Nolan Hill: which builder did you go with?

[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"

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.