Tall rooms and the ladder work nobody wants
Homes in Glen Abbey, River Oaks, Joshua Creek and West Oak Trails often have a foyer open to the second floor, a great room with a vaulted ceiling, or a fixture hanging in the middle of a stairwell void. Changing a bulb up there is a small job that people put off for a year, because the ladder it needs is not the ladder in the garage. The same goes for a chandelier that has to come down and go back up, a smoke alarm chirping five metres overhead, or artwork that belongs on a wall you cannot reach standing up.
Height changes mounting too. A screen going over a fireplace in one of those rooms needs the right viewing height, real timber or proper anchors behind the bracket, and cables run somewhere sensible rather than dangling down the stone. Setting it too high is the most common complaint I hear about a television somebody else put up.
Old Oakville plaster and Bronte cottages
Closer to the lake the housing changes completely. Century homes off Lakeshore Road have plaster over lath, walls that are not plumb, and studs at whatever spacing the carpenter felt like a hundred years ago. A stud finder is close to useless in those walls, so I probe, find real timber and fix into it rather than trusting a beep.
Bronte has a lot of former cottages that were added onto over decades. That can mean three different framing methods inside one house, floors that step up and down between rooms, and doors that have never closed the same way twice. None of it is a problem as long as nobody assumes it is a standard build.
Condos and apartments
There are mid-rise buildings along Lakeshore Road, Kerr Street and around the Uptown Core, and they come with their own rules. Most want the service elevator booked ahead, several restrict the hours work can happen, and some ask for paperwork from anyone doing work in a unit.
Ask your concierge or property manager what is required, then tell me when you book and I will fit the visit around the building. Concrete ceilings and shear walls are no trouble, they just need a hammer drill and masonry anchors instead of the plugs that came in the bracket box.
The list I get asked for most
Most of these take a couple of hours, and several can be grouped into one booking.
- High fixtures - chandeliers, foyer lights, stairwell bulbs and smoke alarm batteries
- Wall mounting - televisions, shelves, mirrors and heavy artwork, on plaster or concrete
- Doors and windows - sticking doors, patio door rollers, locks, screens and weather stripping
- Bathroom updates - vanities, faucets, shower heads, fresh caulking and cabinet hardware
- Furniture and storage - wardrobes, beds, desks, shelving units and closet organisers
- Drywall and plaster - cracks, dents, old mount holes and paint that matches what is there
- Outdoors - deck boards, gate hardware, fence panels and railings that have loosened
Send a message with a description and a few photos and you will normally have a price back within one business day. Quotes are free with nothing attached to them. Before work starts you get a fixed price or an hourly rate, agreed with you first. Materials come with receipts or you buy your own, the room is left clean, and if something needs revisiting afterwards I come back for it.
