KS Floors & Installation

Wow, don't even really know how to start reviewing this company. Shoma is very professional... At first. Our basement renovation was started in early January 20 21 and they had an empty house to work with as we were out of the country at the time. We had our daughter and son in law in town to more or less supervise the job. I believe Shoma gave us an 8 to 10.week timeline. We were the only job they were taking on. We last saw them the third week of May so it actually took them twice as long.

Cleanliness - no dust curtains or barriers put up anywhere. Our home was completely covered in dust. The trades used our main floor bathroom like an outhouse. We came home to empty toilet rolls lined up on the counter and a filthy sink and fixtures. When the trades ran out of toilet paper they simply went in search of more in our other bathrooms. I now know why people have outhouses at the end of their driveway during Reno's.

Project Management - Shoma comes off as very put together and articulate. That goes downhill quickly during the job. Having her respond to you is a chore in itself. Lots of personal drama comes into your renovation project and affects it. That's all I will say about that. Shoma would say she would meet up with our daughter on a certain day for flooring colours, paint colours. Very rarely happened. Most times the material was just dropped off without consultation. When you are not happy with something, be prepared for her to be outright rude. We asked repeatedly for drawings for our kitchenette and wall unit. Constant excuses about why Shoma could not get that done. In the end we had to settle for her little sketch. The cabinet makers still got it wrong.

Trades- 95% of the time unsupervised. Fireplace had to be completely redone as tiler did it while Keion was not there. Wrong French doors ordered and hung.

Shoma said we should put in linear drains in the two showers which we did. The tiler promptly grouted them in. They are not meant to be grouted in as the entire point is to be able to remove the debris basket. You can't do that if the Tiler grouted it in. He did so in both showers. When the shower was first used the bathroom floor completely flooded because of all the debris in the drain. It was there and then we realized it was a completely grouted and so we had to literally chisel the top free and remove the debris. It was completely full of grout and even the protective lining of the drain itself was still in place, We have yet to tackle the other drain.....

Trades used our garage as their work area (sawing, cutting) and left everything in our garage covered in dust. We came home to overflowing garbage cans and debris everywhere. The trades used our wet/dry vacuum and it was completely covered in dust, inside and out. Keion felt bad about that and said he would take it and buy us a new one. It was the last time Keion was ever at the house so we never saw him again or our vacuum. Still waiting for the new one to arrive!

We had a gym put in which has a mirrored wall. There is a crack in the mirror in the lower corner. It clearly came from the outlet cover being screwed on too tight (we had another contractor look at it). Shoma was told about it and her response was that it was not there when she left so that's on you! She finally relented and said the mirror guy was coming to fix it - he never did show up. Final insult - the receptacles in the mirror wall and side of gym don't work.....

I could go on but you get the gist. We finally installed the lights that were left hanging and will use our holdback money (not nearly enough) to fix outstanding items.

The floors seem to be fine and I think that's what they do best because they certainly are not renovators.

The project went through phases of experience and I will break it down to provide a complete story.

Project Scope - including materials

- Removal of popcorn ceiling in the condo including finishing it and painting it to the quality of existing areas in condo where popcorn ceiling was not there

- Removal of existing and Installation of new laminate flooring

- Painting of interior of condo (walls, doors, trims)

Condition of the house - Moving in to a purchased condo (900 sq ft), no furniture, empty apartment (other than basic appliances)

Additional work added during the life of project was installation of two toilets

The Good: Before the start of work

- The response to our project on Trusted Pros was detailed, courteous and professionally crafted. This was different than some of the responses from other contractors which made us believe that the team is reliable and efficient.

- The contractor came and took measurements and was professional during the process and surveyed the entire apartment

- The quotes weren’t the most expensive nor too cheap. After negotiating on the final cost, we decided to sign the contract.

- One of the most important things we stressed on was the cleanliness of the house and taking care of appliances and existing fixtures.

The Bad: During the project

- Contracted timeline: 2 weeks with buffer

- Removal of existing flooring was done harshly and removal of baseboards caused holes in the drywall behind it, border under cabinet was broken. Clearly it was “demolished” as it was noted by the contractor rather than “removed”

- Removal of popcorn ceiling was done haphazardly - Blind railing was left hanging

- After the complete removal, we were told that the base of popcorn was concrete vs. expected compound and this will require additional work. This was visible after scraping the first section but the removal and additional work continued anyway without consenting which would mean additional cost and work

- Having no option but to continue, we negotiated on the cost of additional work, time (1-2 days)

- Although project was already way behind schedule, we were consistently assured upon asking that it will be done on time

- Doors, trims and ceiling used contractor grade BM paint rather than agreed upon Regal Select

- Long story short, the workers were still in the apartment right up to day 14, while the cleaning crew was already scheduled and at that point per the contractor only finishing touches were pending

- Dust all over the place, paint drops on the floor/windows, ceiling finishing not completed

- After moving in - insisting it was small touch up work the workers showed up for few days to finish it - often later than indicated times

The Ugly: Incomplete project

- Crew disappeared for 2 weeks and there was no response to our emails/texts/phone until we stated that if the work was not completed by a certain date, we would contract someone else and deduct the cost from final payment

- We were in the 5th week of project, later it was insisted upon us that crew show up after hours and stay late night and at that point we just wanted it to get it over with and get on with lives

- The pending touches on paint equalled essentially repainting the whole condo again

- We were asked to do final walkthrough later at night because crew would not be available for foreseeable future since a new project was starting. We strongly pushed back on it

- It was promised that someone will come to clean the balcony which had paint spilled over deck tiles, buckets of saw dust however no one ever showed up even after sending reminders

- And as I type this review, I am still scraping paint drops from flooring

Summary

Pros:

Courteous crew and contractor. Never had trouble with that

Average on cost

Cons:

Terrible in maintaining timelines

Cleanliness is questionable

Quality of work

Popcorn Ceiling removal and finishing - 5/10

Laminate Installation - 7/10

Interior Painting - 3/10

Shoma is a great Contractor providing the best of service possible. She answered all my questions and provided me with the best solutions to my current needs.

You pay for What you get and this renovation will add value to my home. I liked the pictures she showed to give me ideas.

I liked the work that was done by Empress Build. We had our main floor renovated and they were very punctual and professional the job they did was excellent. Main thing l enjoyed most was communication, no hidden costs and excellent work. I would recommend them in a heart beat. I love my kitchen and would like to thank them very much.