Sign in

Urban Studio

450 - 111 Queen St E South Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1S2

Sharing is caring! Have something to share about Urban Studio? Use RevDex to write a review
Reviews Design Contractor Urban Studio

Urban Studio Reviews (%countItem)

On May 2017 my husband and I signed a contract and made a deposit with Urban Studio for a home renovation. We were told that work would commence once a permit was issued and that getting a permit would take around 3 weeks. We were verbally told that work would probably commence in June 2017. We were later told the drawing had to be approved by the committee of adjustments. In March of 2018 our application was review and approved by the committee of adjustments. In April of 2018 demo commenced on the third floor of our home. We were told that the permit would be released in a week or two and that they wanted to start demo so that once we had the permit we could start with framing and removing the exterior wall. They continued with demo and demo'ed the 3rd floor exterior wall and began framing. When I asked about the permit I was told that the architect was looking into the delay and that it would be issued in a week not to worry it had been approved. They demoed the 2nd floor bathroom ahead of schedule with the promise that it would be completed in 2-3 weeks as it was the bathroom we normally used and without it we had to use a smaller bathroom in the partially finished basement that only had a shower and we have kids.
In May we had water damage to the second floor which resulted from water coming in through the third floor where it had not been adequately covered to protect from water entering. The two finished bedrooms on the second floor got damaged from the large amount of water that got in. I asked for them to put fans and a heater to dry the wet areas as I was concerned about mold if it was not dried properly. I was told they would do that but they never did. The damage was not repaired until the fall when the new piece of drywall was put up and then in December some taping and plastering was done. This left us with no usable bedrooms for months. These areas still have not been completely repaired or painted. The bathroom is also still not complete or usable.
In late spring we were told by *** that the permit was being delayed because the city was asking for the footings of the house to be examined to ensure they were sufficient before the permit could be issued. At this point all of the framing had already been completed for the extension. In July 2018 we were told that the crawl space would have to be underpinned in order to accommodate the extension. The underpinning would cost an additional $30-
$35 K. We felt that this is something that should have been foreseen by a company that that advertises that they specialize in extensions and additions. We had already paid by that time over 50% of the total contract price. We asked about having Urban Studio cover a portion of the underpinning as it was required. We were told that this was not an option. The permit was issued August 3rd of 2018 which meant according the the agreement that the timeline of 18 weeks commenced from that date and the $150 fine for not completing the project on time would not be due until 18 weeks later. It was at that point that no one would show up for weeks and work stalled. When the work did not pass inspection *** complained about the inspector and tried to pressure me file a complaint. The insulation had to be removed and redone properly with proper venting twice and then the taping had to be redone properly. The building inspector issued a list of items that were required in order for the insulation inspection to pass. *** claimed that the insulation payments were due even though the insulation inspection has not passed and he refused to comply with the building code. He has refused to complete the list from the building inspector, refused to complete the project, terminated our agreement and claims we owe Urban Studio money for work that is not completed . We are left with a project that is half completed but we have paid 80% of the agreement amount. The projects deadline passed months ago!

Desired Outcome

Compliance with the building code! Complete all outstanding items on the agreement. Have work being done continuously for full days e.g 10-6pm Mon -Fri, until complete. Pay outstanding late fee of $150 for each day project has already gone over the 18 week time frame.

In May of 2017 Urban Studio began work on our home (a 250, 000$ project) at ***. Very quickly things went badly with Urban Studio asking for more money and inappropriately quoting parts of the project (unforseen things that were not in Original contract). It became clear that neither party trusted the other and Urban Studio stopped working on the house, telling us they were done what they had agreed to and been paid for, which they had not finished while we waited for the permits.

In August 2017 after not hearing from them and they not finishing the work they had started, we requested to have outstanding work to be completed by Sept. 12th 2017 or the monies already paid for these work(s) to be returned. We asked that if they did not intend to complete the said work, the money should be returned forthwith by September 6th 2017. This is the work that was left unfinished;

The basement work
Clay drains removed and replaced, to code..
Dirt floor leveled and prepped for slab pour.

Weeping tile and water membrane installed to code.

Sump-pump installed to code.

Slab poured to code.

Remaining demolition completed

Chimney flue demolished and removed.

Remaining drywall and cables and piping removed.

Demolition still not completed... Some drywall, plumbing pipes , chimney flue.

Basement slab removed (only) nothing else completed in basement.

In addition to a deposit on the entire project, to date we paid for the following (almost exclusively by cheque, I think about 5,000$ was paid in cash):

$5K - Upon commencement of Architectural drawings (04/13/17)

$5K - Upon submission of Architectural drawings (04/30/17)

$5K - Upon commencement of work and all preparation required (05/08/17 & 05/09/17 - 2 transfers)

$13K - Upon completion of all demolition, removal and disposal of waste (05/10/17)

$4K - Removal of all existing clay pipes (payment on 05/19/17)
Installation of weeping tile / membrane and Installation of sump pump

We did not hear from Urban Studio again after that email.

Desired Outcome

We want our deposit refunded as they did not fulfill their contract and we want the 13,000$ for the demolition refunded ( we had to hire someone to finish it to the tune of 10,000$) and we want the 4,000$ for the basement work refunded. This is all work that was not completed.

Urban Studio Response • Jan 22, 2018

We are happy a professional institute like yourself is in touch with our client, *** and *** who have disputed and canceled their contract with us on an improper manner, after four months back and forth to agree on the contract, schedule to start the work, mobilize our team and do the first phase of the job. I believe there is no need to explain all the details of frustrating delays, improper communications and wired interventions the owners got involved during the period we performed at the house. Please find enclosed a copy of emails sent back and forth between us in August 4st to 28th, 2017. These emails explain clearly:

We considered the cancellation of the contract with this client, after the demolition phase, due to many reasons. It all started when our engineer who was assigned to the project proposed an option/alternative to resolve the structural issue their existing south foundation wall was facing due to water damage and not maintaining the house for years. We provided our detailed quote for the cost of all the additional work the engineer requested. However, The clients found our pricing expensive and wrote back "This is very expensive for some masonry worker as it's working only with concrete blocks and mortar." He then started to shop around and find a handyman for the job which should've be done by experienced trades while he put the entire agreement on hold! He then questioned the engineer and blamed him for not providing him with cost sufficient alternatives. Shockingly he then hired a family friend as an engineer with a lower price and asked us to get rid of the current engineer, He also refused to pay for the cost of our engineer *** even though he spent many hours and done 3 site visits.

We tried to be sympathetic, financial situation regard, and agreed for them to have their family friend involved but the DISASTER only began when the new engineer couldn't prepare correct drawings in proper time and didn't coordinate with the architect properly and cause 2 months delay that ruined the basis of our project time schedule. (We've attached our Architect, ***, two emails on August 2nd, 2017 to owner, complaining about "endless negotiation with new engineer who is not listening to me." We also warned about the extensive delay and its effects on Project in our August 2nd email to the client.

As for the work at the job site we only got to finish the demolition task and we got paid for it after finishing as the payment was due to completion of work. They never paid us $1 extra as all the payments on the contract were based on mile stone payments and we never got to start the next phase of the project due to delays the new engineer caused by not providing the drawings! He responded after 2 weeks that he was on a vacation for past two weeks with no access to internet! (see attached email)

While we were patiently waiting for over a month for drawings and permits the client continued to shop around for local handyman's with low prices and asked us to replace our trades on few tasks! Mr. strategy to micro manage the project, to change the contract removing what they considered to be high price trades and services and replace them with lower price services offered by local handymen's was not only very frustrating but convinced our managers that the quality of this project will never stands at the level of our workmanship and the standards established in our company. We explained our point of view on client's strategy of micro managing the project in August 8th, 2017 which is also attached here to review.

On August 28th, 2017, we sent out the cancellation email to the owner after 20 days of sending emails to them and not hearing back from them!
Please review attached all the emails we sent as an attempt to get a hold of them which they left with no response simply because they still didn't have the engineer's drawings neither the permits for our company to start the work! We did not hear a word from them for 3 weeks and were left with no updates neither any responds to our emails. The termination of the contract was also based on confirmation that client removed and threw away our company signs from his property. We wrote them an email, complained about their improper manner in ending the contract and cancelled our contract on our side.

We currently have two projects on the same street and been seeing the progress of their work since they finally got their permits in December, months after the standard projected time by our team. Passing by their house going to our projects these days and seeing what they have built, we think they have traded the quality for few hundred dollars. Please see attached picture of their "renovated" house. Of course, it is not our business to judge other renovators job but even passersby with no knowledge of construction can see the addition is not even built straight! Even though we lost money on this project and it caused a great deal of inconvenience by effecting our other timelines, but we defiantly prefer we have saved our energy for the customers who need quality work, appreciate our expertise and have chosen us, knowing what are they are paying for!

Please find two series of emails exchanged with the customer attached. I have highlited the main issues we explained and warned the cliente in the process of work.

Best Regards

Customer Response • Jan 26, 2018

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
This is a ridiculous response. It is filled with multiple mistruths and inaccurate information (i.e. there is no family friend engineer!?! When we were desperate for someone to trust, our neighbour referred us to an engineer that we didn't know at all!?). If you require me to go point by point and refute the other mistruths, I can, but I see little value in continuing this back and forth with someone who is so untruthful. This response is also signed by a person I have never met or had any dealings with, even though the response is written in first person (I), I have never met *** (who we have discovered to be ***'s (the person we dealth with) mother, who posed as a client of Urban Studio when we initially checked ***'s references).

The contract was never cancelled. *** came and packed up his stuff one day (and took some of our stuff too!) and didn't come back. When he sent his 'cancellation' (indicating we had 3 days to respond) email that he refers to on August 28th, we responded 2 days later requesting that the remaining work that he did not finish (and had been paid in full for) be completed or our money returned. He did not respond to this email. We have since discovered that *** has done this before (a few times that we know of) and we don't believe him to be the type to admit to his wrongdoings, but we certainly won't sit back and let him tell mistruths about what he has done.

Check fields!

Write a review of Urban Studio

Satisfaction rating
 
 
 
 
 
Upload here Increase visibility and credibility of your review by adding a photo

Urban Studio Rating

Overall satisfaction rating

Address: 450 - 111 Queen St E South Building, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1S2

Phone:

Show more...

Web:

This website was reported to be associated with Urban Studio.



E-mails:

Sign in to see

Add contact information for Urban Studio

Add new contacts
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | New | Updated