Overall, we were very happy with Penguin and the finished product was of high-quality. Claudio, our finishing supervisor should get an 11/10. He showed incredible professionalism, skill, and commitment to making the customer happy. He ensured all the issues we faced were rectified. He was so personable, responsive to our needs, and genuinely knew his stuff. If Penguin has any concept of what is good for their company, they will make sure he never leaves and promote him right to the top. People who were also particularly helpful and clearly put the customer first include Robert, Joe and Angelo. They all played their part in trying to make the process as smooth as possible.
Along the way, our primary frustrations were of the poor communication. We often had no concept of which trade was coming and trades sometimes did not know how to access the lockbox. The Calendar was not updated beyond the first day. Probably the biggest frustration was the lack of presence or availability of our assigned site super, Walter. Severe floating floor and issues with sanding of the walls could’ve all been detected along the way. Instead, they had to be dealt with at the end of our project and only thanks to Claudio were they addressed in a thorough manner. After these issues, I do think Penguin would benefit from having a customer care service or quality assurance department which the customer could reach out to throughout the duration of the project. In our case, we often did not know who to communicate with for a given issue and ended up calling multiple people at one go. Needless to say, this took time and added stress and for the premium that you are paying, this should not happen.
My advice to any future customers would be to make sure you know exactly what you want done ahead of time and have a very concise plan. Things move very quickly and there is very little margin of error to fix things. As a result, I think it is imperative for homeowners to be involved in every step of the project to make sure any mistakes can be fixed right away.
Despite some of our minor frustrations, clear positives were there adhererence to a promised timeline, the very professional trades, scheduling flexibility with the start date depending on our schedule, the high quality of finishings, and again, the amazing Claudio. His help at the end of the project almost made us forget our frustrations during the project. He truly is a star and his commitment to customer satisfaction went above and beyond what we had expected.
Overall, we are so pleased with our basement and are already thoroughly enjoying it. We would highly recommend Penguin (as long as Claudio’s part of the package), and would not hesitate to use them again.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $90,000.00
- Company Response
We love and appreciate Claudio too! As well as Robert, Joe and Angelo ;-) They, and the rest of the senior team will always harp at the newest members of the teams about the importance of communication. And those that get it will do well by us, you can be sure. We now have a customer care department up and running that we were assembling this past fall, and are updating calendar info in a more timely manner. We are also preparing a short video for new clients that will explain what to expect, and who to turn to at various phases during the build. We want our homeowners to be as engaged and well-informed as possible. Thank you for the great and detailed review. It is customer feedback like this that allows us to keep refining the Penguin process. Enjoy the basement!