I held off this review for a while because I wanted to ensure I did not have issues with my project in the long run. It's been 8 months now the project is completed, so far so good! So here's the story.
Short review: We f-ing love them.
Long review; pros and cons at the end:
My wife and I bought my in-laws house back in 2012. We knew from the get go that we were buying a renovation project. We do a little bit every year. Two major projects were completed. The kitchen, and the main bathroom. Ady Renovations was contracted for the latter.
The bathroom that we wanted to renovate dated back from the days the house was originally built, 1990. It was cramped, it was ugly, had little storage. We hated it.
We first visited Ady back in May 2017. We had a pretty good idea of what we wanted and also had very strict requirements. Those were:
- Dual sink
- More storage
- Heated floor
- Two independent showers, embedded in the ceiling, with jets
- Glass panels
- No more bathtub
- During construction, we had to be able to continue using our driveway (meaning no large container), as we have to charge our electric car.
We gave our requirements to Ady, who then came to our house to start taking measurements. We then had a first meeting to start discussing the plans. First, Ady proposed a few things that didn't really fit what we wanted. The shower heads wouldn't be embedded, it wasn't the style we were looking for, didn't really fit what we wanted our bathroom to feel like. We scrapped it and they went back to the drawing board. We also gave them the exact model of shower column we wanted.
It took a few meetings with them to really get a feel of what the bathroom would really look like. We ended up with a plan that really fit our expectations. The start date for the work was scheduled in June.
The worker and designer arrived exactly on time, before my wife and I had to leave for work. As promised, they took arrangements so that we would still be able to use our driveway. Instead of a large container, they used a large bag that an external company needed to empty on a regular basis.
They told us that within 3 weeks, the entire project would be finished. That included:
- Full gut of the existing bathroom
- Replacing the plumbing from 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch from the water heater to the bathroom to ensure we would have enough pressure to feed 2 showers running simultaneously
- Redo entire plumbing in the bathroom
- Redo electricity in the bathroom
- Rebuilding the bathroom to new specs
- Painting
It took quite a bit longer than 3 weeks however. That was due my wife and I making changes while the construction was underway.
Was there a few quirks here in there? Definitely. Did I get mad a few times? Absolutely. It's part of doing projects like this. Not everything is going to go according to plan, all the time. Human error happens, unexpected things happen. That's just how it is. As long as communication is good between the client and the contractor, we get through it.
Now that the project is completed, my wife and I couldn't be happier. We have a bathroom that exceeds our original expectations and that we truly enjoy using every morning.
Now for the pros and cons:
Cons
- They are expensive. I would say above average (as per our own research, please do yours and decide for yourself)
- We could sometimes notice a lack a communication between project manager, designer, owner and workers. We had to ensure everyone understood what we wanted once or twice.
- That's pretty much it.
Pros:
- Craftsmanship is excellent, definitely above average
- Good follow up from project manager, designer and owner
- Issues are dealt with quickly
- Designer knows what she's doing. She proposed a few changes that we didn't think about that made our project much better in the end
Bottom line:
Consider them seriously for any size projects you have. They probably won't be the cheapest, but I believe they are providing the best value. I have other projects that I intend to do in the future and they will most likely be a part of them.