First View Homes has set up a new sales site in the south east end of Barrie. If you know of anyone looking to purchase a new home please advise them to check the builders reviews on this website and others available. You know the old saying, "forewarned is forearmed" and you should be educated about a builders known shortcomings before getting involved. We only wish we had such a valuable tool as this website when we became victims of the shoddiest construction we have ever encountered. Here is a list of known building code violations we encountered so far with this builder:

1. Foundation wall not braced with required lateral support wall as required prior to backfilling and framing.

2. Cracked and leaking foundation wall due to stress from item #1.

3. Insulation covered up despite warnings not to, prior to the inspection. The city had to order the builders trade out but did not make them remove the drywall which is a serious mistake.

4. Main floor to basement stair case had 5 different violations as riser heights varied from 6 3/4" to 8 1/2" (maximum variance allowed is 1/4") This is a tripping hazard and is a health and safety code violation.

5. Main floor to 2nd floor staircase also had multiple riser heights for 3 violations and again is a tripping hazard and is a health and safety code violation.

6. Main floor to basement staircase had an unsecured railing at the top of the 9' high flight of stairs causing a extreme falling hazard and is a health and safety code violation. Builder refused to repair for nearly 4 months after possession.

7. Main floor to 2nd floor staircase had an unsecured railing at the top of the 9' high flight of stairs causing a extreme falling hazard and is a health and safety code violation. Builder refused to repair for nearly 4 months after possession.

8. Main bathroom ceramic tile floors have half or less of the required 12.5 mm mortar bed thickness that is required by building code to prevent cracking tiles. Tile has cracked in third year. Order to comply against the builder which he has so far refused to comply with now for 5 months. See Barrie building department website for warning to builders at
http://www.city.barrie.on.ca/docs/Installation%20of%20Ceramic%20Tile.pdf

9. Ensuite bathroom ceramic tile floors have less than half of the required 12.5 mm mortar bed thickness that is required by building code to prevent cracking tiles. Order to comply against the builder which he has so far refused to comply with now for 5 months. See Barrie building department website for warning to builders at
http://www.city.barrie.on.ca/docs/Installation%20of%20Ceramic%20Tile.pdf

10. Furnace not working on occupancy and is a health and safety code violation.

11. Furnace activated without inspection from Enbridge and is a health and safety code violation. Also a violation of the Ontario Energy Act.

12. High efficiency furnace was not set up correctly and because it was not inspected and passed by Enbridge was operating at about 40,000 btu or less, of its 100,000 btu capacity. The builder failed to have the problem diagnosed and instead was telling us to turn the heat up. Because of this idiot we froze for 2 winters until we finally convinced the furnace manufacturer to get involved. They diagnosed the very simple problem in a few minutes. The gas pressure was set too low and he adjusted a set screw to increase the pressure at the furnace. This of course was a health and safety code violation as temperatures were as low as 50 F on the second floor. Code requires maintaining minimum 72 F in all living spaces including unfinished basements.

13. Upgraded high efficiency furnace had small intermittent raw gas leak that was falsely stated as caused by purging. Leak was never diagnosed but when furnace was replaced 2 years later the leak was corrected. Obvious health and safety violation.

14. When the furnace was replaced with a 2 stage unit, the exhaust venting was not adjusted for length and was forced on to the blower. After the first operation in the early fall, the vent pipe apparently pulled off the blower spewing CARBON MONOXIDE, CARBON DIOXIDE AND WHATEVER ELSE INTO THE HOME. This caused at the time, unexplained frequent headaches and nausea for over a month. We were down in the basement one day when the furnace was in operation and detected fumes. We were fortunate that temperatures were milder and the furnace was running infrequently in low stage operation at that time. As you can imagine, colder weather causing the furnace to run often and in the high stage could have seriously harmed or killed someone. The emergency furnace service tech had to add 6 inches of ABS pipe to seat the vent properly, taking all of 5 minutes to do. Absolute negligence by this terrible builders contractor causing one of the most serious health and safety code violations. Believe it or not only one Co2/fire detector was installed in the basement level even though it is in the enclosed area of the lower foyer. No additional detector was installed in the open area close to the gas furnace or water heater

15. More heating system violations as the ducting system was poorly designed and installed. They omitted 2 supply air vents and failed to connect 2 return air vents into the system among other sloppy work. Temperatures on the second floor were as much as 8 degrees colder than main floor. System requires thousands of dollars in repairs. Again another health and safety code violation.

16. Numerous leaking cracks in foundation wall now after 3 years. Due to the possibility of mould forming this is a health and safety code violation.

17. Handrail on stars from garage to laundry room made of rough lumber, has caused multiple splinter injuries. Another health and safety building code violation.

18. Roof venting. This builder has violated another building code by incorrectly placing 5 roof vents all on one side of the roof and a single vent at the back of the roof. The building code requires all vents be uniformly distributed on opposite sides of the building so in other words there should be 3 vents on each side and 1 on the front and 1 on the back. Improper location or inadequate venting can cause serious damage such as wood decay, roof sheathing to buckle and shorten the life of asphalt shingles among other problems. Some of my neighbours have no roof vents at all but the code requires at least 25% of the openings be in the high space of the roof.

Six of these building code violations (three being health and safety related are still present after 3 years. Now of course this is a list of building code violations we are currently aware of and there could be more to come as things happen.