Anyone know what happened to Sandlewood Developments?

[Sr. Mints]

My google-fu is weak these days, its like residential condo developer Sandlewood existed, now they don’t. I know they went under, but that’s it

They built condos around the city in the 2000s --including mine-- and they were apparently quite terrible at it.

Does anybody know what happened to Sandlewood?

As an aside, at our AGM tonight, it was mentioned “these kind of things [problems with condos that were constructed in the last 10, 15 years] are springing up all over the city right now.” Are they really? Aren’t there, like, city inspectors who, y’know, inspect buildings going up? Is that being naive??

Edit: I removed a bunch of stuff I probably I probably ought not have posted.

[Ducay]

Selling units (or more commonly showhomes) to a contractor in lieu of normal payment is quite commonplace in the residential development & building game. I know of some contractors for the large developers that will do work in exchange for a unit or two. More commonly they're rented out - so being lived in isn't unheard of.

[PsYcNeT]

It feels like a better question at this point is are there any honest developers in Calgary?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Also: at our AGM tonight, it was mentioned “these kind of things are happening all over the city.” Are they really? Aren’t there, like, city inspectors who, y’know, inspect buildings going up? Is that being naive??

I used to live in a new ish condo building in Kensington (renting luckily) that had severe issues as well as it was built in the same booming times as yours.

Unfortunately the city won't have people on site all day every day during building so things get skipped/unseen and companies skirt around rules to save money.

The only thing you can really do is do a ton of research on the developer especially if it was built in the booms times.

[OMG!WTF!]

I owned in the Copperwood before the issues appeared and my bestie owns there now. My other friend owns in the Sandlewood building in Bridgeland where they successfully sued and collected a judgement.



This is the second time they are repairing the decks and envelope at the Sandlewood building that I know of. I know each building is operated separately and my friend's unit has one 12k assessment planned. But it is the exact same repair they did 5 years ago. Frustrating.



Sandlewood f'ed off to foreign lands a few years ago and continue to build in other countries. They're scum for sure. The city is not really responsible for inspections or building envelope issues. They require engineers and other professional trades to sign off on most building components and then the City just rubber stamps it. The finer points of building can't really be inspected either. You have to rely on trades to actually build properly.



I suspect the major issues with the decks at Sandlewood is that they structured the decks separately from the main building. So the main building moves and settles but the decks do not. They stay were they were originally put and the building sinks so they slope towards the building causing water issues.



It's sad but it's one of hundreds of poorly built condos and I don't really think it's that bad. You start running into lifespan issues after like 5 years now so getting 10 to 15 is maybe not terrible.

[Harry Lime]

10to 15 year lifespan on a building is freaking atrocious. Multi-family wood framed buildings over three stories should be banned in a climate like ours.

The number one thing in looked for when I bought my condo was concrete construction.