We hired AGM to finish our basement. Overall, the experience was good but there was a lot of room for improvement.
Lyndsie, our sales rep, was excellent and very patient during the initial quoting and planning stage. Pricing is very transparent and there were no hidden costs or fees.
The design consultation was left to the last minute and we felt rushed and pressured to make quick decisions with very small material samples. Everything came out looking beautiful, but it was a pain point that could have easily been avoided.
Our project manager was switched part way through the project without any notice. The first Project manager had very little knowledge of construction and I found myself having to explain very basic building terminology and processes when asking questions. The majority of information I was provided back was incorrect which was very frustrating.
Ricardo, our second project manager, was a pleasure to deal with. He was very knowledgeable and extremely easy to get a hold of when issues arose. He walked us through each stage and did his best to ensure work was completed on schedule.
It was our hope with hiring AGM that we would be fairly hands off with the project. We assumed that the project manager would be onsite frequently to monitor progress and catch errors, but this was not the case. The project managers visited once a week for a quick walk through and relied upon phone conversations with trades to ensure work progressed. This is not a criticism of the project manager, but of the system they work within. They are managing so many projects that they do not have the time to watch and ensure work is being done correctly. I found myself having to pay close attention to what the trades were doing and be the one to point out and correct issues throughout the project.
Overall, the trades that were sent were very skilled but they had very little time to complete their tasks. Work was very rushed and often sloppy, resulting in the trades needing to return multiple times to correct the work. It seemed very inefficient. Very few trades (if any) swept or vacuumed the jobsite after their work was completed, often citing that the next trade will clean before starting their task, which didnt happen. For example, the drywall dust from sanding was never vacuumed up before the painters came in. There were large piles of dust that were simply painted over in the window bays. There was a lack of care and attention to detail exhibited from several of the trades.
The materials and accessories selection is limited and the majority are builder grade quality. There are several items for which you are not given options and once installed, it's too late to change unless you want to pay a $950 fee. For example, the standard wall paint is a flat finish. Flat paint is impossible to clean and is a silly choice for recreational space such as a basement.....especially if you have kids. I was told (by the painter) they use it because it hides imperfections....ie. saves time on touch ups. However, In the case of my basement, there were several walls that needed to be re-coated 3 or 4 times as trades would touch the wall with their hands and left marks that could not be cleaned. With two small kids in the house, I'm seriously considering re-painting the basement myself in either eggshell or satin.
The exhaust fans in the bathroom and laundry room are another example of lack of choice. AGM uses very loud 4 sones fans. This should have had an upgrade option to quieter 0.5 or 1 sones fan.
Alex the handyman was excellent and came in at the end of the project to add the finishing touches and to correct the issues left over from the previous trades.
In the end, our finished basement looks amazing and the majority of issues along the way were corrected quickly and without any pushback. AGM is a company that stands behind their work and works hard to ensure customer satisfaction.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $70,000.00
