I don't even know where to start, this guy is clueless and here is my catalogue of issues with him.
After the demo took place and he removed my washer and gas dryer they were to be relocated in the basement. From this we had a capped gas line that had to be decommissioned in the basement. Mike decides to open the gas line without telling anyone in the house. It filled the house with gas while my infant slept right above in his room, my wife had called me freaking out and she decided to get our baby up and leave the house. Why he didn't just purge the gas through one of the Gas appliances I truly don't know. Then we had to call a plumber to open the valve on the meter, we had no furnace for hours and it was only 5°C. Mike claims ATCO came to fix it and it's documented but since we had no permits I am certain this didn't happen. Also if this documented, it would be left in the residence.
We sent Mike all the big ticket items we wanted for the reno. Mike decided to order a smaller tub then we wanted and did not consult us. When it arrived it was considerably smaller than the one we ordered, it was not suitable for the space. It had to be sent back and we had to wait another 3 weeks for the tub we wanted. This was ome of many items we had to buy because Mike had no money to pay for material. At this point we were without two of our bathrooms for over 5 weeks and hardly any progress.
Then Mike didn't buy the shower tile we wanted. He didn't tell us the tile we wanted wasn't available when he went to pick it up weeks later. He went ahead and installed something he bought out of a bargain bin, again WITHOUT consulting us. It was crooked, had drooping tiles and so far from level it was hard to look at. He said he would fix them as he went on and completed the tile. It took 4 days. I came home and was almost ready to accept the countless inconsistencies until I found the wall wasn't true and plumb. It was approximately half an inch at the centre point. I asked why they didn't put a level on anything. They had it down to bare studs with the demo and never checked anything. One of the studs had to be firred up to make the wall true. At this point there was too many issues with the tile and wall. The nook was even crooked and out of level. I made him tear it all down. They had it all stripped down to bare studs, why didn't they put a level on anything!? I just couldn't understand. After he ripped the tile and wall down because it was poorly installed he tried to put regular drywall in for the shower walls. I was blown away. Not even a MRM board or the cement board like he had quoted me!!! Now since the walls were removed all the waterproofing securities from the shluter drain pan system and accessories are gone. The lower portion of the walls were an essential part of the water protection and now it's gone. Unfortunately I still paid a premium for this material.
Now onto the drain pan. He Installed the drain pan, it looked ok until I put a level in it. There was no way on this green earth that it would ever drain and he was calling it good. Well a level and gravity isn't wrong, it actually graded away from the drain substantially, I couldn't believe it. He even argued with me about it until we put water in it and it created a half inch pool in the middle. So now the walls are down and the installed drain pan is installed WRONG! Mike's fix? He decides he's going to raise the drain pan corners on one side so it would drain, definitely not a recommended practice, then put spray foam insulation underneath it to make it structurally sound, have a look at the pictures. Well now it's failing, the soft spots have now opened up the small tiles and water has gotten beneath ruining the thinset and tile placement. Its only been done for three weeks. Since then, he has been back to try and fix it by injecting quikrete beneath it.Well, low and behold it's failing again. This is not installed on the floor and the pictures clearly show it. Mike has been ignoring me since. I decided I have to fix it myself. I quickly find out that Mike doubled up the grout to create grade to the drain. Unfortunately all the tiles on the second level of grout never adhered. If you'll notice in the pics Mike didn't even red guard the shower pan. The red you see is my blood from having to try and clean up his mess. The red guard waterproofing is not a requiremt but why not put the extra protection? All he cares about is getting paid and he talked about it often. I thought to myself if you had done things right the first time you'd be long gone and paid.
The shower nook, I Had to ask him countless times to make the shower nook straight and level. If I can see it just walking into the bathroom, its not level or square! He removed pieces three different times and finally got it to an acceptable state. The amount of time you took to put this in, it should be free. You should have been paying me so you could practice being a carpenter. Then he Installed painted shluter trim instead of buying the powder coated black trim, of which he said it did not even exist. He says he has 20+ years experience but doesn't even know that there's an actual powder coated black trim readily available at most tile shops. I made him replace that too. He had some painted trim pieces and some powder coated pieces. It looked ridiculous and was already showing the SS finish beneath his paint job. At one point I was so fed up, I had all the material and he had only been coming once or twice a week. At this point I had told him I have someone else coming to finish the tile. All the sudden he starts showing uo daily.
I found the sink in the basement shower just stubbed into the main instead of glued in or threaded. He comes back to fix that and complains about how everybody but him is incompetent. I find later that he got plumbers glue on my brand new carpet. Now it's got a permanent stain right at the bathroom entry. While all of this going on he nicked the walls up in the stairwell and at the bathroom entry and I have a pile of extra work just to clean up after him.
We decided to go to with a box beam for the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom. We waited 5 weeks for the material and when it arrives its too short, he ordered the wrong size, he can't read a tape! Finally he gets some new material and installs it. He told me it's from a 50 year old brewery but writes on his website that it's a 150 yr old barn. When I looked at it, there was big gaps against the wall and there was paint from the ceiling on the wood! He had just finished telling me he went over everything with a fine toothed comb! My goodness I would be embarrassed. My wife had pointed out a bunch of spots that had huge gaps and paint all over everything. It's currently sitting at a poorly unfinished state. See the pics.
He installed some wainscoting on the walls in our bathroom and didn't didnt do that right, they should have been mitered to make a nice joint. He butted them up then put up a fight when I asked him to hide the ugly joints.
The grout in both bathrooms... Mike Argued about the depth of the grout
on the floor saying it doesn't need to be flush or close to the top of the tile. It isn't hard to find that minimum standard for grout in any tile jobs is flush or as close as possible. It just makes sense, who wants big grout lines to catch dirt and other nasties in a bathroom.
After mike said he was done, I came in to have a look. I found several grout lines in the shower that were not complete and large grout lines that I could stick my finger in on the floor.
Mike also had the nerve to talk to the other contractors in the house calling me a tyrant and that it was our fault he had been back so many times. He even talked about his other customers... All I ever wanted was for the job to be done right, thank God I had a level and a good eye. I feel bad for anyone who may not have an eye for what's proper and what's not while this guy is in their house. He says I was abusive to him and his contractors, well for one I never spoke to any of his guys. I barely saw any one other than Mike. Also, Mike asked me several times to go hiking and snowshoeing with him.
I recently looked over my bill and found that I paid for permits yet Mike made no mention of permits. He says I agreed we would not pull permits because it was cosmetic work. Unfortunately i trusted him. What he not cosmetic is, removing a gas line, changing plumbing orientation, adding lights and a new circuit. All of this was done in my reno. After fronting him thousands and buying my own material, would I shy away from permits for 200$!? He claims it's obvious in the invoice, that if it's not in the right column it wasn't charged. So, all the other items that aren't in the right column are free too?? The answer is no and I would have gladly spend 200 bucks for the security and insurance within my home. Now he isn't returning my calls or texts. I wish I had known Mike is Unlicensed to receive money up front. I could have canceled this whole contract before it was too late. I have had no choice but to report him. Including reporting him to AB services because he is unlicensed, BBB because he is not holding up his warranty statements and the CRA for tax evasion I really would not recommend him for anything.
This guy says he has professionals on his crew, more than half the time he spent here he complained about them. Saying they were incompetent and just created more work for him. This guy is a real treat to deal with. I only went with him because he was recommended by our real estate agent. Boy do I wish I could turn back the hands of time. He was sure quick to ask for payment as things were coming to completion. I actually helped fund the whole project, sending him money and buying certain big items on my own dime. It's actually illegal for an UNLICENSED COBTRACTOR to ask for payment. I truly wish I had kept 2 grand back because I knew the shower pan would fail. I'm not sure where Mike feels he credited me 1500 for the shower pan. It's pretty obvious what's going on from his email. What he actually did was ask for a cash payment and not to his business, to his personal name so he could avoid taxes. REPORTED! It's easily going to cost me 2 Grand to have fixed Thanks Mike you've been a real treat.
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