We initially engaged Monaco looking for a designer for a major reno but decided to hire them for the whole job (design/architecture + construction) because Revi appeared knowledgeable, and it seemed like a good idea to hire one team to do it all. It started off well but was ultimately an incredibly frustrating experience. It has now been a year since completion, so weve had a chance to live in our new home and reflect.
The construction began on schedule. Nine days after they began, demolition was completed, the support beam was in place, the new walls were framed out, the utilities were run, and all the initial permits were closed. At that point, we were very optimistic.
The core construction team, led by Steven, was competent. As a result, a year later, there have been no structural issues.
The problems started to mount when we got to the finishings. There were two major sources of problems mediocre sub-contractors, and Revis disinterest in our project and argue now, fix later attitude. It became clear that Revi had delegated our job to her assistant (without informing us prior to signing the contract) and did not feel a sense of ownership of our job.
There were several large mistakes made throughout construction incorrect kitchen cabinetry, backsplash tiles, interior doors, hardware, mismatched stain on the stairs and landings, amongst others. While we were sold on a process that focused on quality assurance, we found ourselves doing the job for them, and the most frustrating part was that each time we found a mistake, there would always be an argument before it was fixed.
The mismatched stairs incident is the best example of this. We pointed out from the day it was done that there was a problem with the colour to anyone who would listen. Instead of coming and seeing it with her own eyes, Revi argued with us for two weeks by email, citing the contract that said the stairs/landing may not be a perfect match to the flooring, questioning whom we informed (it was everyone), claiming that it couldnt be fixed Until she saw it with her own eyes and immediately recanted. So much stress could have been saved if she had just taken ownership of our job.
It felt like she did not get to know us to the extent necessary to do a good job. For example, she had our house painted in a beautiful high end matte paint that looks great and wears terribly. This would have been a good choice for a larger home or one without children, but in our small and spirited house, it looks dirty and needs repainting a year later.
Then there were the problems with sub-contractors. I had a month of stress because the electrician, to get out of 30 minutes of work, claimed that our ceiling fans could not be wired the way they had been safely wired for years prior, and Revi argued back and forth, telling us her contractor wouldnt do it because it could cause a fire .. until we got another licensed electrician to write a statement saying she was wrong. Similarly, before paying Revi an additional amount to have her painter fix water staining around our skylights, we paid her roofer to inspect to ensure there was no active leakage. He inspected three times during the reno (once for a separate issue) and found none of the glaring issues which caused leaking within months, damaging our newly finished ceilings.
Since the construction ended last summer, we have reached out with several issues and most have been dealt with. However, we were not able to solve the problems caused by the aforementioned leaking due to repeated incompetence by their roofing contractor. In trying to get her to remedy this, she once again cited the contract without understanding the situation, and then finally offered to fix it, but in her offer included an insane ChatGPT generated agreement that sounds like a fake lawyer wrote it, that says she will fix it if we promise not to reflect upon our experience publicly. And because my silence is worth more than some ceiling repairs and paint, we are here today telling you we would not hire her again.
