Ferree Group Inc

It was one of the worst contractor experiences either me or my family have ever dealt with. Between my parents and myself, we've been through a number of renovations and had our fair share of dealing with various contractors, some decent, some not so much. This one definitely takes the cake. First off, the project was sold to me as a 2-month renovation. It lasted for more than 7 months - all of that for a small condo of under 900 sq ft. I had to push hard to move in after 6 months of renovations and certain items on the final punch list were finally completed more than 7 months into the reno. To be fair, there were certain delays that were out of this contractor's control as the electric service upgrade needed to be done. However, all of these delays did not exceed one month total. There were stretches of weeks when no one was working in the unit after all of the approvals for work have been received - I was cheking it on a regular basis. It took two weeks to get one of the inspections done (however, the inspectors are obligated to respond within 48 hours of receiving a request). This contractor did not seem all that concerned with these delays and dragged his feet forever. I ended up paying for both rent and mortgage for several months more than I planned for and completely missed a window of oportunity for my mortgage refinancing due to his delays. I lost tens of thousands of dollars on this alone. In terms of quality, it was a subpar job (to say the least) - a lot of rough carpentry and plumbing needed to be redone due to miscommunication between the general contractor and his subcontractors. There were numerous problems with every aspect of the project as I was forced to constantly re-order various finishes due to initial underestimation, incorrect instructions from the contractor, or damages to the items already delivered and stored in the unit (as requested by the contractor). Finished carpentry was also not so good. Paining job was poor - there are currently a number of huge cracks in various walls which will need to be repaired and repainted. In terms of pricing - we had a fixed price contract with and all changes should have been agreed to both parties in writing (change order forms). Some of the changes to project scope resulted in changes in pricing and were communicated to me verbally and agreed upon. Those changes I planned for and constantly talked to my contractor about the budget and how everything MUST stay within the budget. Planning for the communicated additions, I took some of the items previously agreed upon from the list. At the end of the project, my contractor requested me to pay approximately $11,000 more than his original estimate. None of this was ever communicated (either in writing or verbally) and agreed upon. Naturally, I declined to pay. We are currently going through the legal procedings to resolve this issue. He is threatening to place a mecanics lien on my property for the amount of money that was never to discussed or agreed upon to begin with. All in all, it was a horrific experience which is likely to end up in court. BEWARE!!!