Before you hire any contractor, I strongly encourage you to check the public Ontario court database and thoroughly vet offline references. The owner is an exceptionally persuasive salesman, but our experience was deeply concerning. We live in a school district where this company markets heavily, and I know at least three other local families who hired them but haven't written online reviews. (When doing your research, keep in mind that homeowners who settle disputes are often required to sign non-disparagement agreements, legally preventing them from warning others). As of writing this, the owner actually took down his google profile, which is odd.
It appears there are at least three active lawsuits involving this company on the public court database. In one, Stratas itself legally pleads that our exact Project Manager "significantly underperformed in his role" and "failed to adequately carry out the duties and responsibilities associated with his position" (which, according to their own filing, included budget management, scheduling, and expenditure monitoring).
Based on our written records, here is a summary of our experience:
Inaccurate Budgets & Embedded Fees: The baseline contract budget bore little relation to actual costs. The owner later complained in writing that we treated his budget "as gospel" and admitted final costs vastly exceeded his own projections. We also discovered his 20% management fee was split--he told us in writing that 10% was actually "baked in" to the initial subtrade line items. Furthermore, he refused our requests to provide itemized breakdowns for his hourly "site services" billing, and billed us over previously agreed-upon cost caps.
Staggering Framing Error & Delays: The site oversight was so lacking that they initially framed our basement a full 9 feet off the approved architectural plans. I had to personally catch the mistake after heated floors were already installed over the error and had to be ripped out. The 11-month project took 15 months, with the house sitting vacant for weeks at a time with zero trade activity.
Workmanship & Deficiencies: The owner actively advised us against the HVAC system recommended by our engineers, and now our third floor does not properly cool. His own HVAC subtrade informed us our PM explicitly instructed him not to elevate our heat pump according to its manual--costing us $1,500 out of pocket to fix. Additionally, our backyard gas line was severed by their team and left unmarked, and custom front stonework was permanently damaged.
Subtrade Interference: When we independently contacted a fireplace subtrade to help us fix a deficiency, we discovered Stratas explicitly instructed that trade not to assist us.
We attempted to resolve these issues and intended to pay our holdback, but recent efforts were met with a non-response. When we requested a required letter for a rebate, the owner told us he would only provide it if we signed a legal release.
While the owner made a few minor fee concessions during the build, his wife has great design taste, and we ultimately do like our finished house, I deeply regret hiring this company and having to navigate these extensive, unresolved deficiencies ourselves. read more
