Samson Homes

I feel as though I got very lucky when I chose Samson Homes to do my kitchen reno. Davin was more thorough than any one else I spoke to at giving me a detailed quote, even bringing in his electrician to have a look at what needed to be done. And it paid off too as there were no hidden costs and everything came in within budget. I really appreciated how quickly Davin got back to me when I had questions (and I had lots - first time reno!) and how he was always on time for meetings and kept his work on schedule, things I didn't dare hope for after hearing other people's reno horror stories. It felt like it could not have gone much smoother and I absolutely love the end result. I would definitely work with him again and recommend him to others. Note: the cost I've listed was for the complete reno, including appliances.

My parents were in desperate need of a new bathroom floor but it was going to be a tricky job. You see my dad was very ill and needed access to the bathroom. Installing a new floor meant the facilities were going to be out of commission for an extended period of time. This meant we needed the floor done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. We hired Davin to handle the project and while he was strategizing on how to do the work with minimal disruption, my dad suddenly had to go to the hospital to get an emergency procedure done. Without so much as a second thought, Davin reorganized his priorities and other projects and quickly went into action. While my mom was at the hospital with my dad, Davin worked efficiently and expertly. It was a small project but he gave my parents the same level of customer service and consideration that you would expect for a big project. When my mom came home after spending a full day at the hospital, she was simply over the moon with the work he had done. She was extremely grateful not only for his professional work, but for the compassion he extended towards them in helping them. His care and attention truly made an impact and a difference during a very trying time. Thank you Davin.

I hired Davin of Samson Homes in Nov, 2018 to do the demolitian, excavating of our old deck and to rebuild a new one aswell to add an extension to our new deck and to have it closed in to build our new storage area under neat, he also removed the old cement slabs under the old deck, walkways, and we had him pour new cement for our new storage room and walkways and a cement patio, considering the weather that he had to work it. I was allways amazed with Davin and his team with the quality of work they performed also they allways left the site tidy and clean, found Davin to be very helpfull with great ideas and suggestions, he's a very hard working indiviual and very reliable, punctual, honest. He does very high quality work their is no doubt of that, the work was completed in a timely manner April, 2019 I was very happy with Davin and his work I would hire him and his team for construction work again. My husband and I we are very greatful that we found him on Homestars and appreciate the great work that he did for us. I would highly recomend Davin and his team to my family and friends.

Thank you,
Davin of Samson Homes
for the good work

I hired Davin for a full house renovation that needed to be done in less than 2 months: 3 bathrooms + knocking down walls + kitchen + laundry + 2 living rooms + office + entry way + garage extension + 3 bedrooms....you name it, it had to be done. After only 56 days, we moved in. Davin´s commitment and attention to detail are amazing. He was always enthusiastic and offered so many amazing suggestions during the whole process, I never felt that he was not interested in the job, something I felt when interviewed 3 other contractors. His trade workers were always on time and everyone´s work was perfect. I am still amazed at the attention to detail. Such large renovation didnt come without it´s problems, but everything was solved so quick, that it didnt interfere with the moving date at all. Once we moved in, Davin worked on our back yard, creating a beautiful patio and deck, and once that was done he moved on to the house frontage. EVERYTHING was perfect. There are no words to describe how talented and competent Davin is. I will hire him again in a heartbeat and am recommending him to everyone I know. Don´t hesitate to hire him, he is 10/10 ! (and I am a very picky person who expects everything to be perfect). Thank you Davin and team for such dedication and hard work, it all paid off, the house is absolutely beautiful.

Davin completed my kitchen renovation in March 2018 and I'm very happy with it. He coordinated and carried out the design and construction of the kitchen including removal of the old installations. He brought in qualified, professionals for specific tasks when needed. The project finished on time and on budget. I really liked how Davin listened to my ideas and also contributed his own where needed. I never felt pressured into anything I didn’t want. He went to extra efforts if something wasn’t satisfactory. I really liked how he was able to find a good balance between quality and cost savings. He is a really nice guy and was very professional to work with. I would definitely hire Davin again for my next project.

We encountered so many issues while working with Davin, I’m not even sure where to begin. Some of them were small, annoying problems, others were downright illegal.

We hired Davin to do a major renovation the exterior of our house. We were adding an accessory building and re-building 1100 sq ft of deck. We told him we had a party planned 6 weeks from our meeting, and our budget for the work was $30k. He said both of these parameters were ‘doable’. Our first mistake was agreeing to a cost-plus / hourly wage set up. He touted the benefit of this being that we can both walk away at any time, given that there’s no contract. The downside though, was that he didn’t need to keep track of total spend, or even timelines, and we flew past our budget with the end no where in site.

Davin hustled, but it came across as disorganization. For example, he took multiple trips to Dick’s Lumber every single day. Each trip takes at least an hour, which is all on the clock, of course. When we brought this up with him, he said that it’s impossible to foresee everything you’ll need up front. Multiple trips a day week after week, to me, seems like a lack of foresight or planning and a waste of our money.

As for the deadline of the party, this is where things got serious. Davin took a shortcut - he knowingly installed our (second storey) railings incorrectly so that they looked completed, but were, in fact, incredibly unsafe - the top bars were not secured at all. During the party, we had a child leaning up against the spindles of the railing, spinning them in his hands. He lifted up slightly, and the spindles and top rail fell 10ft to the ground behind him. Luckily, an adult was standing close by and grabbed him before he fell. We were livid. On top of all of the other things that went wrong, leaving the deck that unsafe when you know people are going to be using it is not only morally wrong, it’s illegal.

After that event, we sat with him in our living room and told him we were angry, and he yelled at me. I was 26 weeks pregnant at the time, and he stood over me while I was sitting on the couch, and yelled to the point where my other family members came into the room to cool him down.

Fastforward two years, the waterproofing under our deck has leaked and caused black mould in several spots, and the railings still wobble enough that it makes me nervous when our child leans on them. So not only did we have to hire a second company to complete the remaining work after we fired Davin, we’ve had to hire a professional decking company to lift all the boards and fix the work that he did in the first place. They said none of it was installed correctly.

Davin feels my review is “unfair and inaccurate”, to which I say… we had to spend thousands of dollars to fix his mistakes, and a child was almost seriously injured because of his decisions. I think he should be happy that a bad review is all we’re doing, and not anything further. As for inaccuracies, we had a party full of witnesses to the deck accident, and a professional company who replaced his work who can back us up. It could be that Davin is capable of doing small reno’s well - he does seem to have a number of 5/5 reviews. But all of the issues we had lead me to believe that large renos are not his forté. To his defence, since finding out about the deficiencies, he’s offered to come and fix them. Frankly, after the experience we had with him, I wouldn’t let him touch another thing on our property.

Update in response to Davin:
The work you performed for us was far from excellent. If you feel my review is not accurate or fair, please see my note above. My review is based on fact, and 'fair' would be getting back the thousands of dollars we've had to spend on fixing your mistakes.

I didn't say you went over the timelines - I didn't mention timelines at all in my review because, yes, we added to the scope of the work.
I didn't say we had a written contract.
I didn't mention the worker you hired off the street.
How is it relevant that I was "no where to be found" at the end of your workday? If you had something to tell me, you could've left a voice mail, texted, emailed, or even simply written a note.
Yes, we were originally planning on hiring a company to install steel railings. Yes, we changed our minds. Yes, that pushed the timelines. Yes, we asked you to help with the staining. None of that is relevant to my complaints.

None of these facts justify your installing the railings incorrectly. The railings were a pre-made kit, and the instructions were literally on the side of the box (I still have the photos). It was a very simple, two-step process, and you chose to only do one of those two steps. You could NOT "clearly see the railings weren't in properly". They looked exactly as they do now, except that the top rail was not screwed down. All a child had to do was lift up on the spindle, and the whole unit would come out.
As for the invoices - We paid you in FULL for all of the work you did, with the exception of the time you spent installing the railings incorrectly. That equated to half a day's work, for two of your men. It was not thousands, and you AGREED to this arrangement. From there, we asked you to quote on the remaining jobs, which you did, and we chose not to hire you back. That's how things were left - You didn't refuse to do any more work for us, you didn't chase us down for unpaid bills, you didn't refute the decision to withhold payment for the time spent installing the railings. Those things are simply not true.

The delay in my reviews are due to the fact that the mould and water leaking issues had just become evident this spring. I was willing to let things rest until we had to pay to have your work fixed.

Davin took a small 1946 bathroom and turned it into a contemporary one that fitted in with the rest of my home. His knowledge and experience helped me obtain what I wanted. He gutted the old bathroom completely and gave me a modern bathroom with a custom built shower with a bench and other accessories necessary for older people. Davin's open and pleasant manner made me feel comfortable in asking questions. He knows the market for bathroom accessories and encouraged me to research and obtain the best bang for my buck. His sub-contractors were first rate. I got exactly what I wanted and will use him in the future.

Samson Homes renovated a bathroom for me in 2016. I was really impressed with how it turned out. Davin did a great job helping me with the design and I really like how it looks. The reno was on-budget, on-time etc according to our contract. I will be going to them again for my next project. Cheers.

Professional timely skilled service, great results. I would recommend this contractor for any size job from complete home construction , decks to bathroom and kitchens. You won't be disappointed

We have worked with Samson Homes on several projects. Always organized and clean sites when we show up to do our work which helps us do our job easier and more efficiently. In turn it makes the project run smoothly and stay on schedule. Highly recommend using Samson Homes!