Penguin Basements

Basement Review
Pros:
- great finished product
- very competitive pricing
- quick turnover: 1000+ sq ft basement completed in 2 weeks (as promised) compared to 6-8 week timeline from other contractors
- available online website which stores all project documents, photos and contacts you can message for any necessary correspondence
- Workers were very friendly
- All necessary touch-ups were done in a timely fashion by our project manager
- All remaining supplies like paint and plaster powder were left for any future necessary touch-ups (except for the stairway hand-rail stain).

Cons:
- the online website meant for correspondence wasn’t very useful messages were returned no earlier than within 2-3 days
- our project manager was out of town and unavailable during part of our project and there was no one else who could respond to us in timely manner (again no earlier than 2-3 days). Communication despite the online tool was poor and untimely.
- building material drop-offs were done at times we were not expecting them. We DID have scheduled dates & times but they weren’t done those days. So twice I took time off from work to be home expecting deliveries and twice they didn’t deliver those days. This was a problem because they had to be placed into the garbage therefore scheduling a time for us to be home was essential. They didn’t deliver during those times. Luckily we were still home when they finally did show up (but just as I was about to leave) otherwise the supplies would’ve been delivered on another day and our schedule would’ve been delayed. This happened twice and was a big inconvenience because we had to change our schedule to fit their what seemed to be their disorganized delivery times.
- the painters used this company (or atleast this one particular crew) although being very friendly left our bathroom in quite the mess. Part of the contract was providing the workers with a bathroom to use during the project. That wasn’t the issue. The issue is just because our home was technically a construction site didn’t mean that our bathroom was to be treated like one of those portable ‘ Johnny-on-the-spot’ bathrooms. Without the getting into too much detail let’s just that the toilet was left in quite a mess.
- Another part of the contract was to provide the workers with a sink with running water to use for mixing materials etc. This same painting crew who used our main floor laundry room sink to wash their paint brushes left paint splatters everywhere in our sink, walls and floor. They didn’t bother to clean up after themselves and forgetting that this was a home and not a construction site.
- Although they did send a cleanup crew as part of the service (which was a good idea on their behalf) to clean the whole basement area, BUT they had to be reminded to clean our paint splattered laundry room sink, floor and walls (even though I was reassured by the project manager that it would’ve been done). Again, poor communication. Even when I told them they had forgotten to clean it (as they were about to leave) they still did an unsatisfactory job at scrubbing the sink, walls and floor as I would’ve done. In fact, I had to do this myself after they had left.
- I am still awaiting a response from the project manger regarding why I wasn’t given any leftover handrail stain (or atleast to tell me the colour of the stain so I can get it myself). I was told by the project manger that he’s find out and get back to me ASAP. Again I was reassured a timely response but I’m still waiting. I’ve been waiting since November 29th for a response. Again poor and untimely correspondence.

Overall
Although we as a family are very happy with the finished product and looking forward to enjoying our newly finishes basement, there were many inconveniences along the way, like poor communication, disorganized and inconvenient scheduling of deliveries as well as workers who treated our home like a construction site. In short, we loved WHAT they did with our basement, but DIDN’T love how they went about doing things. But we’re still glad we chose Penguin basements and would recommend them to others.