We used Donaldson for a basic home renovation on our small 50's ranch in late September 2016. We wanted new windows, updated kitchen (no structural changes); new flooring, electrical and finally painting. Things started out great. The windows were put in by the carpenters who were there on time, professional and polite. They did an excellent job in framing the interior windows and it went smoothly. Then it went down hill from there. Kitchen cabinets were ordered with the incorrect finish. Home inspector had to inspect the work in the kitchen before we had new walls put up but Donaldson didn't even show when the inspector was there, leaving us to deal with him. Had new hardwood floors installed in our kitchen and living room by their lazy, shoddy flooring contractors that they use. We needed to move out and stayed in a hotel for three days when the flooring was getting done. We arrived home, and the floors had way too much polyeurethane, fumes were so overpowering that we had to sleep with bedroom windows open in the middle of November. Flooring dried with texture, dirt, hair, pine needles were stuck under the poly and it was spread so thick that there was rippling in some areas. Finally, had the floors done a second time and again had to move out and hotel it for another three days costing us a total of $1400.00. Although the floors were better the second time, there was still imperfections and it was a rushed job with a lack of attention to detail and again they were sloppy. Painting contractors that they use did a fair job at best. They painted over gouges and holes in the walls without filling in before painting. And whatever was patched, painters didn't even bother to smooth out the walls before they painted. Really??!! We ordered a skylight for our living room that was ordered incorrectly twice. We asked for a solar operated skylight and first they delivered a crank window for a ceiling that was 13.5' high. Then they delivered another one that was electric and had to be hardwired. Because that was not the skylight we wanted, we asked that they pay for the electricians to wire it. They apologized and agreed that they would take care of it and it never got wired. I am left with a skylight window with wires sticking out of it. And finally the nail in the coffin, we had ordered a door for our living room that leads to our deck space back in September when we started. Here we are in March and I never got my door because they never even ordered it. The day when we thought the door was to be installed in January, they sent their carpenters over and they started tearing down the exterior trim around my door. Donaldson calls and suddenly takes them off the job leaving me with no exterior trim and no new door. They used the excuse that the door came in the wrong size and wrong color. But that wasn't the case at all. They lied to us the entire time, over and over again about the door getting installed and they never fulfilled their promise because they never even ordered the door. They mismanaged our money that we paid for things and left me without a new door and some minor finishing work including a storm door for our front entrance that never got ordered either. At the start of our project, I heard positive reviews about Donaldson but as time went on, I started hearing negatives about the company from other people and from another contractor that knows of them. They had a good reputation at one time but it doesn't look like they are holding true to that reputation and the word is that they don't do the quality that they used to do. It seems like they are getting too big for their own good and their workmanship and customers are suffering because of it.
