Aluminum is the trade LF Builders grew up in. Since 1979 we have hung eavestrough, wrapped fascia, vented soffit and sided homes across Toronto and the GTA, and most of what we fix today is work that was rushed the first time. A 5 inch seamless trough, downspouts every 20 to 25 feet, and a quarter inch of slope for every ten feet of run: get those three right and an eavestrough system quietly does its job for decades.

Soffit and fascia matter more than people think. The soffit is your attic’s air intake, and blocked or rotted soffit shows up later as ice dams and cooked shingles. When we wrap fascia we check what is underneath first, because capping rotten wood just hides the problem.

What moves the price

• Linear feet and how many storeys the crew is working at. Second storey work needs more setup and more care.
• Repair or replace. Re-securing sagging runs and swapping a downspout lands in the hundreds. A full wrap of trough, soffit and fascia is a different job.
• What is under the old material. Rotted fascia board or framing gets fixed properly before anything new goes on.

Straight ranges, no email wall: aluminum and siding costs, eavestrough costs, or a 60 second ballpark for your own house.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Homeowners also talk gutters and siding on renovation.reviews, our sister community. Real questions, real answers.

📅 Book a free eavestrough and exterior check or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Every interlock walkway, flagstone patio and paver driveway lives or dies by what is under it. We excavate to proper depth, compact granular in lifts, and set the bedding so the surface you see stays flat through GTA freeze-thaw. That base work is invisible on day one and it is the whole difference by year five.

Polymeric sand in the joints, a solid edge restraint, and drainage that moves water away rather than under: that is the recipe. We have laid stone across Toronto since 1979 and we will happily show you jobs that are twenty years old and still true.

What moves the price

• Square footage and access. A backyard only reachable through a gate means material moves by wheelbarrow.
• Material. Concrete pavers, natural flagstone and armour accents all sit at different points, and we will tell you where each makes sense.
• Excavation surprises. Old concrete, roots or poor soil under the surface change the base work.

See what interlock and flagstone run in the GTA or get a quick ballpark. Choosing between materials? We wrote up interlock versus natural stone honestly.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

More patio talk from homeowners over on renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free patio and walkway assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

A retaining wall is a drainage project wearing stone. The wall you see holds back soil, but it is the clear stone backfill, filter fabric and weeping tile behind it that decide whether it stands straight in ten years or leans after three springs. We build armour stone and segmental block walls across the GTA with the back of the wall treated as seriously as the face.

One thing we will always tell you up front: in most GTA municipalities a wall much over a metre needs engineered design, and taller tiered walls can too. If your project crosses that line we say so at the quote, not after.

What moves the price

• Height and length. Taller walls need bigger base courses, more backfill and sometimes an engineer’s stamp.
• Material. Armour stone, SRW block and natural stone each carry their own supply and machine time.
• Machine access. A wall a skid steer can reach costs less to build than one fed by hand.

Ranges are in our retaining wall cost guide, or run a 60 second ballpark.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Compare notes with other homeowners at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free wall assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

A good asphalt re-roof in the GTA is mostly about what you cannot see from the curb: ice and water shield at the eaves and valleys, proper underlayment, intake air at the soffit and exhaust at the ridge, and flashing that is replaced rather than reused. We have roofed Toronto homes since 1979, and we would rather talk you out of a premature tear-off than sell you one.

Quick way to think about age: most builder-grade shingles installed before about 2012 are running out of road now. If yours are from that era and you are seeing the signs below, plan the roof on your schedule instead of the roof choosing a long weekend in November.

What moves the price

• Roof area and pitch. Steeper roofs are slower, need more staging, and that shows up in labour.
• Layers coming off. A single tear-off is standard. Two old layers means more disposal and more time.
• Deck condition. Soft or delaminated sheathing gets replaced before shingles go down, and we price that per sheet so there are no surprises.

Real 2026 ranges are in the roofing cost guide, or grab a ballpark for your house without giving anyone your email.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Roofing questions get asked and answered by real homeowners at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free roof check before the season turns or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

The decks that fail in the GTA fail underneath: footings above frost depth, beams undersized, ledgers bolted through nothing. Ours start with footings down at four feet, proper hardware, and guards where the code wants them, then get finished in pressure treated, cedar or composite depending on how much upkeep you want to own. See the deck work we do.

Material is an honest trade-off and we will walk it with you. Pressure treated is the value pick and wants a re-stain every few years. Cedar looks and smells like cedar. Composite costs more on day one and then mostly leaves you alone.

What moves the price

• Size and height. A walk-out second storey deck carries more structure and guard work than a grade-level platform.
• Decking choice. The frame is similar either way. The surface and railings are where composite pulls ahead on cost.
• Extras that earn their keep: privacy screens, benches, skirting, lighting.

Numbers are in the deck cost guide, or try the 60 second ballpark.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Deck build stories and material debates live over at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free deck assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Water in a basement has a path, and the fix is finding it, not guessing at it. Sometimes the answer is grading and downspout extensions for a few hundred dollars. Sometimes it is interior weeping tile to a sump, and sometimes it is excavating outside and doing the membrane properly. We tell you which one your house actually needs, priced per foot so you can see the math.

Worth knowing: the City of Toronto’s basement flooding protection subsidy can cover a chunk of a sump pump or backwater valve install. We will point you at it when it applies rather than quietly pocketing the difference.

What moves the price

• Interior system or exterior excavation. Inside is less disruptive and less costly. Outside is the full cure for the worst walls.
• Linear feet of wall being treated. Most quotes worth trusting are built per foot.
• What the water needs next: sump, backwater valve, window well drains.

Ranges live in the waterproofing cost guide, or run the ballpark. Finishing the basement afterwards? Start at basements.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Wet basement war stories and fixes at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free leak assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Interior work is where a renovation either gets planned or gets improvised, and improvised is expensive. We run kitchens, bathrooms, basement finishing and whole-interior projects with a design pass first, so decisions about plumbing moves, structure and permits happen on paper where they are cheap.

A free 3D design comes with kitchen and bathroom projects. You see the room before a wall opens, and swaps that would cost thousands mid-build cost nothing on the screen.

What moves the price

• Moving water and walls. Keeping the sink and stove where they are is the single biggest saver in a kitchen.
• Finish tier. Cabinet construction, counter material and tile are where identical layouts diverge by tens of thousands.
• What opens up. Older GTA houses keep their surprises inside walls, and we price discovered work transparently when it appears.

Honest ranges: kitchens, bathrooms, or a quick ballpark for interior work.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Kitchen and bath decisions get debated daily at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free design conversation or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Nice flooring over a bad subfloor is a squeak with a warranty problem. Before anything clicks or nails down we check the subfloor for level, fasten what moves, and let the material acclimate in the house the way the manufacturer actually asks. That is the difference between a floor that looks good on day one and a floor that still sounds right in year ten.

Hardwood, engineered, luxury vinyl plank and laminate each have a house they belong in. Concrete slab below grade wants engineered or vinyl, not solid hardwood. Dogs and kids point toward the tougher wear layers. We will match the material to the life happening on it.

What moves the price

• Material, obviously, but installation method matters too. Nail-down hardwood is more labour than click vinyl.
• What comes out first. Tile removal and multiple old layers add real time.
• Subfloor repair, levelling compound, stairs and transitions.

See the flooring cost guide or the 60 second ballpark.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Flooring picks argued out by homeowners at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free flooring assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Anyone can roll colour on a wall. Paying for painting is really paying for what happens first: nail pops fixed, cracks taped and feathered, glossy surfaces scuffed, everything primed where primer is due, and floors and furniture protected like they belong to someone we like. Skip the prep and the old wall reads straight through the new colour.

We spec sheen to the room, not the leftover pail. Flat ceilings, washable eggshell or satin where hands and chairs live, semi-gloss for trim and doors, moisture-tolerant paint in bathrooms. Low VOC throughout, so the house is livable while we work.

What moves the price

• Wall condition. Smooth repaint is the base case. Heavy patching, stain blocking or wallpaper removal is where hours go.
• Height and detail. Stairwells, vaulted ceilings, wainscot and spindles all slow the brush down for good reason.
• Colour change depth. Dark to light honestly takes an extra coat.

Ranges in the painting cost guide, ballpark in 60 seconds.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Colour and finish talk at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free painting walkthrough or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

A premium window installed badly performs worse than a mid-range window installed well. The energy rating on the sticker assumes the unit is square, shimmed right, foamed, flashed and sealed, and that is the half of the job you are actually hiring. We measure brick-to-brick or retrofit as the opening calls for, and we treat the flashing details like they matter, because in a GTA winter they do.

Full-frame replacement versus retrofit insert is the honest fork. Retrofit keeps your existing frame and costs less. Full-frame is the right call when the old frame is rotted or you are losing too much glass area to layered frames. We will tell you which your openings want, window by window.

What moves the price

• Count and size. Bays, bows and anything oversized carry more material and more install time.
• Retrofit or full-frame. Full-frame includes interior and exterior finishing work.
• Frame material and glazing. Vinyl double-glazed is the workhorse. Fibreglass and triple glazing buy quiet and warmth.

Ranges in the windows and doors cost guide, ballpark in 60 seconds.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Window shopping stories, the useful kind, at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free window and door count or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

GTA chimneys die from the top down. Water gets into the crown, freezes, opens a hairline into a gap, and a few winters later bricks are spalling their faces off onto the roof. Caught early this is repointing and a crown seal. Caught late it is a partial rebuild. The gap between those two invoices is why we would rather look at your chimney this year than next.

We repoint with mortar matched to the original in hardness, not just colour. Too-hard modern mortar on older brick makes the brick itself fail, which is the expensive way to learn masonry chemistry.

What moves the price

• How high and how bad. Repointing the top few courses is routine. Rebuilding above the roofline is staging and brick matching.
• Crown, cap and flashing. Often the real fix is these three, and they are the cheap end.
• Liner condition if the chimney vents an appliance or fireplace.

See the chimney cost guide or grab a ballpark.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Masonry questions answered plainly at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free chimney look-over or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Most concrete cracks are cosmetic. Some are your house talking. Hairline shrinkage cracks in a garage slab or walkway are normal aging. Cracks wider than about 3 millimetres, cracks with one side higher than the other, or step cracking through block joints deserve real attention. We fix both kinds and, more usefully, we will tell you honestly which kind you have.

Walks, steps, pads, parging and garage slabs are bread and butter work for us. De-icing salt is the great destroyer of GTA concrete, so surfaces get finished and sealed with that in mind.

What moves the price

• Patch, resurface or replace. Resurfacing tired but sound concrete costs a fraction of tear-out.
• Access and volume. Small pours carry fixed costs. A driveway is priced by area and thickness.
• Base condition. Concrete over a washed-out base fails again, so we fix the base.

Ranges in the concrete cost guide, ballpark in 60 seconds.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Concrete questions and cures at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free concrete assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

An asphalt driveway is only as good as the eight or so inches of compacted granular underneath it. Skimp there and the prettiest surface alligators and dips within a few seasons. Our driveways start below the ground: excavation, granular in compacted lifts, proper slope for drainage, and clean edges that will not crumble the first time a tire kisses them.

One piece of advice we give every new driveway owner: leave it alone for a while. Fresh asphalt cures for a couple of seasons, and sealing too early traps oils and softens the surface. When it is time, seal it, and it will pay you back.

What moves the price

• Area and current condition. Overlaying sound asphalt costs less than full excavation.
• Base repair. Bad spots get dug out and rebuilt, priced honestly by area.
• Extras that finish the job: interlock aprons, borders, a walkway while the machines are there.

Get a 60 second ballpark for your driveway, no email needed.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Driveway before-and-afters at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free driveway assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

A fence is a fifteen-year structure that most people buy on the cheapest quote. The difference between those outcomes is underground: posts set a proper four feet down, below GTA frost, in concrete that sheds water instead of cupping it. We build in pressure treated and cedar, straight runs and awkward slopes, gates that still latch in five years included.

Sharing the line with a neighbour? Worth a friendly conversation before anyone digs, and cost sharing on line fences is a real thing in Ontario. We are happy to quote it split.

What moves the price

• Linear feet and height. Six foot privacy runs are the standard unit of fence math.
• Material and style. Board on board and lattice tops cost more than good-neighbour panels.
• Old fence removal and how many posts hit obstructions or old concrete.

Ranges in the fence cost guide, ballpark in 60 seconds.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Fence line diplomacy and design at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free fence layout visit or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

The first real decision on a sunroom is not the glass, it is the calendar. A three-season room is lighter construction, no heating tie-in, and a friendlier budget. A four-season room is insulated, conditioned, permitted like an addition, and priced like one too. Both are great. Buying one while expecting the other is the only mistake, and it is the one we help you avoid in the first conversation.

Enclosing an existing porch or balcony is often the value play, since the structure is already standing. We wrote up what it takes to enclose a covered balcony in Toronto, including the permit reality.

What moves the price

• Three-season versus four-season. Insulation, HVAC and permits are the fork.
• Foundation. Building over an existing structure saves real money when the structure checks out.
• Glazing quality. Better glass costs more and gives the room back more months of the year.

Ranges in the sunroom cost guide, ballpark in 60 seconds.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Sunroom layouts and regrets-avoided at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free sunroom conversation or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.

Foundation is the trade with the worst sales culture, so here is ours: most foundation cracks in GTA homes are shrinkage cracks that need a proper injection and nothing more. Genuine structural movement, bowing, or chronic water tells a different story, and that one sometimes involves excavation, reinforcement or underpinning. We will tell you which story your basement is telling, in writing, and we do not do urgency theatre.

Epoxy injection restores strength in a static crack. Polyurethane stops water in a moving one. Which to use where is exactly the kind of judgment you are hiring, and pairing repair with waterproofing the wall is often what makes the fix permanent.

What moves the price

• Injection repairs sit at the accessible end. Excavation and structural work is a different tier, and we say so up front.
• Length and depth of wall involved.
• Whether drainage work rides along while the wall is open, which is usually the smart time.

Ranges in the concrete and foundation guide, ballpark in 60 seconds.

How it goes with us

• Someone who does this work for a living comes out, looks, and tells you what they see. No charge, no obligation.
• You get a written quote with the scope spelled out. It holds for 30 days and nothing gets added mid-job without your say-so.
• Our own insured, WSIB-covered crews do the work. Same family company since 1979, and we answer the phone afterwards too.

Second opinions and sanity checks at renovation.reviews.

📅 Book a free foundation assessment or call 1-800-675-1055 and talk to a person, not a phone tree.