We would not hire James Bauche again and suggest anyone contracting James to proceed with considerable caution.
Our basement renovation (we lowered our basement 2 feet) took 9 months, more than twice as long as it needed to, as James concentrated on larger contracts. Through those 9 months, James demonstrated little concern for the quality of the renovation.
James informed that as the framing would be new all would be square, yet the framing was rushed, clearly not square, which subsequently led to substandard subsequent work highly visible imperfections.
Another framing issue related to the size of the door frame installed. We noticed the door frame was too small for our washer/dryer, which were in the basement, to fit through. Several arguments needed to occur before he redid a wall permitting a wider door frame.
Though we expected skilled trades people, James subcontracted our renovation to a jack-of-all-tradesman with no experience installing bathroom tiles of our characteristics and design. The same tradesman was to complete our doors, floors and trim, among other tasks. The tiles were very poorly completed, requiring us to confront James. He did eventually consent to having skilled tradespeople finish the job and redo the bathroom tiling, but not without, again, an unnecessary degree of protests.
James electrician installed arc fault breakers for our sewage ejector & sump pump, when using expensive arc fault breakers is strongly advised against for sump pumps due to the frequency that they trip. Both tripped repeatedly, several times almost causing our basement to flood. James response was to declare that it had passed inspection. Weve since paid out of pocket for the removal of that which should have never been installed.
Almost at the end of our renovation, James claimed that our bathroom glass shower wall was not part of the contract (though wed spoken of it often throughout the 9 months) and required us to pay a further cost for its installation. He did not receive even more of our money, yet to rid ourselves of him , we agreed to find an installer and deduct the cost from his final payment.
Though the quality of James tradespeople was good (eventually), our overall dealings with James was deplorable. He repeatedly misinformed, manipulated and rudely treated us. He frequently promised aspects of the reno would be done, chose not to do them, and then later explained why they could not be completed when it was too late to have the work completed. He got away with what he could and misrepresented reality to keep from living up to his contractual obligations. He has minimal pride in his work and cannot be trusted.
Mark Shim
- Approximate cost of services:
- $70,000.00