Some background: We are first time homebuyers, and last year, purchased from a pretty reputable builder in Calgary. It is a condo-type development, which I'm guessing is a lot different than building a single family home. Anyways, our estimated possession was last year, but there have been lengthy delays. This has been very disappointing because we wouldn't have purchased this place if we had known it would take this long to take possession. What is more frustrating is that people who purchased other units in the same development have moved in months earlier, even though they purchased likely months later. The only explanation from the builder is that it is out of their control, and that we were unlucky because the framers/trades on our building were slower than the others...
Our realtor mentioned that builders are notorious for not have very good "service" after you put your money down... so, the question is: were our expectations too high? Were we naive? We expected that there might be a delay, but not this long. We also expected that things would work out a little more equitably (i.e. people who purchased first would move in first), but the builder says they can't (and won't) do anything about it. We also feel we haven't really been kept in the loop regarding progress (i.e. being informed about the delays), but that really is another issue altogether.
There's obviously nothing we can do right now, but we just want to know if our standards were too high, and whether we can expect the same kind of "service" if we decide to build again (perhaps a single family home in a few years).
Thanks
