We bought our house about 20 years ago and the basement was partially finished. Last year (2017) we decided that we needed to renovate. The renovation would be a complete gut down to the foundation walls. The main criteria was to install a new bathroom, new walls with spray foam insulation, reclaiming storage space (there was a lot) open the existing space, a finished laundry room and some type of laminate flooring on a subfloor.
OGC assigned a project lead/manager and they use sub-contractors for all work. The project lead was helpful, professional and polite. It did appear that at times he had too much on his plate but he was always available when needed and was up to date with the status of our project. The sub-contractors that we dealt with were always polite, professional and knew their trades. Everyone was always willing to answer questions we had and sometimes make suggestions to improve the end result.
We went into the project with a set budget and a four-month timeline. We did expect that there would be some cost overruns but ended up going 100% over budget. Some of these costs were to be expected once the demolition was completed as we could all see what was there. There were extra costs to upgrade the plumbing and extra electrical work but no surprises. Once we started we realized that in order to properly enjoy our new basement we had to make other changes. These changes included:
- Relocating e the heating and cooling ducts to allow for proper headroom.
- Replacing the existing stairs (too steep) with custom oak stairs and railing
- Structural changes due to the stairs.
- There were other changes made as well.
We want to stress that we do not regret going this far over budget as we ended up with the basement we wanted. The work done by the contractors was excellent and well done.
With all projects issues do arise, for the most part they were dealt with professionally and with consideration to the budget and our desire to have a basement we wanted.
We have rated the work by OGC as a 9 out 10. A full 10 out of 10 would have been achieved except for two issues that while have been dealt with, did take away from a perfect score.
If we were asked: ‘Would use OGC again?’ and ‘Would we recommend considering OGC for a project’, then, the answer would be yes for both
- Approximate cost of services:
- $120.00