Penguin Basements

We decided to go with Penguin Basement for our project to finish the basement in our house. We liked the fact that Penguin offered flexible options for their services for a partial vs full basement finish and we went with the first one. First of all, this company differentiate themselves from the more traditional general contractors group by making it all about the process and the customer experience. Starting with great communication (using Builder Trend App) and transparency about the steps, the schedule of the work and ending with final review and feedback from the client , it was all in all a great customer experience. Each trade came in on time and worked really hard to complete the work within the timing communicated upfront and without compromising on quality. Special thanks to Bruno, Rodrigo and Stephanie for their professionalism. We highly recommend this company to anybody looking to get a basement project done.

We hired Penguin to finish our basement and we are happy overall with their work. Felipe the framer was great. Andy the supervisor worked tirelessly to make sure our concerns were met and even worked late on his birthday trying to finish things off. Cleaners did a good job at the end cleaning everything up. Contractors who came in were pleasant.

We are enjoying our new basement. Thanks Penguin!

We decided to go with Penguin Basements after interviewing other contractors in the area. With PB we trusted their process and plan. The trades that they have hired are exceptional! We ran into a few surprises once framing began, but they had great suggestions and included us in every discussion. Communication is a major factor for project management and they did very well. It was nice having the Builder Trend app to track the progress of the project. Finally and unexpectedly, our final call to close out the project was with the owner himself, Guy. I very much appreciated this part of the process. They showed accountability and made sure that we were satisfied with the end result. Construction is not always easy, its disruptive in the best of circumstances, but PB did a great job of taking care of the project. Their folks work very hard. A special shout out to Felipe - their framer and Andy the site supervisor.

This was a large project that effected all floors of the house. Penguin Basements helped me with the city to get gas lines into the house. They updated the plumbing for the new bathroom. They opened and closed the walls and ceilings for the ducts for the furnace.

Their work to organize all the contractors to complete the job was done in a timely manor.

After almost 15 years of living with a dingy half finished basement, we finally have the basement we've always wanted. My family is extremely happy with Penguin's work and professionalism. Each contractor was respectful and courteous while completing their portion of work in our home. It took a bit over 2 months to complete and everyone who comes is very impressed with the results!
I would recommend Penguin to anyone that needs their basement renovated.

Choosing Penguin to help us extend our living space was the right choice for us. Despite a few hiccups the work was done professionally. The workers were all very pleasant and worked efficiently. Overall we are very happy with our new space and cant wait to settle in.

Booked penguin for finish it yourself basement work. Overall extremely positive results. Work was completed in a very quick time frame (1 month from quote to finish), and the local inspector was impressed at the work, even asking why he was even there to inspect. When I contacted, I was not even aware any companies would offer a finish it yourself option, as all other quotes would only encompass start to finish ending, with time frames of 3 to 4 months, the team at Penguin offered this option and came through to an extent I was very appreciative of.

Special props out to two specific workers, Josh and Victor, who went above and beyond to accomplish their duties in a quick, personable manner!

We are so pleased to have been associated with Penguin Basements to build our wonderful suite. From start to finish the Trades worked tirelessly and professionally to fulfil our dream of a secure and beautifully designed apartment. Thank you Penguin Basements, from the Design Team to the Building Artisans, for your expertise and dedication to your craft.

Short Response:
Great contractors - everyone who came to our house was respectful, polite and professional. The basement looks wonderful!
Lack of communication with office/supervisors. Buildertrend app was not updated after first 2 weeks. Job ended up taking 8 weeks when scheduled for 4 weeks.

Long Response (if you care to read it):
Like I said above, every contractor who came to our house was wonderful! I can't say enough about them. They were polite, professional, and the basement looks incredible! The quality of workmanship is the biggest selling point for this job.
The rest was what I would call "annoyances" - nothing which impacted the quality of the work, but which made the entire process frustrating.
The first is the Buildertrend app. This app really helped to sell us on Penguin as we were told we could stay on top of the project, the schedule and who would be in our house each day. Unfortunately, right from day 1 (literally), there were problems. The first scheduled contractor was a no-show and then after the first 2 weeks the app was never being updated. When we tried to contact the supervisor we were met with a "its dynamic" response and no attempt to actually update the app. Over the next 6 weeks we never knew who was coming (if anybody) and the final 3 weeks of the job saw almost nobody show up.
Another big annoyance (and something to be ready for) is that you have to be your own foreman - if my wife didn't work from home, many things in our contract would have been missed. The electrician wasn't going to put in additional pot lights which we ordered (until we had to be the ones to show him all the work orders) and our basement was going to be finished without insulation (which we paid for), even though we contacted the supervisor about it 2 days ahead of schedule and told him it wasn't on site - he never got back to us. If my wife hadn't been home to say something, and send the guys out to the store, then we wouldn't have found out until it was too late.
There are a few more instances I can go into, but I won't bore you with every detail.
All in all, great contractors, lousy communication. You'll get a beautiful basement, but be ready for some headaches along the way.

Our experience with Penguin started out positive, we were excited to be increasing the usable area in our home and fix our previously completely uninsulated basement. However, it was frustrating when we had calls scheduled with Penguin and they would no-show with no warning. Same when I would cancel plans to be home for material delivery on a weekend that never occurred.

Construction started in May of 2022 but stopped after a day. The framers informed us that the design Penguin had provided wouldnt meet code since the entryway to the utility room was too narrow (the measurements in some of the drawings were off by FEET!). They proposed some unsatisfactory alternatives and pressured us to accept them so their work could continue on schedule but we ultimately sent the workers away while we took time to consider some other alternatives.

Once we agreed on a new design, Penguin refused to revisit the contract so even though our finished area would now be smaller, we still had to pay the original contract price. Instead they added change orders as new problems came up.

Penguins work failed in our first inspection by the City of Ottawa, but Penguin still cashed the cheque counting the milestone as completed. The drywaller they sent took 6 weeks to deliver a bumpy mess which still took a couple days for a second drywaller to fix. The tiler poured thinset down our laundry sink leaving us without working laundry for nearly a week until their plumber could come to clear out the lines.

Penguin said they can complete a basement in 2 weeks, our project took over 16 weeks to complete.

Penguin said their quotes are within 2-3% of the final project cost, ours was over by approximately $10,000 or around 20%.

Penguin said they dont use subcontractors and have all their own employees. All trades who visited us except for the framers were subcontractors who needed us home and to explain the project to them.

Hiring Penguin didnt save us any time or money and was ultimately a huge mistake.