Norseman Construction & Development Ltd

I researched & interviewed several construction companies as I wanted to ensure a smooth process that was overseen by professional people & standards. I ultimately decided on Norseman because of the sales process with the initial person (Bryan) & then that they would have a handoff to a project manager for the job. I also wanted a company who would collaborate in bringing their expertise to the table. While we knew exactly what we wanted, the collaboration on how to best achieve things was key. This process turned out very well as the PM is your direct contact & is responsible for overall management of the project. Im a PM in another industry & respect how Norseman's process worked so well. Also, the PM (Greg) was fantastic & exactly the resource wed been hoping for. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the project, is easy to chat with, can answer questions quickly, keeps you informed, & helps move the project forward in any way he can. All the necessary tradesmen needed for each part of the reno were so talented, professional, & an absolute pleasure to have on the project (looking at you Steve & Artem). The bathroom reno was a complete success. And we're looking forward to our next project with them - no need to look further than Norseman.

We hired Norseman to help us transform our new home into a place that made more sense for us. Our first project with them began just before the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020. We were completely renovating our basement, turning it into a 2-bedroom basement apartment and a family room, powder room, and laundry room for our use. Kris and our project manager helped guide us through all the issues that arose with the pandemic and lack of supplies and construction crews. Despite all those issues, the project ended close to schedule and is beautiful.
Our second project started much quicker than we anticipated thanks to the knowledge of Norseman’s architect and how to create designs that suit city permitting. This project was a new build 2.5 car garage with a 680sq feet laneway suite on top. It was done through the second and third wave of the pandemic, and again, despite some supply struggles, the project was completed close to budget and close to the proposed timeline.
Throughout both projects, we were impressed with Norseman’s communication and professionalism. If we encountered any issues, they were very responsive and really do strive to keep the homeowner happy - even extremely difficult to please Type A’s like me!!
I recommend Norseman to others purely for the dependability and accountability. I know many who have hired other companies and been stuck living in an Airbnb for months longer than projected while their project sat not being worked on. We didn’t encounter those issues with Norseman and if a trade couldn’t show up on a specific day, they made it up somewhere else.
We have our third and final large reno project scheduled in a couple of years time - a second story addition. We will most certainly turn to Kris and the Norseman crew to get that done.

We hired Norseman in the summer of 2019 to demolish and rebuild the kitchen at the back of our house, to modernize and widen the structure. It was to be a three-month project. It took 13 months for them to complete the work, and an additional 12 months to close-off open defects.

Quality:

We discovered quality issues with virtually every task and phase of the project. Plumbing installed in the wrong location. Electrical circuits that failed. Unnecessary framing, which reduced the size of the kitchen (an error which we wound up having to pay Norseman to correct). Needlessly obstructive bulkhead framing in the basement. Incorrectly installed bathroom shower floor tiles. Incorrectly connected vents. A crooked heat register. Missing baseboards. Improperly installed custom exterior windows and doors (none of them were properly anchored to framing, and could have literally fallen-out). Gaps in the insulation (which were not discovered until after all the work was done; as a consequence, our kitchen is and will always be cold and drafty.) Exterior Hardie-board panelling that was installed incorrectly and smeared with adhesive. Drywall that was installed over top of light-fixture boxes, covering them completely (twice). A deck that was not square or structurally sound, and then was rebuilt using the same, now-splintered lumber (Me: “would you want a deck that looked like this in YOUR backyard?” Norseman COO: “That’s not relevant.”) A gate that would not latch. An interior door that would not close. Missing or incorrectly installed roof flashing (later, the roof leaked, in two separate places).

Every single one of the above problems with the quality of trades work was discovered by us, the client, and not their project manager, whose job it is to supervise the work. Then we had the task of hounding Norseman to get their people back onsite to fix the issues. Often this took numerous phone calls and text messages, sometimes to several people at Norseman. There was a constant problem getting them to communicate: answer emails and phone calls or update us on the status of the job or the progress in addressing defects we had found.

On several occasions we discovered that workers had helped themselves to our tools and supplies, stored in other parts of the house: a space heater, a ladder (many times, which wound up getting splattered with paint), a hammer (which never reappeared), painting supplies. We also had a constant battle with Norseman workers to not park or leave equipment in neighbours’ parking spots, and to clean up debris left in neighbouring public spaces.

And the structure they built is in the end is several inches narrower than specified in the drawings (they blame the survey.) Remember, the whole point of the project was to widen the kitchen.

We made our final payment to Norseman in September 2020 (we knew there were many open defects, but they threatened to put a lien on our house, so we paid it). Since then, we have found quality issues with insulation, ductwork, electrical/lighting, roofing, plumbing, flashing, window and door installations. It has required numerous calls and constant hounding to get them to fix these defects (a roof leak was blamed on an “unusual” 7-inch snowfall).

We note that, at the start of the project, they were a “Mike Holmes Certified” contractor (this influenced our decision to proceed with them as our general contractor). As of today, there is no longer any mention of Norseman on the Holmes’ website. Emails to Holmes asking why this has changed go unanswered.

Schedule/Timeline management:

The project was originally slated to be completed in three months. It wound up taking 13 months. Of this time delay, two months is explainable due to agreed and necessary scope changes, and one month due to a temporary shutdown due to COVID. The rest was pure schedule slippage.

Security:

During the 13-month duration of the job we found that, on FOURTEEN (!!) separate occasions, at the end of the day, the workers had left our home not secured: doors unlocked, locks missing, gates wide open. Note we had personal possessions stored in other parts of the house, and Norseman contractors effectively left the house in a state where anyone could literally walk in off the street and help themselves to our stuff. More worrisome, from time to time our young-adult children needed to have to access the house to retrieve items. An intruder could have been hiding in the house – a serious security concern.

Integrity:

At the start of the COVID pandemic, the job was shut down. After a month, we received an email from the president of Norseman saying that they would start the job back up if we paid them a “COVID Management Fee” of $3500. This was supposedly to cover for the fact that our project manager would only be working on our job and no others, that trades would only work onsite individually rather than as a group, that materials would no longer be delivered to the site by suppliers, and also some mysterious “incremental vehicle insurance costs”. If we would not agree to pay the fee, we were told they would just proceed with competing the work of another client, and our job would wait until they could complete the job “economically”. (They knew we were renting an apartment in the neighbourhood at the time and knew they had us over a barrel.) After much arguing we agreed to pay half of this fee up front and half after a month; this was the only way we could get them to start up the job again. It immediately became clear that our project manager was in fact working on multiple jobs, that trades were perfectly willing and able to work onsite as groups, and that suppliers were indeed still delivering materials – some were even waiving their usual delivery fee. To their credit, Norseman did not have the nerve to ask for the second half of this “fee.”

To add insult to injury, they have posted highly misleading “before” and “after” photos on their social media sites, without our permission, and have refused to take them down.

Summary:

We have over two years’ experience dealing with Norseman Construction and Development on this three-month project, and have dealt with five different company representatives, including the president and owner. The funny thing is, aside from the fact that it is narrower than per drawings and is drafty in winter, we are quite happy with the addition. But our experience with Norseman was so bad that we would not recommend them to our worst enemy. The fact that our extension is satisfactory has nothing to do with any “excellence” in construction project management and customer service on the part of Norseman staff; it is purely a consequence of us checking on their work on a near-daily basis (with drawings, tape measure, and spirit level in hand) throughout the project and hounding them (sometimes for months) to fix defects.

We engaged Norseman Construction for an overall renovation project for our home that had three distinct and somewhat disconnected segments: a main floor bathroom gut and renovation, a re-orientation of our front entrance, and an update to our interior stair.

None of the projects were large, so finding a contractor to take them on individually had always been a problem for us. Norseman did an outstanding job of managing all phases of our project with stunning results.

We especially wanted to highly recommend Robert, our Project Manager for the our project. Under some of the most challenging circumstances with the pandemic, the lockdown, material shortages and schedule changes, Robert always kept us up to date and the project moving. There were clear lines of communication, and an extremely collaborative approach to making sure our vision for what our home would look like was realized. Robert made a process that will always be stressful and anxiety inducing as straightforward and enjoyable as possible.

If you can select a PM, grab Robert.

Norseman's use of Builder Trend as both a project management and client communication tool is a cut above any other construction management company I have dealt with, and I would recommend them solely on the basis of their use of this app. It provides good guidance on scheduling, messaging and documentation, which keeps the relationship on track.

I would recommend Norseman for anyone looking for quality workmanship, outstanding project management and clear communication for their project.

My reno was completed a couple of months ago and i want to especially thank ROBERT (project manager) from NORSEMAN who was so helpful and took the time to explain things to me and made sure it was done right! My overall experience with NORSEMAN was good and i am glad i have my home practically brand new again :)
Thanks ROBERT !

We had already purchased our tile, bathtub, shower column, tub door, vanity/faucet, bathroom door and required a contractor to change the layout in our (very) small main bathroom. We received quotes from 3 separate companies. Norseman was the mid-range quote.

Draft contract had to be revised, because wording in 2 different sections implied that we were paying more than the quote that was given to us. This was fixed by Norseman very quickly with no problems.

Greg and Yuri were assigned to our project.

The renovation went smoothly and quickly.

After demolition was completed the scope of work had to be changed to include some insulation in an exterior wall, the quoted cost for the additional work was reasonable.

We were required to buy some additional items after the renovation started and both Greg and Yuri were very specific and helpful with what needed to be purchased, so we were not wasting time or money with incorrect items.

Final hand off had occurred on a Friday. Over the weekend we noticed a few small things missing. We informed Norseman on the following Monday, and the fixes were addressed by Wednesday.

We are very happy with the end results. We will contact Norseman again for quotes on future renovations needs.

Kris and Kevin are wonderful guys, they are precise and very professional.- making sure every last bit is accounted for before starting the job. We had a contractor called Mario remove our upstairs wardrobe and flooring - he managed to remove all the dirt and flooring without leaving any trace through the house, work was a little behind at times mainly because he was trying to work around existing furniture and not deciding before hand what flooring and banister to purchase for our stairs. Ameen came and finished off the job and he is meticulous - takes his time on everything he does and is a great energy in the house when you are having work done.
They will make sure you are 100% happy before finishing the job!

Norseman Construction came highly recommended with the stamp of approval from Mike Holmes. We reached out to Norseman after a horrendous experience with our previous contractors who gutted and then left our newly purchased home uninhabitable (and took 70% of our money while only completing 5% of the work) Thankfully, Norseman’s owner, Kris, responded to our plea for help. His sincere appreciation for the nightmare we were left in was apparent and heartfelt. His vast knowledge, expertise and professional candor was coupled with his respect for our home since his first correspondence and his extensive walkthrough. Kris provided us with a detailed contract, outlining timelines, scope of work, expectations, cost, warranty and indicated that payments are to be made upon project milestones being achieved. This was very reassuring to us, given our previous experience. NC used a platform called Buildertrend, which ensured a fluid correspondence amongst the various trades on site with client, as well as step by step photos of our project, daily updates, invoices and payments, mitigating any surprises. They professionally addressed any issues or suggestions that arose and provided us with sound and ample advice and options.

The renovation scope consisted of 2 floors beginning with major structural work to our 116 yr old home, extensive plumbing and electrical, removing load bearing walls, framing, spray foam, drywall, paint, hardwood floors and new windows. Based on our drawings, NC created a new open concept main floor, kitchen, family and dining area, 3 bathrooms: a new elegant powder room, new 2nd floor bathroom with a shower, and converted an existing bedroom into a stunning wet bathroom with heated floors and walk-in closet, as well as relocation of our washer/dryer. NC transformed our gutted house into a gorgeous home. The exquisite custom carpentry, exposed brick and stained glass, maintained the original features of our home while also achieving a balance of modern design.

It is with absolute certainty that we recommend Norseman Construction. You will be in great hands irrespective of who project-manages your home, as they are all respectful, knowledgeable and debrief amongst each other daily. The Norseman team is honourable and prides itself on their workmanship while being client focused and striving for a positive experience throughout the duration of the project. They have the depth and expertise on all levels to be entrusted with any scope of work. It is with sincere gratitude that we thank Kris, Kevin and Robbie for their extensive work, care and diligence on building us a beautiful and safe home for our family. Thank you! We couldn't be more in LOVE with our home!

We've attached before and after pictures for anyone to see the incredible transformation. Note: All custom cabinetry for our kitchen, walk-in closet and bathrooms were provided by Royal Cucina.

My wife and I needed to expand our space for our growing family. Our basement was unfinished and unsightly. Norseman came and drew up a plan to build a beautiful functional living space, storage area, proper staircase, and a second bathroom for our home. Our contractor Juan was always available to chat - and would ask for insight on any detail to ensure our home was exactly as we envisioned it. Kevin managed the project to completion, and ensured that we were satisfied with every element. Would recommend Norseman for any family looking to build upon their current space to unlock its potential.

Our home reno project was delayed by COVID, but as soon as it was safe to get started again, Norseman's team was on the job, guided by project manager Robert Hansen. We really appreciated Robert's attention to detail and his advice when it came to fixtures and materials. Also he is an all around great guy - and he loves dogs :-)