Reviews of First General Services of Vancouver Island (Contractor)

Bruce Qi

PROFESSIONALS WITH HIGH QUALITY WORK - these guys are extremely professional, punctual, and the services offering is top-notch quality. Very apparent that it is operated by a stellar management team, it shows in the crew's work habit, attention to detail and the efficiency they operate. Highly recommend.

Gemma Finn

We woke up to our washer having over flowed. All it took was one quick call to Rainbow International on Vancouver Island and they came right away. They helped us get everything sorted quickly and efficiently. Dealing with their staff was like having the best of family here to help at a super stressful time. The work they did was of the highest quality! Every question was answered and followed up with a call to make sure everything was taken care of. I can't say enough about our positive experience with this company. We highly recommend then. It's never awesome to wake up to a flood in your home but having such an amazing company to assist, support and smooth out the rougher edges of such an experience was pure gold to us.

Cam Shiell

Had a good experience with First General, Rick and his crews did a great job! Had a few bumps in the road but I'd recommend them to help in your time of need

Ralph Lemmon

When I did not know what to do with a certain clean up situation.. I then asked Rebeca, and she and her team took care of it very discreetly and professionally. Their Team was very courteous with respect to our situation .. Thank You all So much … and by the way such a fair price for something I could not look after my self..

Shawn Hildebrandt

The most loving and caring owners. They REALLY CARE.

Candice Moran

Do Not hire this company!!! They were hired to do a restoration job which is still incomplete, was once quoted to take three months they are now stating will take two years. They are often on “holidays” and will not answer calls for months at a time. The work they did do was sloppy, not to code and had to be redone. Not to mention the mess they left behind in our home after they did the work including more damage to the home causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. Apparently they have burnt so many bridges in the industry that they are having trouble finding contractors to come to work for them. Save yourself the time, hassle, and money. Go somewhere for your restoration needs. Get the job do by professionals not these scam artists. In response to the company’s reply....that’s the problem because I have been in contact multiple times trying to resolve the issue with no results and often being told that the adjuster we were given to resolve the issue is always on vacation and not available to help. What’s more disappointing about your response is that you have no idea which of your clients is writing a review like this which leads me to believe that we are unfortunately not that only client that is having the same issues. I will not be publicly posting my address online but I recommend you contacting everyone of your unhappy clients until you actually Contact me and try to resolve the issue and hopefully resolve the issues with all the other unhappy clients while you are at it! Regards.

Mike McKillican

Rainbow was in our home within 45 minutes. We had a hose blow in our bathroom above our kitchen, big mess. The company owner was on sight and assured us it was under control. "it truly was" Thankyou Ryan and team for a fabulous job. Mike & Michelle McKillican

sooz svensson

The storm of Dec 20 2018 saw a tree crush half my rental cottage on Gabriola. It has taken seven months to get a roof replaced that was the beginning of August. My renter has been out of her home for the duration and no pays for the container that houses her home contents. I NEED A TEAM THAT WILL FINISH THE WIRING, GYROC, PAINTING, PUT IN A WINDOW, FINISH THE OUTSIDE WALL AND TAKE AWAY THE DUMPSTER THAT WAS A BACKDROP FOR MY WEDDING THIS SUMMER. I have been patient. Brad, Shane please tell me there is an action plan with a start and finish date.

Melanie Loureiro

Restoration in our building was awfully managed (and still ongoing!), with the owner of this company not filing for a permit request when he said he did (I emailed the City to confirm), causing *many months* of unnecessary delay, just because he didn't file the permit request properly.

Andrew Cavey

Excellent restoration company!

Ripple Effect Dance

Shane is great and the entire team offered exceptional service, with prompt response and ensured that I knew everything that will be taking place. This is my 1st experience with a claim, the emergency services where in place immediately and moving forward Shane is ensuring that I am clear on the next steps to be taken. I know that the team at Rainbow International are here to make the restoration go as smoothly as it can. Thank you!

Kevin Baird

I had some water damage to my house in Nanaimo and hired First General to do the repairs. They will definitely be my first call the next time I need some work done on my property. Thanks to Brad for always keeping me updated on the project and keeping lines of communication open throughout the process as this was a new thing for me and I was a little out of my element. Overall great service!

Natalie Rousseau

Wow! A big thank you to everyone on the Rainbow team, there are too many names to list. After purchasing a very unique home in the summer months, we discovered several minor and significant water leaks as rain began in the fall and winter of 2017/2018. We filed an insurance claim and had many contractors walk through the house and provide their thoughts on an approach to rectify the many issues. Some companies (to my surprise) flat out refused to bid on the work or offer us any advice/direction due to the scope and complexity of the repairs. It's a unique house, built into a rock-hill side, with high peaks requiring significant scaffolding work. It left us in a difficult and very concerned position, as there was water leaking through our living room and into the bedrooms below. Thankfully, Rainbow was different. The Rainbow teams displayed empathy, compassion, professionalism and construction knowledge; a calming relief from the majority of the other contractors we had in our home. We engaged Rainbow to provide "emergency services" and they proceeded to quickly put a plan in place to temporarily slow/stop the water ingress and dry out our floors, ceilings and walls as best as possible given the circumstances. In parallel, they consulted with the appropriate engineering, architect and city building permit contacts to create a reconstruction plan and estimate. After collecting bids, we opted for Rainbow to continue with this work due to experience we had to date. Unfortunately, the builder and previous owner left us with many projects and it was apparent that previous work was done without the same level of care, proper permitting, and attention as the Rainbow team displayed. This was by far one of the most impactful and challenging events we have ever faced during home ownership. However, we feel fortunate we were able to find Rainbow, a contractor that understood our difficult situation, the sensitivity in the investment we were now forced to make and worked with us to create a plan that saw our home get back to a liveable space and looking better (both interior and exterior) than it did before. This was no small project and we'd like to express a sincere thank you to the Rainbow team. You made a difficult situation bearable and we're very grateful. I have no hesitation recommending Rainbow for any project, big or small.

Patricia Duguid

A tree crashed through my rental home on Gabriola Dec. 20th. I have moved six times in eight months procuring temporary living situations waiting for Rainbow Restoration/ Fist General Services. Whatever they call themselves now, to fix my home. I pay 166.00 a month for my content storage on site. The roof was finally fixed Aug. 10 and the place has sat ever since with nothing being done. It is now nearly October. Where is the accountability with these companies. It is a disgrace to be treated like this by a so - called restoration company.

Kam Brar

Excellent company to work with, did an amazing job given the circumstances as the insurance deductible was simply so excessive that claiming on it made no sense and all the repairs has to be paid for out of pocket. Brittany from their team worked with us to keep the final tab within the lower range of what they quoted. We were informed all the way along and their clean up crew was professional. Can't recommend these folks enough they are honest, efficient and do what they say they're going to, which is rare these days.

Leona Skovgaard

Cannot recommend this company. I called them to get a quote on interior work on a house. They fired the first project manager that I was dealing with and the office did not notify me so I waited and waited. Called the office. Oh, another project manager has been assigned. He doesn't call. Doesn't call. Then he quotes $15,000 for something I got done for $5000. When I talked with Ryan Hill about the problems I had with First General, he was defensive and had no good explanation for all the things that went wrong. First General gave inadequate instructions to a roof inspector. I could go on and on... But I won't bore you. Don't hire these guys.

Jodi Le Masurier

Rebecca and Ryan are two of the most amazing and kind people and came to our sides at one of the toughest times when our whole house suffered smoke damage. They went the extra mile at every step and felt like family taking care of us and our home. We are forever grateful for them and their amazing team. You’re in caring and trustworthy hands with Rainbow Nanaimo.

Marian Remenda

Thank you for the excellent and quick response First General! We has a water leak from an appliance 1 day before leaving on vacation and needed immediate help. First General was there shortly after we called as they understand that with water damage, a quick response is best. We were very pleased with the professionals they employ, and that they could work within our timeline. Will use you again when needed.

K Barnes

Bought our home in June 2021 hired First General Services of Vancouver Island Nanaimo in June 2021 to do what we were hoping for was a straight forward bathroom reno. Excellent demo crew, were quick and tidy, removed salvagables like the vanity with care. Did not leave any debris behind after gutting the bathroom. After demo, Ryan said he needed to get an engineer out upon finding structural exterior wall support and sill damage caused by sub-termites in the bathroom area. Ryan has not got back to us after telling us he was looking for an engineer in July 2021 and it is near the end of Dec now. We tried calling, leaving emails numerous times to find out when we will be having the work continue with no reply. We have recently tried to contact them to mutually agree to cancel the project as it has been over 4 mos without any contact and to see if there is a balance owing or receiving from our deposit, and we can no longer afford the bathroom reno and need to contact someone else to continue with our repairs on our structure and replace our stucco bulding envelope as we found other exterior wall and structural support areas with sub-termite damage and numerous areas of faulty exterior stucco causing leaking and mold and ultimately causing the termite issue. We are worried about the structural integrity of our home and the safety for our family.

tim wilson

Great people to work with Quick, thoughtful and thorough

bill harder

Very nice place to work.

esther germann

My experience with the folks at First General was extremely positive and i would not hesitate in using them again. Everyone i talked to was friendly, very informative and understanding and very responsive to any questions i had. My project manager Brittany was particularly AMAZING to work with, very professional, easy to get a hold of, kept me in the loop every step of the way - i could not have asked for a better person to manage everything. She made me feel very much at ease with good communication and knowing exactly what what going on and what needed to happen. Highly recommend this company!

Don Moniz

I experienced a flood in my basement from the heavy rainstorm that we had over a month ago. It was 10 at night. I called Rainbow restoration and they responded promptly and were at my house around midnight. Thank you rainbow for saving the day. I would highly recommend rainbow restortation if anyone needed them for this kind of work.