Simple condo reno turned into a nightmare. Low quality of trades, ever-expanding timeline for completion, poor communication, total yes-man attitude with little follow up.
Hired in May, started demolition June 1 with estimated completion of "early August" with August 15th as a hard date. I am writing this on November 2nd with Marco of Lauder Group having walked off the job, leaving me without countertops, doors, and finishings. There was always an excuse for why something was late, but even the finished quality of the work was below what was expected:
- poor drywall quality and finishing (visible from 10ft away)
- new hardwood floors not properly covered after install, leading to discolouration and scratches, despite my repeated requests to cover them properly
- refusal to order product when instructed to, insisting it would be available a month down the road (which would put us within days of the estimated completion), this lead to months-long delays when he did try to finally order the product and it was not available
- poor quality of millwork including *mismatched* colours on the millwork, parts of the kitchen are finished in three different shades of white (visible from 10ft away)
- horrible communication, days would go by without him picking up his phone or answering text messages
- received messages from Marco like "my door guy is now too busy, you'll have to find another solution"
- after I reduced the final scope to just the countertops and doors, offering to handle the remaining electrical/painting/finishes myself, he agreed
- two days later, after being provided with an alternate in-stock countertop and door supplier, both sourced by myself, he walked off the job
- used creative accounting to try and avoid repaying the 9k+ he owes for work paid for but not completed
PLEASE avoid this guy. He seems really reserved, polite, and reliable on first meeting but is a total dud when it comes to project management, communication, and honesty. Try anyone else, seriously, it's not worth it. I lost over 150k.
Absolutely mess of a contractor. Did not follow up and coordinate properly with his trades or suppliers. My condo kitchen/bathrom/floor reno went from two months to six! He had excuses every part of the way. Refused to order hardware and product when I instructed him to, left it to the last minute then told me there would be a 6-8 week delay in obtaining it. When he was finally confronted with having to finish the project, he quit and refuses to refund over 9k that he owes. Avoid at all costs. Seems like a nice guy but is not. Not compassionate. Not professional.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $120,000.00