D in Brampton

SUMMARY: Up until the end of August 2021 most of the work done by Penguin was satisfactory. Most of the trades (some were sub-contractors) other than the window egress installers and tile installers (for the washroom) did a decent job. Our main problem has been our egress window during the warranty period and Penguin's overall responsiveness after MANY calls/emails etc. It took over 1 year to resolve this and to date (as of October 20, 2022) we are still not 100% sure the problem has been resolved. However, in recognition of Penguin, they have stepped up and ensured the installer would be here on time. As of April 7, 2023 we still have water coming into our basement from the egress window that Penguins subcontractor installed after 6 attempts to fix this problem. There are 3 major issues with the install: 1) the subcontractor did not install the blueskin underneath the lintel not over top of it. 2) the subcontractor used spray foam insulation instead of mortar. 3) the subcontractor did not leave a weeping hole. At this point we are out of pocket and we are hoping Penguin does the right thing and pay us to resolve this on our own instead of sending back the same subcontractor. DETAILS: We had our basement renovated in the summer of 2021. Penguin did all the work to add a washroom and kitchen as well as coordinate all trades. Overall Penguin did a good job with the basement insulating, drywall, plumbing, HVAC, finishing, painting, cabinetry and electrical except for minor problems and one major issue we are still dealing with since August 2021. The main exception here was the washroom shower stall tiling which does not allow the water to drain properly (it puddles in the middle of the shower). Instead, the water remains in one place and does NOT drain properly. That is because the tilers did not grade the shower stall properly. Our problem started after the basement was completed in August 2021. Here is the major problem we had: Because we put a kitchen in our basement, we were required by code to have an egress window installed in our basement as well. The team that came were subcontracted by Penguin (another company) cut the concrete and installed a low-quality egress window. They cracked the bricks above the egress window and did not properly caulk around the window nor repair the bricks. After the first rainfall we had water coming in from the top. We called Penguin several times and many emails to have the company that installed the egress window come back to fix the problem. After another month more water continued to enter the basement from the egress window. Again, after several calls to Penguin and numerous emails and weeks they finally returned our call and sent egress window installer again. Same result. More water entering our basement. We are now in March 2022 and still the same problem! Again, we must send numerous messages to Penguin, numerous calls and wait for them to respond. At this point we've had to put a tarp over the egress to stop the water from coming in during rainfalls. It's been since September, and we cannot get Penguin to resolve these issues and for someone to take ownership and fix the problem once and for all. It's been extremely stressful for our family to have to deal with this company lack of responsiveness and every time it rains, we have to have tarps and cloths to protect our basement. We have had many sleepless nights whenever it rains. Nobody returns our calls, answers our text messages or emails. HISTORY: UPDATE: April 11, 2022: Penguin called us back this week to replace the egress window and send back the window installer company they subcontracted to. We our thankful to Penguin for committing to resolving this. We were told the original window was defective and that this was not being caused by the hairline crack in the bricks above the window. The next step will be to remove the water damaged drywall and fix other warranty related items. We plan on water testing the the egress window to ensure no more water is entering our basement. We recently discovered that our bathroom sink is leaking and have been provided assurances by Penguin this will be resolved soon. We will update the rating again and additional commentary depending upon resolution of the above and other items we have requested to be fixed. We plan to provide a full review of Penguin basements. UPDATE April 15, 2022: We performed a water test against the egress window Penguin Basements installed. We have noticed a small amount of water by the lower right-hand corner of the window. This was brought to Penguin's attention. UPDATE April 18, 2022: The finishing supervisor came by today to fix the drywall and paint. We discovered that the egress window installed rubs against the ceiling when we attempted to open the egress window and that the drywall would need to be removed. However, Penguin refuse to remove the drywall as it would be more work for them, we were told. We are hoping that Penguin will do the right thing here remove the drywall and add approximately 1/2 inch of drywall on all sides so that the window can open properly and the trim can be installed. UPDATE April 20, 2022: Penguin came back to fix the leak in the washroom sink. We ran a water test on the washroom sink and so far so good. Its been a struggle but I will say they do come back BUT you must call the MANY times and email them over BuilderTrend. I was assured by the owner that this responsiveness issue would be addressed. UPDATE April 26, 2022: So far so good no water our egress window. We will update this after a more serious rainfall to make sure that this matter with water coming in from our egress window is truly addressed. UPDATE May 13, 2022: Although Penguin and the other company came back to replace the egress window the window barely opens, and it rubs against the ceiling. Penguin did not want to spend the money to do the job right the first time and expand the drywall. Their argument was it was too expensive for them to do the job right!! I would have liked to recommend Penguin Basements, but they did not step up sadly to do the job right the first time. UPDATE: Oct 17, 2022: We are still experiencing problems with water coming in via egress Window that was installed April 2022. This is the second window. We have reached out to Penguin Basements in hopes they will honor their warranty obligations and hoping we will have a much better experience with their customer service. I attached pictures of our egress window water that is coming from our new egress window below UPDATE: October 18th, 2022: Penguin basements sent back the window egress sub-contractor to fix the window. It turned out that the lintel they originally removed and installed did not have blue flashing which was causing the leak (We are still unsure). Im thankful that Penguin basements sent somebody else immediately and is trying to improve their warranty period follow ups. However, given that this has been outstanding for over a year now I am still VERY concerned that a leak may occur. Note, the window installers did not come back to perform a water test to verify their work for some odd reason.