SM in South Surrey

I needed to get a deck replacement and had decided to go with Duradeck because of its low maintenance. After meeting with a few contractors and getting some quotes a friend of mine recommended calling Larry from Gradiant Construction. Not only was his quote one of the most competitive but he was able to get a crew out fairly quickly to get started as we were entering the summer months. The crews we good, super friendly and cleaned up the job site at the end of every day. I was happy with the quality of work. We ended getting a 250 sq/ft deck with about 100 ft of custom privacy fence. and a couple of gates.

Upon seeing many favourable reviews on Tanners Turf on our community facebook group I decided to have him come out and take a look at our postage size lot. We were looking to either rock it or use turf as I was tired of the hassles of caring for 200 sqft of grass over the summers when we are away so much. We decided to not go with synthetic turf but rather just use river rock like we had down the sides of the house. I was please that they were able to do the job fairly quickly but there a few issues that never were addressed upon follow up emails to Tanner. They used a different size rock than the size of the house so you can see a transition at the area where they meet. I am assuming they went with a smaller rock because it was cheaper. There was no leveling done on the yard whatsoever so rock was so high that a side gate wouldn't open. I also had him put in a two brick high garden wall. Again there was no leveling done which I had asked for and so the wall on one side only has one brick showing and transitions to two bricks at the other end. My neighbour who happened to be outside while they were working overheard one of the workers called out the mistake to which the manager replied not to worry the client won’t notice. They also took a new tree on of the yard while doing the work by left it out to bake in the sun while they were working and the tree died shortly thereafter. I emailed him on the issues and heard back once that he would look to make it right but then never heard back and followups went unanswered.

EDIT I had to update this review because in hindsight their attention to detail was pretty poor. The edging on the walls is very poor and in some spots, that went unnoticed eg painting right over things like a switch and built in vacuum holder. Original I was in a rush to get our house painted prior to listing it on the market so I called Wow 1 Day as well as a few others. They were able to come out within a couple of days for a quote and we went with them because although not done " in one day" they were able to get the whole job done in two days and there was a lot to do. They had a team of close to a dozen people in here painting high staircase walls and ceilings. I was impressed at how organized they were and how quickly it was done. They cleaned up after themselves and there were no issues with the work they had done. Although not the cheapest of the bunch having our house back to normal in a day or two was worth the small amount more than the other companies.

I will start with the good. The delivery guys were excellent. Friendly, on time and quick with the install. The not so good is when we first walked in to buy the units we knew exactly what we were looking for and they happened to be the only store that had what we wanted in stock. The salesman was short with us during the whole process which is fine (not here to be buds) but he gave us the number on the unit and the installation/ delivery charges he verbally told us one thing and bundled different charges into the final price. It wasnt until a few days later and after the install they got back to us with the unbundled numbers (which we needed for a home warranty claim) That we realized they charged us for $40 for removal and recycling of old appliances (which they only took them into the garage) and 180 for delivery and installation which we were told when we asked (twice) that it was $100 I have used Coast in the past so I probably just got unlucky with the salesman as even the delivery guys didn't speak to highly of him. Watch out for a tiny man that seems like he just came back form finding a parking ticket on his car.

Had a friend refer me to these guys when talking about needing to put up a fence. (this is before I found Homestars) Went in to talk with the yard manager and he was really good. I gave him basic dimensions on the yard and he was very good about recommending qualities and products. Delivery was on time and quickly unloaded in a convenient spot in my yard as the fence wasn't going in for another week or two. Products were of good quality and pricing was very competitive compared to other quotes I received.

Had them install kitchen cabinets in our basement suite. The cabinets went in crooked, had streaks all over them and white glue marks down the edges. They came out to have a look and said they their production facility must have varnished them with a dirty rag and there wasn't much they could do to fix it. Suggested using Black Gold to keep them shiny which was basically like putting Pledge all over them which got rid of the streaks but made them look greasy. Believe it or not when they installer came in to address the glue marks along the edges he pulled out a Sharpie marker to cover up the white marks. Fast forward a year later and multiple emails back and forth they are finally coming out to replace the cabinets. They beyond terrible at returning calls so don't expect much from these guys. They also started suggesting up upgrade the cabinets as the ones the would have to replace would still have glue marks on them as they don't make a glue adhesive. (why sell these in the first place then?) I was told by the owner they would come by July 9th to replace the doors. I took the day off work and they called me an hour after they were supposed to show up and said they weren't coming today. Couldn't get a hold of them for a month then they were coming out Aug 10th. Took the day off work and they never shows again. Called me two days later to see when they could come out and they said they forgot about the other days.

They say hindsight is 20/20 and I wouldn't buy a doghouse from these guys. Every contractor they used on the project used the absolute cheapest quality materials and workmanship possible. Corners were cut anywhere and everywhere to save money. I should have know from the site sign they had on the development site that had their own company name spelled wrong. I ended up buying from them based on promises of quality and seeing a house they had completed in Cloverdale that was quite well done. (turns out they came in halfway through the job so it wasn't all them) Also there were no other properties in the South Surrey neighbourhood offering coach homes at the time. My list of deficiencies after completion was about 7 pages long. Cracked, missing and crooked tiles. Mismatched tiles missing doors crooked cabinets fridge installed in such a way that one of the doors wouldn't open unless you pull the fridge out broken faucets and toilet seats beyond poor paint work crooked walls and windows This is just a small list of things that need work. They came out to fix some minor work over the course of the year. Minor painting, cleaning atrocious grout work. But many on the things that in my estimation would cost more that $50 to fix they simply ignored. I had to get National Home Warranty involved which was a whole other PITA and they finally came out to get some more of the larger jobs done like replacing tile. They ended up doing more damage to the surrounding tile work to the point where I just wanted them to stop and leave. I am sure I could do a better job myself and I have NEVER tiled. I'm two years into this place and still fighting to have work completed. Of the six houses they completed in South Surrey four have had issues and problems similar to mine. The other two I haven't heard from to know. Again the quality and pride of workmanship was some of the poorest I have ever seen and I would not be doing business with them again.....ever