Repairs & Maintenance

Most calls we get for small work come with a list: a door that rubs, a hole where a TV bracket used to hang, a stair tread that creaks, grout that has gone dark around the tub. We work through lists like that in houses, condos, rental units and small commercial spaces around Toronto and the GTA, and we would rather deal with several items in one trip than come back for each one separately.

Repairs on a typical list

• Walls and ceilings — holes, cracks, nail pops and old water stains, cut back, taped and feathered out using the same methods as full drywall finishing.
• Doors — sticking or sagging doors, loose hinges, split jambs, new handles and closet doors.
• Trim and stairs — baseboard, casing, loose treads, squeaks, and handrails or guards that move when you lean on them.
• Floors — damaged hardwood boards, lifted or chipped vinyl plank, loose transition strips, and cracked tiles cut out and reset one at a time with the closest match available. When the damage spreads across a room, a fresh tile installation or new flooring usually makes more sense than piecing in replacements.
• Tubs and showers — regrouting, recaulking and re-anchoring loose towel bars and accessories.
• Paint — touch-ups, single walls and full rooms.

Which items belong to another trade

A repair list often mixes our work with items that need a licensed trade. Dripping taps, running toilets, dead outlets, a breaker that keeps tripping, a furnace problem or a roof leak go to a plumber, electrician, HVAC technician or roofer. We flag those when we go over your list, and when one of our repairs depends on theirs — a ceiling stain under a bathroom, for instance — we book our part after they have fixed the cause, so the patch is not wasted.

Finding the cause before we patch

A crack that reopens in the same corner every year is rarely bad luck. Cracks running up from the corners of door and window openings often come from the framing around the opening shrinking and swelling with the seasons, so they need to be re-taped rather than simply filled. A stain that returns means water is still getting in somewhere. A door that binds only in the humid part of summer is usually swelling; one that suddenly binds all year may have loose hinge screws, or the frame or floor may have moved. We look for the reason, explain what we see, and say so when something needs a specialist rather than more compound and paint.

How a repair visit comes together

1. Send us your list, ideally with a photo of each item and a rough size for anything damaged.
2. We look at the photos, visit where needed, and send an itemized written estimate with each repair on its own line, so you can decide what gets fixed on this visit and what goes on a later list.
3. We bring materials for the approved items — matching trim profiles, paint, grout colour — and order the work so patches can dry between coats while we move on to other rooms.
4. Before leaving, we go over the list with you, or with the tenant or property manager, and note what was done.

The price of a repair visit depends on how many items there are, how easy they are to reach, whether matching materials are still made, and how much of the surrounding finish has to be redone for a repair to blend in. That last point is why we suggest grouping wall patches with any interior painting you already have in mind. Timing depends on tracking down matching materials and on the drying time compound, grout and paint need between steps.

Upkeep for rental properties

Our rental work covers turnovers between tenants, repairs tenants have reported and walk-throughs of units that have not been looked at in a while. When a unit is occupied, you either arrange a time with your tenant or serve the written notice of entry that Ontario's Residential Tenancies Act requires, and we arrive at the time that was set. We can note the paint colours, sheens and flooring we use at each address, so later repairs in that unit are easier to match.

Start a list on your phone of every small thing that has been bothering you, add a photo or two, and send it to us. We will come back with a free written estimate, priced line by line.