ALERT: This company is a big FAKE!
We hired York Mills Construction to work on an interior renovation project for our house in October 2017. The total renovation area is about 2000 square feet. Within one week into the project, Zach and his father Murray abandoned the project, walked away with the $10,000 deposit. They claimed to have used up all of that money on ripping down a few drywalls and tearing up less than 1000 square feet of floor tiles.
During demolition, Zach’s team wrongfully demolished our brand new laundry room cabinets and counter, because Zach did not know how to read drawings and failed to contact us for confirmation. Upon acceptance of his mistakes, Zach and his father suddenly threatened to leave the project unless further payment is provided. We were super surprised because we had just paid a huge deposit to them. At this point we did two things:
1. We asked a few other contractors how much the demolition would have costed. From a few independent and reliable sources, the conclusion was it should not have costed more than $4,000.
2. We did some background research on Zach and Murray, which honestly should’ve been done before signing the contract. We found quite a few fraud reports. Apparently Murray is a seasoned sc ammer. Here are the links:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/murray-chousky-renovation-world/thornhill-ontario-l4j-6r3/murray-chousky-renovation-world-dishonest-contractor-fails-to-repair-defective-patiowalkw-68827
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/relevant/murray-chousky-renovation-world
(Homestar bans the keyword: sca m, so there are some other links we cannot post here, but you can check the last link for all the related reports)
Given the above evidence, we came to realize that this company and the owners are not to be trusted. We warned Zach that work should be continued according to the contract and schedule, otherwise, he would be breaching the contract. Guess what? They did not care about what was in the contract. According to Murray, one of his other sons is a lawyer, so they have no fear for any legal actions against them.
So after walking away with the $10,000 deposit, they ruined a brand new laundry room, damaged our stair at a bunch of areas because they did not care to cover it during demo, and left a whole pile of garbage uncleaned. We suffered a huge financial loss and had to find others to finish the job. In conclusion, their work has been poor and unprofessional. The company is fraudulent and untrustworthy.
We have collected all the evidence and will sue, even it means another few thousand dollars of legal fees. We just can not stand thinking sca mmers like these are going around taking hard-earned money from people, while they have absolutely no expertise, shame, or integrity.
We are posting this here because we want to save anyone else from suffering the same losses that we have suffered. Please do yourself a favour and stay clear of this company. If Homestars could PIN this post to the top, it would mean a great deal to your followers!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $10,000.00
- Company Response
Thank you for reviewing York Mills Construction, As everyone knows there are two sides of a story... so here is mine.
This Customer had zero intentions to pay for the work on schedule, based on there payment schedule, the customer created.The job commenced Mid-October with a 2-3 week demo schedule. 3 men and 10 days of work was complete, Two 40 yard bins were filled and removed and a 2000 sq ft home and upstairs bathroom was completely gutted and all construction materials were removed from site. Based on the home owners payment schedule, the second instalment was due when the demo was done. I notified the project manager/daughter of the home owners, that friday i had to pay my crew for the work they had completed. I was a week ahead of schedule. My next move was to put deposits down for steel for structural work and start to purchase construction material. The customer wanted to meet on the Saturday to go over the work to be done, i had my project manager Carlos meet me before the owners and with the owner and walk though the job with us. The job was ready for the next stage of the schedule, i told the project manager/daughter of the home owners i now needed the second payment.... this is where she refused to pay.
I told her if you don't pay me, i can't continue the work. Once a heated argument begin i walked away and left the job site. An email was sent to the client with 2 options, as follows.
1: To be paid upon acceptance of these terms, a payment #2 $10,000 to proceed ahead of the project timeline schedule B.
2: To re-write the contract as a management contract, were by all expenses will be drictly paid by the customer. A management fee of 15% is proposed to York Mills Construction.
If we can not come to an agreement, regarding payment schedule and cash flow. We have no other alternative to suspend the job at this time.
The customer REFUSED to work within the options above or to come to an agreement where both parties were happy.
I paid my trades for 10 days of work, i paid the garbage removal company. I exceeded over $10,000 with bills to prove.
I never heard from the customer again.....
When you do a home renovation there needs to be a level of trust, if you can't trust me... then don't do business with me. I would of been happy to continue the work and complete the job. if the payments were made in time. I had no other option other then walk away from the job.
Thanks for your review and i will take this under review going forward.
Cheers,