Penguin Basements
reviews and complaints

so I hired Penguin Basements to finish my basement and they're like 90% done but it's been over 2 months and they haven't replied to my emails about finishing the last 5 things. I need them to install the toilet, finish the plumbing, put on the final coat of paint, fix the stairs 'cause they messed them up, and install the hand rail. I also need them to do a final cleaning. They were supposed to do all this stuff during the week of August 9th but they still haven't done it. I've sent like 13 emails asking for an update on the schedule but they haven't replied to any of them. I've talked to the sales team, scheduler, and project manager but they either don't respond or pass me off to someone else who also doesn't respond. It's super frustrating and I just want my basement to be finished already.

Penguin Basements did our basement project (#***) in June this year. We paid almost $60K, but the workmanship is really poor. We feel like our money is wasted. There are problems with the work, and we contacted the company multiple times, but no one has come to fix them. The owner never acknowledged our emails. The drywall was hung on bowed studs, which looks horrible, and we were told to try to hide it. The flooring has uneven areas that are easily felt when walking on them. The paint job is poorly done, and no re-touch ups were done even after being told that someone would come and fix the issue. There are areas where paint tape is left on the wall and painted over. Penguin damaged our living room walls while transporting materials to the basement and never offered to repaint or fix the dents in the walls.

I signed a contract with Penguin Basements on April 9th for a basement renovation. They said they could finish the project in 2-3 weeks, even with the pandemic going on. But the work didn't start until June 14th. We've been asking for updates since July 28th, but they haven't responded in writing. On August 11th, they gave us a list of outstanding work and credits owed, but only the shower tiles and bar cabinets (without counter and sink) have been installed. We haven't received any credits yet. We've contacted them many times, and finally got a call back on September 20th. But the employee who called us didn't seem to know about the remaining work. They promised to follow up by noon on September 21st, but we haven't heard back. Nothing is scheduled right now, and many items are past due. The last thing they did was tile the shower.

We hired Penguin Basements to fix our basement. Guy S. sold us the design and plans, and we agreed to pay $50,702.75. We chose Penguin because they seemed legit and we liked the design. We paid in full with post-dated cheques over 5 weeks. But the City of Oshawa building inspector didn't pass our basement because Penguin didn't get the proper inspection. Penguin went ahead and built it anyway. When the inspector finally came, he found issues with the windows, smoke/gas detector, and ceiling. We contacted Penguin many times, but they won't fix it. They're not honoring their signed documents. The project should've been done in July , but it's now almost February 2022 and we're still stuck.

Penguin Basements was supposed to finish my basement, but it's been over five weeks and they've only done a few hours of work. They haven't given us any updates on why there are delays or when they'll finish. They took all our money ($56K) and now we have no way to make sure they finish the job properly or on time. Here's what's happened so far: they started framing on April 12th, but the first significant work wasn't done until April 27th. The drywall subcontractor came on May 13th, but he wouldn't use the drywall Penguin provided because it was cut into small pieces and damaged. On May 16th, the framing team finished an hour of work, even though the new window hadn't been installed yet. On May 24th, the plumbing inspector came and said Penguin had called him a week earlier, even though the plumbing had been done three weeks before. The inspector called the site supervisor and he said the concrete would be repoured "this week," but it wasn't. On May 27th, they cashed all the cheques, even the one reserved for substantial completion, even though they've only done 33% of the work.