After some continued conversation over a few months, our basement development story has finally come to a close. We were able to reach an endpoint that both parties can tolerate and live with.
I am compelled to write a review about Planit Builders in Edmonton, a company I hired for a complete basement development in my home. Planit Builders was hired by us in late August 2015 to complete our basement development and to add on some doors to our already existing bonus room. They promptly got me to sign and pay some money up front at that time, projecting that all work would be completed by Dec. 10, 2015. It is now approaching 4 months later, as I sit here and compose this message on April 8th, 2016, and needless to say there are still unresolved issues and work that needs to be completed.
My grievances with the company are as follows:
1. The work that I hired them to do has now taken double the amount of time that they themselves projected. That in itself has been a major inconvenience given that I had strategically (timewise) contracted this company to complete the work by December, 2015. This was strategic as I was scheduled to welcome my third child into this world in February, 2016. It is now April and the work continues, which isn’t ideal for a family with two energetic boys and one newborn child.
2. The expected plumbing fixtures that I believe we were charged for, were not installed in our new bathroom. I had stated time and time again, that we were trying to keep to the existing decor and style in our home, but despite us trying to impress that upon the many people I have dealt with (including construction managers, project coordinator and the trades involved), product that we weren't expecting in our home was installed anyway. This happened right in the presence of us alerting them about it in the moment that it was occurring. So basically we have plumbing fixtures that we weren't expecting, and I feel, is not at all upgraded like we had been additionally been charged for. In addition, Planit at one point, had billed me to pay for upgrades that I had evidently paid for already in the original agreement (all pertaining to "upgraded plumbing" that was to match the plumbing in the upper levels of our home).
3. I pride myself in my home as it is our safe haven. We have tried to ensure that it is clean, safe and kid friendly. My house hasn’t felt like this in a long while, as this project drags on and on. In addition, the workmanship in most areas of our basement is average, but in some cases, the workmanship is questionable, and I fear this could have an impact on the resale value of my home.
4. I have tried endlessly to speak to management regarding my concerns. I am constantly being bounced between site managers and still no one has an answer to my issues, nor will they provide me a place to escalate my concerns. I am learning that this company does not value the customer experience, nor do they believe in two way communication (however, they don't miss a beat when it’s time for them to collect their money). I have spent the good part of my new daughter's first 1.5 months chasing Planit Builders in and amongst caring for her as a new member of our family with some unexpected health challenges along with the rest of my young family.
I believe that as a company that supposedly values me as a customer that entrusted this project to them, because I didn't have the time or the expertise to see it through myself, that they should do better and be ethical about the matters at hand. I have tried many times to handle the matter in a fair way myself, but I believe they don't want to play fair, and that's why I feel the need to air my unresolved concerns like this. I feel that this company has many stories happening like this at this time, and that's why I feel it is absolutely imperative to shed some light onto them. Hardworking, trusting consumers like my husband and I should not be taken advantage of with no consequence. There seems to be very little protection for us as paying customers who are dishing out 10's of thousands of dollars to a company that "appears" to have a decent reputation. As some other Edmonton customers have reported, I also emphatically and resoundingly say, "BUYER BEWARE!"