Ottawa General Contractors

We love our new kitchen. From OGC sales, design and project management to the subcontractors they hired, it was quality and professional service. Bi-weekly email surveys and regular site visits from OGC quality control added a welcome extra layer of communication, accountability and reassurance. We would gladly recommend OGC for home reno projects.

This project had a lot of unforeseen complications and situations that could have been avoided. However, OGC went above and beyond at times to ensure that we were completely happy and satisfied with the end result. The new verandah looks fantastic. A special thank you to Andrew J. and John.

OGC oversaw a nearly complete gut of the first and second floor. While I have a few quibbles about some of the work, overall very happy. But the benefit with a bigger company is that they honour the warranty work, so less time spent arguing.

We had our bathroom gutted with new pipes and everything. Recently some of the wall hooks were pulling away from the walls and the paint in some areas was having issues. I emailed OGC to see if this could be fixed. I was within my 1 year warranty period that these sorts of things fall into so Donald was sent over a few days later to fix things up. Donald did a great job and even patched up an issue he noticed with the ceiling. Very happy with Donald's work and the bathroom looks great again.

I want to notify the pretty hood job Oliver has accomplished I my home, after the completion of the renovation to fix some imperfections.
Thank you Oliver I really appreciate your professionalism.

Continue your good job!!!

P. S. This review concerned only Oliver for now.

OGC have done an extraordinary job both around the quality of the renovation they performed at my residential home and standing firmly behind their work. Murad Driver was particularly professional in the interactions we had following the work, was easy to speak to and ,most importantly, made sure we were satisfied with the work. Thanks OGC and Murad for the excellent work. I will highly recommend working with them in any big or small project.

We recently had approximately 1000 sq. ft. of our basement finished by OGC. This consisted of a living room, dry kitchen with cabinetry, bedroom, vanity, walk in closet, and bathroom c/w shower. When the plans came to life, we were very pleased with the results. The completed rooms are very attractive and exactly what we wanted. The company provided excellent materials and workmanship. The project was completed quickly, efficiently, and quite in line with the original schedule. All of the office and operations staff at OGC have been professional and extremely pleasant. As well, the contractors and sub-contractors managed by OGC were all friendly and accommodating while in our home. As with any such project, there were a few minor warranty repairs and adjustments required, which were all completed rapidly and to our satisfaction. Even now, a few years after completion, Murad and OGC management promptly responded to a few minor issues reported. We would not hesitate to recommend OGC to anyone requiring minor or major construction services to their home. They certainly are construction specialists. Our experience has been very positive, and we are extremely satisfied with our new finished space.

Rick and Judy Makinen

Our history with OGC started over 10 years ago and this was our third project with them. After cooling down for two months, we still couldn’t believe that OGC managed to close our project in five months. The project scope included 2nd floor addition and existing rooms redone, exterior house renovation (change siding to stone and stucco), first floor office and laundry room update, front entrance, garage, and stairs/railing refinish, and partial foundation work. This is a great achievement given the supply chain challenges and Covid situations.

We signed the contract in Nov. 2020 after many rounds of revisions. Nick was very patient with us and addressed many of the questions we had. Meeting with him on ZOOM saved us lots of time from traffic. Designer Alain was superb, whenever we had any questions, we could hear from him within 24 hours.

The official construction started in April 2021 as planned without delay and we asked for Andrew to be our project manager due to our positive experiences with him on our previous project.

Within a month, Andrew got promoted and he handed over our project to Abdull. At that time, we were not sure if our project would receive the same level of attention and care. After several weeks, we realized that our project was in good hands with Abdull.

Throughout the project, Abdull had been on top of things all the time. He maintained daily communication with us and provided weekly project schedule updates for the upcoming weeks. He was very organized and detail-oriented and almost every day we had some contractors working on the site without much down times. He also made efforts to coordinate with some of the special trades that we signed on our own.

In addition, Abdull was very hands on himself and not afraid to roll-up the sleeves to fix things or get things done. We really appreciated his efforts and the entire OGC team.

OGC also honoured the contract terms and absorbed the significant lumber price increases in the first half of 2021 for framing related work.

There were a couple of areas we feel there is room for improvement:
1. Scope of Work could be written in simple language for clients to comprehend, and some details in the drawing could be updated to match the SoW or vice versa;
2. We had seen some staff turnovers during our projects which slowed down some works. Given the hot renovation/construction markets right now, it was inevitable and OGC is not alone in this respect.

Overall, we were very pleased with OGC and the project team Abdull/John and others (e.g. Mahr) to get our project done. We have received many positive comments from our neighbours and passerbys for the quick speed and final look of our renovated house.

Andrew/Abdull,
We will enjoy our newly renovated house for a while before thinking of other things for you to fix. Stay tuned....

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
David & Angela

We hired OGC to add a office and bathroom to our basement. We are overall happy with the quality of work completed. However, there were several delays and concerns regarding communication within the OGC team. Some delays were unavoidable delays due to COVID. Some delays were due to miscommunication among the OGC team due to high staff turnover throughout our project (different project managers, switch in the designer, new staff enlisted to provide initial project quotes and details).
We ended up with a very professional project manager (Adam) who ensured our project was completed effectively and with high quality work.

Exterior repairs and siding installation 8/10

Our project involved removing the stucco (EIFS) exterior, repairing damage, and installing steel siding. There were some additional elements such as rebuilding/reinstalling stairs and deck. The project had several challenges including matters beyond OGC's control like COVID based delays and issues, but others like delays in material deliveries and coordination that were disappointing. We did enjoy excellent professional service from multiple OGC employees, including Steve (and team) on structural issues, Luc (and team) on siding and trim installation including in difficult winter conditions, and Rob (and team) on deck/stairs that have led to multiple passers by stopping to take photos of our design. We were impressed with the quality of the work and the approach to do it well for long term protection instead of the quickest or easiest way. At the end we also had a useful post project review with Alynn to discuss what had gone well and what could have been better and she demonstrated a strong commitment to improving certain aspects and dealing with some of the issues and delays we experienced.

The most positive experience was with our project manager, Ramy who coordinated all the moving parts. He was very responsive, quick to resolve issues and really demonstrated he cared about the success of our project with his support throughout. His background as a structural engineer was also very helpful in explaining the how and why of various design choices and this also helped efficiently implement official recommendations from professional engineers into instructions for subcontractors on the site as well as working with the City on inspections/permits. We're pleased with the final result and would consider working with OGC again in the future.

Warranty 8/10

There was one reasonably significant item to fix under warranty, and a few smaller issues and it did require coordination with our attached neighbours. Unfortunately it did take more than one try to get it done but throughout Leighton was good at communicating with us and clearly committed to getting it done right and to our satisfaction, including doing some of the last steps himself. OGC's warranty service demonstrated they stand behind their work.