Excel Homes

I entered in agreement with Excel Home to have my Duplex House built, on April/11/2017. The possession date was agreed by Sales and was scheduled to be on Oct/25/2017. The agreement was included to provide Landscaping, Shrubs, sods & Wood Fence on the Side Street side, being the corner lot. I was continuously monitoring Construction Progress. I kept communicating with Customer Service Manage - Excel Homes, with regards to the progress. Every time I had a reply that this was not the Custom House and hence Excel Home will not divert Construction Crew to my house site. This resulted in construction delay. I kept writing/requesting the Customer Service Manager that this construction delay would cost me in increased Interest rate(from originally approved rate of 2.05% to 3.09%) for financing, if I will not have house possession by the set date. Still they did not co-operate and continued slower construction. This resulted in so much delayed possession, and increased rate of Interest. I had received the Letter to take possession on December/15/2017, about 2 months after the date agreed by Sales. This was not all. At the time of Pre - Possession Walk through there were numbers of seasonal deficiencies, like Front Entrance Steps-walk way, Garage Drive-way, Exposed Concrete wall Parging, Grading, exterior Wood Paint, Landscaping, Shrub and sods, Side Street side Wood Fence etc. This was quite understandable, as possession was in Winter. But after construction started & taking possession I was notified that Landscaping, Shrub, sods and Side Street side wood Fence was not the part of an agreement. What a great unprofessional experience I had.
After this would I refer someone for Excel home? Never ever. I don't want anyone to suffer financially and pass through totally stressful condition which I did throughout the course of construction.
Horrible experience.

SALES STAFF:
So much co-operative, knowledgeable and they were there to help when Customer Service Manager was not available or she was rude.

CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISOR:
In depth knowledgeable and totally cooperative.

First dealing with Excel, was a wonderful experience from first office visit to our possession date and beyond! They have been nothing but honest, up front and on time with everything.

Initial sales staff were fantastic, answered the million questions I had, but once we signed contract, Excel changed the floorplans for the rest of the street, now our entire backyards are blocked in with rear attached garages blocking all our light and we have balconies looking into our yard. See the huge shadow in photos below. The original house next to us was supposed to be the same floor plan as us.

One of the biggest let downs after reviewing plans about sound barriers between duplexes is that there is a space just above our basement wall that has no sound proofing at all. A last minute change in the beam structure caused this. We can hear everything happening in our neighbours basement, and vice versa - can hear audible conversation. No privacy.

Love our home, but dealing with Excel, nothing they say can be trusted as your contract is all subject to change on their end and they choose what 'can' be fixed by warranty. Getting certain things addressed is full of endless following up and even then they say, that's nothing we can do.

We were happy with our sales office ( Jamie) there was no pressure,
Well explained and easy process. We got 3 walk around during the
Construction phase to see how they build our house.
Possession day was great, the warranty person explained everything
Very well during walk around.

SERVICE: From the first day we met SALES and till the POSSESSION, there were quite a bit of surprises given to us from time to time. No one likes surprises especially when its about increasing cost. First time, we met SALES, I asked a very simple questions, I put down a figure and asked SALES if I can have the same show home built within such a price tag, the answer was YES. Once we have signed the initial agreement, and after calculating all the features and upgrades which were exactly as per the show home, I was told a much higher price than initially stated. Plus the features were not the same as compared to the Show home like the home was not a Walk out Basement and unfinished basement etc due to land restriction. Secondly, I had notified SALES number of times that I am porting the Mortgage and since the bank gives only 6 month of extension, any delay in the possession must be notified to be immediately so I can ask for extension to my bank if needed, BUT that did not happen. As, I was keeping very close eye on the construction process, I had realized that the house would not be completed on my time and then when I intervened, SALES then notified me that yes there is about 3 weeks delay in the construction. I immediately applied for Mortgage extension to the bank which got approved without any issues. This is not it. To my surprise, right before 1 week of possession, I received an email from Excel provided Law Firm with the Statement of Adjustment where I noticed LATE INTEREST CHARGES OF $900.00. When I inquired about it, they said its a long explanation and we will provide that during our meeting. I waited for the meeting which was just a couple of days prior to possession. In our meeting, Lawyer was unable to explain everything that we asked. When asked about the LATE INTEREST CHARGES OF $900.00, they said Developer (Hopewell) does not have land title in the name of Excel Homes and that is why there you will be paying $900 as a rent until the land gets registered in your name. This again led to NO WITHDRAWAL of the funds from the bank on the given date and asking for another month of PORTING EXTENSION from the bank. The bank was really mad on me because they only entertain one time application for the extension not twice as one application had already been made previously due to delay in construction. The bank told us that there is no guarantee that they will approve the application and will not refund me penalty amount $3000.00 as promised earlier. Further on, they cannot offer me the same Mortgage Rate as their system has new rates now. After going through all this stress for a couple of weeks (over Christmas), the bank finally approved the 2nd Time Application for Extension but they offered me a higher rate of Mortgage. According to there calculation, there is a difference of $1500 over 5 years term which now I will have to pay just because EXCEL HOMES did not notify me of this land registration issue on time. I will NOT recommend anyone to build a home with EXCEL.

HOME: Overall the home was built nicely, however there is always a room for improvement. For Example the stair planks are not too wide and kind of unsafe and may cause slippage. Previous houses we have built with others had much wider stairs.

My criteria was 3 bedrooms and a garage that could accommodate my vehicle and motorcycle for 300,000 or less and no condo fees. Excel Homes was the only company I could find that was able to provide me with what I was looking for. The finished product is gorgerous. I love the cabinets. I love the layout. I love the little touches they thought about in the blueprints. It is so nice to have a decent number of heating ducts in each room and electrical outlets. The lighting is perfect too! They did a fantastic job. I give them 10 out of 10, as long as they fix the little defects I've asked them to. They have 11 more months to go before I'll start getting upset. The staff were amazing. I loved the Michelle's and Josip. What a great group!

I moved in to my home in December 2017 and I it was above expectation. Everything from the kitchen to the bathroom was a dream come true. Thank you team Hillcrest for a wonderful Experience . The whole process was worry free.

I am happy with new home and we liked it. At the time of costing when we do the upgrade the appliances the related thing supposed to be included on it. eg water connection to the fridge but charged as a new item. We have been told that there will be two or three tour before the possession date and will be explained about the construction process but it was not happen. I get in to the house on the date of possession date first time. Otherwise OK.

We love our new home and community of Midtown! We are thrilled with our experience with Excel Homes. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. They responded promptly to any issues or questions we had. We couldn't be happier! Thank you so much Excel Homes!

My only problem with this company is the person I'm supposed to deal with on a daily basis. The representative that I had was nice but there was a lot of miscommunication from day one that I am now forking over more money to do what was originally said was allowed. The sales team was amazing. Whenever my representative didn't answer any of my questions I would turn to the sales team and they would answer the questions for me. The quality of the house is good so far and there are the typical paint problems that is easily fixed. I am hoping that the holes in the floor and the sharpie will be an easy fix as well. Overall, I had a decent experience and if there was any proper communication this company would get a 5 star rating.