Another thing to consider is that UK houses are more robust than Canadian houses generally and the standard of build is better.

Canadians are the most indebted citizens in the world. Consumer debt here is higher than in the UK and the US by quite a bit.

(and it's getting worse: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...75J1E720110620)

No $hit.....but as the cliche' goes, "you get what you pay for". You can easily get Mike Holmes, Brian Bulmer et al in to build you a solid house with all the bells and whistle if you have the dosh

Nice. I reckon i'll grab a bargain quad bike and cabin soon

To flip that on its head..

You should expect higher maintenance costs for a Canadian style house..

thats my whole point..people often state they can have a better house in Canada than the UK..bigger does not mean better..the build quality in the UK is much better than here..inspections are more rigourous too.

The climate is not quite as harsh either


True about maintainence though. I dont recall nearly as much re roofing or residing of houses as goes on here, you certainly should factor it into the overall cost of living if you choose to buy.

That isn't necessarily the case. Realtors set expectations on time/price for inspections even if they don't recommend one. They tell buyers that it's 1/2 day and about $500 and as that's what people expect that's the level of inspection they choose. However you can find inspectors that do the job properly if you look and are willing to pay a bit more.

I think it's highly dependent on the location and the specific house. There's aspects of my house in Toronto which will require more maintenance than the one I had in the UK although not necessarily extra cost over the long term and then there's things that look like they will need less. There's no denying that the harsher climate and greater prevelance of nasties like fire ants and termites will add to some costs though.

I find it hard to believe that the average recently built Canadian house will have a materially worse build quality than a Barratt-box.

Simply down to the building standards

Houses in Canda have a lower life expectancy than in the UK and are built to specifciations and rules that reflect that.
They are also build with a higher expectation of the consumer up-gradeing them which is also reflected in the build.

There are also a whole load of costs assoicated with building in a cold climate that go into a candian house, costs that the UK doesn't have, these too impact cost/quality balance.

You obviously haven't looked at some of the shit I helped put up in the UK.

I don't agree on this one, houses in the UK appear to be more substantial because they use more brick, but in most of Canada you can't use brick because it is a poor insulator.

I think in new build stuff it's fair to say there is more variation in quality in Canada. You can more easily buy shit here than in the UK but on average the quality is about the same.

I tell you one thing for sure, there's no way I'd get a gang of labourers working in -25 in the UK. Also the use of forced air in houses here for the heating, can't think of any housing I've been involved with in the UK that used forced air that post-dated 1970, it's all radiators nowadays. The lack of radiators in Canadian houses gives you more space in the room and you don't have to worry about leaky pipes.

Plus AC is a lot easier to integrate with forced air. AC never crossed my mind in the UK, here in Ontario is pretty much a necessity in the summer I find.

Blimey, when were you last in the UK?! All underfloor heating these days, even our 300 year old house is about to have it installed throughout.

Radiators do a better and cheaper job of heating and are also quieter.

This is true, however somewhat hard to do in Calgary because there are by-laws that make it tricky. Basically if your AC compressor is visible anywhere from a public highway you can't have AC (this is what it boils down to). I think a lot of HOAs have rules that say you can't have it either although obviously I'm not familiar with all of them.

Also people in Calgary are so unfamiliar with AC they seem to think it's some sort of contraption invented by the devil, I brought up the subject with my neighbours and they kept whinging on about how noisy it would be, what effect it would have on their property, what chemicals it might give off, ad naseum.

In Calgary (and most of Canada I suspect) you never say: "it's too hot". You say: "I'm going down to the basement for a spell." Or: "I think I'm going to go and spend my Canadian Tire money now."