Calgary Builders

[Ace]

Please post all your experiances with building a home in Calgary. Be specific and name the builder/rep you were dealing with.

I'm currently shopping around and want as much info as possible. (Including, who you thought had a good overall package when concidering what you get for what you pay)

Thanks

[photon]

Building a home with Jager right now.. So far I've been happy with my experience.

The phase where you had to make your choices by a specific date was quite disorganized; they didn't seem to be very prepared for us wanting to get stuff outside their small design centre's selection, and we had to ensure that communication was happening all the time between Jager and the different suppliers. So that part I was less than impressed with.

It took a looong time to get the drawings done and the whole thing has been going slower than I would have liked, but knowing how the industry is right now it's understandable I guess.

Right now they're almost done framing my house and that part has been very good so far.

They've done a good job at keeping us informed and have been very open to questions and such.

[Ace]

Photon: any chance your building in Creekside?

Well I built with Cardel. For the most part they were decent. As photon said, all the builders are extremely busy and I doubt any will offer the personal service most thnk they deserve. As far as Cardel goes, the one big issue I had with them was a 25% deposit policy they have on upgrades. Meaning, you come up with the downpayment on your house then after all the upgrades (if any) they ask for another 25%. Meaning, ifyou put 20 grand worth of uprgrades in, you gotta come up with another 5 grand. Really crappy policy in my books.
Also, I question the trades they hired. Again probably the result of the industry being so busy. Somehow thye poured my foundation crooked and continued to build on it. Wasn't caught until 3 days before possession. They corrected it and were very good about doing it but it was still as massive headache.
My only advice is to maybe try a smaller builder (if you are stuck in an area with a limited selection of builders then you kinda roped into them) that can offer you better service throughout all phases.

[Tron_fdc]

Shane Homes in Cougar Ridge.

I got a deal on the house, deal on the lot, deal on the upgrades and the house was built in 3 months as promised. The reason I got such a smiking deal was because the lot had been sold 3 times and the deal fell through each time, it was the last lot in the phase, and they wanted to get rid of it. The house hadn't been built anywhere else (it was a new design) and all I could look at were floor plans. They also had a deal on walkout basements that month (free walkout upgrade) for buying in August (typically their slowest month). I have a lot of tradesman friends, and they checked the construction the whole way through and had nothing but good things to say about it. I was so happy they had me write a testimonial for their newsletter in exchange for a Hy's gift certificate.

I've made over 100 g's on my house so far because I looked for a deal in the right place at the right time.....so search around and ask for deals or incentives before you commit to anything.

[photon]

Originally posted by Ace@Aug 17 2005, 10:45 AM
Photon: any chance your building in Creekside?

Nope, out in Chestermere

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I built with Jayman a couple years ago. I know at least one person on the board built with them recently so maybe you can get an updated opinion.

They were pretty good in terms of value I think.

We had lots of issues with the house - which was bad - but they stood behind everything fairly well - which was good.

For example right at the start they buggered our possesion date and we were 'homeless' for 2 weeks. They paid for the hotel and all our expenses, plus threw in about a $1000 upgrade on our fridge for the hassle.

These days anyone with a toolbelt can be a tradesman so I dunno if you can avoid all the issues. You have to stay on top of them and they better be willing to see your smiling face on the jobsite and in the office on a regular basis.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally posted by photon+ Aug 17 2005, 10:42 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (photon @ Aug 17 2005, 10:42 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Right now they're almost done framing my house and that part has been very good so far.[/b]

Photon, just out of curiosity, when did they start the framing and at what stage are they? If they are done, how long did it take them?

I'm interested to find this stuff out because I'm a framer myself. I haven't been doing it for very long here in Calgary, so I can't drop a lot of info on you guys, but my boss has been framing here for around 11 years.

Ace, you mentioned Creekside. Who did you build with? We had been working for Trico Homes in Creekside and Evanston up until about a month ago. They are a very well run company, although there are some stories out there about some of the framers they have in the south being not so great. I would suggest they are one of the better companies to build through in Calgary.

<!--QuoteBegin-Bend it like Bourgeois@ Aug 17 2005, 11:20 AM
These days anyone with a toolbelt can be a tradesman so I dunno if you can avoid all the issues. You have to stay on top of them and they better be willing to see your smiling face on the jobsite and in the office on a regular basis[/quote]

Couple very good points here for anyone who wants to build to take into consideration. Definitely show up on the job site. And bring a hard hat! We love to see the home owners, but it's between rare and never that we do. We're on our 22nd house since I started with this guy about a year ago, and we've seen the home owners of maybe 4 of them.

BB is 100% correct about his "anyone with a toolbelt" comment. First, it's incredibly hard to find reliable guys. My boss has gone through guys hand over fist since I started with him about a year ago. And it's not him, trust me. He's the best guy I've ever worked for, hands out bonuses on a regular basis, does a damn good job. People are just lazy. Anyway, the point is, it's hard for him to find a guy who shows up everyday. Without that, there is little motivation to teach them a lot until they show there committed to their job and will show up everyday. We make sure any errors by newbies get corrected, and quick, but the frustration level for any one trying to run their own business in a trade has to be incredibly high.

Secondly, even many of the guys who do run their own crews are not qualified. Take for instance the guys that are working next to us right now. We are working for Greenboro Homes and they include crane fees in what they pay for framing the house. They are working in an unsafe environment, refusing to call the crane, putting peoples lives at risk, and you can tell from watching them, the work they do is a little more than shotty and incredibly slow.

I'm confident that these types practices are common througout the industry. I can really only speak to the framing and foundation parts of it myself, I don't see the homes once we are done. But, I will admit that was my biggest concern when I started out. Will I get with a guy who can teach me the right way, so I don't learn bad habits without even knowing it? I was very fortunate to find what I consider to be one of the best framers you'll find in this city. Everything is done right, and if a mistake is made (and we are humans, they do happen) it gets fixed right away. If they give us a nice square foundation to work off of, everything will be perfect. If not, you do the absolute best you can to fix it. Sometimes, when it's not started right, there is only so much you can do. We were hand picked by a salesman at Trico to frame his house so I feel confident in who I work with and the job we do. I wouldn't necessarily say the same for a lot of others out there, though.

[photon]

They started the framing maybe two weeks ago now, and they're almost done (roof and windows left the last time I was out a few days ago). That's not including the foundation of course.

They've had a bit of delay because of the rain too.

The guy that works for Jager that I'm buying through took almost 8 weeks to frame his house!! His framers were horrible, mine seem very quick and effecient. They even sweep out every day.

[Ace]

Originally posted by Eddie Bronze@Aug 17 2005, 10:55 AM
Ace, you mentioned Creekside. Who did you build with?

We havent made a final decision yet, but i'm leaning towards Centrex.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally posted by fotze+Aug 17 2005, 11:12 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (fotze @ Aug 17 2005, 11:12 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Tron_fdc@Aug 17 2005, 11:00 AM
I've made over 100 g's on my house so far because I looked for a deal in the right place at the right time.....so search around and ask for deals or incentives before you commit to anything.

Why, do you run a brothel out of the basement? [/b][/quote]
No, but the ionizer and tinfoil over the windows certainly helps bring costs down....that and a generous neighbour willing to share electricity costs with me.

[Eddie Bronze]

photon,
sounds like your guys are doing a good job, which is good to hear. The other one though, I can't believe it takes any crew 8 weeks to frame a house. Of course, it could be an enourmous house with a lot of backup work, but still, 3 weeks MAX for any house. It makes we wonder how the guy can even afford to pay his guys. Most builders have a bonus incentive that states if you get the house done in two weeks, you get a bonus. 8 weeks though, wow, I'm shaking my head. With our current crew, we could do almost 4 houses in that amount of time. Brutal.

Ace,
Since you haven't made the final decision, I'll ask my boss about Centrex. He seems to know all the ins-and-outs of most of the builders since he's been here and involved in it for so long. I'll find out what he thinks about them. I've never heard him mention them much, other than that Trico was blowing them out in terms of sales in that area. NuVista however, I would steer clear of.

[snappyk]

I went with Elite homes 4 years ago. Had a few problems, didn't like the one sales lady as she could never remember who I was even though we were there every week. The main problem that we had was the pured the concrete in the basement with the moan water line right in the middle of the floor. They came back later ripped it all up and now the repair looks absolutley horrible.

[Trojan97]

My parents built with Homes by Avi around 8 years ago and regret the decision 100%. The cupboards in the kitchen are absolute crap and began falling apart like 3 years ago, the island they put in wasn't the island my parents agreed on as it takes up literally half the kitchen. As well, there have been problems with the roofing, the gutters and a few other things and everytime my parents have called them to get their ass over to fix it they either straight up refuse to send someone or they say they will and no one ever shows. Hell, the person they had in to paint the inside of the house painted the whole thing bright orange when it was supposed to be cream looking and when my parents came to look at it the builder tried to get out of having to make the guy re-paint the damn thing.

Every Avi home owner we've talked to has had negative things to say about them. I definitely would never recommend those chumps.

[Looger]

know a cribber entrepeneur that does work mostly for jayman, and he's on the ball if that helps anyone.

pretty critical aspect, i mena the framing's always going to be lacking so the pour might as well be sound.

[RogerWilco]

If you have a fair amount of money to spend and wish to build a home that doesn't come from a pick it book, Timberock homes is your best bet. They are smaller, but build some of the best stuff around. Now you will need to spend more, but they don't just do paper cut outs like Avi, or Jayman.

[Eddie Bronze]

Originally posted by Looger@Aug 17 2005, 07:35 PM
i mena the framing's always going to be lacking

excuse me?

[Yellefan]

All I have to say is stay far away from Excel homes... my house is 5 years old and there is so much stuff going wrong with it it isn't funny.

[RogerWilco]

Originally posted by Looger@Aug 17 2005, 07:35 PM
know a cribber entrepeneur that does work mostly for jayman, and he's on the ball if that helps anyone.

pretty critical aspect, i mena the framing's always going to be lacking so the pour might as well be sound.

There are a ton of good framers here in Calgary, I don't see any quality difference between the concrete and framing on a daily basis. I think your friend may be telling you a fast one. Many of the high end home builders ( that are not well known) and some of the more advertised (more well known) home builders use the same framing crews. You need to worry more about the specs that your home is built to rather than the crew doing the job.

[Looger]

uh-oh, looks like we have some framers...

my friend's references are not from him.

and i have never seen a framing job that i'd be happy with, were i paying. nature of the job, it's a rush to the next house. cribbing is not as visible in the fit and finish of it, because it's cement! but framing errors are on every house i've ever taken a good look at.