ParTex Design Build Ltd.

Par-Tek and Andrew were hired by us to completely redesign and rebuild our main floor including our kitchen, dining room, powder room, and to transform our front entrance including a new expanded space for a hallway closet.

We are delighted with the result, right down to the finest details. Renos can be stressful but Andrew was excellent to work with. He was steady and clear about explaining our various options. He was also very good at giving us cost feedback at each step of the design phase, so we knew what to expect. His sense of humour helped manage the stressors that inevitably come along with such a sizeable home renovation.

Our front entrance transformation has been the most impactful for me. Andrew’s hallway closet solution was to turn it sideways and push it slightly into the garage, which increased the closet from 2.5’ to 7.5’ wide, plus give us another 18” of hallway width. It completely works and it sets the stage and great impression for the rest of the house.

The most challenging part of the project was removing the structural wall between the kitchen and dining room, allowing the light to flow all through the first floor (the most important thing for me). The wall was full of electrical, heating, plumbing lines etc. but somehow he sorted it all out in a very neat fashion. We especially appreciated the attention to detail which resulted in a warm expansive French Country Kitchen with a beautiful glazed finish. Andrew paid great attention to the lighting design throughout which has turned out to be very functional and attractive.

Lastly because it’s worth noting, the finer details and finishing touches matter so much in renovations. We appreciated the attention to the paint finish, the trim and door installations and how professionally the renovation was completed. It was also done on schedule and on budget even though we made a few changes along the way. Keep in mind I had to be flexible too because not everything I wanted fit our budget. So there’s give and take needed on both sides to make it all smooth.

So we would recommend Andrew and Par-Tek without hesitation to anyone desiring excellent quality and knowledge of design. You can trust them and have confidence they will be good guardians of your home through the transformation.

I recently had Andrew and his team perform a renovation on my newly purchased home, which is about 30 years old. The scope of Andrew's work was to remove three load-bearing walls, reconfigure electrical/plumbing/heating, complete flooring, and reposition + renovate a wood-burning fireplace.

From my initial discovery phase and assessing different contractors, Andrew separated himself from the rest with his professional engagement and bevy of experience. Andrew was very precise and detailed in his pre-work, identifying all potential 'surprises' and constraints. I was far more comfortable choosing Andrew and his team to do the work over 5 or 6 other contractors that I interviewed.

Right from the beginning of the project, Andrew's attention to detail and unwillingness to accept anything but perfection was great to see. He was very specific in every action from design to demolition to build. It was eye-opening to watch Andrew and team prepare and custom-fit the load-bearing beams for my project.

One of the most refreshing qualities Andrew brings is his willingness to discuss various options and not be short-sighted or stuck to one solution. Andrew brings various ideas to the table, explains the advantages and disadvantages of each, and worked with me on the most cost-efficient solution while not sacrificing quality/excellence.

Andrew's work is only matched by his sense of humor and good natured spirit. It's a pleasure to watch Andrew work while inserting humor, light-hearted fun, and building a sustainable customer relationship.

I will be working with Andrew again in the future for further projects, and I would highly reccommend him for renovations.

We hired Andrew Parker to demolish our back patio, cellar room, and back entrance to our house. He’s awesome. We didn’t have a clear idea of the extent of the work we originally wanted done, but he patiently walked us through our options with his significant and clear experience as our guide. He’s amiable and a seasoned professional. What he understands so well is the balance between ideal and price, and he sensitively navigated our needs and preferences while respecting our budget. He’s aware of the apprehension about jobs expanding beyond what was originally envisioned, and ensures we’re excellently informed about the implications of proceeding with one option over the other.

We’ve been as satisfied with his work as we were with his design stage consultations. The engineering team he brought in to do the demo and rebuild is top-notch; professional workers that showed up on time and worked hard with winter approaching to ensure every available day was used to progress the job along as quickly as possible. His supervision was professional and consistent, and his communication with both us and our neighbours through the process was great. The finished product looks tremendous, with care paid not only to visual aesthetics, but structural integrity, drainage, safety and security. This is a contractor who I’m pleased to have met and will use without question for my future work.

I entered into a contract with Par-tek Construction 1 year ago. The reviews were good and his responses by e-mail or phone were quick. We signed an agreement to begin work on converting a carport into a garage, for design work and the permit, and I made several payments. Due to various delays no work was completed other than getting a permit, and construction was pushed to the spring.

This is where my problems began to get worse. Not getting anything built per our original timeline was a setback, but I was still confident in the contractor. Andrew (who is owner) still seemed willing to complete the work, but continually delayed the start. First it was pushed to March, then May, and when we finally seemed close to starting, he abruptly terminated our arrangement. He said we did not have a signed contract for this part of the work, and specifically "Get somebody else to build your garage." My mistake was trusting him on his word and paying more than what was outlined initially to continue the work.

Obviously this left me in a tough spot. No work has started, and I was out the several thousand dollars I paid him for essentially the promise of work to come. My attempts to get a refund were not met well. His response to me was to claim that his costs were mysteriously much higher than what I had paid. So much in fact that I now owed HIM money! There was no mention of these mystery costs prior to my request, nor any dollar values provided.

There are all kinds of words to describe a man like this, but I'm not interested in venting. I hope my story guides you to a better contractor than I found.

The contract stated the job would take approximately 3 months from commencement of construction. It took the contractor 11 1/2 months to do a poor job. At this time the City issued an Order to Comply to the contractor because he had skipped interim inspections (framing, plumbing etc). He refused to remove the drywall to allow the City to inspect what was hidden underneath. At this time we ended our relationship with Andrew/Par-tek as that was not the only "red flag."

Subsequent inspections, after we removed the drywall ourselves, by the City Inspector and an Engineer turned up a list of issues which had to be dealt with before they City would approve the work. This re-work has cost us another 20% of what our original budget with Par-tek was. Unacceptable.

This information is entirely factual and documented.

Ensure to have contract looked over by lawyer before proceeding. Good advice for any contract work. Also picture posted on this site is posted without permission from owners

Quick response, even on a holiday! Thanks for taking the time.

I hired Par-tek Construction and Andrew Parker to perform a second and third story addition to my 90 year old CabbageTown row house.

Although the design was complete and the building permit was in hand, Andrew managed to add a great deal to the design with his thoughtful and expert insights.

One of his more interesting problem –solving access solutions ( we had no direct access from the front or rear of the row house) was to install a second garage door into the garage, allowing a large ATV scissor lift to enter the back yard, snuggle up to the house and act as an elevator to get roofing and wall refuse down, and new materials up. This worked very well throughout the project. Andrew also contributed to the overall all design by introducing a new ridge rafter that would allow the new third floor ceiling to be 12” higher, resulting in a 9’ ft. ceiling. He also provided quite a bit of engineering for the various structural challenges that come with renovating a 90 year old home. Andrew and his trades were all very professional and courteous throughout the entire project.

I feel that this project would have been much more difficult without Andrew and his trades.

I heartily recommend them to you.

Stuart

Cabbage Town, Toronto

We needed a contractor who could help us sell our condo. The condo hasn't been renovated for over 40 years, and it needed a thorough remake so that it could appeal to today's home buyers.

Par-tek did an excellent job for us in helping us design and fix up our Rosedale condo, to get it ready for sale.

They and Andrew provided excellent advice and work throughout the project. Walls were removed, new baseboard and crown mold, doors, bathroom had new shower glass, lighting and vanity, painted the entire condo, new appliances, new kitchen flooring and engineered hardwood throughout. We used Andrew excellent appliance guy, his real estate agent and even his stager. We couldn’t be more pleased with the result, and heartily recommend them to you.

Par-tek Construction and Andrew were engaged by us to work on several projects to our Victorian building in downtown Toronto.

The first project was to fix some badly crumbling brick faced stairs. Andrew came up with some great ideas and we ended up using ¾” thick marble to cover the steps and exposed porch. The second project, a few months later, was to rebuild and paint our Victorian porch and stairs and security gates below, as well as paint all of the exterior wood for our portion of the building, plus the iron fence and gates. Again, Par-Tek delivered. The third project was to treat our ageing steel fire escape. Par-tek found a terrific rust converter, that actually converts rust to a paintable, inert material. Then painted the entire steel structure with a reliable exterior anti rust paint.

We are very pleased with all of the excellent services and problem solving Par-tek has provided. Each time we engaged them, they came through. We will work with them again.

Susanne,

Downtown Toronto