Ashton Renovations

Ashton Renovations (Mark and Chris) did such a great job with our Kitchen and Dining room renovation. We have, and we will continue to, recommend Ashton Renovations to family and friends.

We had a newborn and a 3 year old, and, for some reason, we thought it a good time to renovate! Mark and Chris took great care in making sure everything went smoothly and managed our demands to move quickly, where possible.

Mark offered us great design advice along the way and took the time to carefully explain our budget and how each decision would affect our budget plan. Chris was always on hand to make sure the quality of work matched their high standards for safety and craftsmanship.

On every job, there is always some unexpected turns (in our case, a decade old exterior wall leak), and while there were tense times, we always trusted their judgement and commitment to doing the job right, the first time.

We plan to invite Ashton Renovations back for a quote on our garage/secondary suite design, if they are interested (and we get the permits ;))

Worked with Mark and his team over a year long process. Fully gut renovated a large condo kitchen and two bathrooms.

During the process Mark was always realistic with budgets and expectations. He was very good at assisting and building on our ideas to make each room better and more functional.

The Ashton team was exceptionally good dealing with our condo building staff and management. They were always aware of keeping the work area and building common areas clean.

We recently completed a whole house renovation with Mark Ashton and his team. The core project took approximately 4 months and then a few months for final finishes after we moved back in. We completely gutted the kitchen, bathroom, all the wood floors are new, windows and exterior doors all new on the main, paint throughout, updated plumbing and electrical. The results are outstanding and the quality is excellent.

After interviewing several contractors, we actually lost confidence that we could get this job done within the budget we wanted to spend (and the scope we wanted). Mark's relaxed but organized, flexible and consultative approach to renovation projects restored our confidence, and is what made this a success for us. We liked his approach to project management, and his process/steps right away and helped make it easier for us to understand what to do. I also appreciated having his guidance in materials selection sources that was within our style, quality needs and budget. The whole team is easy to work with, friendly and are passionate about what they do. Having never renovated before, it took a little longer than we anticipated with some delays (unavoidable) - make sure to assume more time than you think and expect some challenges.

We are already planning our basement renovation with Mark and can't wait to get started!

This is our second major kitchen renovation with Mark and his team from Ashton Renovations. We wanted an open floor plan kitchen/dining room so we invited Mark over to talk about design ideas in a few days later Mark came back with a new kitchen layout that included the removal of a the wall between the kitchen and dining room.

Over the next few months the renovation went forward without any big delays. Mark was very open to the collaborations and changes we wanted to make throughout the project and was also able to offer good insight to decisions we were making.

Now that the project is complete our small enclosed kitchen has been transformed into a big, bright beautifully designed kitchen. We would definitely recommend Mark for any project in the future.

Thanks again, Mark.

J & S

We found Ashton Renovation on Home Stars and hired this renovation to renovate 3 rooms in our 1950's story 1/2 bungalow. We were not impressed with the poor workmanship , poor communication on key issues. The project manager & CEO "Mark" would become very defensive whenever we presented him with questions or our concerns with he poor workmanship applied to our home by trades he supplied.

The two experienced carpenters featured on his web site were never to our home.

In our opinion Mark was unwilling to co-operate with the trades sent to our home from the store that we had ordered our new kitchen cabinets from. It was our impression he did his things his way or the highway. After enduring 4 1/2 months of many on sight meeting , 50 plus emails , and stepping in in a desperate attempt to see this renovation to completion, following what would be the final onsite meeting , we were informed by a phone call Mark was no longer on our renovation project. We received phone class & emails from the new person in charge. We were threatened to pay the final invoice of $ 5000.00 or else.

This new person was never to our home ... he had suggested he would come to survey the situation & take it to completion. None of this took place following our final payment.

This person arranged 2 1/2 day work visits with is other "boy" resulting in further damage to our home. We had reached our limit ... moved back into our home , construction mess everywhere, no water hook up, no gas line hookup ..no stairs , bathroom not functioning essentially an abandoned renovation . We feel we had made every attempt to take our renovation to completion .... we contacted our Lawyer , a Contract Lawyer , the city of Toronto Licensing Dept , The College of Trades , Upper Canada Law Society , The Electrical Safety Authority , The Metro Police Dept & Consumer Protection Ontario. All Authorities have been to our home and have documented our abandoned renovation.

The ESA informed us that final electrical inspection had been canceled by Mark .It did not pass final inspection as it had been left incomplete. The city of Toronto informed us that Ashton Renovation was not licensed to renovate in the City of Toronto and were pressing charges. The College of Trades informed us that the venting system for our gas range was not to code & we then were told it was also left to vent into the wall cavity .

The Consumers Protection offers mediation to resolve contact disputes however we were told Mark was not interested in this process. Estimates from "Licensed"have averaged in at $20,000-$30,000 plus materials to fix the deficiencies in the poor workmanship& to complete the renovation as per our contract. Damage to our home & items damaged that we were promised would be replaced or repaired .. well this did not happen either .

We were told on several occasions that upon completion of our reno we would sit and adjust review all charges and make any necessary adjustments , needless to say this never happen . this company had our money , abandoned the project & was unwilling to meet for mediation. Our Night mare continues. A more detailed review with some photos take during our first week back home are posted on Home Stars. We returned to this site as it is where we found this renovation company . Anyone interested in seeing our renovation disaster is welcome into our home for a first hand look .