Genesis Construction - A Body Corporate's experience in 2023

Genesis Construction represented by the Cape Town branch director Emilio Montanari , were employed by our body corporate to route water from a downpipe to a surface drain. The work involved laying a PVC drainage channel through an existing tiled pathway in front of an inner access gate to the lobby.

After a site inspection by Emilio, trustees received his comprehensive quote. Based on this and positive online reviews, trustees approved the quote for the drain work and paid substantial deposits for this, as also for a second maintenance project involving the replacement of damaged soffits to be carried out afterwards.

However, once work commenced we were faced with many problems. Emilio’s focus appeared to be on another larger project and he did not make the necessary staff and tools available for our project.

• He kept on delaying commencement and after eventually arriving on site, he decided to make a detour to buy some items saying he would return shortly but took hours. • He did not provide a 30 metre extension cord to connect to our complex’s power supply and would later claim an additional R699 for providing a longer extension lead when in fact one of the trustees had to lend him her own cord to extend his own short lead. • His workers were supp**** with a puny 115mm angle grinder to cut through the thick slate path tiles and made extremely slow progress. The specs were clear in that he would use reclaimed and/or spare tiles provided to edge the drain but we instead got a messy concrete edging - he claimed that he could not cut the tiles thin enough. • His excavation of the channel loosened one of the paving tiles which he refused to fix. • Instead of deepening the drain from the path to the outfall he laid a pipe, falsely claiming that there was insufficient fall. • Instead of taking the promised two days to complete the job, it actually took 4 days due to the lack of project supervision and frequent down times - and the rubble took over a week to collect and then then only after much prompting. • After committing to inspecting and signing off the work with the trustees, Emilio was a no show on the agreed day and time and our multiple calls and messages were not responded to, the result being that snags could not be flagged and rectified as pledged in his quote. Neither could we withhold the balance of payment until this was done as Emilio had already received deposits for this job and for the soffit replacement project that we signed up for but then cancelled given our bad experience with the drain work. He then had the nerve to take full payment for the drain work, added the supposed cost for the extension card, and after a long delay he refunded the small amount left over. • The body corporate has been left with no other option but to engage another contractor at extra cost to make good the multiple defects of the job.

In addition to Emilio’s arrogant attitude, lack of professionalism and shoddy work, there was also his bad handling and blatant disregard for the safety of a female trustee who was swarmed by his angry workers on the final day when they demanded to be paid or remain on site. When urgently contacted to resolve this internal matter, Emilio refused to appear on site to sort this out. The trustee concerned was fortunately able to remain calm and reason with the workers and they eventually left the property.

We would award this comapny a zero rating if it were possible!