Delinia General Contracting

We used Robert's services to help assess the extent of a mold problem in our bathroom. Robert was great at investigating the source of the problem, and even identified problems other contractors missed. In the assessment, Robert was very thorough with what had to be done.

During the project, he was always available via either email, text and phone, and we appreciated how he continuously checked in with us on the progress and next steps. His office was also fairly easy to deal with and we were glad they accepted e-money transfers.

Following the completion of the project and final payment, we noticed a few items that needed fixing or tinkering with. Even though we had already settled the final payment, Robert came by within 24 hours to address the problems and fixed them at no additional charge. Overall, we appreciated his level of skill, availability, and found him to be a reasonable contractor to work with.

We will likely consider Robert for future projects in our home.

New 2nd floor and rear addition / Complete gut of old home = Budget $ 200,000
My wife and I recently purchased an older home in the New Toronto area. We decided to completely redo the home, adding a new second floor, new rear addition and a complete new interior. Robert and his team came in and were very professional right from the start, offering advice on design techniques and construction methods that contributed to a wonderful home while keeping the budget in mind. The project was executed flawlessly and we couldn’t have asked for a better experience.
We highly recommend this company…
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Basement Renovation $30,000

Robert was a referral from a friend to finish my basement. We had interviewed other contractors but immediately were impressed by Roberts knowledge. He provided the quote and once we firmed up on the price he immediately started the project. He reconstructed my entire basement and installed a full kitchenette, remodeling my existing bathroom and guest bedroom. Tiled and carpeted the floors.

Robert was very professional and competent. I would trust him explicitly for my next project definitely!

I highly recommend Robert and his team at Delinia!

-----Gary

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I thought that I would take the time out to write a review because of the exceptional work and attention to detail which Robert and the crew paid to my home. I hired him to do the backsplash of my new kitchen . As I watched him lay the tiles and I was so impressed with the craftsmanship and when he added the finishing touches! The same attention to detail was paid when Robert and the team did my very large fence. He made sure all the boards were aligned perfectly. He even fixed some issues on the adjoining neighbors fence which was bugging me for free! I was in awe at the pride taken by him and would have no problem recommending his services. It is my belief when someone gives you knowledge, exceptional services, on time and on budget ... I am happy to recommend and happy to pay for great work. Cheers Robert!!

We’ve just endured a horrible four-month renovation experience with Robert of Delinia Construction.

Robert told us it would take him and a team 2 to 3 weeks to do the following: remove carpeting from two entire floors plus a 3-story staircase, replace it all with hardwood, and re-sand and refinish our current hardwood ground floor. Incredibly, three weeks became four months (!), and all the while Robert continued to insist that everything would be “done soon”.

At the four-month mark, we had (i) hardwood flooring on two floors, completed by his two-man crew; (ii) a first floor that had to be re-sanded twice, by two different companies, because the first company Robert brought in did a horrible job; and (iii) a poorly built, unsafe set of stairs built by Robert himself since he said he was a stair specialist. (They were so bad we had to give him an ultimatum and a deadline to bring in a professional stair building company to completely re-do the “finished” staircase from scratch.

The first staircase company he recommended had a 2.9 out of 10 rating on Homestars and Better Business Bureau complaints against it. We immediately rejected that recommendation and asked Robert to present another choice.

This next company he proposed had a good rating on Homestars and we allowed them into our home. They told Robert what we already knew: the staircase was beyond fixing and had to be completely re-done at a cost of many thousands of dollars. (Not surprisingly, Robert didn’t tell that company that he himself did the stair work.) Fortunately we had held back a significant amount of money. At any rate, Robert never got back to that company and he never got back to us. He went silent. His deadline came and went and we had to engage another stair building company on our own and they did a great job. We are appalled at Robert’s lack of professionalism.

Check out the Before & After photos included here. The “Before” photos are what the stairs looked like after Robert declared the stair job complete! The “After” photos are what the stairs look like after being properly re-done by a stair building company.

There’s so much more detail and photos we could include about this terrible experience, but we’ll stop here. We were definitely fooled by Robert’s ingratiating manner and we recommend staying far away from this contractor.

UPDATE:

I’d like to address a few misrepresentations in the Company Response below:

Robert says he performed the following “extra services” at no cost: “install baseboard”, and “move furniture twice”. Removing and attaching a baseboard and moving furniture off (and then back onto) a floor about to be sanded is not an extra service; it’s part of the process.

Robert says below we had the first floor re-sanded because we changed our minds about the gloss – not true. The first sanding was done poorly, with numerous unacceptable gouges. Robert agreed it was an inferior job and said he would not pay the first company for that. He brought in a second company and their sanding job was much better. The gloss was changed at that point, but it was not the reason for the re-sanding.

He says a week was lost due to the December ice storm in Toronto. Yes, but according to Robert’s own timeline, the entire job should have been completed 3 to 4 weeks before the ice storm occurred. At any rate, the entire job was not merely one week over Robert’s estimated time, which would not have been a problem, it was 12 weeks over. That’s a problem when you work from home as I do and your home office is disrupted for four times longer than originally estimated. We expected a professional contractor to give us a reasonably accurate estimate of the time a job would take.

He says they were “working up to 7-day weeks” on this project. I believe there was one 7-day week. More to the point, he and his crew did not always work 5-day weeks or even 8-hour days. Robert determined the schedule, not us. In addition, Robert was often away when the sub-contracted workers were here.

We were never presented upfront with a range of price/quality options for our stairs, i.e., Robert never broached replacing spindles and railings at the beginning; it was something we discussed after the job had begun and quality issues arose. We naturally expected professional quality work for the originally quoted price. When we asked Robert about the cost of replacing the current spindles and railing, he told us it would be five thousand dollars extra. Yet the high-end stair company we later had to bring in ourselves wound up replacing the entire staircase – spindles, railing and all - for the same amount as Robert was getting for the stairs now, not for five thousand extra.

He says we refused to pay the sub-trades for work we were satisfied with - not true. It was Robert who said he would not pay the first floor sanding company after we pointed out the numerous gouges and poor work. We paid the second sanding company for their good quality work after they contacted us to say Robert was not returning their phone calls when they asked him for payment.

As for “never having found a contractor we were happy with”: we weren’t happy with a contractor we had 25 years ago, and we aren’t happy with Robert. But we have had several good experiences with other repair and renovation tradespeople. In that regard, we have placed three reviews in Homestars recently. Two have been glowing, while only one – this review of Delinia - is not. We’re about to add a fourth review of the company that we found to do our stairs and it too will be a very positive one.

Delinia was hired based on a personal referral. Robert came in to assess our needs and provide a detailed quote. He provided drawings of our interpretation and supplied his own suggestions as well for us to consider. The project was expected to be done in a two week period, however extended well past this time frame and we felt some need to keep an eye on the work to keep it organized. We were very lucky to be able to accommodate the extended work time as others may not. This was the only real negative thing we have to say about the experience. Robert is a very friendly, professional individual that is a pleasure to work with. Although this project did take more than double the estimated time to complete, the bathroom turned out exceptional and commands a profound compliment by everyone that sees it.

I am writing this testimonial for Robert and Delinia General Contractors.

I recently had Delinia come in and complete a new second floor addition and full rear expansion to my home. It was a fairly large project and it was handled beautifully by Robert and Delinia. I cannot say enough good things about Robert. From his professionalism to his knowledge and expertise, Robert hit the mark on all the large and small things on the project. My house looks great and I have no hesitation highly recommending Delinia. I give them a 10+...

My house is approximately 20 years old and the design of my kitchen had been somewhat outdated. After getting several estimates about the renovation of my kitchen, I felt most confident by the proposal done by Delinia General Contracting. The price had not been the cheapest but was the most reasonable for the work that I wanted to accomplish. The renovation had been completed within the scheduled time frame of 5 weeks. This had been quite important because of the size of my family and our active lifestyle. After all of the work done by Rob, I can say that I now have a kitchen that is very functional and has a lot more storage space then before. I would recommend Delina General Contracting because of the quality and timeliness of their work.

After calling several company, some either quoted me to high or never showed up to give a quote, then a friend recommended that I call Rob from Delinia , for my basement bathroom renovation that I wanted completed before Christmas. He was on time and very professional, after we agreed on the price, he started right away and made my needs a priority. The job was completed on time and the price was within my budget. The end result, I now have an elegant, modern bathroom with walk in shower, updated fixtures, updated tiles on the floor and walls. Thank you Robert for the wonderful job. I will highly recommend you and would definitely keep you in mind for any future renovation needs.

Delinia General Contracting, Rob and his guys were just awesome when I needed to have some work done to the bathroom for my elderly parents .Rob and and his guys came in they gutted the bathroom new tiles , toilet..new sink and new cabinets shower..with handle bars inside. They now senior friendly bathroom
no fear . This enable my parents independence longer.
Rob and his guys we're on time,he finished the job on time.
My mom and dad love their new bathroom they're telling all their friends
I'm very grateful for their professional service, timing and superb quality of finish! (Read less)

We were going on vacation and my husband sprung it on me that he would like us to put the crown molding up in the living room and do some minor painting while we were away. After calling around to several people I decided on using Robert. He arrived on time to quote the work (a lot of the other people didn't). He came across as professional, and his pricing was reasonable. I also wanted a contractor that I could give my keys to while I was, that I could trust. I couldn't believe the job he did when we got back. Wow a contractor who was on time and on budget! Beautiful!! Thanks Robert. I am enjoying what you did for us! I would highly recommend you! Cheers Kay