Driveway / Retaining Wall Project
Originally quoted as a 6-8 week project it took almost 12 months before they fully completed the job.
Workmanship is poor - I have had to do minor repairs on several aspects of the work they did.
Communication was terrible. Several times I had to call them after long periods with no one showing up at the job.
I had heard lots of good things about them so not sure what happened but our experience was not a good one at all!
UPDATE BASED ON COMPANY RESPONSE:
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This is an addition to the previous story that Belvedere responded to. For the record both the stucco on the garage front and the spackling on the driveway curbs cracked during the first winter and Belvedere did not repair anything. The stucco cracking was quite severe and was an eye sore at the front of the house. MANY of the interlocking stones used for the stairs up to the house had to be re-glued. The doorway from the garage into the house was not hung level and therefore you need to play with it to get it to lock. If this is their idea of quality workmanship then i think my rating is justified.
They did put pictures on their website which they took right after it was complete, it shows the near dead sod they put down as part of that job. Quality to the last detail for sure. Why not go back and take pictures now so people can see the cracked stucco and cracked spackling on the curbs?
Note: in their response back to my original comments even they acknowledge that i had to keep calling them for updates. Whether it was the city or not our supposed project manager never called us or gave us any indication of what was going on. We had to keep calling them. As no one would show up for days or even weeks without explanation.
As you can see many others are happy with Belvedere's work i only caution to let them do simple jobs, this one in my opinion was way over their head and the workmanship was definitely POOR. My biggest surprise was that they did nothing to rectify the situation and NEVER offered to fix things that were already breaking before the job was fully complete.
FINAL COMMENTS:
I don't understand why Belvedere is still responding to a 4 year old review. They note that someone who was unhappy wouldn't pay in full. That is correct - we didn't and stated we wouldn't based on the quality of the work. Belvedere just walked away at that point. They also state that our review is still negative even though we sold the house - what does that even mean? We should feel better about the work because we moved? Then they go on to try to discredit the review because we also rated another contractor badly. Well maybe i am at fault for not praising those who have done good work - that is a fair comment. But when i note that another contractor told us something would be fixed in the spring, kept delaying all summer and then stopped responding in the fall and your comment is that this contractor is busy and a good person. Really, you stand by this behaviour. Interesting. I will respond no further. This review is 4 years old. You have many positive responses, why continue to worry about it?
- Approximate cost of services:
- $60,000.00
- Company Response
“To Whom It May Concern, I just noticed this negative rating as I was going on the web. We had to deal with many departments of the Building Department City of Toronto, because of structural issues and added permits. The project required more than one department of the City. The time delay was not in our control. We would receive calls from the homeowner asking us about the progress. The best we could do during this time was to tell the owner we are waiting for the City. The project involved not only an architect but also an engineer. The final outcome of the work was so well done, that we show it on our web-site under exterior renovations. The complaints regarding cracks etc. were rectified. We are sorry the job took so long, but as I quoted before, this was not in our control. We were held up waiting for the go ahead from the building department. SECOND RESPONSE BY BELVEDERE when the work was totally completed we were paid the balance owing. We are of the understanding that clients who are critical of a contractors work do not usually pay the whole balance until they are satisfied. This work was done over four years ago and the owner sold the house and now lives elsewhere. The response from the client about Belvedere written currently is still negative, and I repeat they have not lived in the house in question for a few years. I was going through our reviews and came upon a current negative review they have written about another contractor who can't make them happy in their new home. The contractor performed outside masonry work as we had. THEY GAVE THE CONTRACTOR a 1.0 rating, same as they gave us. We know of this contractor and they are very busy and have a great reputation. Yours Truly Eric Giordano (Owner)”