Belfor Restoration Services

Like others, insurance hired belfor to replace the drywall after some plumbing let go in our storage room. Initially, the asbestos removal took over a week, which is understandable because of the scope of the job. After they completed the asbestos removal, we didn't hear from the company for a week about when they were going to start installing the drywall, it's now been two weeks for two small sections of wall and a small section of the roof, and the job is still not done.

On top of the slowness, we had issues with employees trying to enter rooms they had no business being in in the first place, and all of our tools have been in storage for almost a month now, because they are taking so long to finish this job. Not to mention some of the employees smelling so strongly of cigarette smoke that it's permeated our downstairs when they're in the storage room.

Will never recommend this company to anyone.

Poor customer service and complete disregard for the satisfaction of the home owner. Unprofessional crews caused damage to personal property and refused to take responsibility. Simply left damaged property hoping the owner would not notice. Additional cost incurred at owners expense as result of direct actions of the company and refusal to assist.

Our home flooded in December 2014. We hired Belfor and what a mistake! They charged for things they never did, over inflated their hours, used unskilled temp agency labor and charged licenced contractor rates did poor work, and until they found out our insurance company would only pay them half of what they wanted, were nice as can be. After that they were rude as heck! Then they slapped a lein on our property for $82,000!!! 2yrs and 15grand later in attorney Great (ours) we had to settle and pay them $43,000!! PLEASE!! DO NOT USE BELFOR!!! Our whole world has changed because of these jerks!!!

Insurance hired Belfor to complete water damage in 2nd, 1st and basement floors. Damage happened Sept 22. Today is Dec 14. The work is just now "complete." Several holes were left in drywall by the contractors. I agreed to fix holes, replace toilet and trim if money would be taken off bill. No word 2 weeks later on where head contractor is. No refund. My estimate is 4-5 thousand over charged. Not professional or timely unless it is to collect your money.

We had water in our basement. Intact insurance sent Belfor and that's when the nightmare began. A drain pipe in the wall broke and they did not find it, so the water kept flooding. I had to find the break myself and show it to them. It was a week before they sent anyone to do restoration work. Two workers spent two hours in my house, and then left when the insurance company said they would not pay for the work. So I asked Belfor to remove the rest of the damaged material. I took a day off work to let their workers in and nobody showed up. It was three weeks before Belfor agreed to send workers again. I took another day off work, the workers showed for 30 minutes and then left "to get supplies from the warehouse." They never came back or called. I fired Belfor, one month after the water break, at which point they had done only two hours of restoration work in my house. Then they sent us a bill for $1600. When we didn't pay it, they sicked a bill collector on my wife, calling her at work multiple times. Then they sued us in small claims court for the $1600. DON'T LET BELFOR ON YOUR PROPERTY.

Took them 2 and half months to do a 3 week job. On top of the that they were disrespectful, rude and unpleasant people. I didnt enjoy them in or around my house, the project manager dodged our calls and never returned them. They completely warped and installed our cabinets wrong, the project manager has completely ignored this and hasn't done anything to fix it. We ended up fixing the problem ourselves.

Belfor was hired by my insurance company to repair a wall that had been hit by an impaired driver. The wall had been standing for thirty years prior to the accident and looked as solid as the day it was made but for the chunks that had been knocked out by the car. Belfor employees showed up and talked a great game. Told me how they were going to fix the wall. They took down a good ten feet of wall on either side of the impact point. Charged the insurance company almost twenty grand. Less than two months later the wall was separating at the corners. Almost a year later Belfor’s solution? Paint over the problem. The wall looks far worse than the prior wall which had been hit by a car! And they want to paint over their poor workmanship.

Now that I’ve done some research I realize Belfor has such bad reviews I would not have independently hired them. Lesson number two, don’t assume insurance companies know anything about quality contractors. Lesson number one? Way away from Belfor.

Four months ago our pipes broke and flooded our basement with almost 4'' of water. Belfor was the company that was working for our insurance company, and they came right away to come remove the damaged items from the basement. Straight off the bat, we should have been notified of all the items that were removed from the site and double checked with us as they left so we knew what items to claim and report to our insurance company. They did no such thing. They removed everything right away with no updates and packed everything in their truck and left. E

verything ensued for the next 2 weeks, they came to tear down the damaged walls and replaced and painted new ones. Throughout this time, we consistently asked for the list of removed items but they either ignored our calls, never got back to us or said yes but never sent them.

When the project manager came to check on the progress of the basement, we once again asked him for the list of removed and damaged items- in which he so intently made notes on in his notebook. In addition to that, we also gave him a deadline as we were leaving for vacation for 2 weeks and would prefer the basement to be finished by then. Please note that the deadline we gave him allowed for a months time, which i think is more than fair. After the discussion, the project manager agreed and noted our deadline and reassured us that he would get his receptionist to send us the list.

A couple weeks went by, no list, no updates and no news. Except for the guys who came to replace our kitchen cabinets. Not only were we never asked to pick a color for it, the replaced counters were damaged and chipped. They didn't even bother letting us know until we took pictures and asked them to look at it...in which they just said "Oh, yeah...we'll let our boss know". Ok, whatever. A chip in the corner, it's not a huge deal. The nightmare ensues.

We meet with the flooring company to choose the colors we want for each room. Their objective was just to replace what was removed and restore everything to the way it was, no matter how we installed it initially, their goal was just to put in the flooring as it was...but a month goes by and there is no one is working in the basement, we call the project manager and no one picks up, we leave a message on his voice mail and with his receptionist, and still no response. However, a man from the flooring company finally comes to work, but the work and the materials were cheap and terribly done...we called the flooring company and they said they would take a look, and if it was their fault, they would replace and order a new shipment.

When we finally get a call back from the project manager, it's already a couple days before we leave for our vacation, the project manager then informs us that they flooring company will not and is not "comfortable" with putting the flooring down without leveling first...this "leveling" by the way, is not coming out of their pocket, it's ours. Who knew we'd still need to pay extra after paying so much for insurance? Anyway, we then had to put the project on hold as we couldn't deal with it considering we were leaving the country.

When we return, this drama continues. A back and fourth battle as to who, what and how to finish the flooring. All we ask is that the floor be put in the way it was before- no leveling, just flooring. It's now been 4 months and our basement is still in shambles, they wont do anything unless we pay for the leveling which we shouldn't have to. So far, we've had beg and plead for them to do the flooring in the bedrooms without leveling, which they agreed to, but will not give us a warranty. However they still wont do the dining and living room and has now suggested us to A. pay for the leveling or B. Have them leave the materials and have us find another flooring company to finish it. This is absolutely laughable. We didn't pay for insurance to have ourselves fix our own basement in the end.

This project is still unresolved, and the last thing the project manager said to me was "our hands are tied" and left the conversation at that. We will be contacting our insurance company directly and continue from there.

Like everyone else says
DO NOT ENGAGE THIS COMPANY

LATER EDIT (just discovered another gem from this shady company, while rebuilding my basement one of their guys approached me and asked if I wanted my baseboards replaced with mdf or wood. I told him they were wood so I want wood. He told me I either had to choose mdf or they would clean the wood ones. After a while they agreed to replace with wood. After they were all installed it looked like mdf to me so I asked one of their guys and he assured me it was just primered. I just pulled some baseboards off and the greasy buggers installed mdf. These guys need to be watched closer than a baby playing near water

A basement flood repair job that I could have finished in a month and a half myself has taken 8 months. The project manager was extremely unprofessional and rude. I quote from an email from the project manager in regards to some very poor work "I don't know why you are so worried about the code" this was in regards to the building code. I was warned by a coworker when my basement flooded he said "do not let belfor step one foot in your house" I should have listened it would have saved a lot of trouble. Although the work was fairly slapped together, the workers were all very friendly, polite and hard working. After all the issues I had with the project manager I contacted the Alberta code inspectors then I contacted Belfors head office, the office seemed to handle things fairly well and they seem to be working on resolving the issues I had. Like others say, they will come by for an hour or two for a couple days then they don't show up for a few weeks then out of no where you're having drinks with your buddy and you hear someone punching the code into the front door and letting themselves in. Very random times people would show up and I wouldn't get a notification or anything. The project manager was absolutely rude right from the start I feel bad for his employees. With the work they do I don't know how they stay in business. Very unprofessional, very dishonest, quite poor work. I do thank the fella from the office I contacted "Greg" he seems to have gotten things rolling again. Thanks greg

Belfor was recommended by a friend and needed quick assistance because I had mold growing in my basement so I engaged them. What should have taken 2-3 weeks took over 3 months. Workers were slow and incompetent spending no more than an hour or so a day and then leaving. The Project manager was the worst. Could never reach him. When the job was finally done, their were many unfinished areas and the work was generally sloppy. Tried to get the Project Manager to do a walk through to show what needed to be completed and corrected. Left messages but he never called back. Three months later the company called me looking for the final payment from the insurance company. Told me the PM was fired. I asked for a walk through to show what still needed to be done. To date, no one has ever come to my house to check the work. The original work was completed in July of 2014. It's now September 2015 I'm still holding the final payment of $2300 per my insurance company's instructions until I'm satisfied with the work. DO NOT ENGAGE THEM UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES