Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[PeanutButter]

I had the pedestals for my LG washer and dryer and I ended up selling them. They're easier to load and unload, but they're too high to put stuff on top and reach for them easily.

I use the top of the washer and dryer as a shelf and I much prefer having that utility versus the units being higher.

[underscore]

I stacked my washer and dryer and put one of those huge laundry sinks in. That + the cabinet above the sink is way more useful than those pedestal things.

[PeanutButter]

I have a laundry sink and I seldom use it. I wonder if it would be better if I didn't have it and I had more storage space, like a big cabinet there.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

I have a laundry sink and I seldom use it. I wonder if it would be better if I didn't have it and I had more storage space, like a big cabinet there.

I have a laundry room with a healthy sized kitchen sink and I wish I had a laundry sized sink in there as I wash a lot of my bbq grates and my car wash equipment in there. Nothing quite fits in the kitchen sized sink so I end up with a lot of splatter everywhere. Still beats not having any laundry sink though.

[6793026]

good call. never thought about that. i'll grab the costco one.. think it was 300 bucks..

[Eff-1]

so in october our strata signed up with a new garbage removal company. Waste Management.

Since then it's been nothing but issues. The dumpsters are supposed to be pulled out in the morning before the truck comes later in the day to tip them, but they never put them in the area built specifically to keep them. Instead they put them on the street (where the City has told us we can't leave them) and leave them literally right in front of some townhome front doors. Understandably those residents aren't happy about that.

Trying to get them to stop doing that has been like pulling teeth. Their crews are just either incompetent, or they really don't give a fuck.

Then we had the snowstorm recently on Wed and Thu. The bins were pulled on Friday, and not returned until the following Wednesday.

They kept blaming the snow for the delays. But the snow was all melted by Sunday. And still took them another 3 days to come and return the bins.

Meanwhile, our residents left a huge pile of rotting trash bags in the garbage rooms because the bins weren't there and we had to clean that up.

Then this morning, I got word that the company who pulls the bins out (DASH) basically destroyed our garage gate.

I watched the footage and he uses his pickup truck to pull a train of three dumpsters from the parkade to the street.

As he's driving under the gate, he stops in the exact spot in between the 2nd and 3rd dumpster, meaning the optical sensor didn't see anything in the way. So the gate comes down, then he drives forward. The gate catches them top of the dumpster and he rips the whole gate off.

So now we have no gate. Thousands in damages. Residents are furious because they can't drive out until its fixed. Which might not be until tomorrow.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by PeanutButter

I have a laundry sink and I seldom use it. I wonder if it would be better if I didn't have it and I had more storage space, like a big cabinet there.

i've thought about the same. either storage space or a very shallow/thin sink just for access to water since it's there.

[westopher]

Dash ripped out a bunch of our speed bumps in the parkade doing the same thing and just left them scattered about.
Normally a speed bump less entrance might be a nice treat, but the 3 inch studs that are embedded in the concrete to hold them there surely would have destroyed any tire to go over them. I ended up putting them back myself.
Fucking lazy idiots.

[Great68]

I too stacked my Washer/Dryer to install a laundry sink

So much more useful. Washing things like paint brushes & rollers, greasy/dirty hands from working on the car etc. I couldn't imagine doing stuff like that in a regular kitchen or bathroom sink.

[unit]

when our w/d dies (samsung) then i will do the same, stack them up and put a laundry sink in where the dryer was.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

so in october our strata signed up with a new garbage removal company. Waste Management.

Since then it's been nothing but issues.

...

So now we have no gate. Thousands in damages. Residents are furious because they can't drive out until its fixed. Which might not be until tomorrow.

Oh god WTF...

FWIW, CoV garbage and yard waste/kitchen food scraps collection was horrible during the week when we had the massive snow dump too. Collection day was the day when snow came down hard the day before, so I never expected garbage to be collected anyway. The problem was, when CoV misses a collection, they just tell you to leave the bins out, and the disposal companies will come pick them up "the following day". The problem is, and has been for quite a while now, at least 2 - 3 years -- "the following day" actually means whenever they get to it, and the disposal companies never tell you when they'll actually come. For my place, the only space I have is in front of my driveway, so if I have the garbage / yard waste bins out, it becomes a chore to move the bins out of my vehicle's way, drive the car out, and put the bins back in front of my driveway.

I think the disposal trucks didn't come until at least a full week later. And of course, there was no notice of when they'll come, so I actually brought the bins back into my yard because I got tired of constantly moving the bins around whenever I need to get in or out. In totally, I had 4 weeks' worth of garbage in the 2 bins. It was not pretty.

In your case, I have some sympathy for your garbage disposal company because they probably have a backlog of other work to clear out too. But I'm telling you -- public or private, the service quality is not exactly ideal.

With your gate repairs, I hope at least the bin pulling company will pay for the repair costs of fixing your gate.

[Hondaracer]

That’s what higher taxes get ya, shittier service.

My neighbours seem like they just leave all their fucking cans out all the time now because they never know what week it is..

[Traum]

Except for a small number of missed collection, I don't think CoV does its own garbage / green bin (yard+kitchen waste) / blue bin collection. Garbage collection is one private company. Yard+kitchen waste is a different company, and blue bin collection is yet another different company. I think GWL Environment is one of the collection companies, but I don't remember exactly which type of waste they collect.

I think the City does have its own collection truck for yard waste. There was a small handful of times when the normal truck has somehow collected my neighbour's yard waste but not mine. So when I reported it, a smaller CoV-branded truck came to collect the yard waste.

What I'm saying is -- the municipal waste disposal is contract handed out to be done by private 3rd parties. Technically, most of the blame for the shxtty service should be directed to those private 3rd party companies. But as the client handing out the contract, CoV should be the party holding these private 3rd party contractors accountable to deliver an acceptable quality of service, and CoV has not done its job there

Potentially, the CoV invitation to tender might be offering too little money for the 3rd party disposal companies to make a decent profit. But I have no insider information to suggest that is actually happening, so who knows what the real case of the shxtty service is.

[Mikoyan]

GWL is recyclables. City does green and garbage.

During the snow, we got an email from COV to take green bins back till next scheduled day, garbage leave out as they'll get to it when they get to it.

3 days later they collect the green bins, THEN they send an email the next day warning us to have green bins out for non scheduled pickup.

Privates no better. GWL truck ran over and crushed my blue bin. Emailed them for replacement. No response.

Attached house security cam footage of GWL truck running over my bin. THEN I get two responses within the hour.

[EvoFire]

Recycling is done for GWL. They are very much I will only take x amount and won't take more.

Green bin and garbage is city. The snow day was shit because that was shortly after they moved to the biweekly schedule and my green bin was FULL. The garbage truck came by and picked up the garbage but the green bin was left for days. I was super unimpressed when they said wait till the next collection since it would be another 2 weeks and I did not have two weeks room. I left the bin out anyways and they came by and picked it up on Sunday without notice.

I commented a week back saying how shitty CoV services are when you are surprised they actually did their job, and failing to do so is the expected norm.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by Traum

Oh god WTF...

FWIW, CoV garbage and yard waste/kitchen food scraps collection was horrible during the week when we had the massive snow dump too. Collection day was the day when snow came down hard the day before, so I never expected garbage to be collected anyway. The problem was, when CoV misses a collection, they just tell you to leave the bins out, and the disposal companies will come pick them up "the following day". The problem is, and has been for quite a while now, at least 2 - 3 years -- "the following day" actually means whenever they get to it, and the disposal companies never tell you when they'll actually come. For my place, the only space I have is in front of my driveway, so if I have the garbage / yard waste bins out, it becomes a chore to move the bins out of my vehicle's way, drive the car out, and put the bins back in front of my driveway.

I think the disposal trucks didn't come until at least a full week later. And of course, there was no notice of when they'll come, so I actually brought the bins back into my yard because I got tired of constantly moving the bins around whenever I need to get in or out. In totally, I had 4 weeks' worth of garbage in the 2 bins. It was not pretty.

In your case, I have some sympathy for your garbage disposal company because they probably have a backlog of other work to clear out too. But I'm telling you -- public or private, the service quality is not exactly ideal.

With your gate repairs, I hope at least the bin pulling company will pay for the repair costs of fixing your gate.

It was mind blowing to me that a 2-day snowfall meant they couldn't service our bins for 6 days. We pay $2k a month to them. Not to mention the huge mess that resulted from residents who gave zero fucks and left their trash bags on the floor.

We will make sure DASH pays every cent of the repairs. If we can't get the gate secured tonight, we'll need an overnight guard, which will also be billed to them.

It was a 1 in 10,000 chance from what I can see. If he had only stopped one inch more forward or backwards, the sensor would have tripped and kept the gate raised. So I kind of feel bad for him... but sucks to suck.

I've seen other companies cover the sensor with a rag or something while moving bins in and out to keep the gate open. Now I know this is why haha.

[68style]

Yah they keep both a rag and orange cones right near our first gate for various techs or vin removal places to use to cover the sensors.

What a nightmare. Our gate has been ripped down 3 times in the last 2 years... the last one was a Civic that kept moving closer and closer to the gate for some reason trying to get it to go up and then when it did go up, the bottom of the gate caught the front of her Civic and lifted it up in the air until the front bumper finally tore off and dropped her car and the entire gate came crashing down on top of it.

What a fucking mess.

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Recycling is done for GWL. They are very much I will only take x amount and won't take more.

Green bin and garbage is city. The snow day was shit because that was shortly after they moved to the biweekly schedule and my green bin was FULL. The garbage truck came by and picked up the garbage but the green bin was left for days. I was super unimpressed when they said wait till the next collection since it would be another 2 weeks and I did not have two weeks room. I left the bin out anyways and they came by and picked it up on Sunday without notice.

I commented a week back saying how shitty CoV services are when you are surprised they actually did their job, and failing to do so is the expected norm.

We must be in the same CoV zone.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

We must be in the same CoV zone.

Fraserview? Most of the CoV RSers are in the Fraserview/Killarney area. Traum is as well, I see his stickered M2 all the time.

[Eff-1]

Originally Posted by 68style

What a nightmare. Our gate has been ripped down 3 times in the last 2 years... the last one was a Civic that kept moving closer and closer to the gate for some reason trying to get it to go up and then when it did go up, the bottom of the gate caught the front of her Civic and lifted it up in the air until the front bumper finally tore off and dropped her car and the entire gate came crashing down on top of it.

What a fucking mess.

lol. if you have footage please share.

[68style]

I wish, strata buddy told me about it but I didn't get to see the video

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

lol. if you have footage please share.

Haha seriously. I burst out laughing just picturing that.

[Hondaracer]

Surprised the gate could pickup a civic lol

[donk.]

My strata has a dual gate, a year ago i was rolling out of my parkade for work, and didnt make it past P2 because there was a lineup of cars waiting to get out.
I walk up the lineup, turns out the motor died for the drop down gate.
The motor + manual release was about 15ft high on a sloped pitch.
Grab my extension ladder off my truck, walk it past 30 cars probably lol.
By the time i get to the gate, the concierge is telling me i cant touch anything, they have already called the door guy, i look at him, tell him he is going to do the exact same thing im doing, except whenever he shows up 10-30-60-120 minutes from now.

I get two beefy guys to hold the bottom of my ladder while i go up, (on an incline only one leg on the ground lol), manually hold the release, while a third guy pulls the pullchain to open the door.
And the gear ratio was like 1:50 so this dude was yanking on this 15ft chain for 2 minutes, had a sweat by the time i got down hahahah.
Meanwhile theres a bunch of people out with popcorn

Good times

[Hehe]

Originally Posted by Eff-1

so in october our strata signed up with a new garbage removal company. Waste Management.

Since then it's been nothing but issues. The dumpsters are supposed to be pulled out in the morning before the truck comes later in the day to tip them, but they never put them in the area built specifically to keep them. Instead they put them on the street (where the City has told us we can't leave them) and leave them literally right in front of some townhome front doors. Understandably those residents aren't happy about that.

Trying to get them to stop doing that has been like pulling teeth. Their crews are just either incompetent, or they really don't give a fuck.

Then we had the snowstorm recently on Wed and Thu. The bins were pulled on Friday, and not returned until the following Wednesday.

They kept blaming the snow for the delays. But the snow was all melted by Sunday. And still took them another 3 days to come and return the bins.

Meanwhile, our residents left a huge pile of rotting trash bags in the garbage rooms because the bins weren't there and we had to clean that up.

Then this morning, I got word that the company who pulls the bins out (DASH) basically destroyed our garage gate.

I watched the footage and he uses his pickup truck to pull a train of three dumpsters from the parkade to the street.

As he's driving under the gate, he stops in the exact spot in between the 2nd and 3rd dumpster, meaning the optical sensor didn't see anything in the way. So the gate comes down, then he drives forward. The gate catches them top of the dumpster and he rips the whole gate off.

So now we have no gate. Thousands in damages. Residents are furious because they can't drive out until its fixed. Which might not be until tomorrow.

I dunno about WM in YVR, but we avoid them like plague for our properties in the US. Constant fine for little things and price increases. The only reason we stayed with them was they were everywhere and we could just have one account for all the properties.

Then we just got fed up. Took our time to find local alternatives. It was a day or two worth of work and more we have multiple accounts to track. But damn. So much better. In one extreme case, we went from single pick up weekly to 2. It was cheaper than WM. No fine ever. And same price throughout the years until 2 years ago, the owner of company wrote individual letters to their clients saying that inflation had pushed so much that they couldn’t operate if they didn’t raise pricesby 15%. I kindly agreed without blinking an eye because guess what? It was still cheaper than what we were paying WM!