Mandy Moore and her husband had no intention of buying a house that needed a renovation because they had never even tackled a small project before. But they were adamant about living in a west Toronto neighbourhood and homes there were out of their budget. “We saw this home. It had tons of bedrooms and was a 100-yearold house on a corner lot,” Mandy says. Their Realtor offered some renovation tips and they bought the Arts and Crafts-style home in July 2016.

Mandy’s cousin, architect Jessica Beil Hindman, called the house awesome. “Jessica works in Charlotte, North Carolina, where there are a lot of Craftsman-style houses with lots of wood trim,” Mandy says.

While Beil Hindman worked on plans, Mandy and her husband began searching for a general contractor. A friend recommended Barbini Design Build.

“Amedeo put together a quote. We met a couple of times and talked. He seemed like he had the right experience with similar-size jobs. He had credibility and he is a nice person,” Mandy says, adding when you spend a year working with someone, nice is important.

Work began in January 2017. The first task was to lower the basement. The $100,000 job took two months. “It went incredibly smooth. It was on budget and on time,” Mandy says.  “Neighbours told us how the contractors were nice and never seemed to take breaks. We got off on the right foot.”

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