Private User

Writing this review after an year of dealing with them for my house renovation project for which i hired Richard (Project was from Nov 2020 – Jan 2021). Issues: 1) Vanity mirror in our master bathroom fell down and smashed into pieces within months of renos, luckily no one including our toddler were too close to it at the time of the fall. It happened because they completely disregarded / missed the written warnings that came with the mirror and hung it on the metal wires that were present at the back to the mirror to hold the frame together, not to be used for hanging the mirror (see the pics showing clear warnings). Richard, without even enquiring whether we were safe, started blaming the mirror manufacturer and refused to acknowledge their own ignorance. I couldn’t believe how he did that knowing the manufacturer’s warnings were written near the strings 4 times in bold capital letters. 2) There are many cracks in our new ceilings that they installed due to poor drywalling , mudding and taping along the drywall joints. His parents, who were later brought in as very experienced drywallers, came in to check in Feb 2021 and suggested we wait few months (until April) to let the cracks expand as much as they have to and that they will come and fix it in May 2021. Despite many reminders to Richard, all we got was false promises and a new date. No never showed up. It’s now clear to us they never intended to. 3) In master bathroom, they left the Rough-in valves (the part that connects behind the shower controller, goes inside the wall) uncovered and continued to tile the standing shower walls. That resulted in plaster / cement sticking on the bare value threads preventing the controller to fit on them anymore. They blamed the manufacturer/supplier for supplying wrong parts, resulted into huge back and forth with the parts supplier who were decent enough to come in to visit the property. It was found that the issue was because of the tilers / other employees carelessness of not covering or removing the cover off the rough-in value. They had to later brush the threads clean with a metal brush, before the controller could fit back on. They repeated the same thing in basement bathroom, I had to push them really hard to cover the rough-in. Wasted many days of my time, resulting into unnecessary fights with the supplier, and embarrassment in the end 4) For the electrical panel upgrade, they brought in an inspector as per the plan (and code I guess). At the end of the work Richard started asking for $500 extra to handover the inspection certificate sighting that the electrician they brought in was asking more money than they originally promised him. Why should the client pay extra for disputes between a contractor and its subcontractors? I have still not received the certificate yet and would be making a formal complaint. 5) Bedroom floors were poorly covered while renovating the ensuite bathrooms on top floor. Richard dismissed many reminders and complaints about that and kept saying the drywall dust will go away just by a vacuum and a mop. It did not, the dust got between the wooden planks because of wet moping. Was a nightmare to clean after they left. 6) It was worse on the ground floor where new hardwood was installed. The drywall dust got stuck in the hardwood grains and won’t come off, they blamed the hardwood company (that Richard had suggested for the purchase in first place) for poor material quality. A specialist from hardwood company was called in who confirmed that this was drywall dust and that they should not have left it there for so long and moped with wed cloth. The dust had hardened and glued in the grains. Richard’s dad finally stained the new hardwood flooring causing a lot of inconvenience due to strong smell that lasted days. 7) They threw mud collected from cutting tiles in my backyard lawn. Did not come to clean despite working next doors for months. Finally when they came, one of their employees response to my complaint was - “do you want us to vacuum the lawn ? This happens, it is a construction site”. Well my lawn was not your construction site to throw garbage. 8) Holes punched in the new ceilings for pot lights and bathroom fans are weirdly irregular shaped at places, showing Ceiling holes from the side of the fixtures 9) Pot-lights in the kitchen and lobby are not aligned evenly, some of them are not even in a straight line. 10) Left a lot of garbage in the garage (mirrors, bucket full of mud, old microwave, curtain rods, half cut tiles etc..) and never came back to clean it all, again despite reminders and them being working next doors. Overall feedback – They took my money and never returned to complete the job , I have already waited from Feb 2021 – Jan 2022 before giving up on them. Besides the money part, their lack of knowledge, craftsmanship and extreme lack of attention proved very dangerous to our family. Diligent oversight, accountability towards maintaining quality & timely completion of job (all things one would expect from a contractor) were completely missing throughout the project. Overall, I strongly believe this company cannot be trusted with a decent home renovation project, plus per my experience their warranty promises are false too. Clearly, I will never hire them again and would advise anyone I know to keep away. Happy with: 1) Kitchen – the kitchen company they hired did a great job at installation and finishes. I wish I could hire them directly and not pay the premium I paid to woods reno, the kitchen company worked pretty independently anyways.