Catalyst General Contracting Inc. Review

BE CAREFUL!
I am not surprised to see another review here like this.
We started talking to this company last year for a bigger reno in our house. We discussed budget then and it seemed that this would be the company we chose. The owner discussed numerous times via email, we sent pictures and he said he has done other projects within this budget and it should be doable. We confirmed on numerous occasions that our budget was strict. He confirmed it would be fine. We have it all via email. He requested a $1200 fee to have the architect come out and draw up plans to get the project started. When he arrived, he took a look at the project and we AGAIN confirmed our budget and he reiterated that the budget is good and we can complete the project within budget. We waited 4 weeks to get the quote and it was $20,000 over our budget. We emailed back to ask how does this happen when we confirmed numerous times the budget and he said its because of COVID costs have gone up. We confirmed in the middle of the pandemic as well as when he came to see our project the budget. He knew those costs already. After we asked him what happened, he again said the pandemic has raised ALL costs. $20,000 though? He said we could remove some stuff and do it ourselves but that wasnt the plan we discussed and we are not contractors so we cannot complete these jobs. Hence why we contacted this company. Moral of the story, DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY. The owner will mislead you to believe your budget is good, take your $1200 fee and not even care when you cancel. We are out $1200 and he pretty much said, "it is what it is".

He has also replied below now and I will follow up on that. He mentioned he did not take our fee. We would not have paid $1200 for an engineering project on the premise of paying $20,000 over budget. He mentioned numerous times our budget was fine, that is the only reason we went ahead with the engineering drawings. Otherwise, what would be the point of going ahead with engineering drawings if we knew it would have been $20,000 out of budget. Maybe you did not "take" our fee but you misled us to believe this project would have been in budget numerous times meaning paying the $1200 would not have been an issue because the job would have been done immediately. I understand what you mean by ballpark but to say $25k is a ballpark and then quote us $49k? How is that a ballpark? You seen the project and what was needed, how come you didn t mention at the house it would be MUCH more than you anticipated, or even when Drew had emailed you numerous times to ask if budget was okay? You assured us it was. I get you cannot be 100% be on budget but don t tell someone $25k is okay and then quote that $49k. That is outrageous. You eventually moved down to $38k however, you removed a lot of necessary stuff from our project. In turn, we were not getting exactly what we wanted making the project pointless. We are unhappy yes. We feel misled, yes. We fully planned on going ahead with the project asap but you burned that bridge by earning our trust and then giving us $20k or more over budget.

Overall, we appreciate your communications over the last few weeks but as a business, I think you should have been more informative to your future clientele. We are not contractors as I mentioned and we had many projects planned for the future. We are not difficult people by any means we just feel completely blindsided and misled.

I cannot say enough positive things about my experience with Catalyst Contracting and the amazing job they have done on my ensuite renovation and custom barn door build for my home office.
From the very outset, communication was clearly important to them and the response time to inquiries was beyond my expectations. I was kept apprise every morning with an update on work that was scheduled to be done that day - who was coming and what was happening - so I was never left wondering if or when someone was going to show up.
The Catalyst crew were all extremely friendly and so courteous and respectful of my home and took tremendous care to leave my house at the end of the day like it was when they arrived.
If you've been looking for a skilled, professional and talented contractor who WILL return your call, Catalyst is IT.

TOP NOTCH!!!

We had our kitchen reno done this past summer 2018 by Catalyst!!!
We went with Ikea cabinets totally customized by Catalyst. This company is the most professional business we have ever come across!
And this is the second time we used their services. The first time was in 2011 for a flooring reno of our whole main floor. They were fabulous then and thats why we called them to quote our kitchen reno.

I first emailed them to ask for a quote and they emailed me right back asking for information specific to our needs. We made an appointment and Brady came out, exactly on the time he said he would. They were always right on time. He went over the job with us and helped guide us with tips and insight that we had not thought of. We were told the quote would be done in a couple of weeks and thats because they do a completely thorough quote. Whatever the quote is, that is what the cost is, apart from any add ons. (We had a few add ons). I love that!!!
The quote was detailed well and had a clear payment schedule.
In the end, we paid exactly the amount that was quoted so no surprises.
Awesome!
We arranged a start date, end date and the job was started on time.
It ended a couple days late but that was no fault of Catalyst. It was because Ikea delivered damaged parts and we had to wait to get new ones.

All the Catalyst crew and contractors/tradesmen were amazing!
Their work was so good, very professional and awesome to work with.
Communication is very important when under going a reno and Catalyst is excellent at that too! They were friendly, pleasant and fun to work with!
They made any accommodations they could while we were going through the reno.
Matt helped us plan out our cabinets to make the most of our small kitchen. It is now so great, I'm in there all the time cooking and baking!
Special shout out to Matt, Jordan, Martina and Jamie and Scott!
Thank you guys so much!!!

Lorraine and Joe

Catalyst guys did an excellent job with our house reno a few years back. It was a complete tear down of a bungalow, down to just the basement, and a new build of a two story house. We love our new home and have fond memories of the construction project. All sub-contractors were top-notch, and Andrew and his team were great to work with. Nice people, high energy and can-do attitude. If we ever do this again, I'll be calling Catalyst.

We recently completed an extensive kitchen/main floor/laundry room renovation with Catalyst General Contracting. Catalyst transformed our traditional 1970's home into a beautiful open concept living space, ideal for entertaining and family time. From start to finish, we were impressed with their professionalism, attention to detail and quality workmanship. Andrew, Jamie, Sara, Nick, Jordan and the rest of the team were always on hand to offer their insight, guidance and support as we navigated through some major decisions. From the initial planning stage to selecting the finishing touches, their patience and commitment to our project was appreciated. Catalyst's online system enabled us to communicate with all involved, track our progress and manage our account. We highly recommend Catalyst General Contracting to anyone looking for a professional contractor to complete their project. We took a leap of faith after reading so many positive reviews and couldn't have been happier with our decision. A big thanks to Catalyst for taking our vision, working closely alongside us and helping to create a beautiful living space for our family!

We have just got our basement completed by Catalyst General Contracting and we are very happy with the end product . We value the clear communications with the team. They are planful and they kept us daily informed of progress. Every day and before they started, they would update the electronic daily log on what would be done that day. This caused no disruption in our life as we work from home during this period. The work very much followed the plan and we appreciate that worked with us on best value for our limited budget, and they stayed on budget. We worked closely with James, who has been very responsive and flexible to our requests. We are very much looking forward to having the team again to do the next renovation project we have in mind. We strongly recommend them for your plans. The Rabis

Thank you so much for the excellent job your company did. We were really impressed with the customer service you provided, from the weird covid shut down and start up, to being really accommodating with our requests.
I personally liked the transparency of the quote and the app. The communication between your team and us was great, especially since we did not live on site.
When we do our next project, we will definitely be in contact.

This is going to be a bit of a different style of review for potential Catalyst Clients! I am the owner of Rocket Plumbing and we take care of all of Catalyst's plumbing work on their projects.

First of all, they are easily some of the most genuine, compassionate, professional, communicative people that I have ever had the pleasure of working for. They took a chance on me as a new company owner to handle all of their plumbing work and for that I am forever grateful. We give each other the same amount of respect and hard work on every project we complete together.

Something that stands out to me having seen a lot of renovations and additions since opening Rocket Plumbing, is Catalyst's quality of work. I can literally walk into a project and know that Catalyst has done the work. Their attention to detail, willingness to please and overall knowledge of the building trades is second to none.

Thank you Catalyst for giving me the opportunity to work for your incredible team! Let's continue putting those massive smiles on client's faces at the end of a project. That's what its all about!

If you are having a hard time choosing a contractor for your project give Catalyst the opportunity to have a look and see what they can do for you. And if you do, I can guarantee you won't be let down! Also if you choose them, come say hi to me as I am installing your beautiful new fixtures!

Catalyst General Contracting has now completed 2 major renovation projects in our home. Catalyst is such a pleasure to work with - the staff are professional, reliable and their attention to detail is excellent.

Communication from Catalyst is superb - from the onset of the projects, clear and direct communication through their use of their online platform has allowed us to understand the day-to-day work being done in our home (ie., who would be on site and the work that would be completed), payment information, project timelines etc.

From the beginning of our projects to the end, Catalyst has been attentive to our needs and wants and works extremely hard to deliver a very high quality renovation. We would highly recommend their service and look forward to working with them again in the future!

Catalyst General Contracting has been a pleasure to deal with. I was looking for someone to build a covered porch attached on the back of my house, and wanted it to look like it was originally built with the house. From the initial consultation with Andrew, to the final completion of the project i couldn't be happier. The initial consultation was with Andrew, and he was great to work with, listened to what i was looking for, and was able to work within my budget to create a detailed proposal. Once we accepted it, there were no surprises along the way. The project managers and the project team would provide daily updates so that i always knew what was happening that day and what stage the project was at. All permits and inspections were handled by Catalyst, and this whole project was stress free for me. The workers and sub-contractors that were on site were always professional, respectful, and left the space as clean as can possibly be for a construction site. The quality of work was top notch and materials all matched and fitted perfectly to the existing structure that you would think it was there originally at the time the house was built, which is exactly what i wanted. These guys take that extra step to make sure everything is perfect. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to friends, family and others. You can rest assured that you'll get professional service and communication, quality work and at a fair price.