Tom from Ottawa

My name is Tom and my wife and I approached OGC to do a fairly major addition to our house of approximately 600 square feet. It included a garage, master bedroom and ensuite, an eating area, and a new kitchen. This was our first time renovating with OGC, whom we came across on the internet. After doing extensive research and talking with their competitors, we decided to go with OGC because of their design process and final project costs. Price was a very important factor and we also got a good feeling from the first individual we met from OGC. They were very professional, competent, listened to our ideas, and gave us some great suggestions on what we could accomplish in relation to our vision. We also wanted a company that could take care of the whole project and provide us with a warranty upon completion. Our experience with OGC was quite positive. OGC was very good at listening to what we wanted and gave us several design ideas to meet our needs. They also helped us with securing a variance for our addition, which was extremely important. The addition itself was a big project and the team that worked on it was very professional. It was really nice to be dealing with one contractor and reassuring to know that OGC stood behind all of its work. It was also very reassuring to know that all of the proper inspections were being taken care of and that everything was being done to code. The highlight of the renovation was of course the final completion but it was quite exciting seeing our vision come to life over time. There is a lot more to building an addition that we imagined so we were thankful to have one contractor overseeing the project as there were a number of challenges that we faced along the way. We were quite pleased to be living in the house (although we recognize that this was not ideal from OGC's perspective) so that when a challenge arose we could deal with it on the spot. It seemed like there were quite a few decisions to be made on the fly and there were also things that we wanted changed or modified so it was important for us to be quite involved in the project. For example, we noticed that the location of the duct work was going to result in a wall being bigger than we had expected so we worked out an alternative solution. We also ran into some small challenges after the project was done. The project was completed in January and for some reason the water pipes to our ensuite were freezing. OGC was very quick to respond to our concerns and did all of the work under warranty with no questions asked. In fact, the person doing the warranty work when above and beyond what he was asked to do and pointed out several things that we didn’t even notice. Every company has its flaws and we must point out some changes that could be improved upon: 1) It seemed that there was sometimes confusion around the ordering of fixtures and also the kitchen. I don’t think these were part of the project management scope and this was an issue. It was not always clear on when fixtures where needed and this resulted in a few delays and a bit of panic to purchase certain items. 2) Also, I think it would have been extremely helpful if the project manager could have sat down with us on a weekly basis to discuss what had happened the previous week and discuss what was going to happen the upcoming week to make sure we were fully aligned. The project manager did an excellent job but the communications could have been better. I also think this would have helped keep the project on track because it took longer than we felt it needed to. 3) There was also sometimes confusion on what was in the contract and what wasn’t. It was also a bit annoying that some things that appeared in the drawings were not included in the contract unless specified. I think it’s important that if something shows up in the drawing, it should be in the contract. Having said the above we would definitely work with and recommend OGC to friends of family if they were planning a renovation , but it’s pretty unlikely that we would do a renovation of this size again. It was more work and more money than we expected. We are quite happy with the result, and would definitely , recommend that friends consider using OGC if they were planning a renovation.