Auburn Bay - new builder - who is the best?

[topjava]

Hi, there

We have a plan to move Auburn bay and prefer to have a new building house.
So, we went some show homes in the area. There are four companies; Cardel, Jayman, Baywest, and Cedar-glen.
Which company do you think is the best in the area?

I read some previous posts about Carde. Most people said avoid it. Baywest seems pretty good. Jayman and Cedar-glen- ok.

Or, is there anybody who built their new house in the area with one of those four companies?
If yes, what is your comment about your builder?

[Masked Bandit]

Baywest # 1

Ceadarglen a distant #2

Jayman way back #3

Cardel...you'd be better off building it yourself out of Lego.

[phunx]

We're 1 month from taking possession of our house with Baywest. So far it's been a pleasure, everyone's nice and super helpful. We we're first time home builders and they made it pretty easy/clear. The only somewhat difficult (though probably better as it allows more options) thing is that you have to visit the different suppliers individually, rather than a big showroom that places like Jayman has. I can go into more detail if you'd like.

Also if you decide to build with Baywest let me know as they have a referral program which will give you 500 bucks off and myself some money. PM if you want more info. I can probably give you a tour of my house one night to give you a look into the build quality/process.

In terms of the other builders I'd probably rank it the same as Masked Bandit. Our decision was between Cederglen and Baywest, and found Baywest offered more value/better lot.

[2002civic]

Baywest was great!

We built in Cranston and they are definatley a better builder than the other 3 you listed IMO and the ratings tend to agree.

My freind built with Cedarglen and was happy, but IMO Baywest is a better qulity builder, they usually do estate and higher end homes and keep the quality throughout their lineup.As mentioned be prepared to sit in on 12-16 apointments for selections, and they have to happen M-F between 8-4 usually which can be a HUGE pain.

[JordanLotoski]

Baywest for sure

[tictactoe2004]

Stay far, far, far away from Cardel. It doesn't matter if you like the price... it doesn't matter if you like the floor plan... Their customer service, quality of work and the way they take care of warranty issues is SOOOOOOO horrible that unless you can get it for 25% below market value or less it is not worth the hassle. Trust me, I own a Cardel home.

Auburn bay is fantastic though :)

[InRich]

I feel Cardel handled warrenty issue's decently. I just had to put them in their place at the very beginning. most of the problems in my home were solved nicely, and professionally.

As for the OP. I wouldn't build again with Cardel, and I would vote Baywest aswell, UNLESS they have Morrison in there aswell. Theres a reason their always builder of the year.

[r3ccOs]

I built with Baywest... for those who remember Brian Tarnowski, he unfortunately passed away about a month ago.

He himself was one of the reasons why I bought bay-west, along with its reputation, and the flexability they had to change the floor plans.

Being Asian, I took a typical cab over floor plan, and remove the flex room, bonus room and on-suite, then added another washroom and 7 bedroom for my uncle, his kids, my dad, my step uncle, aunts, cousins and my inlaws.

lol, jk...
I just changed up the floor plan of the Helios (from the Phoneix series) to add more space to the kitching & dining area, changed up the stair configuration, and the half bathroom configurations.

The process was a bit of a pain in the butt, as I had over 25 appointments with various vendors who had m-f 9-5 business hours, BUT... I think because of this, I ended up with better value for dollar.

As opposed to going to a building center, such as Cardel's, I wasn't shown different "levels" & packages of carpet, granite etc... with a fixed allocated cost, but rather:

You are given an allocated allowance, you can choose anything from the vendor's showroom...
I much liked that alot, as we got to upgrade what we wanted, as opposed to choosing specific packages with fixed costs.

I have a buddy who is a framer, another an electrician and a buddy who is a cribber (for Baywest) and all & all, the whole structure was delivered flawlessly.

@ the end of the day, the Builder is really the co-ordination of archiecture, supply chain, Project & vendor management.

Often times, crews that work for one builder, will work for several other builders... so sometimes it is the luck of the draw.

Sometimes it just depends on how maticulious the site super is.

I can tell you, that the product I recieved from Baywest in Auburn Bay was as expected... not 100%, but no home is.

The post-delivery support on the other hand, is not what I would say is stellar.

Why I say this is:
Certain item have yet to be addressed, and now I am told that the trades have their priorities, and that certain items, which can be seasonal, will be addressed by the 1 year inspection :P
This includes the roof inspections of all things
Another thing, is like their ADD finishing carpenter who happens to keep forgetting hi appointments :P - he's good, but I've had to call the super 4 times for him missing appointments

This being said... @ the end of the day, there is a piece of mind of buying a Baywest, and I can confirm that the product is of very good quality.

My friend who works for Baywest, is loyal to baywest for a reason. Their construction manager (who manages the subcontractors), will pay for quality rather than value.
Baywest will generally pay their contractors better, and well.. you almost always get what you pay for.

Jayman last year... pretty much told all their trades to take a 20% pay reduction and even tried undercutting their existing trades by posting this in the paper.