The Home Improvement Group - THIG

Formerly Mr Rescue
General Contractors
Mississauga ON L5V 2B3
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Tatiana in Oakville
Tatiana in Oakville
5 reviews Oakville, ON
1/10

Balcony renovation

The 1 star is because the actual work itself and the work crew was great. However, they are subcontractors and are not 'the company'. I contacted THIG in August and the job (which should have taken 1 week to complete was finally finished this month (Dec/20). And do not be fooled - the delay was not Covid-related. The project coordinator, Graeme, came out to our house 3 times in August/September to assess the project, take measurements, order supplies, etc... During the third visit he brought along Dwayne, the person who apparently was the most knowledgeable/capable of performing the work. The job was scheduled for October. The Friday night before the work was to start, I was notified by email that the job had been delayed by 2 weeks. Nobody bothered to call to explain the situation. So on Monday morning, I called Shawna who explained the reason for the delay was that Dwayne was still working on another job and that he really was the best person for my project so she didn't want to reassign somebody else. But the good news was that I was going to get delivery of the materials that day. I though it was obvious but had to point out that I did not want materials sitting on my driveway for 2 weeks pending the start of the job so she agreed to hold the delivery - an When the job finally started on Nov.2nd, the materials were nowhere to be found and an entirely different crew showed up. (Again, they were great. Thank goodness for Aldo - he and his crew were the only saving grace to this whole fiasco.) Apparently, Graeme, our project coordinator, no longer works for the company - nobody bothered to tell us. And Dwayne, well who knows, guess he wasn't necessary after all. On Nov.11th we were told that a significant piece of material required for our balcony was never ordered back in August/Sept. so it was going to take another 10 days. All in all it was an exercise in extreme frustration. The only thing in which this company is efficient is extracting payment; they were always on 'the ball' when it came to their emails asking for money and escalating costs. I asked Shawna to provide this feedback to the owner (whoever they are) and suggested if it were my company, I would have at least offered some kind of discount/rebate given the level of disorganization and mistakes on their end. Minimally, one would think a courtesy call/follow up would have been provided but there has been no contact which further speaks to their utter lack of professionalism. Clearly, greed is their motivation.

Approximate cost of services:
$17,000.00
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Company Response

Hi Tatiana,

I would like the opportunity to respond to your review as there are 2 sides of this to be considered.

To begin with, the original start date for your project was indeed October 19, and yes Shawna did reach out as Dwayne was delayed by another project and the new Start date of Nov 2 was agreed on. When it was advised to Shawna that Dwayne would not be able to begin on Nov 2 as arranged she went above and beyond to ensure another trade could begin your job as promised without a further delay. On the day of the job start the team did become aware that there was a structural issue that required addressing before the deck work could begin and you were contacted immediately as this work was not on the original estimate as it would have been unknow until demo was completed. Upon your approval of the additional work the work continued without delay. Aldo did reach out to advise that Graeme had not ordered a few pieces of the Trex materials required and both he and the office tried multiple suppliers to source this materials ASAP (due to COVID the sourcing of all building materials is very difficult, Home Depot was a 4 week delivery). As the work continued with the materials that were already on site in a timely manner, the only delay was waiting for the additional material required in order to complete the work.

Overall your project ran very smoothly aside from a 2 week delay from original scheduled job start. As you mentioned Aldo is a fantastic trade and project manager and was in constant contact with your husband Mario in regards to the progression of work and timelines. As was Shawna who consistently followed up with you by email when you could not be reached by phone. You were notified by email when Graeme suddenly departed for personal reasons and provided Christine's contact information if you had any questions or concerns, but never reached out until this review.

You also fail to mention that we only sent 1 email requesting a payment that was due "at the start of demo" and wasn't requested until demo was complete, nor that final payment is processed within 24 hours hours of project completion but we also held of in processing until your roofer could attend to complete his portion of work (which had nothing to do with our work) but we delayed payment processing for more than 10 days as a good will gesture.

Overall your project ran very smoothly and turned out very well, and I believe any potential customer reading your review will take your words with a grain of salt. Looking at your final 2 comments, I believe YOUR motivation, not ours, is greed as you were looking for a monetary discount for a 2 week delay to start your project.

Your deck turned out fantastic and was completed in a timely manner. Hoping you enjoy your beautiful deck for years to come.

Merry Christmas
The Home Improvement Group