TheKingEast
Senior Member
Hope the residents are happy. They could have had a nice looking loft but instead got this. LOL.
|
|
|
Riverside Towns (was Leslieville Lofts, Hyde Pk/Lamb Dev, 140-162 Broadview, 3s, ?)COMPLETE
- Thread starter AlbertC
- Start date
urbandreamer
recession proof
Or even better and a more mature response: BJL could've hired aA to design these townhomes.
Torontovibe
Senior Member
I've said it before but I'll say it again. This should have had retail along Broadview. All of Broadview should be lined with retail, except for the park, of course.
jje1000
Senior Member
Some details on this are nice (especially the rounded windows), but I question the use of a mansard roof on a surface that's almost vertical.
meznor
New Member
It's great to have the backstory on this development, and other threads in this forum to talk about what to expect when you move into a new construction. Maybe Brad Lamb (/Hyde Park Homes? Who's to blame?) did a rush job on the townhomes after being rejected for the condos.
We just moved in last week - our occupancy date was July 8. It feels like we got a lemon or something. Upon move in, several things hadn't been complete - countertops/backsplash missing A/C wasn't working, a few appliances/other features not working, no rail/shelves in the closets, no shower doors, bathroom/shower fixtures not caulked/affixed... since then, the workers have been completing the interior stuff, and having moved in officially, a few other issues have emerged in our particular unit - we're temporarily using the second bedroom to sleep and heard water dripping from the ceiling early yesterday morning. It appears there's a leak from the washer/dryer, so they'll have to check it out - I'm thinking they will need to cut open the wall and make sure it's dry in there to prevent rot or something. When Bell came to install the TV/internet, they discovered a faulty cable fished up to the 2nd bedroom. I have a growing list of things that need to be fixed (all added to the Tarion 30-day form).
The overall design is fine, by the way. Yea, it's a "faux" Victorian style, but it seems to blend into the neighbourhood nicely. I have questions about the quality of the interior workmanship, though. There are a few annoying things (maybe I'm being nitpicky), too, like the way they finished the backsplash - they cut the tile improperly so it looks like crap around three of the four outlets (we asked them to redo it and they said it's something they can do). All the outlets are at a different height (it appears) - the electrician put the outlets in first, and then the backsplash was installed after, but it's a horizontal tile that doesn't seem to match up the same at each outlet. The sinks are very splashy since the water flows down right on the edge of the drain cover - that might be a Delta design flaw - but are very modern looking and nice. Where the floors meet the stairs, there are gaps and visible pencil marks, and sort of little unfinished details all over the house that are like that. They haven't finished priming the walls/ceilings in dozens of places, which are currently patches of drying/unsanded plaster. They also haven't varnished the railing on the stairs.
I guess I signed up for this forum to ask if all these little defects/incompleteness are normal with a new construction, and from what I'm reading, I'm guessing that it is normal. Tarion gives the builder 120 days to complete it, so I guess we've gotta wait it out. I'm pretty disgruntled at the moment, but it should be a nice place to call home eventually. The neighbourhood is pretty damn awesome.
We just moved in last week - our occupancy date was July 8. It feels like we got a lemon or something. Upon move in, several things hadn't been complete - countertops/backsplash missing A/C wasn't working, a few appliances/other features not working, no rail/shelves in the closets, no shower doors, bathroom/shower fixtures not caulked/affixed... since then, the workers have been completing the interior stuff, and having moved in officially, a few other issues have emerged in our particular unit - we're temporarily using the second bedroom to sleep and heard water dripping from the ceiling early yesterday morning. It appears there's a leak from the washer/dryer, so they'll have to check it out - I'm thinking they will need to cut open the wall and make sure it's dry in there to prevent rot or something. When Bell came to install the TV/internet, they discovered a faulty cable fished up to the 2nd bedroom. I have a growing list of things that need to be fixed (all added to the Tarion 30-day form).
The overall design is fine, by the way. Yea, it's a "faux" Victorian style, but it seems to blend into the neighbourhood nicely. I have questions about the quality of the interior workmanship, though. There are a few annoying things (maybe I'm being nitpicky), too, like the way they finished the backsplash - they cut the tile improperly so it looks like crap around three of the four outlets (we asked them to redo it and they said it's something they can do). All the outlets are at a different height (it appears) - the electrician put the outlets in first, and then the backsplash was installed after, but it's a horizontal tile that doesn't seem to match up the same at each outlet. The sinks are very splashy since the water flows down right on the edge of the drain cover - that might be a Delta design flaw - but are very modern looking and nice. Where the floors meet the stairs, there are gaps and visible pencil marks, and sort of little unfinished details all over the house that are like that. They haven't finished priming the walls/ceilings in dozens of places, which are currently patches of drying/unsanded plaster. They also haven't varnished the railing on the stairs.
I guess I signed up for this forum to ask if all these little defects/incompleteness are normal with a new construction, and from what I'm reading, I'm guessing that it is normal. Tarion gives the builder 120 days to complete it, so I guess we've gotta wait it out. I'm pretty disgruntled at the moment, but it should be a nice place to call home eventually. The neighbourhood is pretty damn awesome.
RiverCity1
Active Member
Seems like a lot going on there. I can only speak about my experiences with Mattamy and Tridel as I've owned a bunch of properties by both (they win Tarion awards for a reason) and they both fix things ASAP, as the customer experience is a huge priority for them.
Did you miss your PDI? It's key to attend this! Most, if not all, of these issues should have been remedied prior to moving in. That said, the developer is obligated to address all deficiencies...so write them ALL down even if they seem petty.
As you live in the house you will notice more things...and over the course of the year and a few seasons...the wood-frame house will settle a bit. This is all very normal; hence why there are 1 year and 2 year Tarion forms.
Don't get discouraged. You aren't directly paying for the repairs or doing them yourself...and it's not like you are living in an old house that needs constant attention and out-of-pocket expenses at every turn. I know of an entire neighbourhood that got trashed with this recent storm and tons of damage...some of it insurance will cover, but a lot of it the homeowners will have to cover...so look at the bright side that the developer will pay for your repairs here.
I used to give the developer a key so they could just fix things while I was at work. They always let me know and ask for permission to enter the house first, of course. Never had any issues.
Good luck and the main thing is to enjoy your new house! It may seem like a pain at first, but surprisingly everything always works out in the end.
Did you miss your PDI? It's key to attend this! Most, if not all, of these issues should have been remedied prior to moving in. That said, the developer is obligated to address all deficiencies...so write them ALL down even if they seem petty.
As you live in the house you will notice more things...and over the course of the year and a few seasons...the wood-frame house will settle a bit. This is all very normal; hence why there are 1 year and 2 year Tarion forms.
Don't get discouraged. You aren't directly paying for the repairs or doing them yourself...and it's not like you are living in an old house that needs constant attention and out-of-pocket expenses at every turn. I know of an entire neighbourhood that got trashed with this recent storm and tons of damage...some of it insurance will cover, but a lot of it the homeowners will have to cover...so look at the bright side that the developer will pay for your repairs here.
I used to give the developer a key so they could just fix things while I was at work. They always let me know and ask for permission to enter the house first, of course. Never had any issues.
Good luck and the main thing is to enjoy your new house! It may seem like a pain at first, but surprisingly everything always works out in the end.
meznor
New Member
The condo I closed last year didn't have any problems (Empire Communities was really good, too). Of course, I had a unit on one of the top floors, and since they closed starting from the bottom-up, maybe they caught a lot of defects along the way before getting to that unit.
We had the PDI on the same day as move-in (which our lawyer said was strange, since there should be a gap there)... we signed the inspector's form, since he said much of the big stuff (the A/C not working, other appliances, and countertops/backsplash missing) should have been completed at the end of the day, but when we picked up our keys at 4pm, nothing had been completed (or even started). We told our lawyer to hold back the money, and the developer's lawyers (well, their secretary, since the lawyer was on vacation and didn't have a backup lawyer on the file) threatened to sue us if we didn't occupy, so we moved in.
All around a really strange communications/experience from Brad Lamb & co. I have a very unpleasant feeling about them as an organization as a result, and wouldn't recommend people buy property with them.
Thanks for the encouraging words! I know it will all work out... it's a difficult stage at the moment, but the workers are being good about getting stuff done as we raise the issues we're seeing, so I hope this continues and it all gets sorted out soon.
urbandreamer
recession proof
23 August 2013: Grim
meznor
New Member
We've been living here for almost two months. Lots of small, aesthetic/design issues on the interior. We're not really happy with the builder/developer's response, either.
Less minor issues in our unit include the TV cable fished to the 2nd bedroom being defective; mold/humidity issues in the locker room; we have less than half the loft space than they marketed to us on the 3rd floor. There are far more accumulated, smaller, aesthetic issues on the interior.
It looks good from the outside, aside from the pouring concrete/closed sidewalk, which is hopefully done soon!
Less minor issues in our unit include the TV cable fished to the 2nd bedroom being defective; mold/humidity issues in the locker room; we have less than half the loft space than they marketed to us on the 3rd floor. There are far more accumulated, smaller, aesthetic issues on the interior.
It looks good from the outside, aside from the pouring concrete/closed sidewalk, which is hopefully done soon!
Hamiltonian
Active Member
The first and second storey are, in my opinion, the best one could get for a re-creation of an older architectural style. They screwed up on the roof (should've looked at Old City Hall for inspiration?).
urbandreamer
recession proof
14 Sept 2013: Aesthetic Garbage eh?
TheKingEast
Senior Member
Hope the Nimby's are happy with this crap. They could have had a nicely designed condo with some added retail but got this Thornhill suburban crap instead.
jje1000
Senior Member
They're probably pretty happy with this, because it 'fits in'.
Hamiltonian
Active Member
Look good to me (on the outside) but it would've been a lot better if they had picked a better roof design or something...
meznor
New Member
Hi all. I sort of need some of your insights here.
I've been living in this townhouse development for five months now. We don't yet have a closing date, but it's probably soon.
Over the past five months, we've had several issues with this place. Some are aesthetic, and some are structural/workmanship problems. But I sat down and made a list of things that were initially installed incorrectly, which needed a second (sometimes third) visit from the construction crew, and it's starting to worry me.
- The HVAC (when we first moved in in July, the air conditioner condensation tube was installed inside the wall instead of going to an outside pipe so that the water condensation was leaking through our ceiling in the 2nd bedroom)
- The backsplash (the outlets are all at different heights, and because of the nature of the material used - glass, horizontal tile - they had to cut out slits to accommodate the outlets, and they all look like they're crooked)
- The under-cabinet task lighting (all the wires were outside the cabinets, so they were exposed, in all their duck tapey glory)
- The TV coax cable that goes to the 2nd bedroom, which is broken/doesn't work
- The closet shelves which weren’t screwed into the studs (a worker told us that they only get so much time to work on each unit and don’t have time to look for studs. Both bedroom closets collapsed in on themselves in two separate incidences and needed to be reinstalled.)
- The skylight (it was finished really badly - it looked like a five year old installed it)
- The locks on the main doors didn't lock correctly - you had to push in the door with your knee before they'd latch on (my husband fixed this - he found that where they put the bracket was a bit too left or right, so the lock was getting blocked by the wood/bracket)
- The HVAC (we lost water pressure twice this month, and had no hot water, and no heat. Enercare came in and said someone installed it wrong. They fixed some loose wires and tightened some gauges, but it's still not clear what was casing the water pressure drop.)
Most of these things, people might consider minor. The HVAC stuff isn't, of course, especially when it's cold outside like it's been for the past couple of days.
Anyway, my question to you guys is, is this normal? Is it normal that things get installed incorrectly, and workers need to come in and fix mistakes they made so often? Can you share some of your own new home stories with me so that maybe I can put this in some kind of context, and don't feel so disturbed by this?
Thanks for your help and advice. I'm not a new home owner, and neither is my husband. We both own condos, and we didn't encounter even a fraction of the problems we've encountered with this place. Are townhouses different? Is it possible that, simply, more things can go wrong?
I've been living in this townhouse development for five months now. We don't yet have a closing date, but it's probably soon.
Over the past five months, we've had several issues with this place. Some are aesthetic, and some are structural/workmanship problems. But I sat down and made a list of things that were initially installed incorrectly, which needed a second (sometimes third) visit from the construction crew, and it's starting to worry me.
- The HVAC (when we first moved in in July, the air conditioner condensation tube was installed inside the wall instead of going to an outside pipe so that the water condensation was leaking through our ceiling in the 2nd bedroom)
- The backsplash (the outlets are all at different heights, and because of the nature of the material used - glass, horizontal tile - they had to cut out slits to accommodate the outlets, and they all look like they're crooked)
- The under-cabinet task lighting (all the wires were outside the cabinets, so they were exposed, in all their duck tapey glory)
- The TV coax cable that goes to the 2nd bedroom, which is broken/doesn't work
- The closet shelves which weren’t screwed into the studs (a worker told us that they only get so much time to work on each unit and don’t have time to look for studs. Both bedroom closets collapsed in on themselves in two separate incidences and needed to be reinstalled.)
- The skylight (it was finished really badly - it looked like a five year old installed it)
- The locks on the main doors didn't lock correctly - you had to push in the door with your knee before they'd latch on (my husband fixed this - he found that where they put the bracket was a bit too left or right, so the lock was getting blocked by the wood/bracket)
- The HVAC (we lost water pressure twice this month, and had no hot water, and no heat. Enercare came in and said someone installed it wrong. They fixed some loose wires and tightened some gauges, but it's still not clear what was casing the water pressure drop.)
Most of these things, people might consider minor. The HVAC stuff isn't, of course, especially when it's cold outside like it's been for the past couple of days.
Anyway, my question to you guys is, is this normal? Is it normal that things get installed incorrectly, and workers need to come in and fix mistakes they made so often? Can you share some of your own new home stories with me so that maybe I can put this in some kind of context, and don't feel so disturbed by this?
Thanks for your help and advice. I'm not a new home owner, and neither is my husband. We both own condos, and we didn't encounter even a fraction of the problems we've encountered with this place. Are townhouses different? Is it possible that, simply, more things can go wrong?