Yeah must agree they do put the shell up quickly (BayWest). You'll have to keep us posted on how long the inside takes

We dont live in Alberta but Vancouver island BC.
We built almost 2 years ago prior to getting our visas, This was the Best time to build, as things had not gone mad as they are now.
We bought 1 acre of land and had 3 bed house build for £120,000!! Our house is worth twice that now!
We are tring to get a few addtions done, a bit of plumbing carpentry etc etc, and cant get anyone to come and do small jobs. They are all working on bigger projects or condo building. By this I mean whole subdivisions, not one off jobs.

The price of wood has risen, fuel is rising etc etc, and tradesmen are in short supply forcing prices to rise per sqaure foot.

We had a contract drawn up that gave the builder a time scale he had to adhere to or face penalties In total he took 8 months, and cut it fine in the end.

Check all builders out first, make sure they are licensed/ bonded etc. Get references and take them ALL up. Get a contract drawn up by a solicitor. There is lots of info on registerd builders etc on the internet, and it really is a case of doing your research, and visiting. If you find an area, go and see a few realators, who will tell you of any good bad areas etc. This is waht we did initially. We got one to email properties etc regulary, visited and he took us around many areas and explained the good and bad of each, he actually drew up the contracts with the seller and us, and it was 10 pages long.

Never buy land on a whim, before finding out how you will get water and electric there, if not already, If rura make sure you can get cable internet telephone etc easiliy. it is not always the case. The further you are from a town, the less you will find people willing to travel every day to your location to build. If you have children, make sure they are in catchment area for school bus, or you will be driving in every day, or may not even get them into the school you want. It takes average 45 mins for kids to get to school her on bus, in car it takes 15 mins!!

We are semi rural, and about 10km from town, and people think we are on the other side of the world.

Many people are moving her from Alberta. Some bought and are buying houses here in the hope of retiring or relocating. That was when prices were cheap for land.

Our acre cost £35,000 house cost £80,00 inc legal fees. Now the land is selling for three times that.

Whatever you build make sure it is something someone else would want to buy! Sounds daft but 4-5 bed two storey houses are so hard to sell around here, Too big for most people without kids to maintain and too expensive for young families. They can sit on the market for a year or more before selling. You may not be thinking that far ahead, but wil the average Canadian apparently moving every two years, you may find one you have arrived built and lived there a bit you too may want to move on.

We love where we are but it does not stop us looking as other houses, and maybe will build a gain one day, if we can find a builder!!!!

I seldom come on here now because I ma so happy and contented in my life her, and spend as much time as I can in the garden, and out and about.
No regrets at all, and so nice to be living in a new house. beyond our dreams until we came here!
best of luck

Hi, I am certainly not condemning builders here in Canada.

I suppose I just wanted to convey the things that might befall some newbies.

I just want to remind persons that the usual - "every barrel of apples has some nasty ones!"

I myself had no bad experiences - probably because I was firm with these guys from the outset.

Well - sadly, you'd have every right to. We're finding that it's a case of the barrel having SOME good ones (and boy are they hard to find!)! The sad part is, I don't think most are 'bad' as such, but just that they don't know any better (the company we just fired are proof of that - though they are purportedly 'the best'!! ). Or even worse so - the fact that govt regulations are simply insufficient, or not enforced properly! There is little sense in my mind to handing over building inspection to a private business. Which is exactly what the govt has done (at least in Alberta; I can't speak for the other provinces).

Here's just one interesting link on the subject: http://www.canadiansforproperlybuilthomes.com/

The N.American systems are still work in progress, and therefore the longevity of systems are by definition unproven. The current preference of style, very tight homes with 6" exterior framing are only about 30 years old.
In these types of homes one of the major systems is 6mil Visqueen. This application although important is usually undertaken by non specialist workers and is a definite area anybody undertaking a self build needs to be on top of.
The use of certain types of stucco is a good example, EIFS or "California Stucco" was a popular and passed system on the Wet Northwest. It has been fraught with problems and lawsuits and created unsellable condo units in Vancouver.
For a self build I would avoid any sort of stucco as even good applications will probably fail faster than other cladding's.
N.Americans seem to navigate these inherent problems by moving more frequently and upgrading to bigger newer subdivisions. I have read the average time in home is about 5 years..
On a positive note the tradesmen are a lot better kitted out than Brit builders and can shift the finishing work faster than in UK.

Wow,

thanks guys and gals,

all very helpful, full of pitfalls and yet full of fun. I will be very very careful and do adequate research before commencing, thank you for all the excellent advice.

Prices look good but it really depends where you build I guess, off to do some research.

Take care eveyone

I notice you are in Harlow?

My wife and I came out of Standon nr Puckeridge!

I was driving for - Arriva / Harlow in 2003.
And - Meteor / Stansted Airport in 2004.

Small World?

LOL - the world is getting smaller - where are you now? How did your application go?

I've been keeping an eye on this thread as I looked into self-building in the UK not so long ago and from what I can tell, the negatives of building in Canada seem to be the same as in the UK - problems with builders not turning up, delays caused by bad weather, lack of skilled workers (just watch any UK program on cowboy builders for examples :scared: ). I don't know about Canada but the main draw for self build in the UK (for me anyway) is that you can get a bigger, better house for the money. Unfortunately, the stress seems to increase in the same proportion.
I gave up on the self-build idea when the land I wanted failed to get planning permission for the third time. Personally, when I (eventually) get to Canada, I think I'll probably avoid the self build route - until I get the building bug again that is .