Wilkens Contracting Inc.

Jake Wilkens did fantastic work rebuilding some deterioration and pointing we needed on a century-old West Toronto house. We got him back to replace an old patch job that was done poorly. Just stellar work, perfectly matched colour and texture for the bricks and pointing. Real pros! Before and after pics:

No muss, no fuss. Great job tuckpointing the side of our house.Connor gave me a call weeks earlier than I expected that he could take care of our tuck pointing (100 year old double brick home). Very pleasant man who explained what needed to be done, got it done, great job, great clean up and on his way. The world should work this way!

We cannot speak highly enough of Wilkens Contracting. They excelled in every way at carrying out a very tricky fireplace installation job, with results of superlative quality, for a very reasonable price.Our old Victorian came with a gas fireplace installed in what used to be a coal/wood fireplace; we wanted to convert the fireplace back to wood-burning, and also to replace the existing mantle with a lovely old carved marble mantle that we found at The Door Store (in four pieces). The mantle replacement meant that the interior of the fireplace had to be rebuilt. In addition, a slate hearth had to be installed in our inlaid wood floor, the fireplace flue needed to be vetted, and the deteriorated chimney on the rooftop repaired.I contacted several companies before settling on Wilkens. Ernie's 35+-year expertise was immediately evident in the way he went about assessing the situation. For example, unlike other estimators who simply recited existing code as regards how far the hearth needed to extend into our narrow living room, Ernie went into the basement, opened a small hole in a closet ceiling with my permission, and measured the underlying concrete slab in order to establish a smaller (grandfathered-in) legal extension, saving us precious inches of floor space. More generally, Ernie was completely confident about all aspects of this complicated job, and offered us interesting options we hadn't thought about, including a herringbone brick design for the interior fire box.Again, the overall (fixed) price for all the needed work was extremely reasonable. Having settled on Wilkens, we were impressed throughout the process of getting the job done. Ernie and Olivia were pleasant and flexible in light of an unexpected delay in getting started associated with first removing the gas fireplace. When the job started, the main artisan---Bill---was patient and thorough in protecting our furniture etc. with plastic from brick dust due to necessary demolition and repair.Bill---with Wilkens for 35+ years---did a truly exceptional job, with occasional assistance from Ernie and Richard. The pictures tell part of the story, as in the perfect matching of the herringbone design on the sides, the exact positioning of the hearth vis-a-vis the floor, the expert installation of the interior marble surround and marble (not pictured is the impressive repair of the rooftop chimney). But in the background was Bill's lifetime of experience and his patience and careful dedication to getting everything exactly right, both aesthetically and structurally. He takes his time, because that's what it takes. If you are looking for a true artist who will create a fireplace of lasting extraordinary beauty, Bill is your man. We doubt that there is anyone else in Toronto who could have produced anything close to this outstanding result, for any price.More generally, we recommend Wilkens Contracting in the highest terms as a gem of an old-school fireplace and masonry company, capable of beautifully handling the most difficult and delicate jobs for a very reasonable price and in a pleasant and professional manner.

We recently contracted Wilkens Contracting for some chimney repair. We could not be happier with the work Bill performed. Bill was very professional and personable with an eye for detail. We are very happy…and the cost was quite reasonable.We will not hesitate to use Wilkens for further services.DP Leslieville

I Hired Wilkens to partially teardown a chimney that was in a bad state of repair that was becoming a safety concern. Wilkens showed great professionalism and customer care from the first phone call with Jake. He visited the same day to review and in detail chatted about our options. This helped us understand fully what to expect. Jake provided a quote the next day ($2990), Other chimney contractors provided a quote which was slightly higher than Wilkens. We had already decided to go with Wilkens because of there customer care and good reviews.I was then contacted by Frank to arrange a day for the work. Frank and Mike showed up on tine and explained what was going to happen, they worked all day and kept us up to date on the progress and completed the job on time and cleaned up the jobsite. Very professional. After the job was complete we noticed the top of the shorter chimney did not have a drip edge as the work order had said prepare the chimney for complete demolition. We contacted Wilkens and straight away was contacted by Jake saying he would return the following day to install the drip edge. He did this plus also opened up the back of the chimney to remove some brick debris that had fallen down the chimney onto the gas fire casing, This was not part of the quote and no additional charge was expected. This showed to us that Wilkens and Jake were not happy until the customer was completely satisfied even though they were not responsible for the debris. The chimney looks great and is now safe. Also great follow up from Wilkens making sure everything was good. I 100% recommend Wilkens for any work on your chimney, Very Professional, great customer service but most of all great work.

Wilkens is great! Jake and Connor went above and beyond to answer my questions and even recommended a roofer. Clark, the mason, was very friendly, professional, fixed our chimney in an efficient manner and left the job site super clean. Would definitely use their services again and recommend to family and friends!

Wilkens Contracting was recommended to me by a friend, and they did not disappoint! The work was done carefully, neatly, thoroughly, quickly, and at a fair rate. Bill was excellent and Richard was very professional. I have nothing but appreciation for the craftsmanship Bill exhibited, the rebuilt fireplace in our home has no flaws whatsoever. I intend to ask them back for the next fireplace project in our home when the time comes. Bravo!

Wilkins replied to our request for an estimate immediately. Supplied a quote the next day. Sent out Bill to repair our front steps and replace broken stones. Bill made suggestions to improve the safety of the front steps and he finished it off beautifully. We are very pleased with the service from Wilkins.

I highly recommend Wilkens Contracting Inc. and their employees, Frank and Mike Hutchings. They provided excellent service in all areas! Communication was a strong point - in organizing work dates and times as well as responding to questions, calls and emails. My new chimney looks wonderful!

Great job! Jake took the time to explain everything as he went along and took great pride in his work. Jake also kindly accommodated my very tight schedule. The wall and stairs have never looked better!