mharrick in Toronto

We hired Brian about a year ago and I'm finally mentally recovered enough to be able to leave this review. Our (brand-new) floors and (brand-new) sub-floor are not even close to level. We're fixing ourselves. It is much much much less stressful because I know I am not being deceitful to myself about feasibility, scope, timelines, and cost. Our quotes never included the Alair fee nor taxes. Kind of hard to budget that way and it wasn't made clear that costs were missing until we asked directly what was included. ("Oh ...you thought my quote included my fee?!?" He says while somehow incredulous). Witnessing the subcontractor meeting with Brian was an enormous red flag that was in retrospect full of shadiness. The sub-contractor was flagging issues with the floor with Brian waving him away and trying to downplay concerns since I was present. There was a language or cultural barrier so the subcontractor didn't immediately pick up Brian's signals to zip it. To be clear there was no written or verbal communication that we should expect a 3" bump (or any!) running down the middle of a 10' wide room. Constant weird (avoidable!) communication issues about what the total fee would be: Why on earth would I be looking for a quote without Alair fees. Very shady. We also ended up paying for things to be reversed when his team executed poorly just to get them done right. They also leaked cement all over our basement and the large puddle and drips are still there. Also broke two windows they never fixed, left the key lock box attached to the porch (looks classy there, thanks...). Tons of issues fell on deaf ears if they didn't involve purchasing more materials via Alair (markup$$$), this is one of my biggest complaints. ie: moving a light switch to a more functional location. He also made me figure out which transition piece (between tile and hardwood) to use, and go buy it. Transition pieces are like $30 for the good brand (read: very little mark up opportunity for him). Unfortunately we didn't know there was a good kind and a mediocre brand. He told me to go to Home Depot where I purchased a silver piece of metal for the transition because that's the only finish they has in the length we needed - his solution? If you want a black one to match the tile we'll spray paint it. Terrible solution that's now obviously peeling off. If I'm doing all of the legwork the least he could have done was give me a heads up about the good transition pieces that come in a million and one colours and finishes. I hired a contractor, not a middle-man to sell me a mark-up on materials. When we confronted him he played the victim. We were thrilled pay him and get him out of our house. Plays the nice experienced contractor well. Has a nice youthful grandpa quality.