DO NOT HIRE EUROCRAFT CUSTOM CABINETRY in Markham. (note this company is formally known as Eurocraft Custom Woodworking).
From the beginning of my kitchen project late in 2014, the owner, Thomas, misrepresented his abilities. It all started with his book of 'work' and a simple agreement. He took a 50% deposit at the end of November 2014 and promised to complete the kitchen within 8 weeks (end of January). From the moment I gave him the deposit he started stalling. He finally started working at my home on Feb 11th, 2015.
Every step of the way was cumbersome and difficult. Thomas did not provide me with a detailed contract or proper drawings despite constantly asking him for them. Thomas did not keep appointments and he was sloppy and reckless, he would show up for an hour here-and-there with his unskilled employee, and then, for no apparent reason, he would suddenly pick up and leave mid-task. In fact, not once did he ever show up at my house on time as agreed upon. For example, a typical work day, he would commit to arriving by 8:30am but on the actual day he would show up at 4pm (and be full of excuses).
Significantly, most of the work that he completed was full of mistakes. See photos below! Everyone who has seen the 'workmanship' on this project agrees that it is not up to any level of acceptable standards (i.e. used thin, cheap building materials; installed recycled interior cabinet units not made to fit specific areas of kitchen; punctured unnecessary holes throughout the cabinets; tried to pass off melamine as maple wood; cracks and chips in the construction of the interior drawer boxes; did not use appropriate saw/blade to cut wood as cabinets looked like he used a chainsaw; overall shoddy paint job; the obvious inaccurate measurement of nearly every component of the kitchen; off-centered installation of cabinets; filler which he considered crown moulding, etc.).
Eventually, he installed cabinet doors and cracked drawers at the beginning of April then tried to fill in the cracks in the drawers with “dap”. After telling him how dissatisfied I was about this, he agreed to rebuild all of the drawers, fix the list of deficiencies and proceeded to remove 11 drawers and 5 door fronts from my home. He agreed to complete my kitchen the following week. He asked for more money and in good faith I gave him more money. He cashed my cheque then sent me an email stating that all of the items removed from my home were now property of Eurocraft and he would not return them until he was paid in full, and “my kitchen had been completed and installed.” Every step of the way he demanded more money and full payment before the kitchen was finished!
Finally, I gave Thomas a deadline of April 21st, 2015 to deliver a completed and installed kitchen, and I would have been happy to pay him fully upon delivery. Thomas ignored the deadline and furthermore did not return property that he took from my home. Out of desperation, I subsequently, contacted the Toronto Municipal Licensing & Standards department and learned that he was operating a business without a licence. I also retained a Quantity Surveyor to assess the project and they valued his work at far less than what I had paid him. I had had to hire a new contractor to fix all of his mistakes and to complete my kitchen to acceptable standards.
Unfortunately there were so many red flags from the beginning but I trusted him, and believed that he was capable of building a custom kitchen. I know that that my review will not stop him from doing this to others but I strongly hope that no one else experiences the stress and inconvenience that Thomas put my family through.
I am pleased to say that I eventually won a lawsuit against Eurocraft and was awarded a judgement against Eurocraft. Save yourself from this nightmare and use another contractor!
