If you are considering hiring Gerald Westervoorde or Specialty Trades: Do Not.
I'm writing this with a plumber in my home right now, fixing yet another problem left behind by Gerald Westervoorde, who remodeled our kitchen in 2021 for a six-figure sum. A county inspector recently flagged that our washing machine had never been properly vented and wouldn't sign off on an unrelated permit until it was corrected.
When our plumber went up, he found a second pipe, our bar sink, also cut off and venting straight into the attic. We don't yet know what today's repairs will cost. We don't yet know if there's still more damage to discover.
Gerald came to us through a referral we trusted. I'll be honest about my part: I was a first-time renovation client, I deferred to him as the expert, and I didn't seek additional references. I share this so you can learn from it. A contractor of integrity meets that trust with honesty. In our opinion, Gerald did not. What we got was five years of cascading failures and thousands paid to other contractors to fix his work, and we have the written assessments to prove it.
Flooring. His crew installed white oak hardwood without letting it acclimate. Every single board is now cupped, warped into a U-shape you feel with every barefoot step. Our flooring professional confirmed it was preventable and should never have happened.
Plumbing. The outdoor tap rusted out and needed full replacement. The washing machine and bar sink were never vented; they were just cut off and abandoned in the attic. The range hood over our stove was never vented to the outside either, so all that grease, steam, and cooking exhaust was blowing straight into our enclosed attic. He installed PEX without disclosing it, improperly joined to existing copper and galvanized steel, and it's all been replaced. The reverse osmosis system was installed incorrectly. Every failure documented by a licensed professional. Repairs to the plumbing alone run into the thousands, and we're still counting.
Permits. We were never given clear documentation that permits were pulled. As a first-timer, I didn't know to demand them, but pulling permits is the contractor's responsibility, full stop. An above-board contractor doesn't wait to be asked.
Jobsite. His crew left debris and trash across our yard and inside our home, and poured dirty paint water onto our lawn, killing the grass.
Why didn't we just call him back? After months of broken timelines and shoddy work, we'd seen enough to know what a return visit would look like. We don't trust him to be honest about what went wrong, or to fix it correctly. So, we hired qualified professionals, documented everything in writing, and cut our losses.
If you're considering a remodel: verify licenses, confirm permits will be pulled before work begins, and demand references you can see in person. This is someone who, in our experience, cut every corner available. We learned the hard way, so you don't have to. read more