Allan Gushkien

I don't usually feel compelled to write online reviews unless someone is remarkably good or outright terrible. In the case of Allan Gushiken, he is outright terrible. I would caution anyone who values quality work and a solid work ethic to steer clear of Allan, as he espouses neither. Here is my account of working with him. In January 2020, I needed 2 simple tasks to be done. The jalousie frame on my kitchen door was falling apart, and I wanted the whole door replaced with a clear glass window frame. I also had an outside door from my garage to the side of the house that I wanted to cut down to a half-door to allow more light into the garage. Allan showed up and seemed confident and sincere enough to complete the job. He claimed it would take no more than 1, maybe 2, days. The first warning occurred when he simply didn't show up for the scheduled time. I work full-time and had moved my schedule around to accommodate him, yet he didn't have the courtesy to let me know he couldn't make it. This happened multiple times, and instead of him informing me of his absence, I had to reach out to him, only to get excuses about how he was feeling ill or got hung up on another job, etc. When he did show up, he was usually hours late. He once showed up around 6 pm, right before I sat down for dinner with my family, and didn't leave until almost 10 pm, the job still incomplete. So much for a 1-day job. Why did he have to keep returning? Because his measurements were simply not precise and he couldn't get the fitting right. The first door he brought was not the right size so he had to get another one. The second door was still not right, so he blamed it on my door frame being an unconventional size. He finally got it to fit by sanding down the bottom unevenly and it looked completely amateurish. He begged me to complete my payment since he had to pay his "workers," even though no one else ever showed. I felt sympathy for him and paid him in full, which I completely regret, since his responsiveness just dropped off abruptly, and he no longer had an interest in completing the job. One of my biggest gripes? Despite me telling him the most important thing was to make sure the glass was clear, he installed a painted frosted glass from the get-go. Not even a quality uniform frost, but a sloppily hand-painted frost with brush marks in haphazard directions. After acknowledging his error, he reassured me it was an easy fix, and that the "glass guys" would simply come over and wipe the frost off with some special chemical. That never happened. So he promised to replace it altogether with a clear glass, which is what I had requested in the first place. He somehow managed to break the first piece of glass while loading it into his car. That set him back another 1-2 weeks. He showed up again with another clear glass, and upon realizing he hadn't sized it right (no surprise), proceeded to cut it on my lawn, only to break it yet again. He left the broken pane in my yard for me to clean up and never returned. As for the garage half-door? He cut it to 30" as I requested, only he cut the door upside down after it was taken off its hinges, so now, the door knob was on the wrong side. He had to cut a new hole for the door knob, and then installed the lock on the wrong side (inside of property). I changed it back myself after he left. This project started in January 2020 and it is now August 2020. I didn't bother Allan for almost 2 months during COVID, but when most people were returning to work (including him for other jobs), it was I who had to contact him to finish the job, not the other way around. He claimed he now had 4 pieces of glass that would fit my door, that he moved to a new home "literally 5 minutes" away from me, and that he could change the glass out in no more than 15 minutes in an afternoon. Last week, he promised to show up on Wednesday afternoon to finally complete the job. Of course, he never showed up. He said it would have to be rescheduled for the weekend. I never heard back from him. At a time when many are struggling for work and looking for opportunities, it's sad that there are guys like Allan who have no qualms taking peoples' money, ripping them off, and leaving jobs unfinished. His shameless work ethic smears the reputation of other contractors in the industry who are just trying to make an honest living. Don't be fooled by Allan's soft-spoken tone and seemingly earnest manner on first encounter. My experience with him was that he only cared about getting paid, did half-assed work, at best, and showed absolutely no respect for his client. Do yourself a favor and move on to the next contractor, and spread the word about Allan's sketchy practices. Scammers like him should be shamed and locked up.