Penguin Basements

Let’s start with the positive aspects

The GOOD...

1) Claudio 10.5/10 - he exceeded expectations. Underpromised and over delivered from the point he took over. Claudio’s priority was Customer satisfaction . If he had been assigned to our basement project earlier I believe our experience would have been totally pleasant. He dealt with every tiny detail that was abandoned and always checked back with us to ensure we were satisfied.

2) Penguin basement frontline staff
Sales and Marketing ie Bruce - he was very professional always punctual and really projected a good image for the company.

3) Chris - 9/10 - was always professional and resolved most of the issues we had quickly. She was the only person that actually used the highly marketed “ Buildertrend application “ . She replied emails and actually read and acknowledged Buildertrend messages and you would be fooled at the beginning of the process to think all staff actually use it.

4) The framers 10/10, the painters 10/10 and a few other tradesmen were also professional. The person that did the framing was actually respectful of our home and was conscious of the fact that people live in the house and it wasn’t just a construction zone and we did appreciate that.

5) Ernesto 10/10 - always pleasant and professional. He would give updates and communicated if he could not meet up with an appointment.

6) The cleaning company 10/10 - their service was superb (although I wish penguin had sent them after the painters)

The finished product was satisfactory and all complains were resolved thanks to Claudio.

The BAD in summary..... (as I want to avoid remembering the details)

Our experience and perspective is based on the fact that we were usually at home to see what was going on and how our house would have been treated like a construction site even in the areas where work was not being done. The impression we got was that our home was a construction zone that should be available to them 24 /7 am or pm without notice.

Communication - 0/ 10. communication was very very poor. They change project managers without telling you anything. No communication whatsoever except you chase after them.
Buildertrend is just a marketing tool/ dummy application that would have worked well if they actually use it.

Scheduling was poor. 1/10. Tradesmen and delivery staff show up randomly even late in the evening. We had lots of days when no one would show up.
70% of the work was done in 8 days and the remaining 30% was done in about 30days. We were told our basement would take 10days. We personally set our minds to 4 weeks so we were prepared.
Their internal coordination is non existent. 0/ 10 . You have to repeat yourself to everyone / staff as they don’t seem to share information or pay attention to the information.

** Caveat emptor **I had read earlier reviews ( most are true by the way) and had noted certain complains and suggestions by other clients such as
1) making sure everything is written on your contract or written somewhere in black and white.
2) Insisting on the dust barriers in-spite of their discouraging opinions and it made a big difference.
3) Most importantly we requested a porta Pottie

Having said all of the above, we are happy with the quality of the finished work and love the basement. Hopefully, the company would try to improve customer satisfaction in the areas listed above to make it a seamless and pleasant renovation experience.

Our basement renovation was completed in just less than 3 weeks and we are extremely happy with quality of work and professionalism of all of the workers that contributed to the final product. Like other reviews the app was not used to its full potential and was not updated, but the supervisors kept me updated through texts which worked well.
From the start of the process we felt confident that we made the right choice. Having the initial design plan in place allowed us to visualize how our space would look. After meeting with their design team and chose our finishes (a lot of variety of choices for vanities, flooring, countertops and cabinets) we also tweaked the drawing with their expert advice.
Overall, our project ran smoothly and no surprises or additional charges came up. Josh, Tony and their teams did an excellent job and were great to work with. They made sure that all of the work was completed according to our plan and to our complete satisfaction. We would recommend Penguin Basements to anyone who is looking to renovate their basement.

From start to finish our experience was fantastic. Both of our supervisors, Tony and Marlon, went above and beyond to make sure we were completely satisfied with every detail of our renovation. The basement looks great, thanks guys!

Whole experience was A+. It’s not just the exceptional finshes or the amazing attention to detail. It’s also the little things that take the design the extra mile. Starting from the first quote we knew this company was different. The salesman was able to show us what the basement was going to look like right from the start. The whole first meeting is a rather long process but entirely worth it incredibly thorough! Workers were friendly and professional. Site supers were on the job every day for the rough in and almost every other day when finishing was being done. When site supers were not on site communication was daily via text message or builder trend app and was very clear. With an investment this big into your home you MIST feel comfortable and have trust in the company you choose. You can do what I did and have 15 different companies give you quotes and estimates or you can save yourself a lot of time and worry and hassle and just have penguin basements do an amazing worry free job. Customer service was great questions concerns and even changes were handle very quickly. The designers at the decor centre were very helpful and didn’t feel pushy at all when it came to looking at standard or upgraded items. There is no way I would do this process any differently! Penguin wasn’t the cheapest quote we got and the weren’t the most expsive either but they were by far the best choice for the job!

Our basement project went smoothly, from the initial meeting with the project manager to the actual start of framing. Walter the framing supervisor made sure all elements of this step went flawlessly. We can't say enough about Ernesto who took over as the finishing project manager. He went above and beyond in making sure our basement was finished in a timely and professional manner. He corrected minor imperfections that we did not even see, showing he takes great pride in quality of workmanship. We have already recommended Penguin to friends. Phil & Teresa

Starting right from day one, the phone call I received after leaving my email address online indicating I wanted more information left me more than thrilled with this company. Informative and open from day one. We are skeptics by nature of anything that seems too good to be true, but honestly this turned out to be the case. Upfront about every step of the way, Penguin Basements was available to answer every question and gave us a clear schedule of what was happening and when, which, as first-time renovators was great for peace of mind. Josh was our finishing project manager and he has been more than helpful! Always so quick to respond and ready with information or solutions nearly immediately, he is clearly passionate about his work and genuinely cares that we’re happy with the finished product! We have intentions to do more work in our home and are hopeful that Penguin expands their portfolio to include other areas in the home besides basements because we’d like to work with them and Josh again.

We are extremely happy with our basement and how smoothly the project went. The app they used was extremely helpful to keep everyone on the same page. Angelo, Juliano, and Josh were amazing to deal with. They were all extremely respect of us and our home, were very prompt in responding to messages and went out of their way to make sure we were happy. They all stuck to the schedule and the basement was completed in a timely fashion.

Overall we are super excited about our basement. We have been in our home for thirteen years and when we finally were able to get our basement finished, we were certainly happy we found Penguin Basements to get it done. We sometimes feel it was destiny as we had narrowed down our search to Penguin and a couple others. When we were getting ready to start the process of getting quotes, we were coming home and saw a sign for a showcase being done by Penguin. We had never seen this being done before and were looking forward to getting to see the
workmanship and quality of materials used first hand. We took a short
stroll down the street from our home and was so excited to see that the
showcase home was the exact model of our home, which was awesome
as we could then get to see what our basement would look like. The
showcase really sealed the deal for us, so we would highly recommend anyone considering Penguin Basements to seek out one of these, it is such a great thing, so much so we agreed to showcase our basement.

From the initial consultation with Rick we were confident we were making the right decision. Once we finalized the contract the process went very quickly. We met with Amy at the office for our design
consultation. She is an awesome lady and designer who certainly helped us make all the decisions from paint colours, flooring , cabinets......everything including the kitchen sink. She also tweeked our design to suit our needs.

We have to thank Josh for all his hard work, and even though our project was one of his first, he handled everything professionally and with a great attitude. There were some issues with the project which is to be expected, but some were definitely because of miscommunication between the different Supervisors. But Josh did his very best to keep us happy even if it meant doing some of the work himself.

There were other issues throughout the process that were disappointing at the time, but at the end of the project everything was sorted out which was very important to us. There will always be unexpected problems but how a Company deals with resolving the issues says a lot about their integrity and how much they stand by their workmanship.

Thank you to all those who worked on our project, Josh, Amy, Seth, Victor, Mass to name a few. The trades were all friendly and we felt completely comfortable having them come in our home while we were at work. They respected our home and made every effort in keeping the work space clean and contained. The ladies who came in once the project was completed were wonderful and went above and beyond to clean every square inch.

We would recommend Penguin Basements to anyone looking for a Company that is honest, professional and takes pride in what they do.

Paul and Tanya

Our house is brand new built six months ago. We wanted to finish the basement so our grand kids could enjoy. Traditional advice is to wait for two years but we went ahead after talking to four companies. Penguin was the most expensive. Despite that we went with them after meeting David. This man is really good at what he does. His high level of technical knowledge and his professionalism in presentation and negotiation clinched the deal. There were hiccups. But any project of this magnitude involving several trades working together will have its struggles. Most of them if not all could be solved by better communication. By this we mean quality and not quantity which is the problem here. Too many people interacting with you. Even the app is not updated or accurate. The only thing it does right is to remind you of payments that are due. The situation worsens and gets stressful when you have a project manager you met initially and never saw or heard from again. He along with all the others at the office will not return calls or respond to messages. However Penguin is blessed with the best trades who are highly skilled, friendly yet professional. The site managers make the difference. Without Vince, the finishing site manager (finishing maestro to us) this project would have been rated a 5 or6. With Vince coming in for the second half this rating jumps to 10 but we will take away 2 stars for the inefficient office staff . He is the best thing that happened to us. He was in way before the trades could come and left way after they'd gone.He kept us in the loop at all times. Every evening he would patiently explain what's been done and what to expect the next day. Any thing you pointed out to him was fixed promptly.
In conclusion, we would highly recommend Penguin to any one but remind them that what matters is a good beginning and the satisfactory ending everything in between requires extra diligence and patience. My wife and I are excited about our new basement and look forward to our grand kids enjoying it.

First let me say that my wife and I are extremely happy with how our basement turned out. The quality of the workmanship evident in the finishes, cabinetry, structure and lighting really shines through. There were some struggles along the way but the Penguin team always stepped up to ensure these issues were dealt with.

As others have mentioned, the BuilderTrend app is not used to it’s full potential. The calendar was never updated beyond the initial setup despite work getting moved and postponed. The ability to view/track/approve changes to the project and your outstanding balance is quite handy however.

All of the trades who came on site were consistently pleasant, respectful and very open to having me occasionally drop by to check out the progress and ask questions. When the majority of the work had been completed, Penguin sent a cleaning crew who did an exceptional job removing all dust and debris from the basement, literally mopping behind them as they left the house.

Our sincere thanks to Joseph our project manager who stepped in to help close out the project when the last few remaining tasks were struggling to get scheduled and completed. And lastly to Josh, who personally showed up to address all of the little deficiencies in the finishes. This project ended up taking approx 5 months, so admittedly my wife and I were not going to be satisfied with anything less than an immaculate finished product and Josh exceeded our expectations - thanks for putting in the effort the results speak for themselves!