Penguin Basements

Formerly Penguin Condos
Basement Renovation
Toronto ON M3J 2C4
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Write a Review


Homeowner in Brampton
Homeowner in Brampton
1 review Brampton, ON
10/10

Basement Renovation

Now the project is finally finished! We are waiting for the approval of the city's final inspection.

We like to say that our previous review to Penguin Basement was based on the customer experience we were going through during construction stage. As we said it before it wasn't a pleasant one.

However, this 10 +++ rating goes to an amazing and rewarding experience during the finishing stage where the company's name and our trust was regained thanks to their Finishing Supervisor Claudio who has shown dedication as well as personal interest in giving us what we feel is fair and the company's values stand for.

Claudio and Penguin Basement has shown us how valuable we are by going beyond our requests and our expectation utilizing their resources in a positive way to our best interests, making our investment and our home much more valuable than we anticipated.

THANK YOU CLAUDIO and Penguin Basement for a job well done and for the excellent final results.

My recommendation to the company:
Make sure communications and things are done right in the first place before and during the build, rather than to wait until the finishing stage to rectify the issues! That will certainly save time, money and headache for your customers and your company!

Approximate cost of services:
$69,000.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
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Company Response

We appreciate clients that take the time to write an honest review after the completion of a job because we have, either delivered what we promised or have not. And errors and issues that may appear during the complex construction process are either dealt with... or learned from.

However, we feel that an ongoing review from a current client with a job in still process, especially one where the client is asking for additional items added outside of the original scope budget, and on a regular basis is not a fair nor helpful review for others who rely on review sites; for those who are working on your site, nor for the client, who through this unusual tactic seems to be seeking to create a confrontational atmosphere to avoid paying for additional items they have requested.

Additionally, this "review" contains Statements that are simply not factual. The City of Brampton did change policies, causing no shortage of delays, and the permit was issued on October 11, with the build starting on November 8. In that time we did allowable work and site prep. A completed ceiling would be approved by the inspector, as it has been on this job. We don't wish to use this forum to engage in a "they said, we said" argument, so we will not comment on each individual statements at this time.

We are — as always — dedicated to providing the best basement builds in the GTA. Our CEO will have called earlier this evening, to set-up a personal appointment with you to discuss any issues you feel are valid. He will make the trip out to your home to see things you would like to point out. And we would like to point out that you have been provided with a client portal with which to monitor, and comment on, your basement build.

We too, will update this review response once such a meeting has taken place.

Previous versions of this review:

Homeowner in Brampton
Homeowner in Brampton
1 review Brampton, ON
3/10

Basement Renovation

We have experienced many challenges in this project. We met with the representative of the company and discussed some major miscommunication problems. We will write a final and thorough review after the completion of our project.

Approximate cost of services:
$70,000.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
Homeowner in Brampton
Homeowner in Brampton
1 review Brampton, ON
2/10

Basement Renovation

I understand some people may go cheap and hire obviously unlicensed guys to invite a renovation nightmare, but for us, this nightmare is certainly a very EXPENSIVE one.

We plan to update this review from time to time as the project is still ongoing at this moment.

We gave them 1 star for now as (1) they corrected the problem of missing ceiling insulation after we requested and insisted. (2) SOME of their people showed SOME sincerity and SOME honesty during the process.

My husband and I hesitated to write a bad review because we want to give them opportunities to correct and prove themselves. We also understand that people may make mistakes and no one is perfect. I guessed we are too nice. We can't stand it anymore as issue after issue comes up.

Here are all the things we tried to avoid in a renovation project and that's why we chose Penguin Basements as they CLAIMED they are different and set a new standard for the industry!

These things happened (we name only some of the issues here):

1. Surprise charges over a thousand dollars have just come up relating to some electrical works which either should have already been included in the contract/design review and design review conversations, or works for which we were not informed about extra costs nor gave permission before it was done.

2. Missing insulation for almost the whole ceiling until we requested the drywall installer to take down the boarded ceiling to check. I wonder who will do a basement renovation without basic ceiling insulation?!

3. Unfinished wall insulation around the newly installed window. Leaving that unfinished and allow the drywall to be boarded.

4. Delay of the project. We signed contract on April 22nd, given expectation to start in July/August. The project didn't start until November. The basement is intended to be used as a rental unit. The prime time of finding tenants and the prime time of tenants moving in during the summer months are gone now! Can you imagine the loss of income for all these months? (It's not the delay from the city permit. It's the miscommunication and the overloading of the company so they can't handle them all}

5. A LOT of miscommunication or broken communications between their different people internally and externally (sales managers, project managers, pre-construction managers, site managers, trades, etc.) So basically you HAVE to be there to MANAGE them all because no one has the real big picture! Even the "site plan" that they use as the blueprint is not accurate so we need to correct them or verify with them almost everyday when new trades come in to do their jobs. I think they should pay me back for being there to manage their jobs!

We will continue this review next time as it is one hour pasts mid-night!!!
Thanks to Penguin for all these sleepless and late nights!!!
We still need the energy to MANAGE this renovation project early tomorrow morning!

Approximate cost of services:
$70,000.00
What could this company do to improve their services?
Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?