Builder Reviews

[Takemetoothemoo]

Are there any builder review sites?

I found this for 2008
http://corp.jdpower.com/jdpcc/global...ly/calgary.jsp

http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/new...df/2008190.pdf

Also the Alberta new home Warranty website, has good information is there any there good sites out there?

http://www.anhwp.com/

[quazimoto]

I wouldn't go by much of what these say. I'm building my 3rd brand new home and each time I've built with Beattie and never once had a problem, the quality of the finish was always good and the price somehow always good.

I remember when we built in new brighton one of our neighbours built through morrison homes and had massive cracks in the foundation wall less than 3 months after possession. They had such a harsh time getting it fixed. By massive cracks they could see outside through the cracks in the foundation walls through the basement.

I've had friends that built with excel, jayman, cardel and albi. Nothing but relatively bad things to say with excel and cardel especially when it comes to customer service after possession. One of our friend waited until August to get their stucco completed since they were finishing homes that weren't even being lived in.

I think you'll find good and bad stories amongst any of the major builders and NEVER rely on that warranty to cover anything. Took our neighbours over a year to get their foundation fixed.

[Chandler_Racing]

I don't know about any other new home builder review sites, but I can definitely attest to NuVista Homes being an industry leader. Everything from the initial meetings to signing the contract has been nothing but a pleasure.

[Masked Bandit]

CARDEL SUCKS. END OF STORY. Search the board for my detailed stories of those guys.

I keep hearing good things about Morrison (despite quazimoto's example) & Beattie.

[calgary350z]

i have a Cederglen home and has been a great experience

[5000Audi]

heres a place my frame crew noticed was built wrong and that house PASSED framing inspection.( not city but builder)


Broadview- A home in Royal Oak was in the middle of drywall when my crew was building the same home accross the street and noticed the roof was incorrect, both main king posts were nailed together in the center thus the roof needing to be cut in half, moved 12 inches forword and rebuild all front walls.. also ALL interior walls needed to be redone from lack of square and levelness. a few sheets of osb floor board needed to be changed
So all in all we went in a did the fix up, charged the builder $12,000 for it.. hope they didnt add that onto the home price for the buyer lol

[quazimoto]

Why not to build with morrison? I can tell you some good stories besides our one neighbour with the cracks in his foundation. Oddly enough the house right next to ours ended up being a morrison but they started building it 5 months after we took possession.

Seeing as I work from home I was able to watch the framing crew on that home build the home. You wonder how the framers can mess up stuff like a roof, or your walls being crooked and unlevel.....

I sat back and watched these SOBS drink shit loads of beer every single day while they were framing. I don't know exactly how many companies having framing crews that do this kind of BS. I mean by the time the afternoon hits and they have a few beer in them mistakes are easy to make.

One thing that was nice about morrison though was they had sexy female sales reps lol.

[5000Audi]

Originally posted by quazimoto


Seeing as I work from home I was able to watch the framing crew on that home build the home. You wonder how the framers can mess up stuff like a roof, or your walls being crooked and unlevel.....

I sat back and watched these SOBS drink shit loads of beer every single day while they were framing. I don't know exactly how many companies having framing crews that do this kind of BS. I mean by the time the afternoon hits and they have a few beer in them mistakes are easy to make.

that would probably be a single crew that runs by the guy that frames with em.. we never drank while we framed, but noticed lots of guys did..thats why our crew was in the highest demand in calgary..we did our work fast ( 5 days full house) and correct. maybe 3 hours max back framing after frame cheak..most homes were build shitty for the reason framers were in high demand, would get paid 12-15K each house ( basic 2 story with garage) so they build as fast as they can to make more monies..

[KLCC]

Originally posted by 5000Audi
heres a place my frame crew noticed was built wrong and that house PASSED framing inspection.( not city but builder)


Broadview- A home in Royal Oak was in the middle of drywall when my crew was building the same home accross the street and noticed the roof was incorrect, both main king posts were nailed together in the center thus the roof needing to be cut in half, moved 12 inches forword and rebuild all front walls.. also ALL interior walls needed to be redone from lack of square and levelness. a few sheets of osb floor board needed to be changed
So all in all we went in a did the fix up, charged the builder $12,000 for it.. hope they didnt add that onto the home price for the buyer lol

Funny how we also had our home build by Broadview, and is in Royal Oak area. We were not impressed with their build at all (lack of after sale services and lack of quality workmanship).

Hey 5000Audi, I am interested to know which house got the $12,000 bill if that's alright with you?

[quazimoto]

All it takes though is a single crew to screw somebody's house though and the fact the builder construction manager doesn't take issue with it is a problem.

Another thing to always watch out for is builders that bill you for hardwood or tile or whatever flooring you choose underneath cabinets. You need to watch the SOBS since a lot of the builders for whatever reason won't put hardwood or tile underneath cabinets even though they should be since the price billed per sq ft includes it.

[vtec96]

any info. about Forte Builders?
thanks a lot!

[AndyL]

There was an adage... Never buy a house built during the boom.

It really does hold true...

[quazimoto]

My realtor won't even show houses that were built in those two years. She was saying condos built during the boom are nearly impossible to move for a fair price.

[JordanAndrew]

What about Lionsworthe homes? Anybody build with these guys and has some feedbacks?

[Mibz]

We're thinking of building with Shane. Any stories?

[Stubby]

Originally posted by Mibz
We're thinking of building with Shane. Any stories?

Got a house built by them 10 years ago and haven't had any problems.

Like any other builder.. they can be a pain to deal with and get warranty work done. All in all though they generally end up with a good finished product. That is from my own experiences though, have friends and family that built with shane and they couldn't be happier.

Take this like a grain of salt though...it was built before the boom.

[canadian_hustla]

Originally posted by Masked Bandit
CARDEL SUCKS. END OF STORY. Search the board for my detailed stories of those guys.

I keep hearing good things about Morrison (despite quazimoto's example) & Beattie.

this guy speaks truth. Cardel is shit. I had a condo that was bought/built during the boom. Upon possession i noticed shitty paint, none of the appliances were plugged in, the brand new OTH microwave didn't work (took 2 months for it to be replaced) and 1 year later the condo above mine had a water leak and it ruined my laundry room. the whole room was covered with mold etc. It took condo 1st 2 months to come in and fix it.

[redblack]

My first home was built by stepper custom homes and the process was great, the project manager was on top of things and the only problems i had were just a few nail pops, scratched window caseings and paint blemishes that were repaired at my year end walkthrough.

my second home i decided to go with shane homes in panorama hills (2008). Again the experience was good. A few warranty items (nail pops, bad potlight, damaged kitchen drawer, grout missing form a few tiles) but were taken care of at the 3 month/1 year walkthrough. The only thing that they would not cover was a small crack in my garage floor because it wasnt structural.

My neighbors on the other hand built with carolina homes and ever since they took posession of there home, they have been finding problems after problems. He's got a punch sheet that is about 2 pages long for items that need repair, if he can ever get ahold of them.