c/edmonton-contractors

Warning: that 'cheapest quote' patio contractor in Leduc cost me double in the end

I talked to a guy at the Timberlands Home Depot lot last Saturday who said he hired a crew for $3,800 to pour a walkway, then paid another $2,100 to tear it out and redo it after it cracked before winter freeze. He told me 'the low bid only wins if you like surprises,' and that stuck with me because I was about to sign with the same kind of outfit for my own backyard pad. Has anyone else here had a cheap quote turn into a money pit, or is there a reliable way to spot the good budget crews from the bad ones?

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gavin_kelly91•11d ago

Changed my mind on spray foam after a garage reno in St. Albert

I used to think spray foam was always the right answer for insulation. Then I helped a buddy with his garage last March and the contractor talked me out of it. He showed me the numbers: fiberglass batts cost him $1,800 less and the garage only gets used for storage and a workbench. He also pointed out that spray foam can trap moisture if the vapor barrier isn't done right, and his crew sees that mistake all the time. I checked online and found a few city building code threads saying the same thing. Now I ask about the building's purpose before recommending anything. Has anyone else had a contractor push back on a product you assumed was superior? What convinced you to switch?

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emery_young13•12d ago

Basement reno revealed a hidden drain pipe that saved my layout

Honestly, we were about to frame out a new wall in our Sherwood Park basement when I noticed a small cap sticking out of the slab near the corner. I almost ignored it, but decided to pry it open and found a floor drain that wasn't on any of the house plans. That little find let me reroute the plumbing for a future bathroom without breaking concrete for $800 extra. Has anyone else stumbled on something hidden in their Edmonton home that changed their build plan?

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aaronclark•12d ago

Subcontractor ghosted mid-project, then showed up 8 days later asking for full payment

Last month I had a guy doing drywall for a basement reno on the south side, he took a deposit, worked two days, then just vanished. No calls, no texts, nothing for 8 days. I finally found another crew to finish the job, paid them out of pocket after the client approved the change. Then the original guy shows up at my shop door asking for the remaining balance like nothing happened. Said his phone broke and he had a family thing, which maybe was true, but he didn't even ask about the Project status or offer to redo the work. I told him I already paid someone else and he got real defensive, started saying I owed him for the two days of work. I get that materials and labor cost money, but you cant just disappear on a job site and expect things to stay the same. I ended up giving him half of what he asked just to avoid a lien threat, which still stings. Has anyone else dealt with a sub that pulls this kind of move and how did you protect yourself legally next time?

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terry_carter15•16d ago

Paid $4,800 upfront to a St. Albert contractor and got ghosted

Back in March I hired a guy from a Facebook ad to redo my basement bathroom. He seemed legit, had a valid business number and showed me photos of past work. I put down $4,800 as a deposit for materials and he said he'd start in two weeks. That was 4 months ago. He stopped answering my calls after the first month, his website went dark, and the Better Business Bureau has 3 other complaints about him now. I should have checked his license number with the city, but I was too rushed because my old toilet was leaking. Has anyone else dealt with this specific contractor, or does anyone know if there is any way to actually get money back from these guys in Alberta?

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keith_rodriguez•18d ago

Paid a $1200 deposit to a contractor who ghosted me mid-project

Back in March I hired a local crew to redo my basement floor after a water damage claim. They took $1200 upfront for materials, showed up two days, then stopped answering texts and calls. I drove by their shop address on 99 Street and it was locked up with a for lease sign. Took me six weeks to find out the guy had been running three different company names. Has anyone else had luck getting money back through small claims or the city license board, or is that cash just gone?

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mila_flores8•18d ago

TIL my old crew leader hit 40 years on the same job site and nobody knew

We were doing a tear-out on a 1970s bungalow off Whyte Ave last month and the basement suite had this weird half-finished drywall patch. My crew leader, Dave, looked at it and laughed. He said he did that patch in 1985 when he was an apprentice for the same company we're subbing for now. I asked him how long he's been at it and he counted, said 40 years this September. Same trade, same city, mostly the same streets. That hit me weird because I've been doing this 6 years and I've already switched contractors twice. He's seen three generations of homeowners argue over beam placement and watched the permit rules change like six times. I asked him why he stayed and he just shrugged and said the work keeps coming. Has anyone else run into a guy like that, someone who's been on the same crew or site longer than the houses they're working on last? What keeps them from bouncing around like the rest of us?

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amy_foster79•19d ago

Rant: Local crew vs. out-of-town contractor on a St. Albert reno, one was brutally better

We had two quotes for a 14 foot retaining wall, the Edmonton guy came in 3 days early and finished with zero change orders while the Sherwood Park company sent a kid who showed up hungover and left our yard looking like a war zone, has anyone else seen this huge gap between local knowledge and the drive-in outfits?

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bettywood•19d ago

Hit 50 straight foundation pours without a single callback

Finally counted my jobs from the last 2 seasons and realized I hit 50 flat pours with zero issues, been using a laser level on every footing since my first cracked slab disaster and it's wild how much that one cheap tool changed my whole process, anyone else track their stats like this or am I just weird?

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riley_taylor•20d ago

Question about the drywall taper who left his mud in my driveway

I hired a crew through a friend of a friend to finish my basement, and the taper quit halfway through after a fight about lunch breaks. The drywall is up but the seams are a mess, and the guy left three buckets of half-used mud sitting on my driveway for a week now. I called the contractor and he said it's 'not his problem' since the taper was a sub. Is that actually on me to deal with, or should the guy who took my deposit be liable for the cleanup and the unfinished seams? I've been in flooring for 15 years and I'd never leave a client hanging like that, so what's the standard here for a general contractor? Anyone else had a sub walk mid-job and the main guy just shrugged?

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the_hayden•20d ago

Paid $850 for a basement flood cleanup that came back 3 weeks later

Hired a crew off Kijiji back in February after my sump pump failed. They came in, ripped out the wet drywall, ran fans for two days, and handed me an invoice for $850. Said the moisture readings were all under 15 percent. Three weeks later I pulled the baseboard to check something and found black mold behind it. Turns out they never sealed the vapor barrier where the wall met the floor slab. Had to redo the whole thing myself for about $120 in materials. Anyone else get burned by a cheap emergency crew in Edmonton and end up doing the real fix on your own dime?

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the_hayden•20d ago

Walked a site with a crane operator in St. Albert, he called out my tape measure habit

Last month I was checking a foundation pour on 215th Street and this guy, Dennis, had been running cranes for 25 years. He watched me re-measure a setback three times and said, 'you trust that tape more than your eyes, that's how we miss grade.' He showed me his method, just eyeballed the line and hammered a stake, and it was dead on. Anyone else have a contractor tell them to stop overthinking something that should be simple?

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elizabethhayes•21d ago

The week every drywall patch cracked and I finally figured out why

Last November I had 6 patches fail in 5 days across two jobs in St. Albert, all cracking along the same line within 48 hours. Turns out my mud was too thin and I was skipping the mesh tape on butt joints to save 20 minutes per room. Has anyone else had a batch of material that seemed off, or was it just my mixing being rushed that week?

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the_tessa•21d ago

The handshake deal that fell apart on a Sunday morning

About 3 years ago I hired a guy from a Facebook ad to pour a small concrete pad behind my garage in St. Albert. He quoted me $900 cash, said he'd do it on a weekend to avoid the city permit hassle. We shook hands on it, he took a $300 deposit, and then he just stopped replying. Last week I drove past his ad again, same photos, new name, and I recognized his van in the background of one of the pics. I called the number and asked if he still did concrete work, and he said yes, but he hung up when I mentioned my old address. I'm not trying to trash talk the whole trade because I've had great crews, but this pattern of unlicensed guys taking deposits is getting out of hand. Has anyone else here had luck getting money back from a no-show contractor, or do you just write it off as a lesson?

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robin_henderson81•25d ago

PSA: Confirm your contractor has WCB before you sign anything

I got burned last spring when a crew doing my basement framing had an accident on site. The guy fell off a ladder and I found out the contractor didn't carry WCB coverage, so I was looking at their medical bills. It took me 3 weeks and a lawyer's letter to sort out the mess, and it cost me about $4,600 in deductibles and lost time. How do you guys verify WCB numbers before hiring up here, and do you ask for a clearance letter every single job?

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taylor.amy•26d ago

Overheard a drywaller say mud quality doesn't matter, had to bite my tongue

I was grabbing supplies at Home Depot in South Edmonton last Tuesday and heard two guys arguing about joint compound. One said any brand works the same and the other was getting pretty worked up about it. I just kept walking but it got me thinking about how many corners people cut on the finishing side. Anybody else notice a big difference between cheap mud and the premium stuff, or am I overthinking it?

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taylor.amy•29d ago

Rant: Paid $600 for a garage slab that cracked before the concrete was even dry

Last summer I hired a guy who talked a big game about his rebar work, but the slab started spiderwebbing while he was still finishing the edges. Has anyone else dealt with a contractor who clearly skimped on the control joints?

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willow114•1mo ago

My basement flood cleanup dragged on for 6 weeks because of one mistake

Had a pipe burst in my basement back in November. Called a local Edmonton contractor to dry it out and fix the drywall. They said it would be 2 weeks max. Took them over 6 weeks because they didn't check the moisture levels behind the baseboards before sealing everything up. Mold started showing up after the first week and they had to rip it all out again. Has anyone else dealt with contractors who rushed a water damage job and made things worse?

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patriciareed•1mo ago

Sub told me my caulking was too thick and it saved my next kitchen backsplash

I had this tile guy I hired for a small backsplash tell me I was laying down way too much caulk around the corners. He said it should be almost invisible, just a thin bead then tool it flat. I went back and redid it on my next job using his method and it looked ten times cleaner. Anyone else had a sub call them out on something small that actually made a big difference?

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julia557•1mo ago

First time using a laser level on a ceiling job, what a game changer

I was putting up drop ceiling tiles in a basement near Whyte Ave and kept getting lines crooked with a chalk line. After 3 tries I grabbed a $40 laser level from Home Depot and finished the whole grid in under an hour. Has anyone else switched to laser and found it way faster than the old ways?

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kelly_west74•1mo ago

Spent $800 on a basement reno with a contractor who ghosted after 3 days

Hired a guy off Kijiji to frame my basement and he took my deposit then vanished after half a day of work, so now I'm debating if I should just DIY the rest or lawyer up over that signed contract, anyone else have a nightmare story with an unlicensed home builder in Edmonton?

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charles_kelly43•1mo ago

Rant: That concrete guy who said 'just wet it down' almost cost me my driveway

Last spring I hired a contractor from St. Albert to pour a new driveway and a buddy told me I could save cash by doing the curing myself. He kept saying 'just wet it down with a hose once a day' (like it was no big deal). After 3 weeks I noticed hairline cracks everywhere and called a different crew to look at it. They told me I should have kept it moist with burlap and plastic for at least 7 days straight. Anyone else ever get bad curing advice from a friend who claimed they knew concrete?

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the_parker•1mo ago

Comparing spray foam to batt insulation in my garage was a real eye opener after one winter

I did a garage reno last fall and went with spray foam on one side and traditional batt insulation on the other to see what would actually hold up better. After this brutal Edmonton winter, the difference is crazy. The spray foam side stays way more consistent temperature wise, even when it hit -35 last month. The batt side had some settling and a few spots where mice got in through the vapour barrier. I spent about $800 more on the spray foam for a two car garage, but honestly I think it's worth it for the air sealing alone. Has anyone else tried mixing insulation types like this or did you just pick one and hope for the best?

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tara_jones94•1mo ago

Rant: My basement Reno guy swore by that cheap floor leveler from Home Depot

I hired a contractor named Dave for my basement in Sherwood Park and he insisted on using $25 bags of leveler instead of the good stuff. I told him I wanted something that wouldn't crack after a year, but he said 'it's all the same, dude, just save your cash.' Well, six months in and I've got hairline cracks running all through the pour. Anyone else had a contractor push a budget material that totally failed on them?

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morganhill•1mo ago

Told my roofer he was wrong about ice shield. Cost me $1200.

Buddy of mine (works for a roofing company in Spruce Grove) told me I needed full ice and water shield on my whole roof over in Summerside. I thought he was just trying to upsell me so I only did the edges. Now it's feb and I got an ice dam leaking into my front porch. Had to pay a guy $1200 to tear off shingles and fix it. Anyone else get burned by skipping something a contractor recommended?

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