Canadian Pro Interlocking

I want to keep this review brief and to the point. I will lay out the facts here supported by documentation, hundreds of text messages and unanswered phone calls and let you judge the professionalism, ethics and the quality of work of Canadian Pro Interlocking and Joe.
Something extremely important that I want to share before going into details is that Joe, the owner of the company will not finish the work unless you leave him a 5 star review. Since the payment structure is designed to be completely in his favor, you will have no choice but to meet his demands to simply finish the work. The quality of work is terrible and there is zero professionalism. In fact the entire interaction with Joe was hostile to the point where we just wanted it to end.
We signed a contract on May 13th, 2020 with Canadian Pro Interlocking. The scope was simply the front of the house minus the driveway and a side walkway. All the stone was ordered per Joe’s instructions. The total for the contract was $14,400 out of which we ordered the stone for $5,362 leaving $9,038 in labor plus additional material if needed which were to be paid for and ordered by Joe. The payments are designed so that Joe has more than 90% of his money within the first few visits. We paid $1355 (15%) when we signed the contract in cash. He then showed up 3 more times (May 25th, 28th and June 1st) to demolish our existing concrete staircase and prep the sidewalk for stones. He did all this very efficiently and as promised received 40% ($3615) of his payment. That was the last day we saw him until Oct 5th. Between June 1st and Oct 5th, I sent hundreds of messages and called many many times. The calls were never answered. The messages were answered after 2 or 3 days or weeks. There were promises of showing up next day, on the weekend, or next week that were never kept. He told me that he has 365 days to complete my job after telling me in writing that he will finish it before labor day. He threatened me with a lawsuit because of Covid and how I was pestering him to finish the job. We had a discussion about Covid in May while we were signing the contract outside and he told me that since they work outside, this is not going to be an issue at all. During this time, I had to put some makeshift stairs just for my family to get in and out of the house.
We finally had enough and told him that he either shows up or we will legal action. My wife even got in touch with one of the law firms in Kitchener to pursue the lawsuit. We were informed that he already has one active lawsuit against him, and another inquiry to start a lawsuit. We were shocked to say the least. He then showed up on Oct 5th and told us that he can finish the job but there will be no digging with the machine and we will have to get rid of the concrete ourself. In addition, we will have to pay for all the additional material such as bedding and polymeric sand. We had no choice but to continue with this because we were already out thousands of dollars at this time.
Once his guys were finished digging the sidewalk, he demanded the 40% per the contract. I pointed out that he hasn’t kept a single one of his promises, but he flat out told me to sue him. At this point, we let it go paid him and rented a bin from a disposal service out of our own pocket and ordered all the other material. He then continued to show up once every 2 to 3 weeks and finished the job on Dec 11th. Before finishing the job, he demanded that we leave him a 5 star review. We said no and told him to either finish it or we will leave a 1 star review.
The sidewalk has no grading and the water from the melted snow in Dec started piling up near our basement window. The corner and edge stones are already moving if you walk on them (we don’t, it’s winter). The front stones are not moving, but the stairs are completely different height making it very awkward to climb. The sand is everywhere because it never dried properly due to the snow that we got in Nov. We will now hire someone to fix the sidewalk and to find a solution for our stairs.
I would consider myself very fortunate if I can help even one person by writing this review. Please please please do your research, read the Ontario guidelines about dealing with contractors and hire a reputable company.