Hired Those Repair Guys to complete a main floor over haul. Met with Albert who gave us the standard contractor lingo of how he doesn't like to work for free, does it right the first time and stands behind his work with his warranty. We decided to hire him and it didn't take long to realize this company is certainly made up of amateurs and not contractors. Not only do they not like to work for free but they don't like to work while getting paid. This job was suppose to be completed in two months and actually was completed in 4 months. He decided to take a 3 week holiday in the middle of the project. No respect for our living situation. The main floor is 1100 sq/ft.
We had Albert install a new washroom. The tiling work was horrible and non symmetrical in the shower. There is silicone caked all over the shower due to faulty measurements. Asked him to redo some of the tiles that were popping but did little to help over all. Installed a bathtub and freestanding faucet that drips onto the lip of the tub. Again, due to faulty measurements.
We had all the doors replaced none of which close anymore. They are all on an angle striking the jambs. The openings were re-framed and the doors were new. Brought in a contractor who said they need to be taken down and re-jammed.
We had the flooring replaced with hardwood from carpet. Approaching door frames and vents the measurements fell short and filled with wood filler to compensate for poor measurements. Received faulty excuses as to why this happened. The reason we see it happened is because these guys choose to converse on their phones while measuring.
We removed the carpet from the stairs to be replaced by hardwood. Well, they actually installed strip hardwood and nosing on the stairs and not stair treads. The strip flooring failed immediately after it was installed. Demanded that it be removed and replaced with the proper application of stair treads. Albert tried to bill us $1200 extra for the removal and installation of the new tread. It was their incompetence that thought this was a good idea. We paid for all material costs, the entire $2500 in wood and nosing was simply discarded. At no point did a tape measure hit the floor to determine how much material was needed. We ended up with so much excess hardwood. The flooring company wouldn't take it back because it was a custom order. Albert simply told us to put it online to sell it. Easy to say when we paid for it.
We had a contractor come in and quoted us almost $10, 000 to fix the mess left by Albert and Those Repair Guys.
There was never any quality assurance throughout the entire job. Once final payment was obtained he never turned back. He refused to address any issues with his work siting we owed him the $1200 worth of work on the stairs.
We absorbed thousands of dollars worth of extras simply due to his negligence. We are writing this to assist anyone contemplating using Those Repair Guys. Do yourselves a favour and hire professionals. Rest to sure when something goes wrong Those Repair Guys will run the other way. The home was butchered.
We are currently in the rebuilding process with a professional contractor who employs finish carpenters to reframe and rehang the new doors we need to re-purchase. As you can see from the photos some of the these doors were planed to fit the horrible framing job and cannot be reused. This includes replacing Jambs, stops, trim and baseboard. They will also be recutting the floor vents as they are all different sizes. We will be ripping out the shower wall and have it done professionally as we can no longer look at the slop of shower caulking and the unsymmetrical tile setting dominating the eye line. We are on the hook for thousands of dollars due to Albert and his crews incompetence. This was suppose to be our dream home.
Does this look like a fictional story? The bill was paid in full, completely. I threw out $3500 in excess flooring ordered by Albert. Am I getting that back? Incompetent measuring was the standard with these guys.
On time, on budget every time... Complete fail. I would move on as well Albert however we are straddled with a 17 year debt to pay for your incompetence and lack of leadership and integrity you have for your own company.
These photos are a depiction of the product Albert was proud to deliver to us after spending $100K. Notice the doors were hung with not a single shim? Couldn't even bother to router the hinges. They all fell into the jambs and couldn't close. We just threw out $1200 in trim and doors just to repurchase new ones.
On a final note, during the re-demolition we did get the homophobic note written on the back of our new trim in the bedroom.
We simply refuse to pass that photo along to anyone in any credible forum. That was not expected but not surprised. Just a class act through and through.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $96,000.00
- Company Response
Wow!! Steve, you should give up your job and become an author! This is some of the best fiction (loosely based on truth) that I have read in some time. Then again, the entire truth wouldn't make for such a good story, would it?
Perhaps instead of pointing fingers, as hard as it may be, look in the mirror to see where your troubles start and you will have far fewer of them. When Patty (your girlfriend) texted me about the repairs needed, I replied and said that I would more than happy to book a date in as soon as you paid what you owed. That's all I ever ask and whether it be $1 or $10,000, I will not repair anything until I am paid what is owed. Once this happens, I am more than happy to address anything.
Please remember that it was your decision, against my recommendation I might add, to put the hardwood on the stairs instead of the treads as I suggested and your order to change it. You cited the 2 squeaks in the stairs at which point I offered to take them apart and re-install but let's be honest, you just didn't like the way that it looked and were too embarrassed to admit your mistake. As for the other shortcomings in our work that you listed, there were undeniably issues which I never disputed and would have come back to address. Even after I knew that you were not going to pay the extra money, I still worked for about 3 or 4 days to finish what we had originally discussed; that's what this company does. In the 10 years of running this TRGI, I have had 2 dissatisfied clients; you, and one other who told me that would pay for an invoice for upgrades and didn't. I paid that supplier because again, that is what we do. We do not solicit business, it is referred to us, and for very good reason; we do excellent work. I was genuinely hoping that you'd come to your senses and pay your debt as I really hate leaving my name on something incomplete but you made a choice and took that option away.
It really is a shame that things turned out as they did considering Patty and I had a friendship spanning over 15 years but I will not allow my company, or myself to be taken advantage of by any client, much less anyone that is particularly pompous.
To any contractors reading this, if you are contacted by Steve or Patty from Scarborough, a traffic cop and a teacher respectively, you might want to collect full payment up front or just to stay away from them all together and save yourself some potential grief.
Steve, whether or not you respond to this, this will be my only response in this matter. I will look ahead and put this sour experience behind me as you are not worth any more of my time or energy.