I am going to give 3, as I think that this is fair based on my complete experience with Clare and Homestead. I will start off with what impressed me.

***Be aware that although they are good at what they do, they are not going to be fully upfront with costs to get you in the end.

1. in the beginning, when I was looking for someone to complete a built in fireplace, I came across Homestead and reached out via email. To my amazement, I received a reply at 5:30am, moments after that they were interested in giving me a quote for the work.
2. The guys that did the work and completed the install were amazing. Both professional in their work, efficient with their work and time as well as respectful to myself and my home.
3. we are very happy with the end result, its not what we first envisioned, but its something that fits the space well and looks good. Quality work

Now for the things that are not so good.

1. Although the emails in the beginning were answered quickly to get my business, reply's became quite delayed when requesting updates or questions.
2. The Quote given after a month of design was signed and agreed on (with knowledge that the stone material and simple framing for the fireplace was additional.) However the costs of the final project was $1300+ more than what we agreed on. This apparently was for a guy to come in for a few hours to build a 2x4 frame for the fireplace to sit on. design and install... No additional design was needed as the measurements were on the fireplace dimensions. I don't see how simple material and a few hours was $1300.

• I will take partial responsibility as I should have gotten a specific quote on the cost to have someone come in to tell me how much the additional cost would be.

3. The framing of the Fireplace was not straight, so even after $1300 in additional costs, it was off by 3/4 of an inch, which caused the hearth to be cut irregular to fit.
4. Choosing a stone material was a bit ridiculous, a price would not be given to us and only to Homestead (I assume due to a mark up). We chose 2 options (on the higher end) similar to stone we already have in our house. both options would have added between 8000-11K more to the build. This caused additional delays on progress as we needed to find alternatives. In the end, I did the work myself...
5. Clare needs to be up front on all costs (and possible variances of those costs) to give a full price of a project. It was extremely misleading and I feel like since the words "Framing for fireplace invoiced as time and material in addition to the above" gave him the ability to just toss in some extra month on to my bill and point at that on the invoice.

***When asked to set up a time to chat with Clare, he ignored my email. As soon as I asked for the last and final payment, he got back to be in minutes. It's all about the money and I see that.

So the $7,502 + HST quote (8,477.26 w/Tax) came in $2000.00 more.

Be aware that although they are good at what they do, they are not going to be fully upfront with costs to get you in the end.

In addition to the above, what should have made me think twice about working with Clare, was when we were in the design process and be mentioned previously unreleased customers and made it out to be just people that are hard to work with. It should have been where I walked away knowing how is seems to see his customers.