Penguin Basements

Penguin Basements recently completed our basement and we are happy with the results.

The initial consultation was 3 hours long, penguin did mention this to me before hand. We were given a history lesson and then were presented with how penguin does it with their materials. I did find it interesting, however I think this process could be shortened down quite a bit and get straight to the point. My wife and mother in law lost interest 20mins into the presentation and wanted to leave. What made us sign with penguin, is the materials they use and the fact that there was an app to keep us informed of the process.

The design meeting with Gem was good, she was very nice to work with. We liked that all the selections are made in house. What we didn't like was that most of the things we did want to select were all upgrades. I also found the selections to be okay, we really wished there was more variety.

Originally we were told that our reno would not start till mid November, but I got a message that we were starting last week of September. We were very pleased to hear the news. Demo started and we were on our way. After demo I met with Jon, Eric, Evan and Juliano, I was happy to see that all these people were going to be part of the project. However, I wished it was explained to me who was my contact person was when things went wrong or if I had questions. There seemed to be a different person to contact at different stages of the project which I found very frustrating. I would rather just be dealing with one person to contact. Eventually I ended up contacting Eric most of the time and I found him very helpful and he would get back to me very promptly.

There were some bumps along the road which is to be expected. Some of the thing that bothered me were changes made during framing that were not in the plans. Which were corrected right after I noticed it. My tiles, grout and cement were left in front of my driveway overnight for anyone to take. Insulation was left out in my backyard overnight. coffee cups and garbage left everywhere by trades.

My biggest complaint was communication and the use of the app. The app was great in the beginning, I got all my messages, when things were happening and starting, payment breakdown. But I found that as time went by, none of the scheduling was updated or changed. I didn't know what was happening, who was coming and going or what was being done that day. So then I would have to call around to ask. I understand that things change during a project, but why have the app if its not kept up to date? I only found it good for messaging penguin staff or payment schedule.

Most of the trades that came through were very nice. The painter guys even gave me a hand bringing a heavy shed to my backyard.

The finishing part was great. Josh was great to work with. I know he was new to penguin but he really is good at what he does. He always kept me up to date because he knew how frustrated I was with the miscommunication along the way. He made sure that we were happy with the finished product, even offered to help me set up my new washer dryer and made sure all touch ups were done.

Overall we are happy with how the basement turned out.