Kitchen Bath Remodelling

I wanted to renovate my kitchen and repaint my walls. Aubin provided an initial quote, but I was hesitant about hiring him. He followed up expressing his desire for his work to grace my home. He presented a quote that was too enticing to refuse, and I accepted his offer.

During his first visit, I inquired casually about the cost and time required to remove the popcorn ceiling. Aubin quoted a surprisingly low price and a short timeframe. Although the popcorn ceiling wasn't a significant concern for me, his offer was enticing enough to convince me to add the popcorn removal task to the project. On that day, I paid him a deposit, which was a percentage of the total quote covering the kitchen, walls, and popcorn ceiling (the total amount we agreed to was clearly written in my text message).

The wall painting proceeded with some issues, such as messy edges, paint drips on the floor, and subpar patching on wall holes. However, these imperfections didn't bother me greatly. The major concerns arose in the kitchen and with the ceiling.

For the kitchen, initially, Aubin had promised to use matching materials and designs for the countertop and backsplash, as well as to wrap the existing cabinets. However, he realized he underestimated the cost, and (without asking for my permission) suggested we get different materials/design for the backsplash and countertop. He said if I wanted to get matching materials, there would be additional charges. When I declined, he offered to find more affordable materials with similar designs, but the options he presented were drastically different from my preferences. I had requested silver/white marble design, however he brought samples of white subway tiles with black edges. Furthermore, he reneged on the cabinet wrapping and proposed painting instead. At this point, I lost trust in him due to his consistent changes, leading me to cancel the kitchen project. I requested a refund of the cabinet deposit, but he refused, claiming it was allocated to the popcorn ceiling removal task, even though the cabinet deposit exceeded the entire ceiling cost we agreed to. Aubin denied ever offering a low quote for the ceiling. I showed him our text conversation where I had sent a calculation of the deposit for all three projects, however he refused to refund me saying he misunderstood.

The more significant issue revolved around the ceiling. Aubin's initial patchwork on the ceiling was a complete disaster, as evident in the attached picture. He acknowledged the problem and promised to fix it. However, he made it even worse the second time. I was deeply disappointed because he had taken more money than his initial quote, the weeks of ongoing construction had disrupted my life and health, and the result was a complete mess. I regretted ever hiring him. I had other general contractors assess his work, and they questioned whether I had attempted the ceiling work myself, describing it as amateurish and embarrassing. When I complained to Aubin, he attributed the poor result to my condo's uneven concrete ceiling base. However, other contractors argued that all professionals should be aware of the nature of condo ceilings being concrete. Aubin claimed he was losing money on the project, but his own skills necessitated repeated efforts and materials.

Aubin eventually arranged for another contractor to fix the initial mess he had made, and this new worker did an excellent job. Aubin then promised to finish the remaining work (painting the ceiling) himself by the following Monday but kept delaying it and hadn't shown up for three more weeks. Finally, after three weeks, I managed to get him to come on a Saturday, but he still didn't show up. When I texted him, he replied to hours later he mentioned he was going to schedule a visit at another time (yet again!) and pleaded for "one more chance," even though he had already been given numerous chances. I found this behavior highly irresponsible.

Aubin's work is subpar at best. He promised the project was going to take 3 weeks, however after 2.5 months later, it is still not finished. He may initially promise exceptional service and offer a low quote while expressing a desire to have his work featured in your home. However, he will ultimately find ways to charge more than the initial estimate, waste your time, and deliver subpar work. I now find myself in the unfortunate position of having to clear the junk he left on my balcony and spend additional money to complete the job he had promised to finish competently.