Ottawa General Contractors

Had OGC do an estimate for a basement reno we had in mind. They charged us $2000 up front to come out to do an estimate. That wouldn't have been a problem if we had gotten the estimate we had wanted. I told Brandon what I wanted, and gave a deposit ($2000) just to get an estimate. We wanted our house inspected to ensure that it was solid enough to do main floor renovations (support beams), as well as have the basement renovated. What we got was an estimate to have only the basement renovated (at a ridiculous price no less), even though throughout my conversations with the Matt I stated AT LEAST TWICE that I wanted them to make sure the house was well structured so that we could begin renovations the following year to the main floor of the house. No structural engineer ever showed up (we eventually had to call one ourselves). They took our $2000 deposit, and gave us a nice emailed CAD drawing of what our basement would look like (thanks Veasena)-no mention of having an engineer in to assess the main floor (what a deal!). Good thing we decided not to go any further. As far as I can tell, either most of the reviews on this site for OGC are fake, or the people who had work done by Ottawa General Contractors are so well heeled that they don't care how much they are charged. By the way, the estimate was $22500 to finish the basement, and when we asked them to eliminate a few things to keep costs down (no ceiling, no drywall, just studding, subfloor and insulation), they never bothered to contact us again. In the future, if any company asks me for a deposit BEFORE giving me an estimate, I will tell them to GO POUND SAND!