Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[TOS'd]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

There’s like 6 major safety issues in that video, but hey it’s cheap!

Edit* also leave the top of the door conveniently out of the video, weird..could it be because there’s no top flashing? Not done properly? How weird! Lol

Sample pics in their kijiji ad: https://www.kijiji.ca/v-windows-door...250/1615692422

[Hondaracer]

Hahahahaha for fuck sakes..

[Presto]

Are hinges supposed to be on the outside? lol

[Hondaracer]

That looks like an interior door.. there’s no bottom sil..

Jesus Christ, thay isn’t even the typical, you’re completely careless and take no pride in your work. That’s you pooled money to buy a saw and a gas axe and you just started cutting holes in peoples houses.

No flashings, the frames are sitting on the foundation wall not even on a plate, no sil, looks like no water proofing, not tieing it into the existing envelope etc.

Gonna be pretty sweet to have that door to your 4th suite when there’s 3 feet of snow and the bottom of the door is below grade.

[underscore]

They have a saw, a straight edge, and a sharpie, what more do you want?

[GLOW]

i'm sure they carefully did a detail for the building envelope to ensure the barrier is maintained - no water ingress issues will be had

[winson604]

I will admit I have a negative perception of EI work but like many things too many bad eggs within that group clouded my overall thoughts. That being said, I recognize there some EI's that have the skill and do their work with pride and there are the good and the bad among the Caucasians, the Asians or any other group.

Having lived in my new not so new place of 4 years now most of the stuff I saw in my initial walkthrough were things I expected. Some shotty craftsmanship such as but not limited to crooked light switches, electrical outlets, and cabinet handles and things of that nature. Over time we discovered things that you may have not been able to detect right an eye inspection. Plenty of washroom fans being installed with no wind flap causing them to be cold in the winter. Of course we ended up finding the manufacturer of the fans and surprise surprise they went bankrupted so we can't even replace the flaps. Plenty of units had dryers vents that were not even hooked up correctly or at all so shit was just blowing back into the attic. Windows being shit and leaking water during heavy rain and the list goes on. Thankfully knock on wood nothing catastrophic has been discovered yet but some of this stuff just makes you angry because a lot of the issues you just now it meant them literally taking 5 more seconds of work to ensure it was done right like use a leveler vs eyeballing. Though I should be thankful I guess? I've definitely heard of way worse in builds around the City in much higher end units even from a more reputable developer though in those cases at least those developers were more responsive in taking ownership in fixing the problem where as ours was non stop trying to dodge us and the warranty company and even when they did come to do it the work was still shit.

[Hondaracer]

Without getting into too much detail I will say whoever your 2/5/10 year warantee is with can be a hugeeee red flag. Not all the time, but with many EI builders, they go with lesser providers because the top providers will not take them on due to the volume of claims.

Some builders even shut down old companies and start new ones under different names in an attempt to get better warantee providers, but when the paper work comes through and they see the name as the owner, the application is rejected.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by Presto

Are hinges supposed to be on the outside? lol

Actually yes, if it's an outward swinging door. You get security hinges.

My doors from my kitchen to my deck are this way. If they swung inward, they'd be all in the way in my kitchen.

[winson604]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Without getting into too much detail I will say whoever your 2/5/10 year warantee is with can be a hugeeee red flag. Not all the time, but with many EI builders, they go with lesser providers because the top providers will not take them on due to the volume of claims.

Some builders even shut down old companies and start new ones under different names in an attempt to get better warantee providers, but when the paper work comes through and they see the name as the owner, the application is rejected.

It was my and many people in the complex's first experience with Home Warranty so many people went in with their own expectations. It was through WBI Home Warranty and I suppose for my unit they acted pretty fair. That being said, I'm also on strata the the issues for the complex was handled a little less than fair. Some things were handled well some not so much. I guess the one shocking thing was how they had allowance on shotty work and it would only be considered claimable if it was passed a certain point of shit. I would think ok fair, I mean it's probably unreasonable to expect things to be 100% spot on perfect and allowing things to be slightly off isn't completely unreasonable depending on what the issue was but sometimes that allowance was silly. The one thing that absolutely blew out mind however was the loophole which was if the developer didn't even do something to begin with you can't claim because you can only make a claim on something that was done. So for example, none of the doors had peep holes installed even though laws say it needed to but you can't make a claim because the work wasn't done at all. You would only be able to do so if it was and it was done incorrectly. Needless to say the developer got away with some things as a result and we paid out of pocket from strata funds to deal with it. Luckily nothing massive but none the less doesn't make it any less frustrating.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by winson604

I will admit I have a negative perception of EI work but like many things too many bad eggs within that group clouded my overall thoughts. That being said, I recognize there some EI's that have the skill and do their work with pride and there are the good and the bad among the Caucasians, the Asians or any other group.

My new build that I'm in was done by an Italian guy with 35 years experience so I've been really happy so far with the workmanship BUT the few things (with one exception) that we have had issues with so far are all tied to his contractors who are EI. One particular contractor of his has been the vast majority of the issues with the house (gas leak from bad fittings and plumbing issues). The rest of the house has been really good from workmanship and the quality of materials - soft close toilet seats?

[68style]

I did not know peepholes were mandatory in condo buildings

[Hondaracer]

WBI is definitely one of the lesser warantee providers lol

[winson604]

Originally Posted by 68style

I did not know peepholes were mandatory in condo buildings

Townhome complex in Van

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by Great68

Actually yes, if it's an outward swinging door. You get security hinges.

My doors from my kitchen to my deck are this way. If they swung inward, they'd be all in the way in my kitchen.

Just checked my outswing patio doors to make sure they have security hinges, LOL.

[vitaminG]

It's easy to say don't buy from East Indian builders but what is the alternative supposed to be? Especially for the relatively low end of the market? Unfortunately I'm not expecting old world European craftsmanship on any new build I could afford

[Hondaracer]

Honestly, the Chinese builds I’ve seen are superior these days. At least in terms of exterior finishing detail

There are plenty of builders of all races that are fine lol.. but if you see a side by side duplex being built with garbage everywhere during the build and half ass landscaping being slapped together last minute, I’d say avoid whatever the race lol

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Honestly, the Chinese builds I’ve seen are superior these days. At least in terms of exterior finishing detail

There are plenty of builders of all races that are fine lol.. but if you see a side by side duplex being built with garbage everywhere during the build and half ass landscaping being slapped together last minute, I’d say avoid whatever the race lol

This is so true - the shitty builders never clean up after themselves while the good ones will always clean up at the end of the day. At my shitty EI build duplex the builder didn't lay sod and instead just levelled the dirt with all the rocks and small tools he didn't want anymore and seeded it instead. Took me months of digging to get all the rocks out (and small tools).

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by supafamous

This is so true - the shitty builders never clean up after themselves while the good ones will always clean up at the end of the day. At my shitty EI build duplex the builder didn't lay sod and instead just levelled the dirt with all the rocks and small tools he didn't want anymore and seeded it instead. Took me months of digging to get all the rocks out (and small tools).

Yup, the builder of the house next to mine had a great builder, no garbage, was on top of any issues during the build.


We had to trench our water main line after it started leaking in the yard a few years back. We dug up construction garbage from the house build in the 50's. Empty paper boxes for nails etc.

39c for 500 nails from Woodward's per the wrapper lol.

[highfive]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Honestly, the Chinese builds I’ve seen are superior these days. At least in terms of exterior finishing detail

There are plenty of builders of all races that are fine lol.. but if you see a side by side duplex being built with garbage everywhere during the build and half ass landscaping being slapped together last minute, I’d say avoid whatever the race lol

I think most builders out there cannot compete and build for that level pricing (unless they have the high end clientele) and not use EI subtrades.

Just electrical and plumbing alone. That can be a difference of $30k+ between EI subtrade and a more attention to detail trade.

Chinese builders will prob still use the same EI trade but use better trades on the aesthetics. So it really depends on the market the house is being built in.

$ - value of the new build
minus land cost
minus profit + management fee for builder

then you have whats left to use to build.

[Hondaracer]

A buyer isn’t saving money if everything is garbage lol.

I’ve seen EI builders REUSE low voltage wiring in brand new builds. Using cat3 data runs they obviously pulled out of somewhere for a brand new build lol. You can’t even use that. The infrastructure of your home is now irrelevant and virtually impossible to fix

Pretty sad state that you have to settle on completely shit quality in order to get into the market. “Hey, I bought a house where the plumber was also the electrician!” Lol

[bcedhk]

A good realtor should also point to these defects to their client and sway them away from poor builds.

But that's a fictional setting. They will say all homes they show are "Amazing, well designed, location location location!"

[68style]

I don’t really expect a realtor to know what quality plumbing or electrical went into a place I’m buying ?

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Pretty sad state that you have to settle on completely shit quality in order to get into the market. “Hey, I bought a house where the plumber was also the electrician!” Lol

I always chuckle when I read ads for new builds where they say it was built by a "reputable builder" cause that's exactly who didn't build it. If they were reputable they would say who built it (proud to put their name on it) or not say anything about the builder at all (the workmanship speaks for itself).

[underscore]

I wouldn't expect them to, but they probably should.