Comments:

Unpleasant experiences for our 'DREAM HOME' purchase!

Where do we start! -During construction, almost DAILY visits were required & even then certain items mentioned repeatedly to the builder were ignored resulting in 'after the fact' fix up that was poor workmanship (ie: oak capped niches; 2 windows in dining area were DIFFERENT, one with & one without window grills, after paying for the window grills in BOTH). -Because the builder delayed ordering fireplace brick, our selection was discontinued by the time they ordered & WE had to pay the additional $33.30 for the closest one that we could find to our original selection. -Because the humidifier in the showhome was NOT standard but we insisted we wanted that same type, WE had to pay the additional $137.50 to get what was beleived to be a 'standard' in the showhome. -Our main bedroom floor has creaked from day 1 (it has now been over 8 years!), & ripping up the carpet (with replacing done very poorly, seams showing everywhere) cutting holes in the subfloor to drill the floor into the joists then replacing the same pieces just cut out...wonder if they will ever fall thorough...never did fix the problem! Still squeaky as a 100 year old farmhouse... -Vibration of main floor, don't put drinking glasses too close on the kitchen table or they will clink together....we did this for a visit by Avi himself & the first thing he did when he entered the room was to move the glasses apart!!!! This is 'acceptable' according to him, but bet his floor does not 'vibrate'! -All our doors have never closed properly....numerous attempts by their service guys did not remedy the problem, still a couple to this day don't close properly! -The 'overspray' that was all over our railings going up the stairs was 'acceptable in Toronto' according to Avi Amir, but we said we don't live in Toronto & want the same standard as their Calgary showhome...they did finally sand down & redo the railings but not without a fight! -Garage slab had to be replaced twice, driveway slab had to be redone...one day they forgot to tell us they were coming & our car was in the garage...a bit of fighting to get a rental car was needed. -request for the 'electrical' final from the city took us almost 2 years to get...then it was the electrical supplier that did it -4 pages of concerns at our 1 year review -October 2002, half the siding was blown off the west side of our home....insurance would not cover as no other homes had this, after fighting with Avi & the siding contractor we found documents that showed Avi's service folks had removed the siding to fix a 'bulge' in the wall, so they did fix it but not without a fight! -IN JANUARY 2003 we went to the news after our watermain broke somewhere on our property & initial estimates from companies ranged from 'several thousand' up to 'about $35,000.00'...our insurance would not cover it as nothing in the home was damaged, & Avi said they would not cover it because the warranty was up....turns out the joining of our waterline to the city's was UNDER THE GARAGE FOUNDATION!!!! The City said this was not 'to code', so we called CFCN news, who came out, & when they spoke with Avi himself he said ON AIR that he had spoken with the plumbing contractor & they would split the bill that was $4500.00. Avi did reimburse their half, but when we contacted the plumbing contractor they denied ever saying such a thing & would not pay anything....lucky it was only $4500.00 as when we were looking for someone to do it we had estimates that went as high as $35000.00!!!!! Unfortunately when the City was questioned again they said that they did not mean 'to code' but to 'standard practice' which is NOT required to be abided by. NEEDLESS TO SAY, OUR DREAM HOME WAS NOT....we are still here, but do not see this as being our 'retirement' home as we had planned when we first purchased. Seems everything was always a fight with Avi....he even personally came to our home twice to view our complaints! Sometime after we moved in we bumped into our sales person, who no longer worked for Avi, & did not have any pleasant things to say about them...as did the plumbing contractor who said they would never deal with Avi again....if you use this builder, I would make sure you dot your 'i's & cross your 't's on everything.....and good luck!