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We would like to welcome Nigel Tivey to our Landscape Construction team!

This beautiful weather has caused everything to begin three weeks early this year and we have been busy. Now, beginning May 3, we will begin our regularly weekly full maintenance visits. Thank you for your patience.

We have been busy restaffing for the upcoming year. We are thrilled to announce the following new additions to our team. On renovations we have, Pete Bailey, Thomas Bailey and Matt Vandervecht joining us. On pools. windows and eaves we are please to welcome Nic Cudarans to us this year. And on property maintenance we are excited to welcome Lisa Morissey and Jem Moore into our growing work place. Welcome new staff, we look forward to a great year!

There are some new organic products coming available in Lawn Care that will allow us to add more options to your lawn care services. Ask us about those available now including: salt-stopper, pelletized compost, soil tests and our organic fertilizer programme. Keep watching for the expected release of some weed control products.

For the coming season we are pleased to welcome Jenn Weaver and Danielle Reaume to our maintenance staff.

We welcome Scott, Lesley, Morgan and Geoff back to Grieve Home Maintenance. All of our students are returning from previous years so look for familiar faces!

It looks like the HST will be here to stay. It is planned for the HST to take effect on July 1, 2010. Book your projects now to save that extra 8%. Any project pre-paid by May 1, or any project 90% completed by July first will be exempt from the HST.

We will be closing our operations for the year on December 24th at 3 PM. The office will be closed from that time until 8 AM, January 4, 2010. Snow removal will continue as normal in the event of snowfall. Have a happy and safe holiday. See you in 2010!

We have posted new job opportunities for the coming 2010 season. Please visit our job opportunities page under the "About Us" menu for full job descriptions.

Thank you to our outdoor maintenance staff for another great season!

The students have now returned to their studies and we would like to thank them for their hard work this summer. Thank you Jaime, Scott, Morgan, Lesley and Geoff for another great year!

Our new grub control program using beneficial nematodes will begin soon. If you have grub control in you contract look for us in the first few weeks of September.

Ontario's new pesticide ban is now in full effect and Grieve Home Maintenance will be in full compliance. Lawn weeds will now be pulled by hand, when possible, for those with weed service. We will be using horticultural vinegar in extreme cases to deal with interlock/patio weeds. This is a legal, less effective, spray that will kill plants non-selectively. If you spot poison ivy, poison sumac, poison oak or giant hogweed, we are still legally able to spray this for you.

Whether it is fixing a leaking ceiling, making the home more energy efficient or simply making a change, everyone has a different reason for wanting to renovate. But whatever the reason retailers are well advised to tell their customers that renovations can be a great way to enhance the quality of life of the family, improve their home and increase its resale value.

Once a homeowner factors in the money they can save on heat, electricity and water, many renovations also offer a great return on investment - up to and including paying for themselves!

To help homeowners decide which renovations are right for their home, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and the Appraisal Institute of Canada offer the potential "payback range" that some of the most common home improvement projects will typically have on the resale value of a home.

The best returns on renovation investments are projects that target your kitchen and bathroom. They recover between 75-100 percent of investment when overhauled. your next best investment is interior/exterior painting which has a return of between 50-100 percent.

The lowest payback range involves renovation projects like swimming pools or skylights. The recovery for a pool is about 10-40 percent and up to 25 percent for a skylight. Other payback ranges include:

Roof shingle replacement: 50-80%
Furnace & heating systems: 50-80%
Basement: 50-75%
Adding a recreation room: 50-75%
Installing a fireplace: 50-75%
Flooring: 50-75%
Constructing a garage: 50-75%
Window & door replacement: 50-75%
Building a deck: 50-75%
Central air conditioning: 25-75%
Landscaping: 25-50%
Interlocking paving: 25-50%
Building a fence: 25-50%
Asphalt paving: 20-50%

Reference: "Hardware & Home Centre Magazine"