Carmen was 10 minutes early and had all her documentation, which was great (we were not expecting to see it as we are used to our usual baby sitters). Carmen was very approachable and the kids (2 under 5) liked her. Carmen reported on a couple of antics of the kids that showed that they were relaxed. The kids were happy the next morning.

I had minor problems with the booking process and confirmation (it was my first time) although I was travelling. The date misunderstanding was quickly clarified.

It is not cheap, but it is a professional service (EAS find someone for you, provide your time and address details to the carer, and make payment). I will happily use EAS again when I am stuck for a baby sitter.

I have an old tilting garage door that has had an opening mechanism fitted. Doors was slow to open and the motor was struggling after the door had been painted.
Most places do not service old doors like this while others are only interested in selling you a new garage door.
They came out and did an initial repair and then came back to do a permanent repair by welding additional weights onto the bottom of the current counterweights. Not the prettiest repair but does the job and it will look fine once it is painted (and much cheaper than a new door!!!!!).
There was good communication from their schedulers who arranged a time that suited me (I did have to wait a couple of weeks for the second visit due to work commitments) and reconfirming times.

I had Steve uncover, clean up and install a pit as there was a leak at my water meter where the watering system ties in. This is not Steve's area of expertise but it was a good job and I can see what is going on. He also relocated an outside tap to an easier access point and would happily get him back for any inside or outside general plumbing. Steve kept me informed of when he was able to get to me (not urgent jobs) and worked in with what days I was at home.

Approximate cost: $600

This is a great childcare centre that includes a kindergarten. The staff are great with reasonably low turnover and good ratios, including a dedicated chef (meals appear to be very good) and there are consistent relievers. All the staff are appear to be qualified now - there has been a push on this.

The centre is in two older large houses. One house has large room for each of the four levels. The ELC is in the second house. Being on large blocks of land there is a large outside play area and zoned covered areas as well.

The hours are also good, 7.30am to 6.30pm, and they only close between Christmas and New Year - I have colleagues that have to take a lot of leave at Christmas because their kids' childcare centre is shut for 2 or 3 weeks.

The centre manager is called Della, she is very experience and has here own children in the centre. While the centre is part of Guardian,it does not feel corporate or mean, or like a stereotypical ABC centre.

Tiggers was the 2010 State winner of Australian Childcare Centre of the Year. The only real downside is that it not a low prices centre.

Approximate cost: $92 per day

We had a large number of floor to ceiling windows and when one of the young children broke one and nearly put her foot right through it, it was a wake up to get some security film.

We had MEP Safety and Security Film installed - we were offered a slightly cheaper brand but went with what is used in childcare centres etc. Given the amount being spent, I exchanged a number of eMails with Leo to confirm the scope of work, with Leo always being prompt with his responses. It took Leo and Lawrie nearly two days to install the film on all the windows.

Happy with the result. Cannot really tell that there is film on the windows. One window had large bubbles (first large window on second day - there is a bit of an art to installing this film) but this was replaced without fuss.

Approximate cost: $4000

Outside windows cleaned. Not a hassle to organise or contact. All arranged by phone - fitted in with the day we needed it done. A lot of windows that were quite dirty. Very happy with the result, and thought the cost was fine. I should get them cleaned more often!!

We had an internal wall removed that needed a 6-7 metre angled steel beam added in two sections, that needed to be welded on to the main steel beam running perpendicular to this. A section of the roof had to be removed and covered with tarps. Rob organised everything, the materials, the building permit, the boiler maker to do the welding, and many hands to do the lifting as power lines were in the way of using a crane. Afterwards Rob also organised a roofer to reinstate the tiles.

Approximate cost: $13,000

Moved large furniture items including white goods, antiques and a long glass fronted cabinet (they say that they specialise in pianos). We were moving within the same suburb so could move the rest ourselves. Good service, friendly movers vs. the complainers from another company when we arrived from overseas. They completed the move very close to Christmas when most others had shutdown.

We had Living Colours paint the inside of our house a couple of years ago and were very happy with the work done. We have just had the outside painted and we have been very happy with this work as well.

I had Stewart install a new pool pump for me that I had purchased, that was installed very neatly (vs. some work I have had done by others). I have also had Stewart look after the pool a couple of times when we have been away - arranged over the phone and pay on line - no problems.