Jordana in Toronto

If you’re reading a review looking for a red flag on hiring (or working with) Ridgestone, this is it. We started work with Ernesto and truly believed he was a kind, grandfatherly type man. He seemed knowledgeable and made us feel comfortable. Things proceeded this way (or so we thought) until well into our extensive addition project. What we now know is that Ernesto (& Rosemary) are highly disorganized and unfortunately, highly unethical. There were countless things that came to light once we were living back in our house. Work was very delayed, so we were living there through much of it. Subcontractors complained endlessly and many said they weren’t willing to work for him again for countless, disappointing reasons. We learned that he had flooded our basement and not told us, something we didn’t really believe until we found inches of water and mold in bins of our things. The Ministry of Labour was called by a neighbour because they witnessed unsafe work practices and the representative from the MOL blatantly called out Ernesto for ignoring his requirements. Things went missing from our house and were never returned. Extensive damage was caused across the house (in areas that were not intended to be worked on) and they were either never fixed or we had to pay significantly for it. For both homeowners and subcontractors, be wary that they did not pay one of their large subcontractors. This progressed until the subcontractor was forced to hire a lawyer and threaten a lien on our house (look into how the Construction Act of Ontario works - homeowners are responsible for the debts of your contractors). Eventually Ernesto agreed to have us pay the amount owing to the subcontractor, but it took lots of stress and difficulty. Lastly, over a year later we learned that they never sent the final details to the city to close the permit. In exchange for sending this, they are now “adjusting” our bill to be $5k (even though we’ve been paid in full for over a year… and in reality, the debacle with lawyers and the subcontractor caused us to lose more money beyond what we owed). Evidently this seems intentional and a last ditch cash grab when they think we’re backed into a corner. Overall - the project went far over budget, well over time. The work was average, but in many cases a struggle to get things done right. Regardless, you want a contractor that you can trust. If you’re looking for a reason to look elsewhere, let this be it.

TLDR: Horrible service, terrible to work with, not worth it. I worked with Sophie from the Great Room Staging in December 2016 while selling my townhouse in downtown Toronto. While initially she wasn't the most friendly and was incredibly disorganized, I chose to work with her upon the referral from my realtor and because time was tight and I didn't have time to find another service. Boy, do I wish I had looked elsewhere. The staging of my house was fine - I wasn't wildly impressed or unimpressed, but I never got the sense that she cared much or that she truly wanted to go the extra mile. I also don't think that the investment in Sophie paid itself back in the sale of our home. If you include the confusion, wasted time and awkward/upsetting drama she caused, it was absolutely not worth it. We did have incredible service from contractors that we used, for whom I will post an incredible, raving review. My main issue with Sophie at the Great Room Staging was with the absolutely horrible customer service we received. Firstly, she is very disorganized and communication was difficult. Secondly, we went through each interaction feeling as though Sophie was judgmental and very "salesy". However our biggest issue came at end of our contract - when it was time to pick up the furniture... We coordinated with Sophie for the pick-up of the furniture and agreed on a window for pick-up. As I work full-time, I made it very clear that I had a time commitment at 11:30am and could not stay longer than 11am. Sophie arrived very late at 10:45am, though she had initially confirmed that she would arrive by 10am, and the truck was MIA. The drivers were not responding to calls. She picked up the small things and very clearly explained that she expected me to wait longer until the truck came. She referenced bad traffic and a snowstorm (though weather forecast and the view out the window said differently) as the cause for her lateness and the missing truck. I offered to extend my time at home until 11:30 and help make the pick-up very quick. My husband had already brought all the furniture downstairs to the back door to make it easier. I understand that traffic and weather are unpredictable, so figured we would just figure out another time to try again. My colleague was at my home with me and by this point was feeling incredibly uncomfortable given how meanly Sophie was speaking to me... I just chalked it up to frustration at the weather, though still not acceptable. Sophie continued to tell me that i needed to wait for the drivers, as though my work commitment was irrelevant. She kept saying they must be "around the corner", though we never had that confirmed. I stressed that if they truly were around the corner, I'd rather wait and get it done, rather than having to take more time away from the office another day. Shortly after 11 though, she said we should just reschedule, which was fine with me. She did threaten that we would need to pay for a longer rental of the furniture, but I think she quickly realized that the suggestion was a touch ridiculous. The worst part happened the next day, when Sophie accidentally sent a text message to me that she'd intended for my realtor. This message was making fun of me and talking horribly about me behind my back. She was telling my realtor that the drivers had wasted 6 hours of their time because of me, which is completely untrue. She had initially told me the drivers got into their truck at 10am and drove to my house, so knowing we decided to reschedule at 11am and they had to drive back, that's approx. 2 hours. It's not good for anyone, but that's just the nature of weather/traffic/daily life sometimes. It also references back to her disorganization, because if she knew that they only started driving at 10am and were coming from somewhere far away, she never should have confirmed that our "until 11am" window would have worked... we could have just found a different day/time from the beginning. This also would have helped her avoid the $150 charge for the second visit from the truck, which she complained about as an excuse for why she was sending such rude messages (though, she charges $300/hour). This was, hands-down, the rudest, most unprofessional and most... ridiculous experience I've ever had in customer service.