A & J Renovation

Lost $1000 due to Mr.Jerry' s unfair work ethic: (Trying to find the legal route)
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Mr. Jerry, Initially provided high level quote for finishing the basement. As a home owner we wanted to do a legal finish of the basement. However Jerry was always forcing us not to go through the legal route. As we were persistent he agreed to legally finish the basement with 15% increase in the Total quote.

As per the oral agreement of 15% increase, we proceeded to work with City of Brampton to get an approval. Meanwhile We had also paid $1000 advance to block Jerry's Time assuming the renovation would go as per the plan and Jerry would honor the oral agreement. Please note that Mr.Jerry didn't finalize the agreement (Papers for signing) with 15% increase in the Original estimate. (It wasn't signed).

As we got the approval from the city, shared the approved plan with Jerry. However Mr. Jerry dramatically increased the quote more than 30% that we couldn't afford. Also Jerry's quote doesn't include cost for the Washroom (Materials)

Since the cost was un-affordable, we reached out to 2 other contractors and found a reliable person who has extensive experience working with the City, who would only do legal basement finish and would help us with the Basement renovation with the reasonable cost way less than Mr. Jerry's quote. So, we happily moved on with the new contractor as we never had any written agreement with Mr. Jerry (In order to afford the cost as well).
Please note the quote from the new contractor included many things that was missing in Jerry's original or revised quote (for ex: Sprinklers, CO alarms, Fire rated drywall inside the Furnace room, Exhaust fans in the laundry room and changes to the kitchen etc).

We informed Jerry that the quote was not as agreed and un-affordable and we are unable to proceed. After that Jerry never responded via phone or email and didn't respond to give the $1000 back. He was also not ready to do small reno work for $1000. After persistent calling, finally he confirmed he won't give the money back and won't do any other work either to compensate the amount we paid. he is also OK to face any legal issues. I personally feel this is really an unfair work ethic from a General Contractor. No Oral or written agreement on what happens to the advance amount when one of the party backs out.

Reason's for moving to a different contractor:
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1. Jerry didn't honor the oral agreement that the updated quote will only increase by ~15% but increased the final quote by more than 30%
2. Jerry didn't have working experience with legal basement finish / didn't have working experience with City / Inspectors and trying to convince us for finishing the basement by not going through the city.
3. Jerry's quote didn't include the cost associated with Bathroom finish. Owner's need to pay extra for the materials (Tiles etc) that would again increase the total cost.
4. We found a reasonable and reliable contractor who would not only has experience working with city, who gave us the best quote which was affordable to us and was meeting our requirements.

I also have a email proof for all the conversations / Transactions made with Mr. Jerry.

In a nutshell, Mr. Jerry took $1000 without providing any service.
My basement is currently finished legally and occupied by Tenants immediately.