Tom Fair Construction

We have an old house and it is sometimes difficult to find people you can trust to give you want you want and still keep the character you are looking for. Tom Fair Construction came through with flying colours. They designed and rebuilt our master bathroom and the results are beyond our expectations. They were courteous, clean and on budget despite running into unexpected issues.

We are planning additional renovations and will be asking them to take on the challenge.

Last summer we had a new kitchen installed,laid new floors with reclaimed wood.added a propanefireplace.made the area open concept and had Tom as our general contractor.Tom.Dean and the sub contractors made the changes over the summer.We are more than pleased with the results and we were able to keep within our budget.

We had a cottage renovation completed by Tom Fair Construction and are extremely happy with the finished product and have since made this our permanent home. This project required the removal of a wall and a support beam installed for three new patio windows facing the lake. Tom had a very good vision for what could happen with the wall removal and the patio doors on the lakeside creating a lake view from the front door when you enter. The addition of a large island for the new kitchen has become the focus for this new room. We were very pleased with the renovation and did some add ons which complimented the renovation and all made sense while we were in the renovation mode. Workmanship was top notch and co-operation with the outside trades was seamless.

From design phase to project completion Tom Fair Construction and team were professional, reliable, on task and on budget. Tom was always willing to listen to our ideas and give feed back on the best design solution for the project. His experience and expertise made all the difference for a successful remodel.

I have nothing but great things to say about Tom Fair Construction. We hired Tom to renovate our kitchen. We shared our ideas and he provided extra ideas and advise to help us along with our plans. The end result was fabulous and the service was wonderful. Every day I would arrive home from work, the work site was cleaned up and no mess anywhere - which I expected to see. I was pleasantly impressed. Tom gave us a quote and he stuck to that quote.

I would definitely recommend Tom Fair Construction for any project you may need completed. I still to this day get compliments on our kitchen!!!

We deeply regret our decision to hire Tom Fair Construction of Guelph, Ontario.

An acquaintance recommended using Tom Fair Construction to renovate two bathrooms. My parents met with Tom and were impressed by his polished look and his smart talk. All of his work was completed many months ago. Despite being very disappointed with the finished product and much of the experience, my parents were exhausted, discouraged and unwilling to share their observations with Tom, choosing instead to leave one washroom unfinished and to concede that no funds would be returned. I recently shared this with Tom and provided him with a list of deficiencies. Our list is growing as more issues slowly manifest themselves. The list includes the following:

- washroom door hung crooked, not closing properly and floor gap is uneven
- door trims are too long, crooked, too short, separating from wall and mitre joints not attaching
- new paint not covering many spots on the walls, only one thin coat of paint applied
- considerable debris and crumbs from renovation painted into walls, surfaces not sanded or prepared for painting
- wall patching done poorly and visible through paint
- paint splattered onto receptacles and new cupboards
- most of the top shower tiles are crooked
- tile installers were unwilling to install/drill a curtain rod
- bathtub installed incorrectly, significant squeaking, not level
- most caulking separating from walls (trim, counter top, molding, baseboard)
- crown molding separating from wall and sagging significantly

We paid Tom Fair $30,000 to renovate two bathrooms. The finishes we chose were standard, conservative and not costly, with the exception of the quiet-closing cabinet doors. The renovations were largely cosmetic in nature. The above list of concerns was shared with Tom during a meeting at our house. During the conversation he directly called into question our knowledge and understanding of contracting and renovating, instead of addressing the concerns we raised. We found it troubling that he sub-contracted most of the work. During our meeting he insisted he was not responsible for the work of his sub-contractors, which included family members.

We felt uneasy about his young son completing some of the work, including the crooked door, molding and incorrectly measuring and installing a towel bar. His brother-in-law was responsible for the painting and Tom seemed very quick to defend the quality of his work, despite seeing the deficiencies. One of his friends came from a carpeting store during his lunch hour and installed two metal strips on the floor under the doors. For that quick visit we were charged $100 dollars. We insisted we wanted a curtain rod installed for the shower, just as we had prior to the renovation, but the tile contractors were very reluctant to drill into their own work. We were told that installing one shower rod would cost $100 dollars. Instead, we purchased our own for $11 and installed it ourselves without any issues.

When I shared the list of concerns with Tom he said he would respond shortly. One week passed and we had not heard back, so I called him. He seemed agitated and said he was very busy. He told me that running a company is very expensive and he has many bills to pay. I requested to know when I should expect a response to our list. He assured us that he would call in one week and that he had customers that he needed to keep happy and that he could not speak and needed to end the conversation. I felt utterly insulted, deceived and used.

It has now been over two weeks and he has not responded in the time that he promised. We no longer want him or his associated in our home as they have caused more harm and aggravation than good. The tile company consisted of one young man and his brother who appeared to be even younger. It was our impression that the youngest was very new to the trade. They were also responsible for dirtying our dining room ceiling with their construction tarps and leaving it for us to discover. It has not been fixed.

We now see no other choice but to turn to the Better Business Bureau, The Guelph Chamber of Commerce and to explore legal recourse. Based on our experience, we strongly recommend you do not choose Tom Fair Construction or hope that you have much better luck than we did.

Mr. Tom Fair came across as a very competent and fair professional at the time of signing the contract. However, he proved to be completely a different person by the end of the project. First of all, he arranged the contract in a way to allow him to go above the budget. When we asked him to clarify his confusing “clause”, he reassured us that these were just standard wordings of contracts and that he will make sure to stay within the budget. Throughout the project, he kept reassuring us that he will stay within the budget, but when the project was completed, he produced us a new bill requesting us to pay an extra sum totaling %35 on top of the maximum amount allotted in the contract. During the project, he did not give us any indication, much less an estimate, of if and how much he is going to go over-budget. Also, he did a poor job at painting and in attention to details. We named him "Tom Fair, Not Fair".

We had a lot of leaves and nests that had made their way through a hole in the house's foundation - Tom Fair handled it with class and professionalism. I was wincing at the thought of calling multiple companies and looking for a decent price.. he simply quoted me based on my description and the final price was almost identical to the low estimate. Would recommend.