A few things should be clarified…
This client was rude to our contractors and project manager on many occasions to the point we almost had to pack up and leave. Direct insults to workers/managers are unacceptable. The last half of the project was difficult and an uncomfortable environment to work in. We did everything possible to try and please this client. As explained below many of the items mentioned in her complaint are simply untrue or exaggerated. The most recent example is that she has never asked me to take down any pictures. The pictures are only up to help show our side of the story and demonstrate the quality of our work. Other than a few typical hiccups when renovating a home built in the early 1960s with uneven ceilings and floors she was left with a beautiful, large open kitchen and living room area. She also has a 2-year labour warranty on our work should anything arise.
Quoted project in 2018 and mentioned it would take approx 4-6 weeks to complete. Original quote included 24 Days (5 weeks) of labour + dry times for all plaster & paint (1 week) = 6 Week timeline
Wed May 24th, 2023 Project start - Client requested 6 weeks more work to be completed. New project timeline: 12 weeks. We rescheduled several other projects to fit this in for the client
June 20th, 2023 (4 weeks into project) - Client emailed: “lots of activity this week…loving the progress each day”
July 12th, 2023 (7 weeks into project) - Kitchen was fully functional - Sink, faucet and appliances working
Thurs July 13th, 2023 (7 weeks into project) - Date of this online review
Client asked us to remove a 12’ long (non-supporting) wall, this caused the weight of the house to shift. We waited 2 weeks after wall removal before skim coating ceiling to try and prevent this…. Skim coat of ceiling had to be reworked because the ceiling cracked in 4 areas, one of them along the complete length of the living room.
All of the Flooring was installed without damaging the wear layer, it was only when the fridge had to be moved that the floor’s wear layer accidentally got scraped. We should have been even more careful when moving the fridge. The fridge always had a tarp and cardboard beneath in order to prevent marks on the floor. We appologized, new floor planks were ordered and replaced at our cost. The flooring supplier the client purchased from took over a month to provide new flooring due to a backorder.
Project manager was at jobsite twice a week during the first 6 weeks, picking up demolition debris, dropping off supplies, and checking on how the contractors were doing on the project. During the last 6 weeks, the P.M was at jobsite every day working to help speed up the project and ensuring the quality of work
Our longest delay in replying to client’s emails was 2 business days. The client sent an email on a Sunday, late morning, to express a small concern about the flooring, it was replied to on Monday late morning, and project manager also showed up at jobsite late monday morning to alleviate the client’s concern about the flooring. Client lashed-out and criticized the project manager for not replying sooner.
7 weeks into a 12 week project, the client started to become agitated that the project had not been completed yet. From then on our contractors were subject to daily subtle insults, sarcastic comments or threats to use another contractor. Contractors began to feel uncomfortable working on this project due to the toxic environment
Ex 1: The new replacement flooring we ordered was backordered from the supplier the client purchased the flooring from, while waiting, we were regularly critized for 4 weeks about the floor not being done yet.
Ex 2: Before the project was completed, the client moved kitchen items back into the kitchen as it was being completed, this was fine, until we were being chastised for not cleaning up every bit of dust at the end of each day. For the last 6 weeks, the project manager spent 30 mins per day cleaning up the kitchen and floor, and was still critized because the jobsite wasn’t clean enough. In hind site we should have asked the client not to start moving their stuff back into the new kitchen until the project was fully completed. Our typically procedure is to do 10 min tidy ups at the end of each day and one thorough clean up once the project is fully completed.
Ex 3: After complaining on how long the project was taking, we stayed and worked until 7 pm for a few consecutive days. The client crisitized us again and asked to not work any later than 4:00 pm. We were given permission to stay until 5 pm when told our normal working hours were between 8-9 to 5:00pm
We do agree our contractor installed the dishwasher connection fitting at the wrong location. Once brought to our attention we appologized and had a licensed plumber quickly reposition the fitting.
Despite having a hostile work environment, our team showed up everyday and worked very hard to provide this client with this beautiful kitchen, dining and living room project.
Bies Renovation Pictures = https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMiEQojQx5lFM6MGLxiAyK05OOjmsoEDcxB1FBwVL29rqWPFEo_SUK1sHCvyfp3CQ?key=UGtKWG5pLWthcVVpdW9nZklPZXdZWUFSMXRnZV93
