We hired AM to PM Construction in Feb 2020 and it was the worst decision of my life. The timing was unfortunate given the pandemic, but how the company treated our project and, in turn, our family was unacceptable.
Before starting, AM to PM signed an agreement from our condo re how to carry out work in our building. Among areas of concern, the most critical was that the condo popcorn ceilings have asbestos.
AM to PM signed the paperwork, yet employees still drilled into the popcorn to install a drop down ceiling. I came home (with my 7-month-old daughter) seeing this. AM to PM later denied knowing – at which time I had to remind them of the paperwork they signed.
This issue caused severe anxiety as it put our family’s health in danger. The workers drilled without putting up plastic sheeting to protect the rest of the property, so dust billowed into our bedrooms. They never cleaned at the end of the day and didn’t even own a wet/dry shop-vac.
Because of the asbestos incident, I paid for multiple air tests, carpet cleaning, and I cleaned the condo like a maniac. AM to PM tried to compensate by plastering over the rest of our living room ceiling but the damage was already done, specifically to my mental health.
It got worse. Here are some of our other experiences:
1. Unreliable and unprofessional i.e. no consistent working hours (sometimes didn’t show up at all), didn’t keep the worksite clean, mistreated the material we bought for the project (left paint brushes and trays to dry) and never returned our condo key (so we had to replace the locks)
2. Dishonest about competency i.e. I was told they had experience with painting kitchen cabinets. First they tried painting with a paint brush (seriously) and then brought a friend to complete the task with an arts and crafts air brush gun. Our wood cabinets were ruined and we ended up having to buy brand new MDF cabinetry –which we paid for, not AM to PM.
3. Lacked attention of detail i.e. We bought one piece of custom kitchen cabinetry (to match our existing) that AM to PM would order and install. It was supposed to be white to match our refinished kitchen cabinets (that were later ruined) – however, AM to PM ordered it in in the wrong colour…even though it was written to him in text and email.
There are more examples but you get the point. We let it go on too long (almost 4 months). My partner and I were first time homeowners and were taken advantage of, and once our expectations were at rock bottom we just wanted to ensure that AM to PM left our property safe for our family before we cut ties. That didn’t happen.
We had to hire an electrician to address exposed wires, a kitchen cabinetry company to redo our kitchen, and a handyman to address jobs like installing French doors (the hole AM to PM cut for the doors was too small, of course) and to re-do AM to PM’s amateur tiling job.
We also paid far too much money in advance. From the outstanding invoices, we owed him $3,000 but the unfinished/unresolved work cost us $17,000 (including new kitchen cabinetry).
I was meaning to write this review sooner but I was scared about how reliving this experience would make me feel. Don’t hire this company – it was the biggest mistake of my life. I would be happy to speak about it further with you, if the platform allows that.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $27,000.00
- Company Response
First off your review is very misleading, even the pictures you put up our very misleading and I think it's very low of someone to try to take away someone's livelihood and make things worse than what they really were. You and your husband purchased the French doors by the way, how convenient that you left that part out, the fact that it was the wrong dimensions is on you not me. It is very sad because Everything started off very smoothly at your job you and your husband Made things very complicated. It started because you wanted a drop ceiling and you thought because you had asbestos in your popcorn ceiling that us drilling into that was going to cause a problem as far as some health concerns go. Because you have a newborn and I try to be as professional and respectful as I can to my clients I accommodated you for that which made our job 10 times harder but we still got it done. There was never a risk involved as far as us drilling screws into your ceiling because as my pictures will show there wasn't a popcorn ceiling where we were drilling. Also as far as the cabinets go it was not me that made the mistake it was Fengfa I had told them countless times the island was supposed to be blue and the cabinets were supposed to be white they messed up and made both blue and instead of taking my side You just went with whatever they said. I had argued with them countless times about it try to get them to correct the mistake but I feel like you just wanted to get new cabinets anyways so you use that as an excuse to do so and wanted to charge me for it. Last week as the job progressed we then got hit with the pandemic which made it very hard for me to even go and get a box of screws if I needed from Home Depot all my suppliers were closed. At this point you and I came to an agreement that I would not leave the job And quarantine until I gave you a proper living space and when the pandemic calm down I would then come back and complete the job and that's exactly what I did my guarantee was that you would have a finish floor finish ceiling and the cabinet people would come in and do what they do and install the cabinets and the island that you needed, and that is exactly what happened. Furthermore I would like to add once again that it is extremely unprofessional and low of you to try to demean someone like you have done to me by posting these horrible reviews all over every website that I deal with. When I came back to get my tools he wouldn't allow me to take them with me and you kept them along with the $3000 balance which is still owed to me and my tools which were worth $1500 at least. I'm sorry that we got hit with a pandemic in the middle of your job and that kind of mixed things up a bit but I did my best to ensure that you and your husband and your newborn baby had a safe place to live before I quarantine with my family as we were all unaware of how serious or dangerous COVID-19 was at that time.
One final thing I must add, you and your husband asked me to write up a fake invoice showing that my Reno cost more then it did so you can bring it to your bank, that's the kind of people I was dealing with on this job, it gave me doubts about you from the beginning, that was fine for you to request that, but then to act as though I'm the shady one.