Amateur .... and a very bad planner Felt like hostages to the contractor and his workers
We renovated our house last spring and summer, and had an awful experience with Home Consult.
It started well with Adrian being responsive and seemingly caring to our needs and interests. One of our priorities was finishing on time, as we were having a baby soon after, and moving before the due date was important for us.
Throughout the process we were reassured that everything went according to plan. However, when the agreed finishing time had come, the house was nowhere near being ready. But we were not told the truth, as Adrian assured us that everything will be done on time. Left in the dark about what remaining work was to be done, we had to move the moving date three times. At the end the house was still not ready more that a month after the projected move date. Understanding that delays are common, we would have appreciated if we were told this upright. Adrian repeatedly misinformed us about the end date, and had never acknowledged that he was late with his obligations. The crew kept on coming to finish certain small things for two-three weeks following our move in, the worst was that we never knew when they would should up.
Adrian’s planning of the renos were very bad, he repeatedly told us that he needed something very soon and we stressed out to get it for him on time. Then he didn’t use it for a few weeks not allowing us to get something better and/or cheaper.
We donʼt know why certain things in the house had been done, and why a cheaper route was not followed. For example, the staircase which we did not ask to replace, was replaced, and installed badly. The new engineered hardwood floor Adrian installed was done badly too. As now only 6 months later we see nails starting to come up and chipping occurs.
We were not warned, that certain decisions that we had taken led to the renovation to be more expensive than we expected. We feel that it was the job of our contractor to make sure we understood what we were doing.
At the end, Adrian and his workers disappeared without finishing certain things, such as paint on the window, not functioning electrical plugs, other finishing touches. Almost all light bulbs that he installed broke within two months of installation. When we talked to the electrician, who we had to hire to fix the electrical plugs, we were told that the job was done not following the electrical code, thus putting us at high risk of fire. In fact one cable had become so hot that insulation next to it had melted.
We feel that we paid top price for the second- or third rate job, some of which we even had not asked for. At the end the inconvenience that we endured because of the delay, the bad planning process, appliances being installed late were very significant.
True, it could have been worse, but we will not recommend Adrian to anyone. If you are not your own enemy, do not hire him.
