Penguin Basements

Dec 29 2017 update:
The team wrapped up my project as described below and fixed all issues I managed to find to my satisfaction, after completion I had to call for two additional issues: 1) shower enclosure leaking water due to improper seal, 2) wrong handle design installed in bathroom door not matching rest of the basement.

HOWEVER, two days ago (Dec 27 2017), we arrived back home after a vacation and found that our basement's temperature has dropped to 10°C, the same temperature as our cold room, it turns out one of the main air vents isn't blowing any hot air at all, vent grid was open but seem to be an issue on how the HVAC was connected. I'm trying to contact the company for two days now and no luck as I need this fixed ASAP, irony is that my basement was better heated before they finished it as the builder had installed proper HVAC during construction...

I'm very disappointed with work that keeps turning up surprises of things done poorly (Whether it's a shower leaking, wrong handle, HVAC not properly connected, etc...), I thought that was the whole point of hiring Penguin in the first place!!!

Original review:
I have these guys finishing up my basement as we speak, we are now entering the 7th week of a project initially planned for 4-5 weeks, without any clear communication on delays or the reason behind pushing out dates...beyond my own frustrations with their lack of communication here are a few facts about some of the things I had to experience through my project (still unfinished):

-Signed my contract back in April 12 with a start date of early June, they called me mid-June to ask for a early July, I had to call the day before planned start to realize they had forgotten my start date and scrambled through making last minute shifts to start me on July 4th
-Material Delivery went well
-Framing went well (I thought), they were asking questions along the way which was good
-When the boarding started, the drywall guys couldn't install their boards as the framing was off and unfinished...work had to stop
-Electrician came for his part, did his job and followed my instructions for pot lights positioning, framing guys came back and misaligned everything (pot lights were 3-4 inches off and not forming one line)
- HVAC guy connected the return to the air supply, and still not fixed, funny thing is that HVAC guy is actually arguing someone changed his install
- I noticed trades were coming in and off without any quality control, I emailed them asking who does QC they replied stating that my site manager was on vacay...through the period though no one controlled boarding, mudding/taping, first paint or flooring, etc...
- There were also a number of imperfections, all called out during the substantial visit, I'm not mentioning any of them here as I consider all to be "normal" and they were good saying they'll be fixing all

We did the substantial visit on Aug 3rd, and I had left town for business for one week, came back on Aug 12 and found that no work was done for a whole week, no heads-up of delays or issues communicated to me...

I understand projects have challenges, but I need a better communication and transparency to the timelines along with a better follow up on the issues I keep calling out, I plan to post another review once the project is complete and will share how things ended up being closed.

September 7th update:

After posting this review, the Penguin team reached out another supervisor (Eric) followed up to review and fix all raised issues highlighted above and beyond. The team also started being more diligence on sharing ETA's and giving the heads-up should anything be delayed. It did take the team another 2 weeks to wrap everything up which took my total project time to two months but ultimately wrapped everything up to my full satisfaction.

Thanks

I have these guys finishing up my basement as we speak, we are now entering the 7th week of a project initially planned for 4-5 weeks, without any clear communication on delays or the reason behind pushing out dates...beyond my own frustrations with their lack of communication here are a few facts about some of the things I had to experience through my project (still unfinished):

-Signed my contract back in April 12 with a start date of early June, they called me mid-June to ask for a early July, I had to call the day before planned start to realize they had forgotten my start date and scrambled through making last minute shifts to start me on July 4th
-Material Delivery went well
-Framing went well (I thought), they were asking questions along the way which was good
-When the boarding started, the drywall guys couldn't install their boards as the framing was off and unfinished...work had to stop
-Electrician came for his part, did his job and followed my instructions for pot lights positioning, framing guys came back and misaligned everything (pot lights were 3-4 inches off and not forming one line)
- HVAC guy connected the return to the air supply, and still not fixed, funny thing is that HVAC guy is actually arguing someone changed his install
- I noticed trades were coming in and off without any quality control, I emailed them asking who does QC they replied stating that my site manager was on vacay...through the period though no one controlled boarding, mudding/taping, first paint or flooring, etc...
- There were also a number of imperfections, all called out during the substantial visit, I'm not mentioning any of them here as I consider all to be "normal" and they were good saying they'll be fixing all

We did the substantial visit on Aug 3rd, and I had left town for business for one week, came back on Aug 12 and found that no work was done for a whole week, no heads-up of delays or issues communicated to me...

I understand projects have challenges, but I need a better communication and transparency to the timelines along with a better follow up on the issues I keep calling out, I plan to post another review once the project is complete and will share how things ended up being closed.

September 7th update:

After posting this review, the Penguin team reached out another supervisor (Eric) followed up to review and fix all raised issues highlighted above and beyond. The team also started being more diligence on sharing ETA's and giving the heads-up should anything be delayed. It did take the team another 2 weeks to wrap everything up which took my total project time to two months but ultimately wrapped everything up to my full satisfaction.

Thanks

I have these guys finishing up my basement as we speak, we are now entering the 7th week of a project initially planned for 4-5 weeks, without any clear communication on delays or the reason behind pushing out dates...beyond my own frustrations with their lack of communication here are a few facts about some of the things I had to experience through my project (still unfinished):

-Signed my contract back in April 12 with a start date of early June, they called me mid-June to ask for a early July, I had to call the day before planned start to realize they had forgotten my start date and scrambled through making last minute shifts to start me on July 4th
-Material Delivery went well
-Framing went well (I thought), they were asking questions along the way which was good
-When the boarding started, the drywall guys couldn't install their boards as the framing was off and unfinished...work had to stop
-Electrician came for his part, did his job and followed my instructions for pot lights positioning, framing guys came back and misaligned everything (pot lights were 3-4 inches off and not forming one line)
- HVAC guy connected the return to the air supply, and still not fixed, funny thing is that HVAC guy is actually arguing someone changed his install
- I noticed trades were coming in and off without any quality control, I emailed them asking who does QC they replied stating that my site manager was on vacay...through the period though no one controlled boarding, mudding/taping, first paint or flooring, etc...
- There were also a number of imperfections, all called out during the substantial visit, I'm not mentioning any of them here as I consider all to be "normal" and they were good saying they'll be fixing all

We did the substantial visit on Aug 3rd, and I had left town for business for one week, came back on Aug 12 and found that no work was done for a whole week, no heads-up of delays or issues communicated to me...

I understand projects have challenges, but I need a better communication and transparency to the timelines along with a better follow up on the issues I keep calling out, I plan to post another review once the project is complete and will share how things ended up being closed.

Thanks