up every day and made noticeable progress every day and kept me up to date on status mostly through e-mails (which is Paul's preferred communication method). During the three weeks that they worked, I chatted with my neighbors and they were complimentary on the cleanliness of their work and consideration of the neighbors. The final resulting bathroom is solid and beautiful and if there are any problems in the future, Paul offered a 5 year warranty on any workmanship issues. My only complaint is with last minute price changes after signing the contract. A week before he was scheduled to start work, Paul apologized and said he would need to raise the price $1500 since he never got the okay on his price estimate from his plumber. When it was time for the final payment, he discovered a spreadsheet error and that also cost me several hundred dollars over the quoted price. Regarding pricing, Paul did some additional work that needed to be done but was unforseen (lack of existing duct-work attached to the ventilation fans) and additional requests from me (adding a new vent fan to the downstairs bath) which I thought were charged fairly. Despite my irritation with pricing, my key priority was getting quality bathroom and having a conscientious contractor who let me know what was going on and was prompt in answering any questions that I had. I would definitely consider using Design Works in the future.

n/a

While the job took a little longer than anticipated this was due to delays in the delivery of stone and fireplace doors. Paul started by coming out to the house, helping to design a mantle that would work with our current decor and the overall design of the house (1917 arts and crafts) and then actually developed a mock-up that he brought into the house so that we could see what it would look like before we started. During demolition his crew as very neat and careful and things were always cleaned up when they would leave for the day. The stone work was tricky due to the floor not being level, but Paul worked with the stone contractors and we got things to the best place possible. The grout color that we used was not quite right, so Paul came back and fixed it. The whole project turned out beautifully and he even took the time to hang some new artwork that we got for the finished product and to match the color of the stain perfectly.