Peter Ingster and his crew were hired to perform a legal basement /front porch renovation in September 2019. Peter indicated that the project would take a maximum of 3 months, although the contract stated 6 months. From day #1, it seemed things were not right as a demolition crew showed up to take down the front porch without notifying us that was happening.
They began excavation in the basement (underpinning), storing large amounts of dirt in the front yard for weeks on end without bringing in a bin to remove it. Neighbours informed me that they were walking around the neighbourhood asking for wheelbarrows since they didn't have their own. I caught them smoking and drinking in the basement multiple times. Part of the contract stated they had to install dust screens to prevent the rest of the house from getting dusty which they did not. The entire house was covered in dust. Peter did send over a cleaning crew (2 ladies with a broom) to clean the house but the house quickly returned to being a dusty mess soon after.
There were frequent periods of weeks where no work was being done on the house and Peter would keep saying 'we will be there tomorrow' to only not show up. When the Coronavirus pandemic started Peter gave me a call and said he had to stop work for the safety of his workers, which I completely understood. A few days later I drove by one of his other sites to find him, and the rest of his crew there working. I confronted him and he said he would return to our site. Peter was full of excuses and used tactics like this to weasel his way out of doing his job.
Then the calls from the sub-contractors started pouring in, complaining to me that they hadn't been paid by Peter. One put a lien on the house.
The quality of work was below par. The finished floor is not level (he provided me with a credit on the final invoice for this). The project ended up taking 1 year instead of the 3 months he suggested. Overall, I would not recommend this contractor if he was the last one left in Toronto. Do not use him. read more