Caleb in Calgary

This is a review for the sister company Texture Craft Projects Corp, which does not have a presence on Homestars. The company is owned and operated by the same person. Our basement experienced some sewage backup during the June floods of 2013. Insurance covered the damage. As they were overwhelmed by claims, they'd engaged a third-party adjuster who sent Texture Craft our way - our insurance had never dealt with them before. We elected to extend the repairs to a complete basement remodeling. This was a nightmare. Texture Craft's project management was non-existent. I had to call the project manager for status updates in order to get something happening, and most of the time this took the form of a guy coming over with a few 2x4s to do a small amount of framing, whereupon he'd then leave, and we wouldn't see anything more for a week or so until I contacted them again. There were delays upon delays - there was only a small amount of framing to do, and 8 months in the framing was "done", and they sent us a bill - except the framing was not secured to the floor, was not square or straight, frequently had significant gaps, etc. I refused to pay the bill until these issues were fixed, and they told me that they were thinking of just ending the contract where it was. They did send out a carpenter to fix some tiny issues, but the major ones remained. I was doing the electrical work myself, and had to pull an electrical permit. The lady at City Hall noticed that no plumbing permits were pulled for the plumbing work they'd done, no building permit was taken out, and there was a gas permit taken out by the subcontractor who'd put in the fireplace six months ago - that was about to expire literally the next day. I called in the gas inspection, and the inspector promptly failed it because they had put the wood framing materials inside the no-combustibles region - if I'd used the fireplace, my house would have burned down. Meanwhile, the owner of the business kept claiming that no permits were required, and didn't pull any permits until I informed him that City Hall said otherwise. Then they suddenly pulled permits and sent their plumber in to make some fairly significant changes to the work they'd done. I terminated my relationship with them due to the deficient workmanship and informed them I'd pay their invoice less the costs to repair the work. Steve Korner immediately started threatening me and filed a lien on my house, as well as a lawsuit against me for the full amount of their invoice. Despite clear deficiencies in workmanship, he refused to accept that he shouldn't be owed less than the full invoice amount, plus their project management fee. His behaviour was bullying throughout. At one point I had to serve him with some papers. Their registered business address is invalid - they are not there. Since they are a corporation, that left me with having to serve a director of the corporation at his residence. Steve Korner was irate that I had dared to come to his residence to serve him and assaulted me. Do not do business with these people if you value your home, your safety and your sanity.

Action Furnace had a deal where buying a high-efficiency furnace would also get an AC installed for $1000. Since our furnace was ancient and overdue for replacement, we decided to go ahead with the replacement and take advantage of the deal. The sales rep told us we'd be receiving a high-efficiency AC, scaling with the type of furnace we bought - we bought a top-of-the-line furnace, but only received the basic model AC. When discussing this with the manager later, he said that they only sell those in Calgary, since the AC season is so short it doesn't make fiscal sense to get a more expensive unit. During the quote for the furnace, the sales rep told us the furnace would be vented through the roof, in the same location the old furnace vented. When the installers arrived, however, they spent several hours deciding where to go. They asked for permission to cut a hole through our wall to make way for a vent into the backyard, through the side of the house. I gave permission for the hole, which they cut - and then decided not to use, going through the roof after all. They patched the hole with a piece of hard plastic. They drilled out through the side of the house to make a pilot hole for the AC's pipes - this tore out a sizeable chunk of stucco from the siding of the house. They didn't use this hole, instead drilling a different hole underneath, and plugged up the pilot hole with silicon. When later asked to repair the damage, the original installer came out, somewhat surly, and patched it with white stucco - the original stucco was grey. His excuse - he didn't bring any grey stucco with him. They also ripped out a section of the wall (ripped, not cut) to gain access to the drain, which they claimed 'wasn't fixable' because the pipe was in the way. Last, but not least, I paid for vent cleaning, which was not done. The installers said that they like the new furnace to settle in before they clean the vents, but they never came back. When I called in to ask when it was going to happen, I was told they don't clean vents during their busy season (fall + winter). I've patiently waited and haven't heard a peep since, and the summer has come and gone. The deal seemed good, but they padded the price elsewhere and it seems to have worked out the same as if I paid full price for the AC. Given the quality of work of the installers and the damage done to my house, I wish I'd gone with a different company.