Summerwood Products

Great service from start to finish. The product is excellent am very happy with the quality. The whole team did their job and kept us well informed all the way. John was great in helping us design the shed, production was completed when promised. Ana was excellent in coordinating the delivery and installation and keeping us informed. The installation by Ian was terrific. Would highly recommend Summerwood.

I purchased a 9'x12' Verana shed from Summerwood and had them construct it in my tight Toronto backyard this summer. We love the design (which we were able to customize quite precisely to our liking), and the construction work was unusually high-quality. Their team included veteran carpenters who clearly knew their business, and everyone we dealt with was courteous, attentive, and approachable. This could be a relatively typical "good experience" review, if it weren't for the fact that I am giving it after we had a relatively atypical issue arise that easily could have put us at odds. We had ordered a 9'x12' shed after confirming with both the City and Summerwood that this was the largest size allowable without a building permit. Once it was built, some charming, anonymous neighbour called the City to complain, and a building inspector came out. Due to the way the Summerwood team built the shed on site, it actually ended up being 9'2"x12'2", and the building inspector decided to hold strict to the rules - our shed was deemed a non-compliant structure, and would either need to be torn down, reduced in size, or radically rebuilt in order to meet code (the code's requirements for ancillary structures are mind-bogglingly strict - believe me that you've never seen a simple shed that would comply). I immediately called Summerwood and explained the problem, and to their credit they never once tried to shift blame or deny responsibility. They got straight to work trying to think out a solution and even brought the company president into the conversation. A few weeks later, they sent out their head carpenter, who spent three days removing and moving in the two side walls to get the building under the allowable 108 sf. It took considerable labor, some new material, and a lot of skill. Never once did they ask for an additional penny, and never once did they even imply that this was a real burden on them (though I'm certain it was). After the process, you never would have guessed that any work had been done on the shed at all. Every detail had been corrected to a crisp 'new' state. The building inspector came back with his measuring tape, closed the case, and now we are happily using the shed without stress. I can't commend them enough for how they dealt with this. They have built literally hundreds of sheds in Toronto and had never been confronted with this perfect storm of spiteful neighbour and stickler inspector, but they took it in stride and took a considerable amount of stress off my shoulders by doing so. It's clear that they took this bad situation as a valuable lesson for them to apply to their projects moving forward. So despite the problems, I would give them my unreserved recommendation.

For starters, it should be stated that Summerwood sheds are the most expensive in my research. They also appeared to be the nicest and state that they would provide you with all the instructions needed to install the shed yourself (so as not to pay the extra few thousand dollars for installation). For these reasons, went with summerwood. The quality of the materials was great, and all the cuts were to spec (one piece missing that they promptly delivered). However, if you are a novice, be warned that the instructions provided and Summerwood support is severely lacking. There is a significant amount of room for improvement in the instructions provided to build the shed. I am not a contractor (but had help from one the whole time), but Summerwood markets their sheds as very easy to install thanks to their videos and documentation. Getting a hold of someone - Called on a Sunday (the document states phone support is available), after selecting technical support, I was forwarded to a landline voicemail (no answer) - Couldn't get anyone on the phone, so tried their chat, the person on the chat was using "text to talk" feature, which jumbled everything she said, eventually got someone on the phone - Called on a Thursday, was transferred 3 times, then someone took down my number, then I got a call back from a different person who was not able to find my parts information due to the computer system being down. Cedar Shingle Installation - The documentation states using 1” inch nails in some spaces and 1 and ¾ or 2 inch nails in other places. I was curious as to whether or not they recommend roofing nails (since they didn’t provided anything) - I was told that they recommend using staples. When I explained that I don’t have a staple gun, they didn’t state that I would need one, and their documentation states using nails, he told me, go ahead and use nails, but make sure they are nails for ‘cedar.’ When I asked him to clarify what that means (since I was standing at Home Depot looking for nails), he could not provide me more details - No mention of the Felt Paper installation in the documents (or videos), luckily caught that one on my own Trim Installation - I paid for the ‘maintenance free’ trim (not cheap), the instructions provided were generic for ‘trim’ - As I was finishing the trim, I started realizing I had some specialty screws and other parts leftover o It turns out these screws are for the trim and come with a cap so you can hide them (great idea) o The instructions provided said to use nails everywhere…..so that’s what we did - I noticed I had some extra ice and water shield, so called and asked what they were for, was told they go behind the trim that changes from vertical to horizontal. I told him everything was installed already and asked why this wasn't in the documentation or videos?? He said he never read the documentation. I will have to caulk the seems. General Documentation - The documentation often tells you to refer to your specifications for measurements….except those specs don’t exist o Roof Overhang o How high up the siding should go o A bunch more (I’m not going to look through everything again since no one will probably read this and I’m doing this for my own therapy) - The videos were obviously filmed a long time ago and are very poor video quality (its 2018....) - Often times the instructions in the video are not the same as what is in the documentation - When I was talking to a support person and told him that their documentation could be a lot better, he told me that he hadn't read it

Great experience and wonderful quality sheds. The construction was superb and easy flowing. Don the foreman, was very knowledgable and super sweet. The planning was also courteous and organized. Of course it was a bad year (2017) with so much rain and thus delays before the installation. Worth the wait. I highly recommend these garden houses... the most you have to do is decide and plan your special place. We also had to build a deck with proper foundations because of the grade of our location prior to the install. I think these type of buildings add great value to a home. My Mom always wanted one, and it is so much fun listening to her call it "romantic" - she is super happy and I like that! Update May 2018 Since I got quite a few views on my first two pics, I decided to post a few more pictures from our garden house by Summerwood in the hope it will help you decide... a few more from the rest of the summer including 2 views from the Neighbours, as I wanted to insure they were happy. One is from our side neighbour who also has a garden house. From her deck the two together look like we are in cottage country or a ski resort. From the rear, the neighbour is happy, since they have privacy and the colours we chose match all our houses. I also posted a few from the construction, including the deck. We added some lighting both outside and inside. I also show a few picks with some of the shelves we built inside and one pic from this past winter - its what we look at from our kitchen. My Mom continues to be thrilled - especially when the magnolia was blooming around the house this spring (pic also included). Maybe these pics will give you some ideas. I think it is important to choose the style that works for you and really think about placement. For us it was worth every penny as we needed more storage for both gardening and pool associated things. We like the outdoors and so we have been transforming our outdoor spaces into a retreat. It is wonderful sitting at the deck at sunset, which is when we have the sun in that location. We have the lovely shade there during to hot summer sun. Enjoy and good luck with your designs!

We love our Summerwood pool shed. From start to finish the experience was seamless. Loved the customization to designing our shed and John was responsive and helpful with our questions. Lots of colour selections and styles to work with. It's almost finished...just need to add shingles.