Our house is brand new built six months ago. We wanted to finish the basement so our grand kids could enjoy. Traditional advice is to wait for two years but we went ahead after talking to four companies. Penguin was the most expensive. Despite that we went with them after meeting David. This man is really good at what he does. His high level of technical knowledge and his professionalism in presentation and negotiation clinched the deal. There were hiccups. But any project of this magnitude involving several trades working together will have its struggles. Most of them if not all could be solved by better communication. By this we mean quality and not quantity which is the problem here. Too many people interacting with you. Even the app is not updated or accurate. The only thing it does right is to remind you of payments that are due. The situation worsens and gets stressful when you have a project manager you met initially and never saw or heard from again. He along with all the others at the office will not return calls or respond to messages. However Penguin is blessed with the best trades who are highly skilled, friendly yet professional. The site managers make the difference. Without Vince, the finishing site manager (finishing maestro to us) this project would have been rated a 5 or6. With Vince coming in for the second half this rating jumps to 10 but we will take away 2 stars for the inefficient office staff . He is the best thing that happened to us. He was in way before the trades could come and left way after they'd gone.He kept us in the loop at all times. Every evening he would patiently explain what's been done and what to expect the next day. Any thing you pointed out to him was fixed promptly.
In conclusion, we would highly recommend Penguin to any one but remind them that what matters is a good beginning and the satisfactory ending everything in between requires extra diligence and patience. My wife and I are excited about our new basement and look forward to our grand kids enjoying it.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $55,000.00
- Company Response
Hi Maurice, thanks for taking time to post the review. We are constantly making strides to improve our communication, both internally and externally, and recently implemented changes that your build showed could be better. You're specific job was a challenge for our internal vetting process we put in place to ensure all communication is clear and accurate as it was a fast 13-day build. Thanks to you, we will be looking to improve our internal review speed to match a fast build and how quickly personal move in and out of a project. We may even rejig the office layout to put key people in close proximity. As you could tell by the people you met, we are passionate about what we do, and we want to build the best basements, and deliver the best experience, period. We hope you, your wife and the grand children enjoy the space for many years to come. It was a pleasure working with you.