We hired Les at By Design Consulting through our general contractor to build and install a living room built-in cabinets, coffee table and mirror and a bathroom vanity and mirror in June 2008. His original estimate for delivery was 6 weeks, with potential delivery of the bathroom vanity in 4 weeks. He knew timing was very important to us as we were expecting a child by end of August.
The first delay was in obtaining the wood for the coffee table and bathroom vanity.
Les subsequently scheduled the installation for the end of August. He was unavailable for the entire week prior to confirm that installation. (Les was extremely difficult to reach throughout this entire ordeal and it was a struggle to get any set dates or plan.)
The day before that scheduled installation , Les informed us that the pieces had been built but in the process of spraying, there had been a mechanical failure that had ruined them.
He chose to rebuild the pieces rather than salvage the existing ones.
This second time around, Les told us he had the pieces out to a subcontractor to spray them. That subcontractor was delayed in their finishing times. Les told us he would bring the pieces back to his shop if they weren't sprayed in the next few days.
In late September, Les came to take final measurements for installation. He seemd unclear on some of the design details which confused us as the pieces were supposedly complete and being sprayed. He told he would retrieve the pieces from the subcontractor and would spray them at his facility the following week. For the next 4 weeks we were unable to contact him directly. He apparently communicated with our general contractor and continued to say it would be ready for installation "next week".
Finally, at the end of October Les sent an email. He said that "he had to shut down his paint booth as a result of a complaint from a troublesome neighbour. In view of the fact that [he] didn't know how or what the resolution of the complaint [would] be, [he] didn't say anything." He forwarded a copy of the actual complaint and proposed resolution which he expected within days. But at this point, he told us that he had many behind schedule projects including ones that needed to be completed and installed for builders "to facilitate bank inspections and closing". Les said the "good news" was he could promise us a FIRM installation date and the "not so good news" was that that date was in the last week of November.
It was at this point, that we decided we had no confidence in any of his statements or his ability to complete the job at all. We ended the contract and got our deposit (50%) back from our general contractor. It took 5 months for us to realise that a 6 week job would not be happening.
