Our review is long, but I encourage you to take the time and do the research and read others experiences. This way you have an idea of what to expect (or not to expect) and hopefully it can assist you in making the right decision on which builder is best for you. When we purchased our home (one of the last couple of lots), the sales ladies were fantastic. They did whatever they could to close the deal with kindness and integrity. Once we purchased the home was when we started to see that we were just a “sale”. When our home was built and we did the walk through the gentleman mentioned that the workmanship on the exterior was not very good. We had to get a lot of the major visible ones fixed. But the “fix” was not a replacement, but a cheap way of covering the poor workmanship. One of the issues that was visible right away was our garage door. The paint was dull, cracking at the bottom and certain ares were discoloured. Because it was just over a year (which was past our warranty) it was our problem to fix. I called around to get some quotes and one company asked me if a certain home builder built our home. It was shocking and not shocking at the same time to be asked as this as this home builder has a lower review rating. In hindsight, we could have saved ourselves over 150K if we built with this other builder since we got ourselves the same quality and service. One of our window casing were cracked and fortunately that was still under warranty. I asked the guy who came to fix the window his opinion about the cocking and siding of our house. He said he has seen better. He told me how I could fix or correct some of it. The siding, he said he remembered when he came while the house was being built that there was some areas that were bad. (area we had to get it fixed after our first walk through). The patio steps in the back is not attached properly. It is lopsided and the wood is cracked. A thin non-pressurized board was used to keep the stairs together. One of the nails were broken and instead of it being fixed properly or replaced, it was drilled back in as is, still lopsided. This is another additional cost to us to fix as no ownership or accountability is taken from the builder who built it. There are more than few other issues we have noticed. (Some of them were pointed out by our neighbours, which we are not sure if that is a good or bad thing). There were a lot of short cuts that were taken, maybe not necessarily wrong, but we will have to wait and see if there will be any issues. There are too many to list of the poor work that has been done, but to list some are: the stone work beside the garage, the parging, attachment of the soffit to the side of the house, the siding in the back that stopped halfway, and missing siding because they didn’t realize that we did not need a deck (as we got a concrete patio). The list goes on. We do understand that there are no perfect home builders and mistakes are bound to happen. It is how they respond that makes the difference. What we are most disappointed with is the lack of concern, response, or ownership taken by AVI homes. Whether it is under warranty or not, if something was been done incorrectly or poorly, it should be fixed. This has all been communicated to AVI. I had to contact Alberta Home Warranty as well and unfortunately, any poor workmanship that does not have or may not cause structural issues, is the home owner’s responsibility. (We still do not fully understand the patio stairs as it can cause an accidental/injury). We would understand if it was wear and tear, but these issues are not. When you invest and are paying over half a million dollars (or any amount for a home), it is upsetting that you are responsible to fix their mistakes. During and after our home was built, we would come by and bring them treats to say thank you as well thank you gifts at the end. We feel that our kindness was taken advantage of. Maybe we should have not been so nice and easy going, but rather picky and particular with every little thing. After reading some of the other home owners reviews, we realize we are not the only ones experiencing disappointment. We trusted in the name AVI. It seems it has changed over the years and we wished we would have done more research before we decided on our home. It’s sad that making or saving money is more important than having integrity, morals and good ethics.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $700,000.00
