Southern Cross Plumbing Inc.

At the beginning these guys were not my first choice. If I could, I would have hire another company but timing wasn’t on my side and my condo board asked us to hire them or end up paying more money for the work. Southern Cross was set to replace all the damaged KiTEC pipes in my apartment. They completed the work at the end of October but not on the best quality as promised when hired.

To be fair some of the guys in the house were very friendly but the mess left behind along with the ongoing issues left a sour taste in our mouths. With the holes cut into walls in the bedrooms kitchen and bathroom we found drywall compoud dust on everything. The next day we left a note asking them to cover our things with drop cloths when they were working. But when we came home after work we found everything still covered with dust. We had to wash linens, pillows and duvets twice to get the dust out (each night!). I had to vacuum the couch to get the dust out of the fabric. It sucks now because when I sit on the couch I can see a small cloud of dusty puff up from the couch. Not great if you have allergies.

A bad experience continued every day when they were in the house, with more dust every day and they must have left their work boots on, slopping in water from the outside, and scuffing our hardwood floors. When I got home early one of the days I asked the manager to send someone to clean the floor. A friendly guy with an accent came and used a dirty rag to clean the floor which made it even worse.

If they can not care for your personal property, then how can they take care with the new pipes they install in the apartment? I would not trust them back in my home.

Southern Cross Plumbing was hired to replace existing Kitec water piping throughout our entire condo complex. The project would take several months to complete to ensure all units were retrofitted with new Uponor pipes. They required 1.5 weeks to complete my unit and during this time I decided to live elsewhere (not required) to give them as much space as they needed to finish the work. During this time frame they were to cut through drywall, remove the old pipes, install new pipes, replace the drywall, re-paint using the paint I provided, and clean up after the install. In addition to this, they were to use floor runners and furniture tarps to eliminate any mess to the rest of the home.

While they successfully installed the new pipes, they unfortunately, did not hold up to their end of the bargain in protecting my furniture, floors, or ensuring the home was clean after their project. During the install I did a quick inspection and noticed that tarps or runners were not being used. Drywall dust was everywhere, including leather couches, beds, closets, bathroom and kitchen. When I brought this up to the project manager (Steve) he told me I must have missed them because his crew always uses tarps. Photo evidence shows otherwise. At the end of the project the closet doors were not replaced, hardwood floors were full of boot prints and dried mud/water stains from outside, ceiling air vent was damaged, the furnace did not function properly, and dust still covered my furniture and main living areas. All 21 drywall patches were not painted with the paint I provided (as agreed upon via contact), but painted with a cheap primer. After complaining again to the project manager, they sent someone in to repair the furnace only.

I escalated my concerns with the manager/owner Anton who simply stated he didn’t care and his crew was “hired to install the new pipes and not to be house maids cleaning dust up everywhere”. When I expressed to him his crew didn’t use tarps to minimize mess, didn’t clean up after their work, wore wet boots around the house causing more mess, he chuckled stating “we’re plumbers, not maids”. He was extremely unprofessional, unwilling to take any accountability for the actions of his crew or project manager, and refused to work with me to come to a solution.

In the end I was required to clean the mess they left behind and repaint the walls.

In addition to the above, I’ve learnt from other tenants in the complex that they too have experience similar issues with Anton and his crew, some having a worse experience (i.e. flooding due to washer/dishwasher piping connections not made).

While his team did install the new pipes, I would caution hiring Anton due to his unprofessional behaviour and recommend you look elsewhere for your plumbing needs.