After many in home session, we hired this contractor. There is no doubt he is very hard working, keeps good time lines, had reliable trades and keeps on budget - all very good qualities in a contractor. His design of our two sided fireplace and material used are admired by all who see it. Less favourable were finishes that are less then polished and hidden issues that plagued our reno for the last decade+ since it was completed. He installed oak stairs, they were unsafe and had to be replaced as soon as we could afford them. Exterior doors/sliding glass door were not sealed and rot became an urgent problem requiring all doors to be removed, wood replaced and resealed. A bay window was also not sealed, severe rot under siding, structure also had to be replaced. The bathroom had similar issues, leakage of water behind shower and tub resulted in tear down, new structure to replace damaged areas - we could go on with more examples like the vestibule floor built over concrete with no venting/heat, resulting in rot etc. While most of the house is safe - the stress of having to spend the last 12 years tearing apart one issue to the next and repair/reconstruct/remove/re-mediate to make it completely safe has become a difficult life to us after what was to be a complete renovation to serve our family's needs. While a small amount was withheld to begin addressing all the repairs, was have spent in excess of $25,000 on repairs and well more on labour,and consults to address issues uncovered, in additional to normal upkeep. Other less urgent issues related to finishing were elevation differences in floors, casement window frames not flush to drywall, three way light switches that don't actually turn anything on among others. The contractor himself and his trades (with the exception of the stair builder) were kind and very personable to deal with however, I can only say that with the caveat that those facts made it even harder to deal with the many issues the reno has given us to correct.
