Communication is one of the most important factors to make the project successful. However, Chris failed it most of the time, and here are a couple of examples: (1) I wanted to replace my old hot water tank and window glass and got the quote only for the hot water tank on June 20. Then, he never follow up until now and I had to find another contractor to replace them. (2) The Fan and light switches were connected to one switch and I told Chris that I want to separate them on May 8th. However, it was not addressed until I moved in and pointed it out. (3) Every time I asked Chris, "When will a technician come?", then Chris said, "I'll confirm with him". So, I asked the technician when he visited, "Will you come tomorrow to wrap it up?", then he said, "You'll need to ask Chris". So, I asked Chris again, "Will he come tomorrow?", Chris replied, "I'll confirm with him". Lastly, I said, "There is no he or they to me. It's only you, you're the team, one team!". (4) I tried to reach out to Chris in the beginning of June to confirm the renovation schedule but I couldn't for two weeks. So I told Leo that I want to have a quick call with Chris, then he emailed me and said he was about to reach out. 

Regardless of the project size, there should be no hidden fee in any circumstances. However, there was a hidden fee that Chris never mentioned/quoted but appeared in the final invoice. 

A washer and dryer were originally stacked up in the laundry room. However, I don't like this setting and wanted to put it next to each other. To accomplish this, the laundry room required the rewiring of water/electrical lines. I mentioned this small task to Chris on July 5th, after the project was initiated, and he said okay. Two weeks later, I finally got the quote on July 19th so asked him to proceed with it. It turned out that he did not tell me the full price of this job and the electrical was a hidden fee, which appeared in the final invoice and was not discussed previously.

This is a really really serious problem!!

I can see countless heavy-duty stables not only on the wall but also on the new carpet. The pictures show only one side of the windows and they are everywhere on the entire walls. The staples were meant to use for holding the cover/vinyl, however, they could have used different materials such as tape or something else that wouldn't damage my property. Well, I consulted with a Lawyer about this to sue Chris and the Lawyer said that (1) I need to finish the renovation with Chris and (2) I need to prove that these staples cause us damage/financial loss. I already said good-bye to Chris and fired him, I cannot sue him anyway. I brought in two contractors to get the quote to finish the renovation and both of them said this is not the way. 

In fact, I won't need to paint the entire house, if there were no staples, which Chris quoted me $6,150 for the main floor for patching/painting. They could have done a better job on this and, if anyone is reading this Web for his/her renovation, please make sure how they cover the window/kitchen. Otherwise, your child could step on staples.

Aligning different experts in one place is the key role of a contractor. In other words, scheduling jobs or timeline is important for everyone to move forward and work together. However, Chris failed it. Chris did not share the timeline until I asked for it - I needed it to arrange the moving date.  Anyway, he emailed me a brief schedule saying the job would be starting on Friday, June 30th, or Saturday, July 1st. It turned out that none of them met the schedule. For example, plumbing was expected to be done by July 3rd, however, it was not completed until July 7th. Well, the definition of completion may be arguable but hear me out. I took a picture of every single hole in the wall to follow up on their patch jobs and found new holes every day until July 7th (and I was away July 8-14). I cannot think of any other reason they made a hole in the wall. And the number of water lines in the mechanical room were so limited as of July 7th. In addition, electrical did not start on July 5th and am not sure when they started their jobs. And, electricians visited on July 18th and 21st to complete the jobs that I requested on May 8th (separating the fan and light from the switch mentioned above). The carpet was not installed until the day we moved in and they forgot to put back closet doors and visited again the next day. 

These jobs can be done within two weeks - I confirmed it with Chris and his team. After discussion, I scheduled to move out of the previous house on Monday, July 17, and all of a sudden Chris informed me that he had experienced some delay five days before the moving date. I had no options at all since new tenants would be moving in on July 20 and had to move out and clean up the previous house. Well, the moving day eventually was pushed back one day but none of the jobs were completed anyway. On the day we moved in, there was no single space/room that was completed so that we could seat or put our boxes.  The "move-in-ready" house was a complete disaster for me and my family. Even worse, every job was improvised and completed based on our needs since we moved in, such as painting, and the quality of the work was not satisfying.

I prefer a wired internet connection when possible so I requested to hook up a LAN cable. As you can see in the picture, the blue LAN cable is a roller coaster throughout the mechanical room and looks ugly. By the way, an electrician installed a CAT 5E cable but charged me a CAT6 price in the invoice. 

I wanted to separate the chandelier line from the hallway pot lights and one out of four switches was not hooked up (initially four gangs in total). However, the electrician decided not to use the empty gang but made a new hole - we now have five switches/gangs.

I also wanted to separate the fan line from the washroom light and he made another hole in the washroom - have three switches in total. Probably, making a new hole might be easy to accomplish the tasks but they really look terrible.

Besides, the installed pot lights and rewiring/extending electrical lines in the laundry room look good.

The garbage bin went away and Chris told me that there would be a quick sweeping and tidying up on the driveway. However, no one did it for five days and I had to clean it up - was I in a hurry? Well, I admit that they could have done it when the project finished next month but I couldn't wait to clean dirt because my child is always playing on the driveway.

The laundry room was ready to use but I found something wrong about it. The ceiling tiles were not in place and I had to put them back. Given that I paid thousands of dollars for it, this is not what I expected.

I have a roll of carpet that was left behind in the garage and have no idea how to deal with it. Since I moved, my black bin is always full and I think I'd need to keep it for a while.

Lastly, popcorn ceiling and sanding dirt everywhere...

The mechanical room was flooded due to the clogged toilet. Then, the furnace shut down. It turned out that the fuse did blow during the flood and it is working fine with a new fuse. It took less than five minutes to troubleshoot. Since I had a HVAC guy, I was wondering how to install a smart thermostat and he said he could help me out. He eventually failed to hook it up and asked me to replace the board, which will cost $2,500 along with the blow motor, to install a $200-smart thermostat. I am not sure how much it makes sense to others but did say no to him. Well, the problem is that he said that he was late for the next call and left in a hurry without tidying up - the furnace cover was still open, two fuses were left behind along with my tools (he did not have proper tools for wiring a smart thermostat), and the furnace manual was also on the floor. I was surprised that he still sent Chris the invoice and I had to pay $187.50 + TAX.

Kevin and Jason are plumbers and they did a fantastic job. My property was damaged due to Poly-B a couple of years ago and I decided to replace them in the new home. They not only replaced the water line but also labelled them and made rooms for future use. I would like to say thank you to Kevin and his team for their responsive work!

Chris's demolition team started removing the popcorn ceiling without removing the light fixtures so they were covered by white dirt and I had to clean them one by one. Then, they removed them afterward and put them in the garage without a mat/cover. An electrician said it would be easier to clean them before he installed them back so I had to clean them by myself. 

On the other hand, painting, patching, and sanding were happening on the new carpet without covering them and I still have some paint staining that cannot come off in the basement.

For those light fixtures seating in the garage, I asked Chris to keep them while I was away to see if I could use them in the backyard. Chris sent out an email and said, "The previous light fixtures that were required to be removed have been disposed in the bin. They are no longer salvageable as they have now been drenched in water." Well, they are still there in the garage.

Since there was no space to seat, sleep, or unpack any boxes when we moved in, I asked Chris to make the painting team rush to finish their jobs in the basement. I am not sure if they provided poor-quality painting because they were in a hurry or not. But I said "it's okay" so that we could have some space to seat down as soon as possible. Painters even didn't bother to remove a nail but painted over it. Furthermore, they did not properly cover my new carpet while painting and I found a couple of paint drops, which cannot come off including a spot where a paint can lid was upside-down. I told Chris about it but he never follows up. After they finished the basement painting on July 20th, they said they'll be back Monday, July 24th to finish painting the main floor. However, they did not show up and Chris told me that the conversation between me and the painting guys is not his concern.

Three people were working together to paint the basement. One of the gentlemen (Chris don't tell me his name) destroyed the portable basketball hoop in front of my house - the portable base can no longer be filled with water. He ran over it with his car on Wednesday, July 19th, around 5 pm, and noticed it but ran away. A few minutes later, he arrived at my place and told other painting guys that he was looking for the wrong address and was lost.

Items are identical for Job #3 and #5 in the final invoice, which was sent by Chris. Hope I was not double charged. 

There was a lousy desk that was fixed to the wall and wanted to remove it. While demolition was happening they damaged my wall - the scratch is as big as my palm.

After second thought, this might be a minor issue. We have hundreds of heavy-duty staples everywhere...

Mike is a sales professional and was responsible throughout the process/installation. He visited my place and was checking the materials by himself and I was impressed that he took care of them well when there was a shower with a severe thunderstorm. Moreover, some nails could hurt someone and Mike sent someone immediately to my place to remove them. I would highly recommend Mike and his team for their hard work and give them five stars!

Derek is a carpenter and I think his quote was reasonable. Due to the new carpet, one closet door needed to be shaved off the bottom and two closet doors needed to be adjusted their height. And, Derek replaced the baseboard in a room and did a great job overall. I would rate his quality work five stars and highly recommend him!