Marcus in North York

I used Diana Bastone's design and project management services for the full renovation of a condo unit in 2019. Diana is a good communicator. She came up with a much improved layout for the condo. I appreciated her design work. Meanwhile, I am dissatisfied with Diana's project management work, which was subpar: 1) During my absence for the project due to my need to return to my home country for my dad's sudden illness and unexpected passing, Diana released the payment for the remaining balance to Geoff at Georgetown Woodworks before the delivery of the cabinets. Diana claimed that she has worked with Geoff for 10+ years. (Before my departure to my home country, I entrusted necessary payment in the forms of post-dated cheques to Diana for services that were expected to be delivered during my absence.) 2) Diana did not keep Geoff accountable on delivering the cabinets on time. The delivery of the cabinets was 2 months later than the original delivery date provided, despite Geoff took the full payment of more than $64,000 beforehand. This issue caused delays in other parts of the project. 3) Diana approved a contractor for taking a vacation out of the country as some of his tasks depend on the delivery of the cabinets. When she filled in for the contractor to oversee his tasks while he was on vacation, she insisted on charging me for her time spent on some of those matters, despite me informing her that I already paid the contractor for those work. 4) Examination of the work delivered was not done thoroughly by Diana. Upon the completion of the renovation, we found certain issues, such as the glass on certain cabinet panels were not installed properly, the stopper in a bath tub was missing. We had to point out those issues ourselves in order to have them rectified. There are other issues, which have remained unaddressed, such as the baseboard was not installed underneath the vanity of a powder room, pot lights in the living room and the family room would flicker sporadically. The most disturbing issue relates to the quality of the cabinets. A year after the cabinets were installed (i.e. 2020), some cracks started appearing on the panels of the kitchen cabinets. Two years later (i.e. 2023), I also noticed that some cracks started appearing in the cabinets of the bathrooms. Diana stood by Geoff's explanation of humidity issue in the condo without coming on site to investigate, despite me pointing out that those phenomena only appeared on certain groups of cabinets. In late 2023, I had a personnel who has worked in the cabinetry industry for 20+ years to examine the cabinets in the condo. We were SHOCKED to find out that some cabinets were made of wood, while some cabinets were made of painted MDF. When examining the cabinetry in the master ensuite, we found that there is one panel door made of wood while there is another panel door of the exact same profile made of painted MDF. The materials used for the panels and panel doors were NEVER provided in any forms of writing in the quotation. It was NEVER disclosed to me that different groups of cabinets were made by different materials. There was NO TRANSPARENCY and NO HONESTY regarding the cabinets delivered. Half of the cabinets have become an eye sore in the condo within 4 years due to cracks appearing on the panels. 5) The project went over budget by more than 75%!!! Budget control was nonexistent. I paid more than $32,000 for Diana's services in design and project management, but in return, I did not get services of equivalent value.

I used the services of Geoff Strong at Georgetown Woodworks in 2019 through Diana Bastone (https://dianabastonedesigns.com/), who was working for me as the designer and project manager to renovate a condo unit. Diana claimed that she has been using the Geoff's services for 10+ years. Geoff was given the job of making the cabinets (including cabinets in the kitchen, pantry, bathrooms, master's bedroom, family room, and laundry room). I had a very dissatisfying experience. Firstly, the delivery of the cabinets was 2 months later than the original delivery date provided, despite Geoff took the full payment of more than $64,000 before the scheduled delivery date. This issue caused delays in other parts of the project, as counter tops could not be installed when some cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms were not in place. Secondly, a year after the cabinets were installed (i.e. 2020), some cracks started appearing on the panels of the kitchen cabinets. I reported those conditions, and I was told that it is a common occurrence due to expansion and contraction. Two years later (i.e. 2023), more cracks appeared on the kitchen cabinets (refer to photos) and I also noticed that some cracks started appearing in the cabinets of the bathrooms. When I reached out and inquired about this issue, Geoff told me that this was due to humidity and exposure to sunlight. I felt very puzzled about the explanation, as my open concept kitchen is next to the family room, and the cabinets of the wall unit in the family room do not seem to exhibit the same phenomenon as the cabinets in the kitchen. Moreover, the cabinets in the master's bedroom and the laundry room do not have the issue of having cracks appearing on the panels either. In late 2023, I had a personnel who has worked in the cabinetry industry for 20+ years to examine the cabinets in the condo. We were SHOCKED to find out that some cabinets were made of wood, while some cabinets were made of painted MDF. When examining the cabinetry in the master ensuite, we found that there is one panel door made of wood while there is another panel door of the exact same profile made of painted MDF. The materials used for the panels and panel doors were NEVER provided in any forms of writing in the quotation. It was NEVER disclosed to me that different groups of cabinets were made by different materials. There was NO TRANSPARENCY and NO HONESTY regarding the products delivered. Half of those cabinets have become an eye sore in the condo within 4 years due to cracks appearing on the panels.

They helped me organized the space in the storage room, the closets in the front hall and the closets in 2 bedrooms. It was a pleasant experience from the design to installation to administration. Installation took place a month after the design was approved. The quality of the product met my expectation. After the installation, the installers returned to address the defects the following week. The administration personnel also remembered my request to charge the remaining balance to a different credit card.