Israel Renovations started the work on my first home renovation. At first, I thought the work on the washroom upstairs was done efficiently and looked good. They continued with changing the flooring and stairs and main level bathroom. Here is my review:
1. Bathroom upstairs: I purchased the shower head and double slider glass. The contractor told me I spent too much and could get for less. I listened and returned the items. When I came home a SINGLE slider rather than double slider was installed. The shower head of his choice was installed and one month later, the hot/cold tap safety button stopped working. Towel bar lasted 2 weeks before falling loose, extra long screw left out of toilet and bathtub faucet is visibly crooked.
2. Wood floor installed throughout first and second level. Floors are more creaky than ever before now, floors are not level, some planks do not sit flush and there is a lot of floor glue that I meed to try and scrape off with a knife (mostly on first level).
3. Vent in kitchen was to be covered with wood. The contractor cut new flooring around the old vent and refused to fix it. A flooring repair person was called in to fix this. We learned the planks were not glued down.
4. Flooring was laid in main level washroom around piping. Once the contractor realized the new vanity was floating, he had to move pipes into the wall, this left holes in flooring laid. He filled with wood filler which looked horrible. The floor repajd person also repaired this area and we again saw no glue was used.
5. The plumbing done for the bathrooms used incorrect piping and temporary clasps. Plumbers corrected this.
6. The garage water shut off valve was moved into basement and became non functional as the shut off did not intercept and water. Plumbers were called in to correct this.
7. First level floating vanity was not secured to wall safely.
8. Stairs were upgraded with new treads, new risers, new handrails and new balusters. Holes in treads for balusters were made too big so dry wall screws were wedged in to stop balusters from dropping through. Balusters are unevenly distributed and not plumb. Handrail was resting against ceiling to second floor. Top end of handrail does not reach hand height and is not to code. Finishing looks messy. The contractor requested time to fix this. He took 2 more weeks. After second attempt, the balusters were still not plumb, the handrail still sits too low and some treads now have 4 holes. One baluster has completely come out of its hole. These stairs will need to be completely re done, costing at least 8k.
9. Contractor extended a dividing wall by almost 2 feet. This wall is not flat, it has curves in it and at the ceiling, curves outward.
10. This contractor did not respect my home while working, leaving nails and screws all over the driveway, using a decorative pot he found in the garage to mix something white, ripping my chair covers in the backyard, breaking a planter pot that was sitting on the backyard table, and to top it off, asking to work late only to be found sleeping directly on the couch in his dirty work clothes.
This contractor asked me several times to buy him and his work partner alcohol and asked me several times to buy things I feel a contractor should have such as staples and glue. He asked me to drive to north York and to Rona on 4 occasions to make purchases so he "didn't have to use his gas".
This entire job was chaotic and unprofessional and I regret not setting clearer boundaries and firing him sooner. Israel Renovations shows as "closed down" on Google so I am unable to leave a Google review. I do not recommend this contractor. I paid him $50,000 in total and I have had to fix literally every single thing he touched.
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- Approximate cost of services:
- $50,000.00
