Liam in Oakville

We used Selba Industries to design our kitchen renovation and to supply the cabinets, counter tops and backsplashes. The renovation was carried out between July and September 2020 during the COVID pandemic so it was a very challenging time for all those involved in the renovation. However, the designer was young and lacking experience. Had a more experienced designer overseen our renovation we feel that the whole experience would have been more positive. Now that the project is complete we want to record our observations and concerns with Selba's performance. We feel that there were too many mistakes made both in design and installation. The more serious errors were in the design and if they had not been caught by us the resulting kitchen would not have fit the space available. Selba uses a design process that provides the purchaser with design sketches only so that the purchaser relies on the designer to verify all dimensions, design details and functionality of the items supplied. Examples of design errors include: The island was a replacement of the existing island and intended to fit the same foot print +/- an inch or so. We discovered just before release to fabrication that the island was 14 inches wider and 10 inches longer and would not have fit the space available. Lack of dimensional drawings meant that this mistake nearly slipped through. The upper cabinets were sized to full height to the ceiling rather than the underside of the bulkhead as per the approved design. Island and built-in drawers were specified with unusable, shallow depths which did not utilize the full cabinet depth. Replacement recessed lighting in 2 built-ins was specified as non dimmable although it replaced dimmable lights. We were not advised of this change and preferred the original dimmable type. The supplied hanging wine racks did not accommodate standard wine glass bases and had to be reordered and reinstalled. Installation errors were generally less serious and all were corrected by Selba at their expense but did delay project completion. The most serious installation error was setting the framing of the upper cabinets in one bank so that a 5/8 inch gap to the counter top was left. We had previously done a kitchen renovation, albeit 30 years ago, using another kitchen company. Our recollection is that once the kitchen design was laid out that we did not have to do any other work and the kitchen was installed correctly. That was not the case with Selba. If we had a more experienced designer we would have had a much more positive outcome and experience.

I came home Monday afternoon to a cold house (16 degrees) but because it was after 5 pm I decided to wait until morning to call Excel. They had installed our air handler system a few years ago. The technician came out promptly at noon that day and he determined that the problem was with the circulation pump. He left at around 1 pm saying he was going to pick up the part and would return that afternoon. I stayed in the house, which at this point was getting colder, all afternoon waiting for him. At 4:40 I had a call from their office saying the part had to be ordered and it would take 3 to 5 business days. I then went online and discovered that there was a Canadian distributor and sales office for the part within a 1/2 hour drive and that they had the part in stock. The next morning I called Excel to ask why they couldn't get the part sooner through their supplier especially as it was an emergency. The sales office for the part said that in cases of emergency they would sell directly to Excel rather than through Excel's supplier. Excel simply said it was not that easy and made no effort to facilitate this on their own without our insistence. After 3 days of no heat they finally agreed to get the part. The technician arrived at approx. 1 pm on the 3rd day, discovered he had the wrong part and said he would go off and get the right part and return by 4 pm. When he did not appear we call the after hours emergency number and asked for him to be paged. He was not responding. At approx. 6:30 that evening he finally appeared with the correct part and had it installed. Thankfully, we had heat. We felt frustrated with Excel that they didn't treat this as a priority and that they failed to communicate with us. If we hadn't of pushed we would still be without heat. We had contacted the Excel's owner on the 2nd day asking for his help to facilitate this and the only response we got from him was that due to the weather he was not able to get into the office. We don't understand why he couldn't simply contact his office and sort things out. We are very disappointed with Excel and do not feel we were treated in the manner that the situation warranted.

The company was very prompt in getting back to us regarding date/time. Joseph arrived as arranged, gave us a very reasonable quote and did a thorough job. A good number of our neighbours have used him for years and we will do the same. He's a keeper!

Kerry came out and gave us a very reasonable quote for our pantry consisting of 5 shelves (3 inch depth). Three weeks later he was back to install them. The shelves are of good quality and the workmanship excellent. Would definitely recommended this product.

Chris of Grout Expectations was highly recommended by a neighbour of ours. He came out promptly to quote on our job and I was immediately taken with his geniune and trustworthy demeanor. We have been burned many times in the past by tradespeople who we believed were honest and hardworking and are naturally apprehensive yet I had no qualms about Chris. He and his crew did an excellent job; it looks like we have a new floor! Refreshing to meet someone who believes in doing not just a mediocore job but an excellent one. He clearly takes pride. He also obliged us by arriving at our house earlier than normal so my husband didn't have to be inconvenienced. This company will not disappoint in the least. Instead they will put a huge smile on your face!

We just read Kevin's recent response to our review made over 2 years ago. The whole experience began well with the selection of nursery stock and plantings however after the work was completed and the final bill presented he was unavailable to answer questions regarding the pricing (what we saw at the nursery and what appeared on the invoice did not match up). Although he always wears a Bluetooth device his wife Linda refused to give us his contact info so that we could discuss the pricing with him. Also, right from the start we were told we could pay the balance through Paypal (as was our down payment) however Linda informed us after the final invoice was received that it was not working and subsequently showed up unannounced at our door the very next morning looking for a cheque. We discovered later that afternoon that Paypal was indeed working fine and as such we were able to make the final payment online using our credit card as planned. We can only imagine that they didn't want to pay the 3% credit card cost through Paypal. This is all after telling us at the beginning that they offered Paypal as an attractive and convenient option to their customers. We stand by our review and feel it is entirely accurate. We would have liked nothing more than to have had a positive outcome. If Kevin had maintained an open avenue of communication throughout the whole process and if Linda was more thoughtful and respectful towards clients then perhaps things could have been different. Unfortunately, that was not the case and we felt others would like to know.