Nolan Hill: which builder did you go with?

[nagooro]

Have started shopping around for a home in Nolan Hill. After going through the showhomes (Trico, Avi, Pacesetter, Morrison, Shane) we are leaning towards Avi (Hemsworth model).

For those that have built in Nolan Hill, which builder did you go with? Any particular reason?

[Sugarphreak]

...

[Team_Mclaren]

Mapleland - small builder, i had zero problem.

[jdmakkord]

Coworker built with Morrison. I haven't heard much positive about her experiences with them.

[cream]

Haha, I guess everyone has their own experiences.

This is from a friend who discussed with me every day for months while researching a builder then eventually building one.

He avoided Trico and Avi due to a number of things related to quality and finishes and etc, then settled with Morrison.

Having said that, he was very meticulous and checked in on his build a couple times a week (after hours) and reported anything that wasn't done properly. He noticed his upper washroom didn't use the 'green' drywall (waterproof kind) and they promptly redid it.

[TYMSMNY]

buddy built with Jayman. Nothing major to report.

[3nergiz3d]

Built with Morrison Homes. Probably never again.

[ganesh]

Built with Morrison.
Worst built quality and cheap materials. Their customer service is good.
Will never build with Morrison again.

[Kloubek]

I think a lot of the physical construction has to do with the tradesmen they have on your particular project. With that said, some companies are obviously more apt to regularly hire crappy tradesmen because they are cheaper.

The only company that I have personal experience with who consistently does a crappy job is Douglas Homes. When we were initially looking in Chestermere, we checked out 4 of their showhomes and spec homes, and all four of them were the worst building quality I've ever seen - with literally tens to hundreds of issues I could see just on our 10 minute walkthrough.

[R!zz0]

Originally posted by Team_Mclaren
Mapleland - small builder, i had zero problem.

Bought a spec home from Mapeland in Sage Hill and haven't had any problems. Good small builder.

[403ep3]

Went w/ Trico homes as two friends built with them in Nolan Hill and had a good experience. If you do end up going with Trico you should get in touch with Clint (knows the most and is way more helpful than the others.. although I didn't buy from him)

Possession is in September :thumbsup: I live close so I check on the house 3-4 times a week

[OU812]

I would pick the smallest builder of the group available. Reality is most builders are building the same home anyway, ie 3 bed bonus room front attached etc.

Seems in Calgary the good builders boom become huge and quality skydives.

Cardel was the darling years ago, there are threads here that show what they turned to.

Seems now it's Morrisons turn.

Pick the unknown. More to prove and time to do things right.

Just my .02

[Evo prec]

I would pick Avi out of all those builders just make sure you get the natural gas water heater and not the electrical one, because the standard for Avi is electrical

[viff3r]

Originally posted by Sugarphreak


Pacesetter? Never heard of them, so I can't really comment
Co-worker built with them in Evanston, overall positive experience but they were a bit of PITA to deal with administratively. This goes for all builders but checking in on the build site regularly is the best thing you can do.

[Asian_defender]

Built with Sterling which is pacesetters sister brand.
Great experience but their concrete contractor (rolling mix) was the worst

Scum of the earth would be a very polite way of putting it.
Worst experience with them from a friend was they did exposed an aggregate driveway without their consent, then put a lien on their house because they didn't want to pay for something they didn't ask for. Had nothing but problems with their concrete because they used shitty concrete for my home. AVOID!!!!!!

[redevil]

I built with Trico over 4 years ago and had a great experience with them. Have had friends built with Trio as well and they had great experience as well. I would build with them again.

Sister in-law built with Avi and they didn't have the best experience and you can see the difference in quality of the build versus Trico.

Parents built with Morrison as well and they did not like them at all and wouldn't recommend them.

[yellowsnow]

Bought a home made by Landmark in inner city. I didn't build with them, just bought a spec home. but i know they do new builds as well.

Would definitely recommend them. Their warranty department is excellent. Even after my warranty expired, I noticed some water damage on a window frame, and they still came out and fixed it all up. :thumbsup:

[J-hop]

Originally posted by OU812
I would pick the smallest builder of the group available. Reality is most builders are building the same home anyway, ie 3 bed bonus room front attached etc.

Seems in Calgary the good builders boom become huge and quality skydives.

Cardel was the darling years ago, there are threads here that show what they turned to.

Seems now it's Morrisons turn.

Pick the unknown. More to prove and time to do things right.

Just my .02


Definitely be careful with this though. Friend went with a small builder, builder had essentially zero money to fix mistakes made as he was treading water as it was. Builder closed up shop and basically my friend was left to fight with new home buyers insurance for 9 months to get things fixed and built to code.

At least with a big box company they aren't going anywhere soon and they generally try to avoid people going public with negative experiences.

But I think your comment is good assuming they are all well known and not mom and pop companies.

[nagooro]

With new builds, are there any benefits to getting a Realtor?

On a $500k home, what "lowball" offers typically get accepted? $10k below asking?

First time buyers here.

[403ep3]

Originally posted by nagooro
With new builds, are there any benefits to getting a Realtor?

On a $500k home, what "lowball" offers typically get accepted? $10k below asking?

First time buyers here.

Once you step into the showroom and "work" with a salesperson it's highly unlikely you'll be able to use a realtor. Most realtor's will tell you the same thing as well.

[R!zz0]

Damn I remember Morrison was really good few years ago. I guess they're turning out to be like Cardel.

We're building a new home with NuVista in Evanston. When you guys say "go check out the build 2-3 times a week" What do you check for? I don't know anything about framing or other stuff.

This is our first time building a home.

[JohnnyHockey]

My question is are homes built better these days with more trades folks available?

[georgemagana]

Built with Shane in Nolan. We had a few issues such as:

-The lady at the design centre typing the wrong number and getting the wrong carpet color. Had to fight for 2 weeks to get that solved and it ended up costing us some money.

-They also built the wrong style island in the kitchen. Had to fight to get the right one.

-One wall isn't perfectly straight ( wife still hasn't noticed after 3 years but yea.. )


Besides that, everything was good. Costner service was good too and they came and fix any issues we had pretty quick as well. Not sure if I would build with them again.

I'd recommend taking pictures of every selection you do at the design centre including the sample and item number to avoid any possible issues.

[BigDL]

I went with Avi, nothing major wrong, some minor things here and there.

[freshprince1]

I built a large home with Trico, just hit my 2 year mark. Here is my opinion....It was a total nightmare. I have worked for a large home builder in the past, so I thought I knew what to expect...but if I was not checking in on my house frequently and advocating for what we had paid them to do, it would have been even worse.

Trico's motto should be, "Is that good enough?", because at every point they undertook the minimum possible effort to complete tasks and fix errors. There was no dedication to quality or pride in work. The salesman was unreliable and frequently missed documenting details (feel free to PM me, if its the same guy...run away). The 3-4 different Site Supervisors they cycled through were downright useless, only showing up for 1 meeting throughout the entire process, and never even once returning an email or voicemail. The only good people were the warranty service rep and the warranty coordinator, both of whom left the company before my warranty period was up.

The thing is, none of these companies are actually "home builders" anymore. All they are are schedulers of contracted-out tradesmen. They are babysitters who will do the bare minimum to get a passing grade.

Out of your list, I would probably go with Avi for now. Though you are really just rolling the dice with any of the major builders in town. The smaller more custom builders do great work, but they're not allowed in the big developments like that.

Just make sure to clearly document all of your choices, keep all your email correspondence, and ask for confirmations of decisions along the way. For example, after a meeting send an email to your sales person outlining everything that was discussed and have them reply in agreement. This alone saved me on multiple items (e.g. adding in an additional medicine cabinet, redoing the kitchen cupboard configuration, not being forced to pay for the back patio they poured after I chose not to do it...these all would have been up to me to pay for because the sales guy did not "document" the decision during the meeting). I was on my own to advocate for reasonable resolution of myriad other items like basement mold, re-pouring the driveway, undocumented changes to interior structural upgrades that we paid thousands for, etc.

And do not let them tell you that you cannot drop by your house. That is garbage. Just don't try and boss the trades around if they are there when you go. If you see anything that you think needs attention, document it and go through the Site Supervisor. The trades are usually decent guys just taking direction from the builder.

Good luck!

[dado_88]

Cedarglen Living is a builder located in Nolan Lake Cove

Building townhouse from 1500-1600 square ft, double garage, standard selections are pretty good and use top quality material.

That is of course you're interested in a town home.

Check out the sales center sometime and you'll see what comes with the homes.

[Prelude_dude]

Wow.. must be a completely different experience definitely for each person...

I built with Morrison, i was phase one with the starter homes. Two other builders built with Morrison as well in Phase four and then a recent phase. The other two houses were bigger attached garage homes.

We have not had any issues with Morrison... Seems the quality of my home is pretty good, i think. This is my first home, so i guess i don't have anything else to compare it to. But i haven't had any issues and customer service was great.

Our sales guy was Brad Smith for all three homes, i believe he is the area manager or something like that. Not sure if any of you bought through him, but he was pretty easy to deal with.

[yellowGTS]

I would have to say that Avi is a great builder. I had a wonderful experience when I was shopping and would recommend anyone shopping to speak with Cory at Avi in Nolan Hill.

In the end, I did not buy in the area, but still appreciated the service received from Avi.

[JohnnyHockey]

We're building with Shane and we're allowed to visit the house whenever we want. ...Jayman didn't allow this?

[suntan]

Originally posted by georgemagana
Built with Shane in Nolan. We had a few issues such as:

-The lady at the design centre typing the wrong number and getting the wrong carpet color. Had to fight for 2 weeks to get that solved and it ended up costing us some money.

-They also built the wrong style island in the kitchen. Had to fight to get the right one.

-One wall isn't perfectly straight ( wife still hasn't noticed after 3 years but yea.. )


Besides that, everything was good. Costner service was good too and they came and fix any issues we had pretty quick as well. Not sure if I would build with them again.

I'd recommend taking pictures of every selection you do at the design centre including the sample and item number to avoid any possible issues. Every house has "that wall" :rofl:

Wow on them fighting on the carpet. When I built with Beattie years ago the girl wrote down the wrong tile model # for the kitchen backsplash. Luckily as a backup they write everything down twice (one for records, another for the trades), so the mistake was found right away and they fixed it ASAP.

[88CRX]

Originally posted by freshprince1


The thing is, none of these companies are actually "home builders" anymore. All they are are schedulers of contracted-out tradesmen. They are babysitters who will do the bare minimum to get a passing grade.



Good luck!

That right there is the truth. Good luck.

[403ep3]

Best tip: visit your house often and question every little thing. We made sure to get everything that was said to be sent in an email or written and initiated on our paperwork.

[gwill]

things to keep in mind when you buy new construction is that the contract typically outlines all the issues everyone here is discussing.

Don't assume you can show up whenever you want. Most builders stipulate site visits. Just because you see something wrong while walking through a house doesn't mean they don't already know... They also don't need to fix it ASAP just because you saw the issue.

Take the time to read the paperwork and understand what your signing. If you sign off on a color choice that was wrong the builder may refer to the paperwork that you signed saying you approved it.

Once you've signed your house contract your bound by the terms laid out In the paperwork. There is no changing things just because you feel like it...

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by gwill

Don't assume you can show up whenever you want. Most builders stipulate site visits. Just because you see something wrong while walking through a house doesn't mean they don't already know... They also don't need to fix it ASAP just because you saw the issue.


We had a very difficult customer one time. Everyday changing stuff, asking the trades to do "this and that".
Builder finally made it clear to them: if they came on the property again, they would call the police and charge them with trespassing.
The buyer cannot legally just walk onto the site. It's not their property and they are in complete violation of WCB and OH&S laws.

[gwill]

^exactly. People are giving really poor advice here not realizing how detrimental it can be to a buyer who assumes they can do as they please.

Read the contract. Your bound to those terms. Once you sign the builder can tell you to get lost. Overall site visits can be a very minor issue but can turn into a big one when the builder starts referring to their policies you signed off on when you bought the house.

[imranm]

If you want to live in the area, take a look at Symons Gate, Albi is building there. Never heard a bad thing about them.

[nagooro]

Originally posted by imranm
If you want to live in the area, take a look at Symons Gate, Albi is building there. Never heard a bad thing about them.

Thanks, will check out Symons Gate. Went through Nolan and Evanston, but didn't realize they were still building in that area.



Is there a good rule of thumb when making an offer?

For example, if the listed price is $550k, would offering $530k typically be a guaranteed no?

[gwill]

530 wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities but there are 100 things that a builder will consider before accepting an offer. You can search other threads on that...

Some will only take list price... Others may play the negotiating game.

[imranm]

I can't speak for this particular builder but when I bought my house (show home) - I was pretty strategic. Went in 30 minutes before they closed right before a long weekend, lobbed them a low ball offer with a big deposit cheque and short close and ran away.

It worked for me (I got close to 20% off of their list price) but the downside is if you really like the house you might just piss them off...

[sansglee]

Just from my personal expericence, please don't build with Homes by AVI. they just have good sales team, all other team in that whole company sucks.

There warranty team is a total disaster. Please dont build with them. they are not a good builder. they will rip your money although its their mistake. its very painful to deal with them

I definitely wont recommed homes by AVI.

[R!zz0]

Originally posted by nagooro
Is there a good rule of thumb when making an offer?

For example, if the listed price is $550k, would offering $530k typically be a guaranteed no?

I can pretty much guarantee that Albi will not negotiate. we tried so hard to negotiate until we gave up. We ended up buying a bigger home in Evanston (just under 2600 sq ft) with the basement done for $45,000 less than what Albi was asking.

[nagooro]

Ended up checking out Albi in Symons Gate last night, not too familiar with the community/lot prices, but we were pretty impressed with the two showhomes. Probably a contender, next to trico and avi.

Are there any popular reasons to choose nolan hill over Symons Gate?

[redevil]

Originally posted by nagooro
Ended up checking out Albi in Symons Gate last night, not too familiar with the community/lot prices, but we were pretty impressed with the two showhomes. Probably a contender, next to trico and avi.

Are there any popular reasons to choose nolan hill over Symons Gate?

If you do think about going with Trico let me know before you put in an offer. Since there is a referral program we can split for your purchase if I refer you to them since I have built with them before.

[BigDL]

Originally posted by nagooro
Ended up checking out Albi in Symons Gate last night, not too familiar with the community/lot prices, but we were pretty impressed with the two showhomes. Probably a contender, next to trico and avi.

Are there any popular reasons to choose nolan hill over Symons Gate?

Where do you work? which way do you have to drive?

[403ep3]

I almost bought in symons gate. Had a deposit and offer down.

I found that, although houses were nice and cheaper than Nolan hill, the amenities, green space, and walking paths were slim to none.

[nagooro]

Originally posted by redevil


If you do think about going with Trico let me know before you put in an offer. Since there is a referral program we can split for your purchase if I refer you to them since I have built with them before.

Unfortunately I have already used someone as a referral.



Originally posted by BigDL


Where do you work? which way do you have to drive?
Downtown Calgary (deerfoot to memorial), however I work odd hours. 6am to 6pm or 6pm to 6am, so I typically don't hit much traffic.


Originally posted by 403ep3
I almost bought in symons gate. Had a deposit and offer down.

I found that, although houses were nice and cheaper than Nolan hill, the amenities, green space, and walking paths were slim to none.
Yeah I can see that. They are advertising a 4acre reservoir/park area behind the homes in Symons Gate, but seems to be about it in the close proximity.


Getting some pricing with Albi today, and Avi tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

[nagooro]

Just to update this thread, we ended up going with Albi homes after seeing their showhomes in Symons Gate. Prior to this, we had a lot on hold with trico in Nolan, but pulled out and went forward with Albi. We get our house tomorrow and I can't say enough good things about them and the experience.

- checked on the house whenever we wanted, picked up the keys from the showhome and went in
- did a preliminary walk through last week, any issues we spotted they made note of and are being taken care of (mostly just minor cosmetics)
- the ensuite bathroom lights we chose were back ordered, so they allowed us to upgrade them at no charge
- made last minute changes/customizations without any issues
- finishings and overall quality of the construction seems to be top notch
- never felt any pressure from the sales team when purchasing the home or choosing upgrades

:thumbsup: for Albi

[suntan]

I love Albi's houses. Their layouts really appeal to me.