Joe

The TL;DR version ... sales process is great, overall build quality is serviceable where it matters but corners get cut all over the place, get everything in writing, and post-sales support is mediocre at best. Lowering my score from the original three stars I gave Excel homes to zero. One of the issues I didn't mention earlier was the garage door. It was noisy and got stuck all the time. I brought it up with the builder a few times and they sent out the company that installed it. Got everything from that's normal, the sun is interfering with the sensors, needed basic maintenance (that they charged me for) and my favorite you must have hit it with your car when all their other diagnoses didnt hold up. The bottom panel was rusting, mostly due to the way the driveway was poured water pools at the lip where the garage pad meets the driveway. Finally became completely inoperable at the five-year mark. Then I found out that parts for this type of door are only available from the company that did the original install, given the terrible job that they did and lack of service over the years I didn't want to get anymore work done from them. So - another $6000 down to get a new garage door and opener. An update on the driveway, it's completely peeled, parging is falling off the side of the house as well but on the plus side it looks like it's been sandblasted - win I guess? Instead of getting the basement finished next year Ill be fixing the holes in the floors that Excel left behind on the second floor because they have gotten noticeably larger and then spending $10k on getting the driveway resurfaced. Excel homes - the gift that just keeps giving. Original review Had our new house built just about two years ago. Overall, the house is great, and we love it, the sales process was excellent but starting from the build to after sales care I have to say my experience has been trending downwards from my initial experience with this organization. Anything you want changed / done get it done before they get that first deposit cheque. After they have that money, the only way you can get anything changed is if you forgo your deposit and cancel the build altogether. I think another review said get everything in writing ... seriously ... get *everything* in writing. Just a few examples of where things started going south for us ... 1. We had a spice kitchen where we ended up with a 2 ft by 3 ft cabinet that can only be accessed via an 8-inch door. Effectively making the storage space useless. Understood that it was a code change that made this a necessity but verbally by the salesperson we were told that something would be done to make this space useful. But once the build commenced it was left as is and to be honest no one ever said anything to me besides that they personally could not help me with the matter or refer me to anyone that could potentially help. The cabinet company they used is super unresponsive, I reached out to them a few times for accessories and maybe to help me with some sort of fix, but they have been less than helpful as well. Someday when I have a bit of money, I guess I'll sort this out myself. 2. There were damaged sub floors that we caught during one of our initial walk-throughs. We directed Excel's attention to the matter, and nothing was done. Carpet was laid over it and you could feel the dip where the boards were broken. Fast forward to our 1-year inspection, Excel finally decided to do something about. They cut the carpet in a new place, pulled it back, cut out the broken piece and then jammed a random piece of board in the hole. You could obviously see that there was a bump in the spot now as the fix was not flush to the sub-floor. I just gave in to be honest and said fine good enough; was just tired of dealing with the issue and couldn't afford any more time off work. We got the lowest end carpet with the plan to replace it in a few years so the heck with it, I will fix the sub-floors properly when I do that. 3. Master bathroom glass shower doors were crooked, upon further inspection realized the top door frame was cut too short. First attempt to fix was prying the bar off, centering it and then using silicone to fill the gaps. Didn't work. Finally came back a second time to replace the defective part but the guy who did it just made a gigantic mess with the silicone. Excel's response was that's good enough. So, I did my best cleaning it up and add it to the list of things that I'll get sorted myself someday. 4. Front landscaping. This one is funny and I'm not really bent out of shape over it just thought I'd mention it. I guess the developer decided that all the properties needed landscaping in the front. We took possession right on the day of a big snowstorm in October, landscaping had been done too late. Grass is dead, slope is all messed up, whatever, I didn't have to pay for it will fix it next summer. 5. Driveway, gotta love that less than 10% damage means that it's okay rule. Driveway started peeling the first few months, according to Excel it was salt which is weird because it was only in two specific spots and nowhere else, including the sidewalk so I guess its magic salt that defies the laws of gravity when it hits that point. There were also massive cavities on the side of the driveway where the pad didn't go all the way to soil / landscaping - which made a perfect home for a family of some type of small rodents that I'm still fighting off. They fixed it after a bit of back and forth, but it was like pulling teeth to get it done. Best part of this one is that an Excel representative told me not to seal the driveway for the first year and then when it peeled same dude said to me why didn't you get the driveway sealed. Just to repeat myself - get everything in writing. 6. Basement window didn't have gravel in it and was filled with construction debris. This one got on my nerves, the first person we dealt with didn't want to do the outside inspection due to the snowstorm. By the time of the next inspection that guy had quit, the dude that took over from that point on started using "Should have noted this during the move in" as a mantra for any issues on the outside of the house. Wanted me to clean out the window well so that the gravel could be done which I did a few times, but it would fill in with trash again because they wouldnt come and fill in the gravel. Took a few months but eventually the gravel was put in. 7. Que the "Should have noted this during the move in" mantra ... there were a bunch of drill holes on the siding on the garage obviously from the installation process, but they wont fix them because we didn't do the exterior inspection. I could go on but it's pointless ... just wanted to give a small sampling of the after sales Excel vs. before sales. Before the sale, the customer service is amazing. After the sale, they start from the position of "can't do anything for you buddy". The floor plans, initial build, adherence to budget, timelines, etc. are great. It's just they are a very rigid and inflexible through the build process and to be honest once the thing is done, they are done with you as well.