Penguin Basements

We just completed the project of having our basement turned into a one bedroom apartment with Penguin Basements.
We are thoroughly pleased with the results, the quality of work completed by professionals and the outstanding service provided by everyone involved throughout the entire process. We are very demanding clients and we wish to especially thank our Project Manager Josh who always responded quickly and with a smile to all of our demands. Although the price was higher than other competitors, we strongly recommend Penguin Basements.
They took care of everything, from obtaining the building permit to the final occupancy inspection.

The company looks good but the work is not the best money you can spend. People are very nice except Amy in the office. Josh is very hard working and goes out of his way to satisfy the customer.

Very pleased with our finished basement.
Walter (rough-in supervisor) and Vince (finishing supervisor) both did an awesome job. Walter was able to make a change in our duct work at our request without delay. Vince kept us well informed on his stage of the work because the builder trend application did not function very well going from Walter to Vince.
All of the teams involved were professional and courteous and were very happy to show us their work.

The work was completed on time and the quality was above average.

However the customer service is likely one of the worst experiences I have had.

On the very first day of construction one of the workers had an accident and the left blood all over the floor. I brought it the next day and was assured that it would be cleaned before the flooring was put down. Every day that went by I reminded them about the stains. Yet a week later when the flooring was going down the blood was not cleaned. There were unfinished areas that also had blood stains and those were not cleaned until a week after the job completed.

Also on the first day the workers had lunch on our front patio which was fine but one of them broke one of our chairs. That would have been fine if they let us know, but no one told us about it until I saw the damage. When I looked at my security camera tapes I could clearly see them laughing about breaking the chair. I was offered $400 for the trouble.

Our project included moving our hvac unit. Now our air conditioner is no longer working. I have left two voice mails because no one answers the phone there. I’ve also sent an email to multiple people with no response. They opened at 9am today and it’s almost 11am with no response.

I could sit here and say many things about all the things I wasn’t happy with, from the people who worked in my home, to the communication, to the workmanship, to the care about what my expectations were. Overall, this basement cost me 80,000 dollars, this is something that I would never pay for the quality of work that I had. I would never suggest this company to anyone else. To list a few things, the paint job looked like it wasn’t professional, my central vac oilers are so close together (I paid extra for those), and I can’t vacuum the stairs of my basement because it doesn’t reach. They didn’t make the walls close to the existing walls so I lost square footage, I have the wrong counter that was installed, the list goes on and on. When I wrote a letter during the project to express my concerns I got a very poor response. When a company is charging that kind of money I expected more understanding, empathy and someone to say let me come there and listen to your concerns. I am not naturally a complainer but I saved up for years to accomplish this for our family and overall we felt extremely well informed at the beginning and when it came to finished product it wasn’t with our expectations. Also, there was the site manager Josh, without him, I would have lost it. He was attentive, listened to concerns, tried to help wherever he could and tried to explain things. He is the only thing that was right about this renovation. If I could recommend anything about this Reno is that they hire people like Josh and make him run the whole project. Maybe then it will turn out right.

We are nearing the finish line with our basement renovation and Although there have been a few hiccups we are completely satisfied with how the project is turning out. From the beginning Dan and Marlon have been wonderful to work with. Marlon has been completely hands on and understands our vision. We have left the project in his hands and are excited to see the end result. We would totally recommend Penguin.

I recently had my basement renovated by the guys at Penguin I am absolutely delighted with the results. The work was completed on time (2weeks). Vince, my site supervisor, was amazing he kept me up,to date with the progress and was always willing to answer my questions. He personally took care of a few little touch ups that needed to be done. I highly recommend the staff at Penguin for anyone looking to renovate their basement

Great people quality service. Special thanks to our site supervisor Josh who went above and beyond our expectations. Special thanks to Chris Amy and Boaz. Highly recommend Penguin Basements. Place looks amazing

If this review was only for Ernesto, it would be an 11/10 - he was the saviour of the project going above and beyond what I expected one person to do, always responding to my texts and patient with all my questions and concerns. He even mounted my TV which wasn't on the work order!

Without Ernesto, I am not sure if I could even rate a 7/10...some frustrations as follows:

-Initial meeting took 4.5 hours, way too long!
-The day I signed on, and also on the day of the design review, I asked about the shower being able to fit and I was assured it would. Only once the shower base, tiles, flooring had all be done I was told the enclosure would in fact not fit and they would have to source a custom one. That delayed the project quite a bit.
-Was initially told the project would be 10 working days to 3 weeks. It was 4.5 weeks before 'substantial completion' and there are still small things to be finished
-Picked out laminate covers for the stairs, only told once flooring etc. had already been laid i would have to switch to carpet - then only 4 different to choose from and had already picked other colours based on the laminate
- Buildertrend...use it or loose it...I would send messages and never knew if anyone was reading them or not, sent one, then 2.5 weeks later sent another one on the same topic only to then get a response. Also the calendar was not kept up to date so I was unaware of when the project would ever be done

At the end of the day the space looks beautiful and all the people I dealt with were courteous and professional. Big shout out to Ernesto as well as Chris.

We are very exited our basement been completed. Great work, excellent quality construction and supplies. Claudio was awesome 10+++ for him and for his commitment and perseverance in completing our home like it was his own. He have handle all trades and crew members properly and very professionally, also all planning tasks. He kept us inform of all the Project stages and was able to catch up even with a few hick ups” no construction is ever perfect but he pulled it off.
We are happy with the turnout of our basement, it looks amazing and it is what we were expecting we couldn’t ask for more.
Penguin is a company who dedicated themselves to a higher standards pushing for what matters to us.
Thank you Claudio and Penguin basements for an amazing, excellent job done and fulfilling every aspect of our project.
This is a company we would definitely recommend to friends and families planning to finish their basement project without a doubt it will turn out with a fantastic results.