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Oakville Handywoman at your service!

We should all understand the importance of having the right tools for the job that we do.  Whether you are an accountant, medical practitioner, yoga instructor or decorator, you need a set of tools that allow you to do what you do, efficiently and effectively.  Without these tools, you would be spinning your proverbial wheels to get the job done.

Here at Lakeshore Home Maintenance, we believe that our clients should benefit from our growth by hiring a company that has the specialty tool to do the job in the most effective way possible. 

The lovely tool that I am holding above is our latest addition.  Drills a hole in your house faster than you can say “Jack Robinson” and breaks up concrete like nobody’s business.  Believe me, it’s a heck of a lot easier than the old sledgehammer and chisel route, and, well, it just feels better in your hands, if you get my drift.

Many clients in the Oakville area are looking to have a specific home repair job done and they want it done for a fair price.  By having the right tool, we can often save our clients money by getting the job done more efficiently.  This level of service shows our valued clients that we constantly strive to give them the quality of work that they demand, and with the latest technology we can offer this at a reasonable price. 

With fall just around the corner, and things needing to be tackled before the cold weather, have a look around your house, or let your friends and clients know about us.  We are quickly becoming the go-to company in the Oakville, Burlington and Mississauga areas that can tackle their home repair and renovation projects.  Our service, quality and expertise is exceptional, and we want to help you take care of your “to-do” list…inside and out.

Oh, and if you want me to pose live for your next function, drop me a line. 

Lakeshore Home Maintenance – Taking care of your “to-do” list…inside and out.  289-242-8439

From time to time we find that people seem to think that they don’t want to pay posted prices for a service.  This video reminds us of how important it is to set expectations beforehand, when offering a service or product to our clients. 

In some businesses, pricing might be flexible, however sacrificing service to reduce price is not in our business model, since our business has been built on excellence in service, quality AND value.  When price becomes an issue, and discussions begin around that, we can always remove part of the service, (ie. why don’t we paint the walls, but just wash the baseboards to freshen them up instead of painting the baseboards). 

We would never do this to restauranteurs, hairdressers, or retail stores would we?  Unless we have previously discussed some sort of “agreement” this video serves to reinforce the importance of conveying to our clients the quality of work that they will recieve, and the pricing associated with that. 

Enjoy!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

Sarah

The following is a list of the speakers for the next 9 meetings. Each speaker has 5 minutes to speak about their business to the group.  If you cannot attend on your scheduled day, please contact Sarah or Boris regarding switching.

August 20 – Cheryl Scoffield and Margareta LaFoley

September 3 – Daniel Durst and Bruce Manore

September 17 – Boris Mahovac and Dimitr Popov

October 1 – jackie Connoly and Manuela Coelho

October 15th – Christine Whitlock and Kristeen Edwards

October 29th – Fabia Zampieron and Mike Rocha

November 12th – Ute Lintner and Michelle Paris

November 26th – Diane Deinstadt and Margaret Good

December 10th – Anna Kett

The fall and windy days are close by in Oakville (and Mississauga, Burlington and surrounding areas) and with it, fences are going down. It is rare these days to NOT get a phone call about someone needing a repair done on a fence or deck rail and Lakeshore Home Maintenance has the knowledge and expertise to take care of all these problems.

A few words to the wise on the issue of wooden fences, namely how they are typically built, what their life span should be, and of course, the fact that nothing is carved in stone when it comes to how long they should last. Most of the work we take care of when it comes to our lovely home borders is on the 20+year old wooden board on board fence. 4×4 pressure treated posts set in concrete. These fences were built in the housing boom of the 80’s, in areas like Glen Abbey, Upper Middle and 8th Line, Southeast Oakville and parts of Westoak Trails. It seems to be that fences have a life span of about 20 – 25 years. Generally, something happens, some event that finally snaps one or more of your posts, and down they come, bringing multitudes of wooden slats with them. Gardens are crushed, barbecues are damaged, and your backyard suddenly becomes everybodys business!

Which brings us to a word about neighbours. We’ve all heard that “good fences make good neighbours” and we find that in many cases, people don’t know how true this is until the fence comes crashing down. It is important to determine whether the fence is on the lot line (often the case) or solely your own (or your neighbours) property. When the fence is on the lot line, people generally split the cost of a fix between the neighbours. Of course, there are cases when one party is not interested in fixing the fence, or feels that it is not their fault that the fence went down in the first place, based on how it fell.

Many factors can contribute to your fence coming down before its time, and one of the biggest culprits is the garden bed that has been built up in front of a fence, sometimes with boards and/or weed barrier up against the fence to keep the soil in your garden. Unfortunately, this puts undue strain on the boards and the posts and will rot everything prematurely. Remember when you are planning your gardens, to keep the level of the soil low where it hits the fence, and you can save yourself some costly repairs down the road. Keep your fence posts clear at all times of debris and soil, as our freeze/thaw cycles can seriously wreak havoc on the wood.

When it is time to repair your fence, be sure that you find someone who understands how to properly install new posts, digging deep enough to ensure that all concrete is well below the frost line, posts are levelled and true, and that they have the experience and knowledge from working on many different styles and sizes of fence. Often, we are called out to fix other people’s work, working on fences that have more angles than a geometry set!

We can take care of every aspect of fixing your fence, whether you just need one new post, or a whole new section repaired or replaced. Whether you want pressure treated wood or cedar, painted or natural. Lakeshore Home Maintenance has the know-how and expertise to do it right, at the right price for you.