Handyman and property services in downtown Toronto
Updated
Home Resetters Property Services Inc. is an incorporated handyman and property-services company based in downtown Toronto, so the towers and older houses of the old city are our nearest work. We build furniture, mount TVs and art, fix the small things and clear out what is left over, from CityPlace and Liberty Village to St. Lawrence, Yorkville and the Victorian streets east of the Don. We also work in Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Mississauga and Vaughan, and owners who keep a cottage can join our membership for Huntsville and Lake of Bays, the Almaguin Highlands, Temagami, and Nipissing and North Bay.
Homes in Spadina-Fort York (CityPlace, Liberty Village, King West) in towers of five storeys or more, 2021 Census.
+13,000
Tower apartments that one ward gained between the 2016 and 2021 censuses.
60.5%
Homes in Toronto-Danforth (Riverdale, Leslieville) built in 1960 or before.
3 hours
Toronto's limit on a street with no parking signs. King Street between Bathurst and Jarvis has no street parking at all.
How we work in Toronto
Downtown is home base. The founder works out of downtown Toronto and does the light work himself: flat-pack furniture built and anchored, TVs, mirrors and shelves fixed to concrete, steel studs or old plaster, blinds and curtain rods set into concrete ceilings, and the small repairs that pile up between moves. Work that needs a licence goes to trade partners he knows: a Licensed Electrical Contractor for a new light or outlet, a certified plumber for a faucet or a toilet, a concrete contractor for steps or a pad. We coordinate them and put every price in one written quote or contract, as described under larger projects.
In a condo, the building's rules shape the visit more than the job does, so tell us about sign-in, elevator bookings, the loading dock and drilling hours when you ask for a quote. In a house, tell us how the street parks and how tight the stairs are. Either way, the price is flat and in writing before anything is drilled, built or carried out.
The homes, and the work they bring
Two very different housing stocks sit a few blocks apart. Spadina-Fort York, the ward that takes in CityPlace, Liberty Village, King West, Fort York and the western waterfront, had 80,735 homes at the 2021 Census: 88 percent in towers of five storeys or more, and just 500 detached houses. It gained 13,000 tower apartments in the five years after 2016, and 58 percent of its households rent. Toronto Centre, from St. Lawrence and the Distillery up to Cabbagetown and Church-Wellesley, is 85 percent towers and 70 percent rented. So a large share of downtown residents are tenants, and the Condominium Authority of Ontario's guide for condo tenants is plain that they live under the building's rules too: elevators are common elements, and the rules may require residents to book them in advance.
East of the Don, the stock turns old. In Toronto-Danforth, which includes Riverdale and Leslieville, 60.5 percent of homes were built in 1960 or before, and one in five is a semi-detached house. Those houses bring lath-and-plaster walls, doors that have settled out of square, original trim and tight staircases that decide how a wardrobe gets upstairs. Several old-city neighbourhoods are heritage conservation districts under the Ontario Heritage Act, among them Cabbagetown, Riverdale, Yorkville-Hazelton, Harbord Village, the East Annex and the St. Lawrence neighbourhood. If you live in one, check with the City's heritage planners before changing windows, doors or a porch.
Getting a van to a downtown door
King Street between Bathurst and Jarvis is a transit priority corridor, and it changes how a visit starts. Cars cannot drive straight through its intersections, left turns from the signalled intersections are not allowed, and there is no on-street parking: the City sends drivers to side streets, garages and the short-term loading spaces on King itself. If your building is on King, tell us which side street or loading entrance to use.
Away from King, Toronto caps parking on an unsigned street at three hours. On a permit-parking street, a visitor needs a temporary permit, sold for 24 hours, 48 hours or a week where space allows. In a tower, the loading dock or a visitor space is usually the simpler answer: book it with the concierge when you book the elevator.
Clearing things out without a car
The City’s drop-off depot for downtown is at 400 Commissioners Street in the Port Lands. It takes mattresses, household hazardous waste, electronics and up to a tonne of clean drywall, but only from a motor vehicle: walk-ins, bicycles and carts are refused, and every load needs a deposit of at least $40.
In a tower, bulky waste follows the building’s own system. Each building chooses City collection, which picks up furniture and appliances from the building for free, or a private hauler with its own rules. Ask the management office before you leave a sofa in the garbage room. If you live downtown without a car, a clear-out is usually where junk removal earns its price.
New towers mean a steady flow of move-ins. One visit covers the assembly, the wall work and the small fixes, timed around the elevator slot you booked.
Poured concrete in the towers, lath and plaster in the old houses, brick in the converted warehouses: the anchor is chosen for the wall in front of us.
Flat-pack suits both kinds of downtown home. The boxes fit the service elevator, and they fit up a narrow Victorian staircase before anything is built.
Settled doors, cracked plaster and tired caulking in a house built before 1960, or the first round of wear in a ten-year-old condo: one list, one visit.
