Cml Renovations

Our experience was frighteningly similar to the previous review but at a much higher cost. Please take ours, and the previous advice and do not even consider hiring Chris for any project. We thought we did everything right in the interview process by checking references, asking for licenses, asking many questions but in the end it was all untrue and deceitful. We hired CML to do a major renovation on a recently purchased home. He seemed very eager to land the job and presented himself as having a lot of knowledge and experience. Although it was a whole home reno Chris described it as easy and promised an 8 week turnaround.
The delays, excuses and shady behaviour started the first week of the project. At the time of signing our contract, promises were made about trades that would be hired and quality of work. This all proved false as for the most part as any work that was actually done seemed to be from an assortment of people that in my opinion were nothing more than last minute "cash corner" labourers. The quality of work was terrible and work ethic was equally as bad. At the 6 week point it was apparent that this was going to take much longer than the 8 weeks promised. Chris proved to be confrontational and aggressive when timelines and quality of work were questioned. Finally at the 12 week mark with the reno nowhere near being even close to complete we had a quality concern about a major part of the project that he refused to properly fix, at this point he quit on us.
After hiring a new, reputable contractor, major problems with wiring, plumbing and framing that were done by CML were discovered. Not to mention discovering that certain high quality materials (i.e.. hardwood) that we requested were substituted with lower end ones in order for him to pocket extra money. After further investigating CML, we discovered he had no valid business license, WCB coverage or provincial prepaid contractors license and hadn't hired any licensed trades or taken out permits….all things that he had told us he had and would do.
This was truly an example of a worst case scenario renovation that turned our dream home renovation into a nightmare.

Please do not let Chris into your house for any work whatsoever. He will make many wonderful promises, and then hire people who have no idea what they are doing or just could not care less how it turns out. My two week project turned into 8 months. I ended up spending hundreds of hours fixing his work myself and now am paying someone else to do work he never completed. When I argued that the workmanship was horrible and we were months behind schedule and so I did not owe him the final amount he wanted (I offered 500$ instead of the $600 he wanted) he threatened to put a lean on my house and I ended up paying him $300 to walk away and not even finish any of the final work. This is all because he says that he gave me such "great deals" on the original price.

I'm sure that I will have more and more issues with the work he did in the future. Please don't put yourself through this.