We engaged Plumbing Mart in Mississauga to renovate our bathroom. As described below, they were completely incompetent. When they first arrived to demolish the existing bathroom, they did not have a drop cloth, or a vacuum cleaner. They knocked a hole in the adjourning room wall and broke a stud. The subcontractor was slow and unsupervised. He arrived in mid-morning and generally left by midafternoon. Management did not provide adequate staffing, direction or guidance to the subcontractor.
This disaster started shortly after we entered into a contract to renovate our bathroom. This was a serious decision since we only have one bathroom. Plumbing Mart was well aware that timing was of the essence. They were also aware that we were having about 40 guests over on Christmas Eve. We paid the deposit in Sept 2013 and expected to start and finish the project in November/early December 2013. On Nov 2, Steve, the project manager demanded progress payment 1 (due 5 days prior to commencement), although commencement did not start until four weeks later (November 29)
On November 29, the sub-contractor arrived without the proper equipment to do the demolition. Specifically, he had no drop cloth, nor cleaning tools. While he did put down paper from a roll, the fact is crushed gypsum slides off of paper readily. You can well imagine the mess he made of our recently installed new. He wanted to leave the old tub in the upstairs hall. Fortunately, since he never came back for a week, I persuaded him otherwise and helped him carry it down. Plumbing Mart made no effort to adequately staff the job.
The next day, Steve showed up and demanded Progress Payment 2 (required after 50% completion). At this time, we had received 3 hours of labour, the garbage was not removed, but rather strewn around our garage, and we had no product on site. He claimed that Materials and Products were 60% of the contract value, except we had no materials or products on site. In other words, we would gladly have paid them if they had supplied the product and materials that we had already paid for.
A few days later, another sub-contractor appeared on site, argued with Steve and left before doing any work.
On Dec 4, one week after the demolition, another subcontractor appeared to remove the debris from the garage (he had to use our brooms to clean up the mess, since he didn’t bring his own) and deliver some product (tub, tiles grout, some boards, etc.) which he dropped off in the garage. Estimated product value would be in the order of $1000). This was the only product delivered to our house.
On Dec 5 the original subcontractor showed up in mid-morning and worked for part of the day. He required my help to carry the tub upstairs. We again had to vacuum up after him. In attempting to install the tub by himself, he cracked and then had to cut a section out of an existing wall stud, which he subsequently jury rigged with a piece of plywood. He also knocked a hole through the wall into the hallway.
Dec 6, the original subcontractor arrived in mid-morning and worked part of the day, since he ran out of materials that Steve, the manager was supposed to deliver earlier that day. The subcontractor did not know about the alcove that was planned for the tub area and had not installed studs for this. Nor had he installed studs in the appropriate position to install grab rails. In other words, management of the project was inept. He left gaps of ½” in so-called vapour barrier wall board in the tub area. Although the tub was installed, it was not level. There is a 1” drop down the length of the tub. New vapour barrier wallboard was not supplied throughout and scrap ends were used to fill up some parts.
Steve, the manager arrived one hour after the sub-contractor left (with no materials) and demanded the next payment. He threatened to shut down the job. At this point the company had more than 55% of the project paid for and had only supplied 15% of the contract terms. In other words, they were ahead almost $5,000. Steve, the project manager, agreed that he would deliver the remaining products and materials on Saturday and I would go to the store to make the next payment. The next payment would result in Plumbing Mark being Paid 90% of the total project value, although only 15%supply, without the accompanying supply of products (toilet, vanity, sink, etc.)
Dec 7, the subcontractor arrived at 10:30 to complete the alcove framing and install the rest of the vapour board in the tub area. He did not bring new materials to replace the scraps of wall board that were used. Steve called at 11:00 to say he could/would not deliver products on Saturday. In my opinion, It was evident from his remarks that the rest of the product was not in Plumbing Marts warehouse and that they were unable to deliver. I agreed that Monday would be ok and payment would be made on Monday.
At 11:30 Mark, the President of Plumbing Mart spoke, by phone, to my wife Evelyn, demanding payment. He said that he would accept partial payment. Evelyn repeated my statement that so far Plumbing Mart had only supplied 15% of product and labour, but had already receive 55% of the payment. She also re-iterated our earlier comments of delivery on Sat, full payment on Sat, delivery on Mon, and payment on Monday. Mark confirmed that the product was not on his site. At that point He verbally abused her and attempted to bully her on the phone. When this didn’t work he said “I can’t deal with this {expletive}” and hung up.
The subcontractor was ordered off the job at 11:45. He was gone by 12:00. He had not completed the alcove or the wallboard. He did not clean up the site, nor remove the project waste from the tub and the garage. Again, we had to clean and vacuum up after him.
After several exchanges of emails, On Dec 18, I contacted Mark to enquire about a resolution. He replied that he “is not interested in working with us”.
With only seven days before Christmas, no bathroom, and houseguests planned for the holidays, we had no alternative but to complete the project using other means. The contractor that we engaged to finish the project arrived early in the mornings, worked for several full days and sometimes well into the evenings. He corrected Plumbing Mart’s inadequacies and finished the project on time, on budget and in a completely professional manner. Every day, they arrived with proper drop clothes and cleaned up after themselves. They did discover and remove a bunch of Silicone that was put down the tub drain. There is no reasonable explanation of why silicone was put down the drain in the first place.
In summary, Plumbing Mart, under the direction of Mark, the President, left the house 2 ½ weeks before Christmas, with no bathroom, having supplied less than $2,000 in product, materials and Labour, but been paid $6,800.
For more information, photos corroborating Plumbing Mart’s incompetence, shoddy workmanship and managerial absence, or to be put in touch with the contractors (tiling, plumbing and electrical) who completed the project properly, please drop by my Facebook site (Derek Betty). More information and photos will be up shortly
