Does anybody have any experience of a new build? We are having a 4-bed family home built in Barrie, Ontario. It is part of a sub-division being built by a big building company. It is a regular Canadian-style home - timber/stone/vinyl. The basement has been excavated so far. Our date for closing is 30th July. How likely does this sound to you as we are rather sceptical that it will be done by this time?

Houses here can go up very quickly, this is not always a good thing.

It is certainly possible to go from basement to finished in 3 months. If you are allowed, visit the site often and keep an eye on the construction quality.

Complain loudly if you don't thinks its up to standard, and/or it is running behind schedule.

Be a bit of a pain, but do it in a nice way, with a smile.

We have good contacts in the Manitoba area for self-builds.

I have seen the workmanship and stayed in a house that they have build, will def. use them if we decide to go that route!! Gorgeous designs at reasonable prices!!

If you need quotes or contacts let me know!! I'll find out as much as I can!!

Angela

Thanks - I wish we could keep popping by to keep an eye on things but we're still in England! We were sent some photos yesterday which was the first time we got to see what was what. Our sales lady e-mailed today and insists everything is on schedule... Fingers crossed! We just don't know how long to leave it until we book our flights out for the summer.

Wow!!

It must be exciting for you all!!!

Well good luck!!

Angela

Chris you know my story on builders and the delays we are experiencing.

I am in Barrie every couple of weeks, in fact we are going there later today. Let me know exactly where it is and i can pop by each time i am there a take a picture for you.

Regards

Chris

Throw enough bodies at a job and it can get finished on time. I suspect that on a large sub division there's less chance of a shortage of trades/labour, but you should be diligent and keep on top of progress.

I built a house last year (pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fieldstone/) and it took best part of 12mths.

Cheers Chris that will be fantastic. I'll PM you with the details.

Next door had foundations done by late Oct, and it was finished in early Feb (incl. bricklaying under tarps with propane heaters 24/7 ). The estimate doesn't sound far off in my vast experience of watching one house be built

There's nothing like experience Biiiiink, even if it is only one!

I must admit I'm a little surprised, but very glad, that no one has said its totally unrealistic....................so far. We'll be gutted if we don't get out this summer.

Chris.

Are you planning on flying out and moving straight in? I think, if it were me, (and if it were possible), I'd rather fly out earlier and stay in a trailer or whatever while it's being finished .... then you can see for yourself and have some input. It wouldn't be hard to "camp" for a while, and your stuff could be kept in storage if you needed .......

That's good advice but it's a holiday home for us for now until we decide whether to make the move for real. We're expecting to fly out and spend a few days in a hotel but then need to get in as soon as we can. I'm a headteacher so have no flexibility with holiday dates - it's August... or a flying visit in October half term. We keep imagining a fantastic summer in Ontario but daren't pin all our hopes on it just yet. The replies so far have been encouraging, however.
Katie

Chris, how many in your family? Reason i ask is i just brought a property as a holiday rental place here in Wasaga Beach. If you delayed a wk or so then you might be able to stay there. The place is about 30 seconds walk from the beach.

Chris

Nobody's said it's a guarantee either, nor can they without being on site. I was told it would take 6mths to complete my build, but in reality it took 12. Ultimately I had no control over labour or trade shortages, so could only do my best to mitigate delays and keep things moving along.

I lived a few hundred meters from where I was building, inspected daily and chased things along - doing it remotely would have been far less effective. If I'd been in another country I'd have wanted penalty clauses to kick in if the build went beyond an agreed date, especially if the closing date was important.

It doesn't take much to screw timescales up - as an example, my insulation contractor lost key staff to a competitor. It took me 6 weeks to get another company to step in and finish the insulation work. Finding alternative tradesmen if one contractor becomes unreliable, or unable to complete for whatever reason often means joining the back of a line and waiting in turn for them to become available.

I would say it is possible. Our builder cleared our lot for our place in Feb, and we moved in at the end of June.