有人列出了ottawa builders' list for good and bad ones. any comments/

[qiuyi_1]

especially for the Tarton Homes, any Tartan home owner out there, what was your experience with them?

一下围转贴内容，转自；http://groups.google.ca/group/ott.h...an+ott.housing&rnum=13&hl=en#6732544b83231a9d



For those of you who are planning on buying a new home I have throughout the
past few years formulated what I consider to be good and bad construction
companies based on referrals, viewing model homes, and talking to sales
staff. Use this information at your own discretion. Please feel free to
add to the list.


Good ==> Tamarack, Tartan, Minto, Valecraft, Domicile


Bad ===> Ashcroft, Claridge, Richcraft, Phoenix, Olympia

 

[parkdale]

Richcraft not too bad.

 

[falcon]

Ashcroft is really bad

 

[基础墙]

There's no such thing as "good builder"

I've heard complains on almost every major builders.

My Tamarack house has so many problems, from day 1. The last problem I found is, the cold water pipe in loundry room freezes in cold winter days. last week I took off the drywall and found that, the pipe has been installed at the outside of the fibreglass insulation

After finding out several defects like this in last six years, my guess is Tamarack hires cheap contractors to save money.

 

[flyinglonestar]

永远相信大个

如果Minto是最大的

就从Minto买

既然人家做得最大

总是有道理的吧

 

[parkdale]

最初由 flyinglonestar 发布
永远相信大个

如果Minto是最大的

就从Minto买

既然人家做得最大

总是有道理的吧

the materials they use are very cheap

 

[qiuyi_1]

Re: There's no such thing as "good builder"

sorry to hear that but not surprised at all: dosn't matter which builder you pick, they use the same trades doing the same job for alomost all the builder, so how can we expect them to be different from one another in quality? the point is some builders are more responsive and accomodating in post closing services than others. How was your experience with tamarak, were they fast in knocking on your door and fixing problems?

buying a house is really a matter of pure luck, unless you ve picked the location amd end up with bad soil conditions and structural problems, builders are just all the same, only trades matter,because they are the ones who put the blue print in houses.

having said that, I do think that builders differ in foremen, whose sense of responsibilities makes a whole difference in how he enforces the quality control on trades. and for this, you can only pray for a bood one. My house was built under a lousy foreman (claridge) but the after sales are pretty good, way beyond average.


:flaming:

 

[某某]

最初由 flyinglonestar 发布
永远相信大个

如果Minto是最大的

就从Minto买

既然人家做得最大

总是有道理的吧

微软是最大的，也不见得他们的软件最好

Minto用的料都不特别好。他们的房子除非加很多upgrade，否则不是很出众。
当然这样价钱可以低一些...

Tartan好像比较小，但是口碑好像的确不错
去看过他们的样板房，东西看上去比Minto的好

 

[基础墙]

Re: Re: There's no such thing as "good builder"

最初由 qiuyi_1 发布

How was your experience with tamarak, were they fast in knocking on your door and fixing problems? [/B]

Depends on what kind of problems.

Right after moved in we found some mistakes they made: wrong material, wrong location, etc. They fixed the easy ones but for the build-in dest I asked, they tried to find all possible excuses to escape from redo it because, it would cost them over $300. I got that desk fixed after >10 phone calls to at least 3 persons, including a manager, and 2 months delay.

After year end inspection, they sent somebodies to fix problems. Most of the fixes were okay 'x they're easy ones but for the squeezy floor, it became even worse 3 or 4 months after they fixed it. Their explaination was really funny: it's over 1 year now, we won't fix it.

They fixed it anyway, after several round of argument. I know whatever methods you're using the squeezy sound will come back anyway but, if they gave me 1 yr. warrant, I should have a quiet floor for at least 1 year

[/B]
having said that, I do think that builders differ in foremen, whose sense of responsibilities makes a whole difference in how he enforces the quality control on trades. and for this, you can only pray for a bood one. My house was built under a lousy foreman (claridge) but the after sales are pretty good, way beyond average.

:flaming: [/B]

Agree.

If you really worry about the workmanship, you may hire an inspector to monitor all stages of the construction.

Add one more point: the quality of after sale service depents on how hard you push them

 

[基础墙]

最初由 flyinglonestar 发布
永远相信大个

如果Minto是最大的

就从Minto买

既然人家做得最大

总是有道理的吧

我在加拿大的第一个supervisor，是个常年在外面跑的人。他到了一个生地方以后，挑饭馆的办法就是看哪家吃客多。他那是没办法的办法－－十分钟内就得做决定。

可要是买房，还是多看看的好。

我觉得还是别太看重Builder的名气。名声差的自然是躲着点好，但也没必要追那几个名气大的。还是房子的位置、样式、材料等等更重要。另外，我觉得看Builder的好坏，第一是它的售后服务－－可这也是个靠不住的事儿，说不定到你的房子盖好以后，人家换人了。

 

[qiuyi_1]

最初由 某某 发布

...

Tartan好像比较小，但是口碑好像的确不错
去看过他们的样板房，东西看上去比Minto的好

yes, they differ in model homes -presentation only, but that's where difference stops. what really matters is the one that at end of the day becomes yours. alot of people are fooled by the models, but have they ever looked at those fineprints like "upgrades included in this house are: ..." ? mostly likely you will be disappointed when it bcomes yours...

I'm for choosing good location, good soil conditions, with no structural risks-not even slightest ones,as for the rest, it's up to yourself. afterall, how much design can vary from one builder to another? it's all about how you decorate it.

 

[ccc]

Tamarack is good.

 

[qiuyi_1]

a question: anyone lives in a house

that faces south west (WWS), with big windows and above to above open space? any advice on a house facing (or backing on) west? am going to buy a one like this but worried about hot summer afternoon.

I believe it's not good idea to have big windows on westsided of a house but it seems that yangren don't care much about where their house is facing too.

 

[cathlethorpe]

最初由 ccc 发布
Tamarack is good.

very good

 

[基础墙]

Re: a question: anyone lives in a house

最初由 qiuyi_1 发布
that faces south west (WWS), with big windows and above to above open space? any advice on a house facing (or backing on) west? am going to buy a one like this but worried about hot summer afternoon.

I believe it's not good idea to have big windows on westsided of a house but it seems that yangren don't care much about where their house is facing too.

Big windows facing south west would be a problem in hot summer days but it would be good in a sunny winter day. Winter is longer than summer.

I have two big windows facing south west (family room, and kitchen). Blades are used to block the sunlight in summer and, compare with other rooms in the house, the family room is not that hot (~2 degrees higher than the room at the other end, taken today). But in winter, that room is super warm.

About rooms above open space, it should be okay if it got sufficient insulation. In the second floor I have a bedroom above open space, and another built one right on the garage. They may cost me more in heating (not sure) but they're just as warm (or as cold) as other 2nd floor rooms. I've measured the temperature in all rooms during cold winter days, nothing significant (<1 degree).