Hamilton is shaped by the Escarpment, and so is its housing. Ancaster sits above the brow with larger homes on wooded lots, many built into slopes that make grading and access part of every project. Westdale, near McMaster, is a planned 1920s neighbourhood of tidy brick homes that owners restore rather than replace. Dundas keeps its old stone-and-brick village core in the valley, full of character homes that need patient, skilled updating.
Those slopes decide most outdoor concrete work above the brow. A long Ancaster drive has to shed water away from the garage in the pour itself, so the cross-fall and any trench drain are settled before the forms go in; our page on concrete driveways in Ancaster covers that and the older Ancaster by-law that still sets widening limits. Waterdown is different again: on rural Flamborough lots the septic bed and well head have to be located before a drive is laid out, which is the first step on any Waterdown concrete driveway.
Interiors in these older brick homes are often dated in colour and finish more than in bones. Our painting in Hamilton work brings tired century-home interiors and trim back to life, prepped and finished to a standard that suits the quality of the original build.
Amalgamation left Hamilton with communities that still run on their own zoning by-laws, so two projects inside the same city can be measured against different documents. We cover those separately in Ancaster, above the brow on the west side, and Waterdown in the former Flamborough township.
