Stone and Pine Inc.

There aren’t enough words to describe how fun and easy it is to work with Kate! From the first time we met, her energy and excitement for design was contagious and I knew she’d be an asset to our project. Kate is amazingly knowledgeable, creative, resourceful and collaborative. Kate took what I was dreaming of, and made it so much better. She provided me with numerous options, sent me easy to use resources and websites, and was always available to clarify, or answer questions as things came up. I would absolutely recommend working with Kate if you were looking for a designer with an amazingly wide variety of skills and a passion that matches them. 10/10 recommend!!!

It has been a pleasure working with Kate and Andrew of Pine and Stone Inc. Every project they undertook was met with enthusiasm and a multitude of options, always with an eye on the budget. (And a big smile!) They recommended several talented trades people who are now like family. Among services seamlessly delivered: - Phone calls and texts returned in a timely manner - Delivered samples, then did the ordering. - Helped communicate with trades, as needed. - Careful consideration in the details, especially lighting, built-ins, flooring and colours, etc. They listened to our needs and wants and gave what we needed. I heartily recommend this group and would absolutely use them in any future project. Terry Sulley

After purchasing our waterfront lot, we went looking for a designer/architect to build our new home. We spoke with several people, but immediately felt at home with Kate and Brian from Stone and Pine. We wanted a modern, linear home that would maximize the views from every room and could be a gathering place for all our family and friends. For some aspects of the design, we had well-formed ideas about what we wanted, for others we needed a lot of help. Stone and Pine made the entire experience fun and exciting. Their expertise and experience, not to mention relationships with local builders, trades, suppliers and municipal building departments make a challenging project look easy. Highly recommended!

We loved their attention to detail, their superb creativity at problem-solving, and their willingness to talk and discuss the design with us, to make sure that we were on the same page. They made us a beautiful design that was just what we wanted, even though we went into it not really sure what we wanted! Highly recommend

Kate and Brian did a masterful job renovating our old family cottage. The work was beautifully and artistically done, and the quality of work was very high. Kate has a terrific design sensibility and Brian is a creative architect.

We are so pleased to have our custom home plans in our hands. Choosing to work with Kate & Brian of Stone and Pine Inc. was an excellent decision. For us the design process was enjoyable! Firstly, Kate is a skilled listener during consults and really understood what we were hoping for. Secondly, as a team Brian and Kate are experienced and very knowledgeable. We feel lucky to have them as a resource on our building journey.

Stone and Pine Inc. came to our new purchase to assist us with a renovation and new build design. They did an awesome job of putting our ideas into plans, as well as having them reviewed and stamped by an engineer. They went further by assisting us with the local township, in order to get our plans into action and ultimately, permits. Anytime we needed their assistance (from design ideas to structural changes, to correspondence with the Town), they were always willing to help resolve the issues. We highly recommend their services.

Awesome to work with; thorough and friendly. Took our idea and ran with it. Really happy with the design, now if material costs would stabilize maybe we could build it!

Working with Stone and Pine is a breath of fresh air. Whenever we connect Kate with our clients and work with her on our projects we know that Kate will absolutely take all factors into consideration. She is one time, follows through, is accessible and incredibly personable.

Stone and Pine were amazing to work with. Their attention and care to detail were second to none. This 'Dynamic Duo' (Brian and Kate...with support from their very talented team), took the time to map out job in great detail by providing costs, workback schedules and ongoing conversation on timelines and products. We have a Century home, and Stone & Pine understood immediately what our vision was to bring the 'Grand Lady', back to outer beauty again. In one word...ACHIEVED! Thank you so much. We would HIGHLY recommend Stone and Pine to anyone looking for a top quality build and/or renovation. Thank you again!

Stone and Pine Inc has designed a three phase renovation of our lake home. We are very happy with Brian’s unique designs, material selection and project management of our home. Two phases are now complete - and the quality of work completed by the trades Brian employs has been excellent. We love hearing all the compliments as guests visit our home!

In February 2018 we chose Stone and Pine out of Kingston, Ontario to be our general contractors. We agreed to pay a higher than industry standard for their General Contracting services (22%) as we were under the impression that they were a reputable firm and specialized in stone homes (which ours is). Issues started immediately with their billings. They tried to charge us for administrative duties for their company (i.e. charging us for creating the invoice to bill us). They had invited us to come and see work they had done on another home and then charged us for their time to do so. Every one of their invoices had to be reconciled completely. We are talking about errors that in one case was several thousands of dollars. They started demolition of an extension on our home that was not to code in March of 2018. To our utter surprise we received the following in an e-mail on April 24th from the township “we have no other alternatives but to stop the illegal work/demolition/construction being carried at #### Lakeshore as it clearly contravenes the Ontario Building Code and the Ontario Building Code Act”. They were carrying out the renovation without first securing the required permits. They even tried to blame us for this situation as we had expressed that we wanted to be able to spend Father’s Day in the house, we cannot understand their logic. As part of our GC agreement they were responsible for securing the permits as part of their fee (this is normal industry practice). They tried to charge us extra money for securing our permits. When we questioned this, they told us that there was more work than usual in issuing the permits, so they “hoped we would understand”. Of course, we refused. One of the requirements for the issuance of the conservation permit was the installation of a new septic system. Stone and Pine issued us a change order for this work, and stated their fee would be only 20%. We felt this was a good will gesture on their part as the cost of the septic was going to be approximately $ 40,000 and they were doing very little work on this as the local septic company was taking charge of this part of the project. Once the septic was installed my husband and I took charge of the work to secure the permits (talking to the conservation authorities, meeting the mayor etc.). The permits were issued on August 10th. On September 10th stating that they were sorry for the delay in getting back to us we received the following from Stone and Pine; we have the right to withdraw from the project due to extreme time delays such as this (section five)”. A delay that was completely their fault. When we started the final reconciliation of their invoicing, we noticed that they had charged us 22% for their fee on the Septic Tank. We told them we would only be giving them 20% as our contract clearly states that a change order supersedes the base contract and the change order stated 20%. They refused to give us our money back or honour the change order they had created. At this point we decided that if they needed our money that badly they could have it. We wanted nothing further to do with them. We sent them a note asking for all the plans (architectural, engineering, surveys etc.) along with a few other items that we had paid for. Despite repeated requests they did not answer us for over 3 weeks. We finally had to engage our lawyer to get what was rightfully ours. They left the house uninhabitable, and dangerous (they left the gas furnace venting into the house directly which could have killed someone). I would never recommend this company to anyone