If you're reading this, you must have seen the recent string of zero star reviews for Trisztan, and I'm unfortunately not surprised.
I hired him to do a small interior brick wall project and waited almost a month for him to start instead of going with other masons who could start immediately, largely because he offered a great price. I wish I had just gone with my gut and went with more established firms.
He kept pushing the start date back and back, until he finally showed up a week late to my house. He then told me he didn't feel comfortable doing the project because he had concerns around structural integrity, despite the fact that his own structural engineer had already okayed the plan. He quit the job via text message with no warning and I was left scrambling. I had waited over a month for him, which caused huge problems for me as I only had 2 months to finish my reno.
My best guess is that he just had much bigger projects on the go so he wanted an excuse to quit mine. Do you know why else I think that? I then hired one of the other masons - they were amazing and did the project with no problems whatsoever. What he did was so completely unprofessional and just a brutal thing to do to any homeowner.
Edit:
Trizstan, if you read my review carefully, you would have seen that I hired another mason after you abandoned the project. He did it with absolutely zero problems - see attached pictures. I also had two other masons come see the wall and they all told me the same thing - this was not a "dangerous" job at all.
It only took me ~1 week to find someone else - I waited 3 months because I just submitted all reviews at the same time for everyone I worked with during my home renovation, and you were one of the worst experiences I had. The only reason I'm writing this review now is to tell anyone reading this that there are literally dozens of other great masons in the GTA area, don't pick one that will make you wait a month, only to abandon your project without warning.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $3,000.00
- Company Response
Hello Eugene, sorry hear you upset! I think to say that there is a recent string of zero is little harsh. We are the best of HomeStars winner in both 2021 & 2022. We complete over 100 projects every year and 95% of our customers are satisfied as that is our number one priority but unfortunately we can't keep everyone happy or be on the same page with all of the customers when it comes to sensitive topics such as job site safety. If I may clarify the situation I was contacted by you to cut out an opening on a load bearing brick wall on the second floor which had large amounts of mixed materials used in the walls such as bricks, concrete blocks and wood. I told you that I personally do not think that it's a good idea to disturb that 120 year old wall that is already not built to meet the Ontario building codes but you have told me that you have a month to complete this project and to move into your new home as you have to leave your previous house by a certain day and you could not find any masons available. I then eventually agreed to TRY and help see what we might be able to do to help you out. I have reached out to my structural engeneer for you to book a site visit with you to see what are our options. The one and only option was to close off the existing doorway to the room to support the load on the structural wall then once that has been done I can move forward cutting out the new doorway from the inside of the room that has now have no emergency exit as it has been closed off to reinforce the wall prior to disturbing the area where the New opening was supposed to go. I told you that I do not feel comfortable moving forward with the project as I will not risk my own or any of my employees life or safety disturbing a load bearing wall with no emergency exist. I purchased all your bricks, mortar and steel lintel to complete the project and on top I have returned your 40% deposit in full and provided you with all the materials for free! To also clarify the topic of being delayed let's start with our fist site visit. My structural engeneer could not meet you until a week later after our site visit as he was out of the country so I could not begin any work on your projects besides dropping off the materials on site until he signed off on a plan. After he completed the site visit he needed 3 days to come up with the one and only plan which then I did not feel comfortable moving forward with as mentioned. I respectfully have communicated to you that this is something you will need get in touch with another company for who is willing to take the risk. I am sorry you are upset sir but this happened over 3 months ago so my only guess is that you could not find a contractor who was willing to do the project because of the safety issues. So you went out of your way to leave this review after We did everything to help. We deeply apologize for not being able to help you on this project but as I said there are some things such as our safety and my responsibility as a business owner is to make sure that all of my employees get to go home safe at the end of the day and we are not willing risk our personal safety. Please respect businesses and do not leave reviews simply because you are upset contractors aren't willing to risk their heath and safety so you can have a Landry room on your second floor.
Cheers! We wish you all the best & hope you were able to get the project done.