Good Neighbor Podcast: Mississauga

Basements, Budgets, And Better Renovations

• Alanja Simmons

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Renovation can feel like a gamble ,deposits, delays, and promises that fade when the drywall dust settles. Our conversation with Jerome Sammy, owner of Finnish Basement Inc., shows what it looks like when a contractor replaces uncertainty with structure, clarity, and a steady hand. With more than 40 years of service in the GTA, Jerome brings a musician’s ear for timing to the building world, coordinating trades in a tight, week-by-week rhythm that keeps projects moving and homeowners informed.

We unpack the company’s signature approach to basement remodels, where speed doesn’t mean shortcuts. Jerome walks through a clean sequence demolition, framing, insulation, electrical, plumbing, drywall, and finishes so each crew hits the site at the right moment. He speaks plainly about industry myths, from disappearing contractors to inflated expertise, and explains how clear scopes, documented changes, and honest pricing build confidence. If you’ve ever wondered why timelines slip, his answer is simple and actionable: protect the sequence and treat change orders with rigor.

Marketing and momentum get real, too. Jerome outlines who they serve homeowners with stable income who value reliability and how a mix of website portfolios, Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads fuels demand. A standout chapter traces their TV work on Income Property with Scott McGillivray and the surprising long tail of reruns that still send leads years later. Beyond the job site, Jerome shares how music, family, and grandkids keep him grounded, and why he’s considering launching a podcast to teach more people how to renovate with confidence.

If you care about results you can measure and a crew that shows up when they say they will, you’ll find practical takeaways you can use on your next project: how to vet a contractor, how to read a schedule, and how to keep budget and scope aligned. Enjoy the story, take the notes, and if this helped, subscribe, share it with a friend planning a reno, and leave a quick review so more homeowners can find it.

Intro:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Alanja Simmons.

Alanja Simmons :

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you in need of a home renovation company? One might be closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, Jerome Sammy, with Finnish Basement Inc. Jerome, how's it going?

Jerome Sammy:

Not too bad. Doing pretty good.

Alanja Simmons :

Great. We're excited to learn about you and your business. Tell us about your company, Finnish Basement Inc.

Jerome Sammy:

We're a home renovation remodeling company. We've been in business for over 40 years, and we do work the call GTA. We do basements. Not because we are called finished basement, we don't really do basements, but we do main floors. We do renovation all through the homes. But the basement part of it is like a niche. It's quick to get in, quick to price, quick to get out. We also do main floor renovations, kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations. We even do additions.

Alanja Simmons :

Jerome, how did you get into this business?

Jerome Sammy:

It's amazing that you asked that question. Because originally I was a musician. Then I decided I wanted to kind of switch from the music and going into some other trade or something, right? A friend of mine in one of the bands I was playing with was into home renovation. And he asked me if I could give him a hand. That's where it started. I started working with him, started doing other projects and things like that. And just it just blossomed from me.

Alanja Simmons :

Amazing. That's quite the background, Jerome.

Jerome Sammy:

Well, yeah, it's one of the things that, you know, as you go along, you pick up one job, learn from that, learn from other trades, and you learn from other people and things like that. It just a matter of just how far you want to go. So I kept stretching for the stars and keep going.

Alanja Simmons :

What are some myths or misconceptions in your industry?

Jerome Sammy:

Sometimes contractors say they might come in and price a project for you, and then they might take the money and run. It's a half myth, but it does happen. You have to win the confidence of the customer. A lot of our jobs were from referrals. When you work with a customer and you get good referrals, that clears the path to dismiss some of those myths. I would say, what are the myths here? Sometimes you're going to meet someone who's a contractor who might say they know what they're doing and they don't know what they're doing.

Alanja Simmons :

I get that. We know marketing is at the heart of every business. Who are your target customers and how do you attract them?

Jerome Sammy:

My target customers are, I would say I try to get customers maybe say over 100 grand or some somewhere around that range, and people who are pretty stable in what to do. So they would have a good job, good income, and disposable income. That's the market we target. How do we target it? Well, we do have a website, Finnish PacSCTO.com, and we do have a lot of projects on there. And we also do uh other advertising to Facebook, uh Instagram, Google ads. At one point we did, this was back in 2008, so it's quite a while ago. We did a project with income property. I don't know if you ever heard of income property.

Alanja Simmons :

Yes, I I've heard about it.

Jerome Sammy:

Yeah, Scott McGulvery. Yes, and we we did about four or five projects for them. People were phoning us from all over through the Delta, Chicago, New York, but my arms weren't stretched out that far. Even Bermuda, I wish I had long arms to reach.

Alanja Simmons :

It's never too late to stretch those arms.

Jerome Sammy:

You have reruns that still runs even today. I still got calls, like even in the last year, I still got calls for people seeing the show and wanting us to come and do their work. So the rerun still projects income, still brings in income.

Alanja Simmons :

Totally get that. Have you ever thought about doing your own podcast?

Jerome Sammy:

I have a friend on temporary staff. I was talking to him about doing something live like this, yes, and to see if we could do it, but we never did start it up. That's something yes, I would consider doing at some point.

Alanja Simmons :

Okay. And outside of work, what do you do for fun?

Jerome Sammy:

I play music still, so I play guitar and stuff. I do fun things. I have grandkids. We have family get-togethers, a little bit of traveling, but otherwise, a lot of family entertainment.

Alanja Simmons :

On that note, that is so fun to always have family around and be able to enjoy those little moments. Jerome, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about finished basement ink.

Jerome Sammy:

One thing to remember at our logo, we have on time and on budget. If you're looking for someone to do good work and have an insight into detail, that's one thing you can remember about finished basements. So we do have attention to detail and we do try and do a product that's acceptable to all people. No, we do try to keep that because, like I said before, an initial basements is that we have a set schedule. One week this, one week that, second week, first week would be demo, second week will be Freeman, third week will be insulated, insulation, electrical and plumbing, and then insulation and drywall and then finishing. So if we could keep those schedules in that week, unless the customer changes the plans and changes the scope of work, we could keep the budget and the time on time.

Alanja Simmons :

How can our listeners learn more about finished basement inks?

Jerome Sammy:

We have a website, it's finished basements.com, or for short, is fbscto.com. You can use that to see our work. My phone number is 486-885-3987.

Alanja Simmons :

Perfectly said. Well, Jerome, I really appreciate you being on the show, and we wish you and your business Finnish Basement Inks, the best moving forward, and thank you for being a good neighbor.

Jerome Sammy:

Thank you. Thank you, Alanja .

Ontro:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favourite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPMississauga.com, GNPMississauga.com or call 365 263 9780.