Our first home renovation so we were very new to this industry of renovations. We decided to hire HMJ Constructing Services for a project spring/summer 2010 - both my husband and I felt confident that John and his team were the right people to take on our project, he seemed to understand and see the vision I had planned for our kitchen, bathroom and downstairs room reno. John the owner is in no way a bad guy, friendly but hates being told what to do or answering questions and a poor communicator. He does have good vision and ideas.
They had 7 weeks and an empty house and he seemed quite confident due to the circumstances they would be done. The kitchen and 2 bathrooms were demolished to the bare bones and built up from there, we also included refinishing our floors. Project started in May by middle/3rd week of July and a whole lot of stress later our project was completed, completed because we put the pressure on to get the job done. At times I felt like I had incompetinent workers onsite and sometimes only one person working when there were 3 rooms to complete. It also seemed that certain aspects were ignored because HMJ had other projects elsewhere on the go and so needed the team elsewhere - unacceptable but seems the norm for this industry. Ikea will be shocked to know it took one month to get our kitchen installed and perhaps that is because HMJ's kitchen installer took a smoke break every 15 minutes on the hour started at 10 and finished at 3.45pm. Our kitchen and layout is superb though our vision worked out perfectly.
Yes there were some challenges during this job but all we asked was for the construction company to be honest and realistic with time lines we understood this was a process and we wanted the job to be done correctly and perfectly. Communication from the construction companies side lacked and this led to most of our frustrations because we kept on expecting one thing and always ended up another.
Am I happy with the completed project YES it all looks great and worked out the way we wanted it. Would I recommend this company yes IF you are happy to let the contractor have free reign with timelines, dont mind working with someone who does not respect you as an owner/paying client (women) when you want things corrected or a certain way, contractor is a poor communicator, does not thank you for your business and expects payment up front day of completion without an inspection etc then this company I guess is for you. BUT after the stress, zero understanding about the importance of communicating with your client and frustration of working with HMJ I will in no way refer or recommend anyone to them for future business.
I have learnt a big lesson with our first renovation and also have to say thanks to Home Stars as I now know what to ask, look for and expect next time we embark on another home project.
