Big City Developments

This review has taken some time to compile as overall I like the design of my new kitchen but I feel its important for people to know our experience with Doug and Big City Developments. We hired Doug at Big City developments Inc. to do a main floor and kitchen renovation. We have an older (1974 built) small house and only asked for approximately 650 sq. ft. to be completed. After our initial meeting I thought Doug and his company were the perfect fit for us, turns out I was incorrect. First of all, I asked for 2 quotes, one with a support beam and one without the support beam, my mistake for not making sure I got this as it definitely bit us in the end. The first 4 weeks went well and then we noticed some issues arising. I called a meeting to discuss. Doug was there with his wife and son and said all my concerns would be addressed. He always had the right answer. Drywall was a major concern and was not completed until 8 weeks into our 9-week project (which went 11 weeks and 2 days with his less then promised work hours) and still to this day is not properly finished or sanded. You can see corner beads, patches of drywall and incomplete corners throughout. Painting is not complete as I believe only one coat was applied, I can see the primer in many areas of my home which with completing many paint projects in my home myself, I know disappear with a second coat. When I questioned the one coat he never replied to my email. Doug constantly told how he was taking a “hit” on our project but nothing outside of our contract was ever added, to be honest even things that were in the contract and not completed were not credited properly. Doug just added the credit into things that he was supposed to do regardless but could not complete himself. When questioned on the structural beam credit (never installed as it was not required) he said that the flat ceiling he promised me took all the credit as he could not complete this himself and had to hire outside as I had complained about the look of what was done. He also mentioned in an email request about the credit that our house was a quoted renovation and not a cost-plus job and he owed us nothing. I paid him for “Dolly Parton hours” and was lucky to get more then a 6-hour work day. Once our project was complete to his standards, he wanted payment. I arrived home from work and inspected everything that had been completed and had a list of things that still needed to be addressed before I paid him his final payment, at which time he became quite defensive, accusing me of making negative comments and attacking his character to which I never did (I have the emails to prove this) and wanted to give us a credit to fix it ourselves. If I wanted to fix everything myself, I wouldn’t have hired a contractor. In the end Doug came back to our house as I refused his offer of credit to fix his imperfections and fixed 2 of the 5 things I requested and sent an email stating all was complete. I paid him, as honestly, I was done with his version of perfect reno’s and ended up fixing a number of small details that he had no interest in making perfect, such as filling holes in all trim and baseboards, painting trim as he used a brush and all strokes were visible, painting the trim under the stairs, and a number of other things. I have numerous photo’s that show defects after he said all was complete and I wish I could share them all. The kicker of how unprofessional he behaved was when my backordered cupboard doors arrived, he was to contact me to install them (addressed in an email that he agreed to), instead he sent a message to my husband that he left the cupboards covered in plastic on my doorstep (during the May Calgary rain) for us to install and when I questioned about the install, he offered a credit so he didn’t have to deal with me as he had nothing to say to me. I don’t know where the hostility came from but I don’t think that it is showing any type of professionalism. I was never difficult to deal with but did expect my renovation to be perfect as honestly that is what Doug told me he could do and that is what I paid for. I would never recommend him for any project as he doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of quality work, attention to detail, timelines or customer service. I will enjoy the new kitchen I received with our fixes but would never recommend Big City Developments for any renovation needs.

After looking into a number of contractors, we landed on Big City to do a deck (roof) addition on our property. From the start, everything proceeded perfectly. We discussed what we expected, they advised us what we need to do to help, and the job started on time. As we progressed, as in any renovation, things came up, but all were handled quickly, professionally, and on budget/schedule. Our addition looks like it was part of our home from Day 1 - the compliments continue to come in, and we look forward to many happy nights under cover. Thanks Doug and team for a great job.

We hired Big City Developments (BCD) to renovate our back deck. We wanted to add a full roof over the existing structure. Doug helped us to design the structure and ensured that it would meet with all of the City of Calgary permitting requirements. During the construction we made some changes to the finishes and one significant design element. Doug was very flexible, responsive and gave excellent advice. The crew was professional and the workmanship is outstanding. We are thrilled with the finished project and will definitely be having BCD back to do additional work on our front entry. We would highly recommend BDC.

As a realtor, I often am asked for referrals to contractors. I view the service providers I recommend as an extension of my reputation, so I have to be extremely careful about who I refer.

Both times that I've referred Doug and his team to my clients, they have been extremely pleased with his service, communication and the final results.

I am currently referring another client to Big City Developments, without hesitation. They make me look good!

Big City has completed bathroom renovations for me and I have referred several parties to Big City Developments Inc over several years. My personal satisfaction has been total, without reservation, and each of the parties I have referred have been impressed with the product knowledge and thorough understanding of bylaw and permitting requirements demonstrated by Big City’s principals. In addition, a very thoughtful and thorough planning and consulting phase precedes each job, and contracts are always drawn up in detail. Work is invariably completed professionally in a timely manner and subject to final inspection by the proper authorities. I will not hesitate to have future projects completed for me by Big City Developments Inc and will happily refer friends and colleages to the company.

My wife and I hired Big City Developments to do a series of projects summer 2018. The scope of the work was to build a 22’x20’ garage, pour a concrete patio & side walk to the back alley for garbage bins, build a new fence and build a composite deck. We had a few quotations that were lower cost, however they were not able to complete the projects till late summer or early fall. So we hired Doug from Big City Developments – The worst mistake we could have made.

It seemed very strange from the beginning that Doug asked for money up front to start the jobs. We could not really understand this as none of the other contractors that quoted the projects needed money up front. We were soon to find out why he wanted money up front and was unable to provide the references that he originally promised to send.

The dishonesty began right from the start date. Doug gave us a date and then called saying that he would be able to start right away as an opening came up. After a week there was no sign of Doug. When I was finally was able to reach him. He told me that they were unable to start that week as the weather was too bad and the rain it delayed the project. That would have been a legitimate excuse however, it was not the case. I know because I worked in Calgary all week outside and we never got rained out. When I questioned him on this, he changed his story to the Bobcat they use doesn’t operate in the rain as it’s not good for them … Give me a break.

Long story short is the dishonesty continued. After Doug got started it was very apparent that his quality of workmanship and eye for detail was not even close to being on par. His dishonesty became more and more ridiculous. He told us that it was normal for fence boards to shrink ½” over a weekend or special wiring needed to be done if we wanted a motion detector on the outside lights on the garage.

Every time we would question his mistakes such as “why did to put the natural gas line for the garage in the sidewalk to the garage as it interferes with the bins we want to roll out to the alley”? His response was that it was code and the city would not issue a permit if it was anywhere other than the location he used. That was all good again until I spoke later in the week to the inspector himself. He confirmed that Doug was not being truthful. Not a surprise but when I went back to Doug with the inspectors response his only reply was “you don’t want to mess with me today”. The funny thing about this is Doug is no joke is 7 foot tall and it was apparent that he didn’t want to talk about any of his poor workmanship, so he began playing the intimidation card. Using statements like “I’m not in the mood for this sh!t” or “you and your wife expect way too much”.

Needless to say that the dishonesty and poor quantity workmanship continued until we finally said enough is enough and fired him. At the point Doug became very upset and even started making threats to lean my home and has even threatened to beat me up that likely got him a visit by the police. He’s such a great guy.

All I have to say is be very cautious to proceed in any business venture with Doug and Big City Developments if you are looking to have work done. He places his ads in community publications. However I have recently found that there is no background checks or references taken to get a company’s advertisement in these types of publications.

We did hire another contractor to complete the project and fix / cover up some of the mistakes - like concrete being 2 ½” out of square on 16 feet. The replacement contractors that took over were nothing short of amazing. Guess what, they didn’t want a cent until they were done the project and I was satisfied with their work. However the garage floor has begun to crack only a couple months after being poured. Thanks Doug.

I would not hire Doug or Big City Developments again even if it were to paint bird feeders.

Most of the people that were involved in this project was super nice and profesional, but it were not really a detail oriented... Overall they did really good job and finished within the promissed time frame.