JD Construction

We hired Jay to renovate two bathrooms because he was highly recommended by a friend. We feel very fortunate to have found him. He does beautiful work, and his attention to detail is impressive. He doesn't settle for "good enough" - he gets everything right.

Both of our bathrooms were completely gutted. There were so many things to consider for a project of this scale, but Jay did a great job of guiding us through it all. At the end of each day, Jay would explain what had been done that day, and discuss what he was planning to work on the next day. We always knew exactly what was happening. He made sure that we understood the options so we could make informed decisions, and often suggested options that improved on our ideas.

We discovered some serious issues in one of the bathrooms: rot, mould, and ant damage to studs and the window header. Jay had the knowledge and skill to address these difficult structural problems and did a great job of the repairs. We know that not only do our bathrooms look great, but under the pretty face is a solid and well-built structure.

We wanted to change one of the doors to swing in the opposite direction, but a new frame would have been tricky since the wall was a non-standard thickness that had a custom built frame, which was also an integral part of some built-in shelves that we were keeping. Jay filled the hinge and latch holes on the frame, cut new ones on the opposite sides, and hung the new door. It fits perfectly! Jay also rehung the other door that we were keeping; it now opens and closes much better than it did before (and it was pretty good before!).

We put wainscotting in one of the bathrooms, and were quite specific about how we wanted it to look. Jay took the time to make sure he understood exactly what we wanted and offered some insightful suggestions. The wainscotting turned out even better than we imagined.

Jay left our house clean and tidy at the end of every day. We expected living in a construction zone to be messy, but Jay kept things far cleaner than we expected. We often came home to find him vacumming the carpet in the hallway and on the stairs.

We are extremely happy with the work Jay did for us, and would not hesitate to hire him again.

7 years ago, we were pointed in the direction of Jay to fix and finish the work of another contractor in our basement suite which had been affected by a flood.

Since then he renovated our kitchen, bathroom and was used for some urgent structural work before we listed and sold our then home. I should mention, at the time we lived in a 1920's house that had some issues- as do many houses built during this time period.

I would say that besides knowing how to do really good problem solving and a variety of general contracting skills, his specialty is "detailing" which really makes his work stand out from the work of others.

He always gives a few options- the least expensive way, the most expensive way and what he would do if it were his place.

Jay continues to work for us in our new home, making improvements to our house and small business. We have referred him to a number of people who have all been very happy with the outcome

Jay d'Ambrumenil has worked for us on several occasions. The first job was major construction of a family room and renovation of a small, very old bathroom. Jay is a highly skilled carpenter and a perfectionist. The work he did was beautiful. Several friends admired our new rooms so much they sought out Jay to do renovations for them.

The second time we employed Jay was to have two exterior doors installed. We have an older home, and Jay again insisted on perfection in hanging the doors just right. He also did a great job installing floorboards. The next project we hope he'll be able to do for us is reconstruction of our sundeck.

I hired Jay many times and have always had wonderful results on my own home and rental properties. I knew on the last day of every job, I would come home to a perfectly clean, painted, trimmed and ready to rent property. He is one of the hardest working and kind people I know. He's also a got a hilarious, salty mouth ( like any good contractor) and has had to put up with people who don't appreciate the skill, time, money and hard work that goes in to building things. These folks will complain about anything and every worker knows one or two. I recommend Jay's work to anyone.

We hired Jay to renovate both our downstairs as well as the upstairs bathroom. He was recommended to us by our good friends and neighbours.

First off, he was on time every day. His first job was to fix out front door, sand and varnish it, and he did a good job!

BUT... he worked quite slowly. When asked by my husband why the bathroom renovations are not improving he reacted with resentment which we felt was very unprofessional.

During his work he started to complain to us about work he had to do for other people, and called former clients (our good friends who recommended him) f***ing weirdos. (That's when we should have fired him!)

Jay needed handholding the whole way through, didn't like making even minor decisions, and cost us a lot of time just talking to him, and explaining things.

We really wanted the jobs done, so my husband prepared a binder for Jay with all the specs, and measurements, and instructions on how to install or build certain things. The hope was that we didn't need to be available to him all the time any more... but that didn't work out so well.

When towards the end of the upstairs bathroom renovation it took him 7 hours to hang the door (poorly! doesn't shut properly, door cut in a way it didn't need to be, hardwood floor in hallway partly ruined) we seriously considered calling it quits with him, but my husband wanted to give him a change to fix his mistakes. During that conversation Jay argued that fixing the door would be so much work!!! And since that was truly the last thing we expected to hear we asked him to pack up his things and leave. On his way out he made sure to threaten that we would never find another contractor that would work for us, and that we were the worst clients ever... (probably just like all the other ones he complained to us about!)

Bottom line: Do not hire!