Penfolds Roofing & Solar

If I could give a 0 star rating, I would.

We live 10 minutes off a major road in North Vancouver. Saw lots of good reviews online for Penfolds with lots of happy customers. Phoned the number on the website and was connected to what I believe to be a call center. Gave all the details on our location, type of roof, etc.and was told a rep would call me back in 2-3 business days. Norm from the North Vancouver location called as expected and we set up an appointment to provide an onsite repair or replace quote with address confirmed and appointment set for next day. I needed to juggle my schedule to make the appointment time work, but wanted move quickly.

Received a call *5mins after the scheduled meeting time to tell me its difficult to get crews to come to our location and he would not be quoting any work. I understand that a number of businesses may be having staffing shortages or need to soften employee expectations to improve retention, but were talking about a small flat roof in the district of North Vancouver.

Setting the staffing issue aside, the key reason I'm writing this review is the lack of professionalism. Penfolds had 2 opportunities to turn this job down and not book the appointment. They waited until after the established meeting time to tell me they weren't coming. That should be a red flag for any prospective customer.

It's fine that Penfolds doesn't want the work, someone will. But, word of caution to prospective customers - aside from cost, timing, scheduling, crew availability and professionalism should all be things to watch for.

Penfolds replaced our asphalt roof, two vented skylights, and gutters/downspouts. They also demolished our deteriorating chimney. The quality of the finished work looks great, and all workers on-site were polite and respectful of our property. The job site was left in an orderly state each day and our home was well protected from weather during construction.

Between signing our agreement and the start of work, our project was transferred from our initial contact, Martin, to a new supervisor, Chris. Chris was great! He was incredibly communicative and was always willing to answer questions or provide guidance when we hadn’t heard from our project coordinator.

Throughout the project, some things that came up that we didn’t anticipate (see below). It’s important to note that we are first-time homeowners, so it’s possible that these are normal things to expect/questions we didn't know to ask in advance. Perhaps it will be helpful to others as well.

- After an initial visit from Penfolds, we accepted their quote. This was followed by a more detailed inspection from them (still before any construction began) that led to a 40% increase in cost due to some unique (though justifiable) challenges with our roof that weren’t noticed in the initial visit.

- We noticed our chimney demolition wasn’t explicitly stated in the contract we received. After inquiring via email, we were reassured that it was in the “internal scope” of the work. We learned on day 1 of construction that this hadn’t been shared with the new supervisor, as he had no knowledge of the chimney demolition. Our original email exchange ended up being the sole proof that this was part of our agreement, which Penfolds honoured, and Chris was able to quickly reorganize things to ensure it was done without added delay.

- We had to be very, very, proactive in our communication to get updates about our project. We received an initial introduction message from the project coordinator, heard very little for a couple of months, then one afternoon received an email letting us know that our job was scheduled to start the following day. We had to call to find out if/when interior access was required, which days the crew would be on site, for how long, and when they would return following delays due to weather/supply issues. We also had to follow up multiple times about removal of waste/leftover supplies and final inspection.

- The disposal bin for the job was left unsecured throughout the 2 weeks it was on site, and this was taken advantage of by some illegal dumpers.

- We originally thought all elements of the job would be completed within the given time estimate, but later learned that the gutters/downspouts would be installed a couple of weeks after the roofing. Leftover materials and waste also took a few weeks to be collected, and final inspection happened ~2 months after our start date.

All in all, our experience with Penfolds was positive. The information above simply outlines details we didn’t know to expect/clarify as first-time homeowners and may apply with any company. We are very happy with our new roof, skylights, and gutters.

Penfolds was recommended by a close friend and they exceeded our expectations in every way. Jason was professional from the get go providing a comprehensive quote and inviting us to the showroom to run over the details with us. Once signed, Penfolds was very professional setting up a start date and clearly communicating the timeline and providing ample notice to the tenant. They replaced our old roof with a metal one and arranged for a certified carpenter to repair the roof where needed. When the project ran into friction with the tenant, Jason and team went above and beyond to accommodate and did everything in his power to help the tenant and to help us throughout the roof installation. With Penfolds you're getting more than just a great new roof. You're getting peace of mind and quality service. Like my friend who recommended them to me, I'd recommend them in a heartbeat.

Our project was done faster than expected, better than expected and for the agreed upon price. I cannot say enough about the entire crew/team and experience dealing with Penfolds from Shaun to the project guys to the crew. We have a tough location, challenging yard/rocks and everything was perfect. Thank You!

We had a horrible experience with Penfolds. They were extremely quick to provide a quote and arrange a start date but unfortunately the project took much longer than quoted, the final bill was nearly double the quotation and there was nails left all over the property. The standard over promise and under deliver.

They get the work done, but if your looking for an honest company, keep looking.