Ek Custom Renos

We contracted EK to do a kitchen living room and painting project for our condo. For the most part we were very satisfied with the work however we are extremely upset that James Rowles has refused to deal with a water damage claim that his company caused to our neighbour downstairs. The incident happened 2 years ago and we are still getting bills from the condo association to repair the damage

EK claim on their letterhead that they are “Fully Insured” to us would seem to us that such claims would be covered under their insurance policy. James refused to return our calls or respond to our e mails to take care of this matter. Enough is enough. This man is not to be trusted. So much for Satisfaction Guaranteed.

EK Custom Renovations was referred to us through a friend, and our initial conversations with James were positive. We requested three quotes from different contractors for our basement development and James' quote was the most reasonable for what we were asking. When we looked online for reviews, we found these poor reviews listed on Trusted Pros. At first, we were going to just avoid working with James and go with another contractor, but looking at the reviews it seemed like there was more to the stories than what was posted here. So, we contacted James and shared all of the negative reviews we found, to give him a chance to tell his side of the story. Once we talked through all those scenarios, we tightened up our contract with him and ensured that both sides made commitments to having good communication during the project. We were satisfied with James' explanations of those previous projects and gave him the contract.

Overall, James and his team did a good job. We are very happy with the finished product of our basement development. He completed a two bedroom basement development, including a separate entrance and new separate furnace. HVAC, plumbing, and electrical all had to be completed for this suite to be legal. For those reading this, one of the things that worked well was to be in daily communication with James so we could catch potential issues quickly and find solutions. We found James to always be very reasonable and willing to work towards solutions that satisfied us. Like all development projects, this didn't go perfectly and there were definitely things that needed to be redone, but James was a professional about it and got the job done. Doing a project during the pandemic, along with both sides being responsible for some mix ups along the way, our project didn't finish on time, but James was gracious and professional enough to offer us a discount for being late, before we even had a chance to ask him to.

We wouldn't hesitate to work with James again, and would be happy to share more details with anyone who asks.

AVOID THIS COMPANY

I wish I had seen previous reviews before booking this company. It was not a pleasant experience with James Rowles, the owner of this company. I decided to go with him because he seemed like a professional however, after signing the contract, things started to go downhill.

James contract stated that several payments are to be made as the job progressed however, I noticed that I was making more payments compared to the amount of job done. To avoid confrontation, I would pay anyway even though he had missed 2 days of work which he would message me only a couple of hours before he’s supposed to arrive. This would throw off my day because I would have rearranged my schedule to be present for construction.

As the job progressed, James would ask for extra payments for things that “came up”, things he added or things he forgot to add to the original quote and would give me attitude. After about the 3rd time he did this, and an incident when he yelled at me to return a faulty vanity I had purchased, I told him I didn’t like his tone and that he was being unprofessional threatening to charge me extra or saying that he has done more work than I paid for. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve always paid on time as asked and his time management was his business, not mine.

The project ended up taking longer than James said it would. A day to the project finishing, James told me he had forgotten to tell me I have to get a kitchen sink and tap. This frustrated me as I had made 3 extra payments outside of the original quote. Also, because it was the day to completion! I eventually agreed since I had no choice. James texted me that evening and said that he won’t be returning to complete the job because he didn’t trust I would pay him. He basically just decided to screw us over on last day when the job to be completed was way more than the balance! At this point I had paid more than $12000 and the final $1,200 was to be paid after completion. James left my kitchen, bedroom closet, electrical panel, closet ceiling uncompleted.

My wife had to get him to come back after agreeing to his terms that he would collect payment before completing the job. Otherwise we would be on our own looking for a contractor to finish the small jobs he left all over the place a day to completion! We did not get the chance to inspect what was done and be satisfied before issuing the last payment. And your guess is right, we were not satisfied. There was little fixes and messes all over. But what can we do, they were gone!

In short, if I had known we would have an unpleasant experience, we would’ve looked for another contractor. Work did not progress as described in the quote. He would always come back asking for more money outside the quote (The supposed "change order"). Maybe that was my mistake, but the quote had hidden details that was not made clear at the beginning. He would come back and say, "it is not in the quote". He would scramble for leftover materials (or any laying around) to do your work instead of going to purchase with the payment you made. He came up asking me for light bulbs, leftover paints, and even used our materials (the metal hinges or support for the ceiling). The use of the materials are savings (a couple hundreds I believe) for him but he did not mention it. I don't mind this, however, what gets to me was him coming to me one day to say he got me $5 extra cable for free. He is always quick to ask for money, and once he gets it, he becomes rude. With all the payments made, he would always say he had done many things for Free. As far as I can see, the job for some extra payments made was not complete. Also, they left all the garbage and disappeared. We were still fixing a couple of things afterwards. The first day was the only good day.

AVOID THIS COMPANY. Too stressful and shady to deal with.

I hired these guys, and it all started out good, but work was not being done when they said, kept asking for more money before the work was done, rude and totally not knowledgeable in running a business or in doing renos.

I finally fired them, after being left with no kitchen for 3 months, wiring sticking out. The flooring they put in was not installed properly, and had to have it redone by a professional flooring person. James was never around, when I would call him to say the flooring was not looking like it was installed properly, he would yell at me and say the guy has years of experience....... James only was around when he wanted a progress payment....I said when I see progress....

It was a nightmare from the second day! I ended up firing him and getting the job finished on my own by hiring people who knew what they were doing. His two man crew were dirty, and made a mess of my home as well, with no respect for things.

I do not recommend this company. They are a joke.

I do not recommend this company. When initially contacted, they were very business like and reassured they do not charge for work not completed. I had asked for the quote to reflect the maximum work anticipated, given there were closed in areas with the old cabinets, leaving unknowns. The understanding was if the work was not required, adjustments would be made to the quote to reflect the actual work completed. When I had reached out for these adjustments to be made, I was told by James I was not seeing all of the facts and he had not made any money on the job and as such, he was calling everything even based on payments received to date. He was finished with me, even though the job was incomplete. This totally left me in a lurch. The cabinet work was not completed (toe picks, handles, spacers, outside boards and top trim not installed); electrical was not connected to the panel (electrician doing the cabinet installation looked me in the eye, stated electrical for dishwasher was complete but the line was left disconnected in the panel); plumbing was incomplete - these are critical areas left incomplete. James did provide the names of his plumber and cabinetmaker for me to engage at my own cost. To date, the job remains uncompleted.

James did not attend my residence to ensure the work being completed was according to the quote provided. On 3 separate occasions, the crew did not show up. I had to reach out to James to find out what was going on. Reasons provided were it was a cutout day (not applicable to my job) and the guys were done and waiting for the countertop installation (further discussion when referring back to the quote, showed most of the items remained outstanding including the cabinets were not ready for the countertop installation). The 3rd occasion was valid but James left me hanging, necessitating me to contact him to find out where the worker was. The electrician and his apprentice worked slowly on the cabinet installation - it appeared they did not fully understand how to perform the installation. Examples of work not being completed as per the quote include the following: new drywall was not installed for the backsplash, new electrical box was not required for one light, electrical wire ran for dishwasher was not embedded in the floor boards nor connected to the electrical panel, flooring was not repaired, reconnect stove and fridge, drywall repair above sink was not required. Items included in the quote which were out of scope from the beginning and remained in the quote include the installation of the backsplash. Cabinet doors were installed with defects. Based on the above, I would not recommend this company.