Alberta New Home Warranty Advocates

[The_Rural_Juror]

https://albertanewhomewarrantyadvocates.com/

Does anyone know anything about these guys? $2,500 flat fee is what I heard.

[gyromonkey]

As someone who has had the privilege of dealing with a builder & ANHWP on a large claim for the last two years and counting, I would think its well worth the money.

dealing with them is painful and I work for and builder and 90% complete my building SCO qualifications, so I can only imagine what they try to pull on the average homeowner

[The_Rural_Juror]

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As someone who has had the privilege of dealing with a builder & ANHWP on a large claim for the last two years and counting, I would think its well worth the money.

dealing with them is painful and I work for and builder and 90% complete my building SCO qualifications, so I can only imagine what they try to pull on the average homeowner

I know all about that gyromonkey. What is the SCO qualification for? Is that like a Builder-In-Training-Contractor-Homie?

[gyromonkey]

Yeah its been a stressful couple years as the builder has been totally useless and ANHWP has been equally the same. my only solace is knowing the longer it takes the more its costing the builder and they are on the brink of bankruptcy. Sadly the builder started the entire process on the wrong foot and pretty much told my 8 month pregnant wife to pound sand, little did they know her husband has worked as site supervisor for builders for 20 plus years, and with my SCO training have had a lot of conversations with senior building inspectors at the city, who have been very helpful.

Safety codes officer= City of Calgary building inspector or any other municipality

[The_Rural_Juror]

I should just be my own builder so I get to talk to the fun-to-deal-with-trades directly instead and save on the profit margin. You and I, we should be friends.

[gyromonkey]

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I should just be my own builder so I get to talk to the fun-to-deal-with-trades directly instead and save on the profit margin. You and I, we should be friends.

Yeah my wife just can't believe the gong show that's has been happening at our home since May and they have only managed to complete the exterior, now we need to have all the walls and ceilings cut out and redone. I think she has a new found respect for what I put up with on the daily.
If you go that route Drop me a PM, we are currently scouring the city to find a lot to build a custom, or a larger plot of land just outside of the city if I have my way lol

[jwslam]

@gyromonkey mind outing which builder this is?

[The_Rural_Juror]

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@gyromonkey mind outing which builder this is?

As his non legal, non counsel, I am not advising him to not out the builder. IANAL.

[speedog]

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I should just be my own builder so I get to talk to the fun-to-deal-with-trades directly instead and save on the profit margin. You and I, we should be friends.

I'd be one of those fun-to-deal-with-trades and I honestly would not rather have to deal directly with a homeowner, if there's any sort of issue I just forward it on to either the company I'm subbing to or the site super. I do not have the broader based knowledge with respect to building codes nor do I care to have it - that is left to people who should have a bit more skin in the game.

That all considered, I watched my next door neighbor act as his own GC/builder a number of years back and what a gong show that was. Yeah, he saved some money but he also got a lot of sub-standard work as well. Also, if you, as a home owner, build your own home and directly contract trades then how would the ANHWP apply to you? Would it even?

[gwill]

I think this service is a great idea in some circumstances depending on price. I could see builders refusing to acknowledge a service like that and would only chat with the home owner.

ANHW is a mixed bag of crap. On paper it sounds like a great program but when you go to use it you begin to realize all the fine print. Theres 1000 strict definitions on a defect which helps clarify most situations. If your issue happens to be a defect the builder can decide how to fix it. Most of the times its not fixed how the home owner wants.

More importantly warranty fixes happen on their time not yours. IMO get an inspection before possession and get one other inspection before your warranty expires so you can submit a shit list to ANHW at that time.

[The_Rural_Juror]

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I think this service is a great idea in some circumstances depending on price. I could see builders refusing to acknowledge a service like that and would only chat with the home owner.

ANHW is a mixed bag of crap. On paper it sounds like a great program but when you go to use it you begin to realize all the fine print. Theres 1000 strict definitions on a defect which helps clarify most situations. If your issue happens to be a defect the builder can decide how to fix it. Most of the times its not fixed how the home owner wants.

More importantly warranty fixes happen on their time not yours. IMO get an inspection before possession and get one other inspection before your warranty expires so you can submit a shit list to ANHW at that time.

Many builders won't listen to you unless you sue them. Always get an inspection, but inspection doesn't uncover hidden issues that crop up after warranty expiry.
Apparently these guys bypass home warranty and take the dispute up to the insurer. I'm looking into this.

[gyromonkey]

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As his non legal, non counsel, I am not advising him to not out the builder. IANAL.

You are correct, I don't think its a good idea state the builder publiclly, but I can say its a builder in the Mount Royal & Marda loop area.

As stated, I have been a site super for 20 plus years and it pays for me to know code as it makes me better at my job. one thing I have learned is no matter if you spend 185k or 3 million all the trades people are the same literally, they just jump from company to company. Even when building your own home you require a warranty provider ie ANHWP or Travelers to my knowledge, I maybe wrong.

90% of builders do not allow a home inspection before possession and even when it happens nobody takes them seriously as the inspector is legally not allowed to use code references so its usually, paint touch up, grading, and upper down spouts terminating on shingles. for the most part its sort of a waste of money but a good out if the builder turns out to be crap after you give them a deposit

If you can do it after possession that's the best, just make sure you get EVERY thing fixed before the one year "workmanship" expires. the builder will try and delay and then as soon as you run past it Alberta new home warranty will just say " yeah its wrong but your past the one year" trust me I met my wife one week after expired.

our home was missing 36' x 16" of vapour barrier in the lower ceiling so we had 5 years of air being trapped in the roof causing mold, and structural damage. so we have new roof, main all upper floor joists needed repaired or replaced, mold remediation, and now the main floor is getting ripped apart and redone. a home inspector would have ever noticed this as It was behind all the drywall in the ceiling, the City also missed that the entire rear roof was modified by the framer and was bound to fail.

[hkcivic2k2]

Did you ever end up using these guys?

[Kloubek]

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so I can only imagine what they try to pull on the average homeowner

It's bad. Tolerances are set such that unless something is blatantly not serving the purpose, you tend to be SOL. I have brutal paintwork which is deemed acceptable because at least it is covering the substrate. Who cares about the fact my 9 year old son could have done a better job? One exterior door handle bust from the inside out and I couldn't open our garage man-door, which isn't particularly safe so I removed the handle and - poof. Void warranty. Doesn't matter that a fire could have killed us - by trying to be safe, I voided the warranty, apparently.

I've had them back 5 times now for a basement that allows moisture in. The first 3 times they said it was our fault due to moisture buildup. Yet, we always turn the fans on during showers and our humidifier has been turned off since we moved in. They finally admitted they didn't know why this was happening, and did some work in our basement to try to mitigate it. It's improved, but there's still moisture retention in behind the stub wall so we're still going to have to continue the battle. They also refused to fix trim that is separating away from multiple windows and doorframes and creating razor-sharp paint shards. No, this it's perfectly acceptable - until it gets beyond a certain enormous gap which can only really be achieved via severe water penetration into the trim - so, a useless warranty.

In short, if anyone things ANHW is going to be on your side, think again. You might luck out with an assessor who actually gives AF, but otherwise, expect nothing to be done.

[ThePenIsMightier]

@Kloubek
I bet you have spray foam in your rim joist cavities and they didn't use enough to come out of the cavity and seal the top plate of your wall.
That lets warm, moist air spill over the top of your perfectly vapour barriered wall and get behind it to condense on the concrete foundation.

[Kloubek]

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@Kloubek
I bet you have spray foam in your rim joist cavities and they didn't use enough to come out of the cavity and seal the top plate of your wall.
That lets warm, moist air spill over the top of your perfectly vapour barriered wall and get behind it to condense on the concrete foundation.

Thanks for the tip. You're right about the spray foam, and most likely correct about minimal use of it.

Been monitoring it lately and it seems ok. Fairly certain there's still moisture back there but at least it isn't literally pooling like it used to.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Thanks for the tip. You're right about the spray foam, and most likely correct about minimal use of it.

Been monitoring it lately and it seems ok. Fairly certain there's still moisture back there but at least it isn't literally pooling like it used to.

You need to pull the vapour barrier off/back on the top couple feet of the wall then pull the insulation out enough that you can shine a flashlight up toward the gap between the top plate and the foundation.
If ANY light comes out of the top of that wall, you are fucked. Make them fix it and make them use proper, 2-pound foam, not the warranty bitch squirting Mono in there. I think it's a Building Code violation, so it's got to be fixed.
There were baseball sized holes in mine. Midgaard Spray Foam can suck my taint.

[Kloubek]

Their most recent attempt at a fix was vapour barrier which allows the moisture to breathe outward, but not pass inward. It seems to have helped, though I imagine you're likely on the money, judging by the not-so-liberal use that I can already see....

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Their most recent attempt at a fix was vapour barrier which allows the moisture to breathe outward, but not pass inward. It seems to have helped, though I imagine you're likely on the money, judging by the not-so-liberal use that I can already see....

Vapour barrier is not permeable or only a 1-way barrier. Its job is to protect the cold surfaces like the foundation from getting warm air that's full of your farts, showers, cooking and general moisture content from the inside of your house. If that air gets to a cold surface, any moisture in it will immediately condense. From there, it causes nothing but problems. If the warm air is kept inside the warmed part of the house, you are winning.
It's natural for them to assume you have poorly installed vapour barrier, but it's probably installed well enough that it's doing its job. A perfectly sealed wall (with vapour barrier) is meaningless if all the air can sneak overtop of it and get to that frozen concrete behind it. That's where your spray foam is supposed to be protecting you.

I'll see if I can find a link that demonstrates what I'm talking about better than I can explain.

[Kloubek]

I appreciate the help, but no further explanation necessary. Normally, vapour barrier is not only 1 way. They used some odd, really expensive stuff which was supposed to breathe one way - but who knows... it's likely all gimmick anyway. As for air getting in behind, that's pretty clear. And if I recall, there was a hole or two pointed out in an inspection which I doubt they took care of.

If only the clusterfuck that was Reidbuilt didn't up and screw everyone over....