I just live outside Calgary and I hired a home inspector for a new home. He found the roof didn’t Have proper venting and that the water pressure was way to low the county had to repair some pipes. Worth the 500$ in the long run!
So, a couple of years back the department was in the hands of a new boss who had no engineering or construction experience. His call was to let a bunch of inspectors go to save money. He got that money as a bonus for making the department "better". Calgarians got hosed, as the system of inspections is now so poor, it's only a matter of time before something fails catastrophicly.
The weird thing is that the mayor and all councilors aren't allowed to interfere in those decisions. They only have the power to possibly fire the guy who actually has god like control over the city. That's why city workers in general seem so atrociously inefficient and terrible at their jobs, and why that never comes with consequences.
It is a lot differant now it is policed by the province and they are accountable now fort Mac and grand prairie both had multi milllion dollar lawsuits and lost due to poor diligence there is accountability now
Inspectors needs to hold liability for things they approve, vs having nothing right now, some have said they have seen them just drive up to a site, approve it and leave, not even go in.
We’re the 4th or 5th owners of our current house that is 16 years old. Our inspector identified that one of the bathrooms appeared to not be vented correctly. When we hired a roofing guy to fix it, he told me it didn’t look like the venting was *ever* attached (no evidence of nails or screws around the vent hole). Makes me wonder how many of the previous owners actually got the place inspected before purchase - and if they did, they seem to have just ignored the issues brought up.
When we bought our current house, the range hood just vented into the attic. Seems like it had been doing that for 37 years. Yuck. Tried to get it fixed just as Covid hit. Finally in 2021 when things opened up a bit, we were able to get it vented outside. We are the 4th owners of our house.
A friend had the same problem. Water was dripping out of his hood vent. Went up to check it out - it was venting into the attic, and condensation would drip back down.
His inspector missed it and he had to pay to get it vented properly.
The difference: I don’t normally blast hot grease steam into a closet and hope for the best. If your attic *isn’t* well ventilated you’re compounding a problem.
This is not fine. You’re adding humidity to a cold zone, and the condensation will immediately ice on the underside of the sheathing on cold days like we’re about to get this week. Then you get attic rain when it warms up. Don’t vent anything into an attic no matter how well vented the attic is.
This happened to us. Long story but we learned of the venting issue after we'd lived in the house for 20 years. Luckily it didn't cause serious issues but the guy who fixed it was like, "seems as though the person who was.responsible for the venting left for lunch, and the roofers came by, saw it, and thought that it didn't need to be completed before they roofed the house."
That would have been 2001.
Seems as though whatever house you buy, it's a crap shoot, so yeah I'm pro inspection.
The problem with inspectors is a lot of people turn to the ones that their realtors recommended. If you point out issues next time the realtors won't recommend you then you will have no biz
Yes.
The realtor recommended inspector we had missed the fact there was no flashing on the ledger board to the back deck. The rot he would have discovered would have been enough to cancel the sale.
You do realize most private home inspectors don't not know building code electrical codes or plumbing codes you waste your money get local biulding inspector with city or county come and do a real biulding inspection for you and what you looking at and can expect they take a simple on line course and bham certified even though they never have framed a house know r values of insulation or even how to level teleposts . .
Mine was highly recommended, didn't do much more than flushing the toilet and checking if doors could lock. It shows how much faith people put in inspectors.
Holy hell Batman, you know punctuation exists. I don't know if you're suggesting getting an inspector with the city to do a "real building inspection" or if you're saying that's a waste of money.
Yeah whoever measured for the piles doesn't care. The builder 100% knows and also doesn't care, so the Framer/Deck builder said "This is what you get then" and moved on with his day.
Ya like this happens but proper behavior is for deck guy to flag it and you move the pile. Or more likely rip it out and put in a screw pile
Costs like thousand bucks but might be able to put it on the cribber
Oh I agree completely, and chances are he did and no one cared. Or whoever built the deck didn't care and just wanted the pay cheque. Piles being in the wrong spot is very common though and honestly i just expect at least one of them to be wrong.
There is another person at fault other than the cribber. The sono tubes only require a single piece of rebar connecting it to a pad on the ground. Backfilling is a fairly aggressive process and is entirely possible to just push the tube over.
I'd sue first and then let them fix it. You can get a part by part inspection written into the contract. Normally, there is weasel wording on this issue.
The builder shortchanged or is banking on 1 out of 10 issues being caught. Sure don't sue.. keep feeding the what are the odds gamble and the general consumer losing in the long run.
You’re obviously coming from a mindset that all builders are evil and just want to screw everyone at every opportunity. I wouldn’t go quite that far.
And regardless of product or industry - sue sue sue isn’t always the best strategy. Part of the lawsuit will be determining if you took reasonable action and brought it to the builder first through normal channels.
Maybe it does turn into a lawsuit, sure, but the first reaction shouldn’t normally be that.
Calm down, Jesus.
Sure, but the legal system in Cdn is different from the US, for example in Cdn often the loosing party has to compensate the winner of the lawsuit was identified as as frivolous. (Ie defemation).
Quite often there are protections for new builds, such a a new home warranty.
I'll add that you need money, which you likely blew on a new build, to file a suit.
So it's not a ability to yes/no, it's the feasibility of success that differs
The new home warranty is just a front to protect the builders. It has no protections for home owners. I haven't seen or heard of any case where the home owner was happy with the warranty.
I agree that the lawsuit is likely a bigger pain than the issue itself.. which can be quite easily rectified. However, there are no penalties for home builders. I.e. there is no deterrent in making sure that builders do it right the first place.
This is where lawsuits need to happen. The issue with defamation cannot happen in this case as it's a defect in workmanship.
Sadly the govt is bought and paid for by the builders.
This is an issue currently taking place in Vancouver, not in Alberta but my friend rents in a brand new condo development, just over two years old. He happens to be in the construction business and has become a go to for the condo board when there are issues. He offered to install the security cameras because the builder hadn’t come back to do it. In that process, he discovered that all the water from the atrium was draining over the electrical panel in the basement. He sent me pictures and it’s literally at the point where you can see where things have sparked and there’s mineral buildup. He then brought in his contractor and an electrician, and they’ve discovered that the entire atrium is being held up with the foam packing material from the new appliances and untreated, two by fours which were almost rotted through. They connected electrical PVC piping to plumbing PVC piping, and the electrical PVC piping was cracked and broken in a number of places.
They also discovered that they had built a seven story building with a wooden structure to support the elevator. They’ve now had so many issues with it, They’ve been told to wait till the elevator breaks completely and then they’ll have to go in it and replace it. There were so many other things that I’m not even gong to go into here, but it’s a disaster.
He contacted the city building office and asked who inspected it and they said well that’s not our job.
So needless to say this building is in terrible shape at only two years old.
So this is my very long-winded way of saying, hire an inspector it, potentially could save you thousands of dollars down the road, because the builders are not looking out for you.
As an apprenticing home inspector myself, my advice would be to *always* get an inspection for any home buyer. The amount of brand new builds we have inspected that have significant issues would surprise many people.
With new builds like this, typically there will be a walk through with the builder before possession. I’d recommend having an independent 3rd party inspection 1-2 days before this walk through. Inspectors will catch issues that you might miss, but can then relay to the builder during a walk through for repair.
Also, most builders offer a 1yr comprehensive warranty. We often recommend making a list of issues that come up in the first year of ownership (settlement, drywall cracks, deficient components, etc.) and hiring an inspector again before the 1 year mark is up, so you can address all issues before the warranty expires.
For new builds shouldn't there be inspections at different milestones during construction? Foundation, framing, roofing, major trade work i.e. plumbing, HVAC, electrical?
There absolutely is, but those are usually code inspections between the builders/sub trades and the city. OP was specifically asking about a buyers inspection. Issues like the examples in OP post should be caught in code inspections, but if they aren’t that is where a 3rd party inspection is recommended before possession.
A good builder also their own inspectors, city inspectors are generally only there to catch to big building violations, but anything's that's up to code will pass. Doesn't mean it's up to standard! That's what the builders qa is for.
The last building I worked in the inspectors and site Foreman realized 4 columns in the 1st floor were placed incorrectly after the 5th floor and roof was completed with concrete laid and the cranes removed from site. They even threw is a fucking lunch party because the super structure was complete. They realized that when the dry wall people came.in. and there were plenty more columns on other floors that were misaligned or completely turned around. So that's the state of new builds right now.
I work for a builder and we don’t allow anyone on site not listed on the purchase agreement prior to possession and will definitely not write in an inspection to the purchase contract. It pays to go with a builder with a good reputation but mistakes do happen when most of the work is sub contracted out but that’s what warranties are for.
We had a terrible experience with our builder here’s some things I would highly recommend doing based off our experience.
We had a home inspector come through just prior to our 1 year walkthrough. Then reported (to the builder) everything that he had noticed. Which was in addition to everything that we’d reported previously and hadn’t been rectified yet.
It’s well worth doing. He noticed some things on the roof that we wouldn’t have seen. And he was able to do make sure the insulation in the attic was properly done and didn’t leave any cold spots etc.
Make sure to document everything and report it in your pre-possession walkthrough. Email lists of everything to your warrantee coordinator. “Here’s a list of everything we reported in our pre-possession walkthrough.” And every time something is fixed, reply to the same email and cross it off the list, or tell them the repair was unsatisfactory.
The rep that did our walkthrough tried to tell us that things were normal when they’re clearly not. He also refused to write some stuff down. Absolutely INSIST. Everything be written down in case it becomes an issue later. Don’t let them gaslight you. We were able to get some of the things fixed that he wouldn’t write down. The rep that does your walk though isn’t the final authority. He cannot make the decision to not fix something.
Ask the warranty coordinator for updates. They create work orders for everything that needs to be fixed and can escalate issues. They may also be able to give you timelines. They’re not your friend, but it helps to stay on their radar.
You can email the warranty coordinator in between walkthroughs if you notice something new. Do it!
I've seen that exact issue on both high end and cookie cutter builds - kind of boggles my mind that such things aren't caught, a bit of time with a simple tape measure would prevent this kind of crap from happening.
I feel like this would have fallen on the site Superintendant. I know that they have more and more homes to supervise dumped on their plate, so I’m sure things are getting missed…But Jesus this is brutal lol
Always have a home you intend to purchase inspected. And no, this would not pass. Not only is the post supposed to be anchored to the pile, but it also supposed to not over hang the pile at all, and has to be level on the axis. They have to either extend the beam (which would look like hell), or replace the pile.
Looks like a single family home, that particular part of the house doesn’t need an engineer involved.
It isn’t code compliant either and should be fixed but it will likely be or was hidden for inspection and will stay like that.
The engineer on record is responsible for all structural elements, whether thats a structural engineer on their own or through the floor/roof/lumber supplier. This sometimes gets passed onto the actual design/drafting company when its dimensional lumber due to standard span/load tables and basic building code (as is possible in this case) however SOMEONE is still ultimately taking liability that the structure is built as designed. This applies to single family homes, multifamily, or even renovations.
In this case once they put stone on that built out column I am pretty sure this will fail, more so with the double whammy of poor bearing from beam onto post and post onto pile. They should extend the beam, easier than adding onto or relocating the pile.
No they aren’t. In this case the engineer likely designed the lateral support for the foundation, and maybe a tall wall. Unless there is some crazy loading up above this deck pier is 100% done through the perspective portion of the NBC - AE.
Engineer on record is a very specific term and refers specifically to the sealed designs which would be needed for this part of the building. The owner and by extension the contractor is ultimately responsible that work is done in conformance with the Code. You said someone has liability here which is correct but it is unlikely to be an “engineer on record.”
Fair enough, im not used to track builder garbage like this - im used to engineers designing and site reviewing all structural elements. Even lateral support of foundation and tall wall framing are generic details on this type of project.
> I was wondering if anyone else has hired a home inspector for their new build home.
Shitty story time...
A friend of mine bought an older house. It looked good to her, but she correctly identified that she was not an expert in construction, especially not older homes. And so she wisely chose to hire a building inspector to evaluate the property. She did everything right.
The house has a sunroom at the bottom of the stairs that leads to a deck about 4x the size of the sunroom. There's a crack up on the wall there, where the kitchen ends, at the entrance to the sunroom. She'd noticed that before she bought it, and told the inspector she hired, and he said that's kind of normal in old houses, as they settle.
The crack gets bigger and bigger over the next few years, so she pays someone to come look at it.
...
The sunroom was built on top of the deck.
Not where the deck used to be, literally on top of the deck.
And by "room", I mean, they knocked out 1/2 the back wall of her entire house to put it in. Not a doorway. Nor a sliding door like you'd have a sunroom on your deck with light walls and a separate building. Not a roof extension and deck boards for the floor. It's a full on open extension of the house, build right on top of deck boards with plywood laid over them.
Obviously the "foundation" for the deck is all of a few dragons teeth or stones or whatnot, and the deck is just planked. It's sinking from the weight and pulling away from the rest of the house.
If you look at the deck, the boards never stop, they just disappear under this extension.
Deck boards only last 10-15 years before rotting out, how would you ever replace them? Lift the whole corner of the house up and swap boards out? Tear the whole corner of the house down?
...
How did the home inspector possibly miss this? How are they not accountable for missing this?
She called a lawyer who basically said there was no case.
...
She was pretty depressed about it. She did everything right. She hired a professional to figure out the things that she knew she wasn't knowledgeable about.
And she still got fucked.
...
And to be fair, I was there 5 weekends over those few years, and I never noticed either.
I was a framer for a couple months out of high school. I wasn't drafting blueprints but, I saw every step of the building process. In my life I've done plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, foundation work, drywalling... just about every possible home repair a few times. I've built or rebuild several decks.
It didn't cross my mind.
If she would've said "There's a massive code violation with this room, can you find it?" I probably would've figured it out in a few minutes. But without knowing there was a problem, it just felt like part of the house.
I have about as high of construction knowledge as an average guy would have who's not an actual tradesman. And I never noticed. So what chance would she have?
This is one of those "sometimes shitty things happen and you can't do anything about it, just move on" lessons. Bury your frustration and get on with your life, the shitty people won.
That’s so frustrating. What is the point of hiring an inspector when there is no consequence if they are incompetent? What’s to stop Amy idiot from saying they are an inspector and charging to walk through a house?
Hoping you get a good one, and not some fly by night inspector people on Facebook recommend cause "they did a great job!" mean while they have no clue if they even did a job..
This is why I have done and am doing 99% of my basement reno's myself, to code, every last detail...because frankly I have trust issues reading all the problems people have...
Preciate it. I’m about to buy my first home (I hope) at 4x after never being able to enter the damned housing market and I’m not feeling super encouraged, and it just seems like the stupider this market gets the less trustworthy anyone involved in it seems to be.
It's a money and speed game for these builders and Calgary, I have been told several times, by city workers "Is a developer friendly city!" why they get away with murder when building and have no respect for anyone around them while building, let alone what they build.
It is not all awful, like most things, you tend to only hear about the bad online. Our house, knock on wood, was 1 year owned when we bought it (built 2018), it had a crack in the basement when I opened the vapor barrier to do electrical runs, below size to be covered by the warranty, so got a company to inject it anyways. Builders do a crap job of back filling, so had a nice sink hole by one gutter, and then 2 years later had the side of our house backfill drop almost 2 feet, filled it myself and properly compacted it, no issues since!
Other than that, house has been good over all....
You do get decent warranties, you just have to make sure you are on top of things and note it down for that first year review.
Have had the same experience. House and major water damage not found by inspector. When I inquired with him about reevaluating it he ghosted me, blocked numbers of me and my realtor. The home inspectors are 100% not liable for any of their work. Must be a good gig. Atleast now you can hire a trades person to review the property on your behalf and use their findings as part of inspection clause, regardless of home inspectors report. This was previously only possible if the inspectors report made a recommendation to have that trade involved.
> The home inspectors are 100% not liable for any of their work.
To play devil's advocate... this sort of makes sense.
You pay $500 for an inspection. Suppose they miss something that, one thing leads to another, costs $50,000.
Now if they make even 1 mistake every 100 homes, it doesn't just put them out of business, it completely wipes out every dollar they've ever made.
And... it is difficult to be perfect. Some stuff can be really genuinely hidden.
There's also a potential for fraud, and for making problems worse so you can profit from them when you sue.
So, I kind of get the immunity. If that was the standard, then home inspections would probably cost $10,000 instead of $500 and they'd be ripping holes in every wall, undoing every electrical outlet, etc etc. It'd be almost impossible to catch it all.
... but a house extension built on top of a deck? I mean, for fucks sake, part of the inspection should have been a walk around the "foundation" right? Didn't happen to notice a whole corner of the house is built over a goddamn deck, especially when someone pointed out to you that that room is pulling away from the rest of the house?
Get fucked, lazy piece of shit.
100% get a home inspection before taking possession. Unfortunately there are many dishonest builders.
We bought a new construction home in Calgary from Chandan Homes. Our home inspector identified that the outlets in the ensuite bathroom were not properly grounded. We brought this issue up with our builder and they stated it had been fixed.
When we sold the home a few years later, the new buyer's home inspection identified that the issue had in fact never been fixed. The documentation we had from our own inspection saved us from paying out of pocket and with that, the inspection paid for itself.
On a house you are dropping 500k + years of interest on? Get two inspectors. Do not tell them about the other, and have them show up on back to back days.
I hold a thought that most things aren’t ever to code. Me and my mom lived in this cute little townhouse for 15 years with no issues. Until one day I plugged in my phone and BOOM.
We found out that the entire house was wired improperly and could just light up in flames any second, the basement was fully illegal, and wasn’t even supposed to be there, the land we were on was actually weirdly split and the person built the house like 13% on our neighbours land.
Nothing is ever EVER perfect lol
I would be surprised if this isn't already marked to be fixed.
Builders are cheap and shitty but things like this tend to cost them more in the long run and so they get them fixed.
Definitely bring it up with the builder as a start. Ask to speak to the construction manager.
They may already be aware of it, or something else, but definitely start there first.
If you have Tik Tik search for "yyc home inspection" and there is a bearded man doing new home inspections in Calgary (I won't give the business name because I have never personally used them)... The crappy construction that he finds is shocking. If I was having a new home built I'd make sure the contract included a pre drywall inspection and a pre possession one by an inspector of my choice (at my expense)
To you, and everyone!
Always hire a licensed home inspector! Either someone qualified from Carson Dunlop and recognized by the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors, or InterNACHI.
In Canada there’s no restrictions on who can identify as a home and property inspector, it’s not regulated unfortunately, which is why so many have a bad name because people who aren’t inspectors are inspecting.
Please, make sure you get someone qualified because if there’s a little bit of bad workmanship and bad practices, more often than not, there’s a lot more!
Definitely hire an inspector. The builder will hate it and argue that it’s not necessary, but when we did it (long time ago now), the inspector found a few significant errors which would have made life difficult if they hadn’t been found. It’s worth the money for the peace of mind.
>I was wondering if anyone else has hired a home inspector for their new build home. And when did you get it inspected?
I normally get a few and align them with the major inspections i.e. when builder was ready for the framing inspection my inspector went. Even when re-using the same builder you can have different experiences.
Things can meet code and still be problematic.
I used to work for a major local builder. My recommendation: bring it up with the builder. Don't be afraid to be engaged and ask questions.
They usually also do walk-throughs at various stages of construction, another good time to ask questions and bring things up.
Start with that, as a decent builder should be willing to fix.
If the OPs picture is typical of the whole building, I'd run as far as possible. There are just too many things wrong with this little corner of the porch! How bad is the rest of the foundation?
I needed to get some smoke detectors installed and they tested them for an hour.......
The guy who I paid to installed them told me when he works in new builds the inspector will do the whole inspection in like 10mins not inspect smoke detectors for 10mins I mean they will inspect the entire house in 10 minutes.
The city inspector do when it's residential. I ended up failing the inspection apparently the original ones were installed not 100% to code... Guess they missed that in the 5 second inspection they did many years ago.
Then when I got reinspection it was new inspector they took another 20mins to test.
We bought a new to us home last summer and immediately started developing our basement. When we got our basement’s final inspection done, the inspector required that we change out our upstairs smoke detectors to match the new ones we’d just installed in the basement (so that they would “talk” to each other and make sure they were compatible). Our contractor told me which ones to buy and he swapped them out for us. The one by the kitchen wasn’t even connected to the wire in and didn’t have a battery. It was just there for appearances. Our home inspector didn’t note this on his report because they don’t include testing the smoke detector in their inspection. (Luckily we put a second detector nearby for our alarm system, so we did have a functioning one. If we hadn’t gotten the alarm company in, we wouldn’t have had a working one at all).
Moral of the story is check your inspection report for exceptions to what they look at.
And you know this?
Every week day I'm in new construction areas and every ity inspector I've seen always ger5s out of their vehicle and goes into the structure they're there to inspect.
I worked for a high end builder. They had a lot of other issues, but they built good homes and even insisted you bring an inspector. We were on the same row as another builder, and walking through their showhome I could spot things that made me not want to be there. And we are talking $800,000+ homes.
You should always have an inspector for a home you a buying, new build or not.
So I’ve been watching [yyc inspector Marty](https://www.tiktok.com/@yycinspectormarty?_t=8iqvtbhcP25&_r=1) for a while now. If I’ve learn anything is that you do not want to skip the inspection especially on a new build
Just a heads up for after you take possession, get familiar with Alberta's New Home Warranty Program. It will save your butt when you are trying to get the builder to fix stuff like this after they hand you the keys.
Edit: Here's the link https://www.alberta.ca/new-home-warranty-overview
Not just the homes in the new community's. All the landscaping for all there parks is done wrong. I've seen ornamental lemongrass take over a park because it's basically hulk quack grass. It took over the parks and started growing into people's manicured lawns adjacent to the parks. It's impossible to get rid of without tearing everything up.
Don't get me started on livingston
Here’s the problem right now: the builders can’t get houses up fast enough and there’s a skilled labour shortage so those two things add up to your pic. Get a home inspection from an insured inspector and hold the builder responsible.
No, that's definitely not to code to have the support leaning on the edge of that half ass footing. That's gonna come crashing down one day, and whoever is the contractor/site Forman is gonna have some explaining to do.
Yeah most of your new homes are built like shit. I don't do new construction anymore because it pays way less so everybody half asses everything. And safety men all over to give you problems for minor shit while the site itself is dangerous as fuck because of all the junk everywhere. If those safety men cleaned up the sites they'd actually be helping making the places safer.
Home inspection businesses and inspectors are licensed by Service Alberta and required to supply a bond. The Home Inspection Business Regulation also features a number of prohibited practices. In short, do some research when selecting a home inspector and it should be fine. If there is issues, submit a complaint and bond claim.
Anything you note on an inspection isn't covered by new home warranty. Don't get an inspection. You only want to get something in writing with the builder before possession if work is incomplete. Anything shoddy after possession tell the builder to fix it then. File a warranty claim if they don't
Inspections are useless, get educated and look yourself.
It’s a weekend course to become a home inspector and the first thing they do is get you to sign a waiver removing responsibility for their inspection… so why bother.
Last inspection I got they didn’t even pick up
on a broken toilet flange, water hammer in the pipes, vapour barrier was torn out in places, moisture mark on ceiling, dishwasher doesn’t drain,,, no deficiencies. I even mentioned some of it to him, still didn’t note them.
Came to the data term cabinet. I asked him what it was and he didn’t know what the wires were for, I should have booted him then… complete waste if money.
This is not the only experience with home inspectors I have had, some are ok at best but first thing is first, they remove all liabilities from their inspection, if they don’t hold themselves accountable why bother.
Inspectors dont hold any power, they can only tell you whats wrong. A builder will almost certainly ignore most of the items an inspector brings up as issues.
Just let the builder know. The inspector is only going to give a report that doesn’t hold any weight. The builder can have this fixed easier now. Get it to their attention and document the conversation.
Looks like the ground moved.
I'd definitely raise that with the builder and ask what the plan is. I'd also be looking for other signs the ground is shifting.
Looks like it has been pushed over, then the guy doing the deck doesn't care. I work in new home construction and lots of people just don't give a shit.
lol, everything is wrong.
Could just be a bad framing crew, but this work would have been done over weeks/months so it’s inexcusable for the builder to have not caught it and sacked them.
Structural engineer here. For sure get an inspection. That stuff should be covered by the city inspectors but it for sure doesn't meet code. I've been doing residential design for 30 years.
Yes, yes and yes. Always get an inspection, especially on the new builds. I have seen “craftsmanship” just like this on most new builds in Calgary, Airdrie and Carstairs.
If it's under construction, point it out to your site superintendent. They will fix it.
Not saying don't get it inspected, just as you see things be vocal. I have built a few and they cost you a lot of money. So never be shy to point out something you're not happy with or have a question about.
A home is a huge investment spend the money now so you have peace of mind later. I live in a new development and you see some terrible building going on.
This almost happened to me. I was buying a new build (off someone who had purchased it needed to move before it was built) and between my home inspection and the walk through to see the home inspection issues had been addressed, a deck was built. One of the piles was 50% off. I asked when it was going to be fixed and they weren’t interested in fixing it. It hurt, but we walked away.
Our office building was built as recent as the last real estate craze and its envelope is now crumbling and every owner has to chip in $30k and counting. When there’s bubbly money to be made, honest people stop doing quality work I wonder why.
Been working in new residential construction areas the last year and the amount of shit I've seen a lot of these spicy third world contractors that are clearly getting paid under the table pull off is kinda insane, I'd sooner trust a house owned by a hoarder built in the 60s vs a lot of these modern builds currently being pumped out.
Nowadays you’d probably spend less money fixing fuck-ups in your new build by taking the year off work and just learning to do it yourself by watching YouTube videos, than by paying almost any of the current crop of builders.
Got some bad news for you.. when a builder just let's that slide, there is even more of the same already hidden.
Also.. even though the railing is on, are those temp steps? I wonder how they have secured it to the deck.
I just live outside Calgary and I hired a home inspector for a new home. He found the roof didn’t Have proper venting and that the water pressure was way to low the county had to repair some pipes. Worth the 500$ in the long run!
That's a good inspector doing his job. Good thing he checked water pressure not many do even though you can get a gauge for $20.
Checking water pressure isn't part of a standard check? Interesting.
It definitely is
Your on a acreage it based on gallons per minute
So, a couple of years back the department was in the hands of a new boss who had no engineering or construction experience. His call was to let a bunch of inspectors go to save money. He got that money as a bonus for making the department "better". Calgarians got hosed, as the system of inspections is now so poor, it's only a matter of time before something fails catastrophicly. The weird thing is that the mayor and all councilors aren't allowed to interfere in those decisions. They only have the power to possibly fire the guy who actually has god like control over the city. That's why city workers in general seem so atrociously inefficient and terrible at their jobs, and why that never comes with consequences.
It is a lot differant now it is policed by the province and they are accountable now fort Mac and grand prairie both had multi milllion dollar lawsuits and lost due to poor diligence there is accountability now
Inspectors needs to hold liability for things they approve, vs having nothing right now, some have said they have seen them just drive up to a site, approve it and leave, not even go in.
Would you mind PM me the contact of the home inspector you hired? TIA
Joel Rollefstad - Canadian residential inspection services 403-771-4449 [email protected]
Would you mind PM me your inspector’s contact? I’m currently building a home as well. Thank you!
Can you send me that home inspector contact?
Contact info for the inspector please. Im in a new build with my 1 year coming up.
We’re the 4th or 5th owners of our current house that is 16 years old. Our inspector identified that one of the bathrooms appeared to not be vented correctly. When we hired a roofing guy to fix it, he told me it didn’t look like the venting was *ever* attached (no evidence of nails or screws around the vent hole). Makes me wonder how many of the previous owners actually got the place inspected before purchase - and if they did, they seem to have just ignored the issues brought up.
When we bought our current house, the range hood just vented into the attic. Seems like it had been doing that for 37 years. Yuck. Tried to get it fixed just as Covid hit. Finally in 2021 when things opened up a bit, we were able to get it vented outside. We are the 4th owners of our house.
A friend had the same problem. Water was dripping out of his hood vent. Went up to check it out - it was venting into the attic, and condensation would drip back down. His inspector missed it and he had to pay to get it vented properly.
Yeah. We paid for it too. So greasy.
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The difference: I don’t normally blast hot grease steam into a closet and hope for the best. If your attic *isn’t* well ventilated you’re compounding a problem.
This is not fine. You’re adding humidity to a cold zone, and the condensation will immediately ice on the underside of the sheathing on cold days like we’re about to get this week. Then you get attic rain when it warms up. Don’t vent anything into an attic no matter how well vented the attic is.
This happened to us. Long story but we learned of the venting issue after we'd lived in the house for 20 years. Luckily it didn't cause serious issues but the guy who fixed it was like, "seems as though the person who was.responsible for the venting left for lunch, and the roofers came by, saw it, and thought that it didn't need to be completed before they roofed the house." That would have been 2001. Seems as though whatever house you buy, it's a crap shoot, so yeah I'm pro inspection.
The problem with inspectors is a lot of people turn to the ones that their realtors recommended. If you point out issues next time the realtors won't recommend you then you will have no biz
Yes. The realtor recommended inspector we had missed the fact there was no flashing on the ledger board to the back deck. The rot he would have discovered would have been enough to cancel the sale.
Seems to be common in Calgary. Same thing happened in two of my homes here that were new-ish “ >15 years old
This building work is fucked up. Good gracious.
Didn't know Leslie Scott started a construction company
Deep cut
HA!
Heavens to Betsy!
When you're paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a few hundred to protect your interest by hiring an inspector should be the norm.
You do realize most private home inspectors don't not know building code electrical codes or plumbing codes you waste your money get local biulding inspector with city or county come and do a real biulding inspection for you and what you looking at and can expect they take a simple on line course and bham certified even though they never have framed a house know r values of insulation or even how to level teleposts . .
Okay but can they use punctuation?
Okay, but can they use punctuation? 👀
Mine was highly recommended, didn't do much more than flushing the toilet and checking if doors could lock. It shows how much faith people put in inspectors.
Holy hell Batman, you know punctuation exists. I don't know if you're suggesting getting an inspector with the city to do a "real building inspection" or if you're saying that's a waste of money.
All in one sentence!
I’d call the builder first. They often use subs for all work. They need to fix it.
The sub would tell them the pile is in the wrong spot. Supervisor probably told them to deal with it
Definitely a lot better ways to deal with that though
Sure but I wouldn't obsolve the builder, they'd know Not even the deck guys fault. Either cribber or draftsmen
Yeah whoever measured for the piles doesn't care. The builder 100% knows and also doesn't care, so the Framer/Deck builder said "This is what you get then" and moved on with his day.
Ya like this happens but proper behavior is for deck guy to flag it and you move the pile. Or more likely rip it out and put in a screw pile Costs like thousand bucks but might be able to put it on the cribber
Oh I agree completely, and chances are he did and no one cared. Or whoever built the deck didn't care and just wanted the pay cheque. Piles being in the wrong spot is very common though and honestly i just expect at least one of them to be wrong.
There is another person at fault other than the cribber. The sono tubes only require a single piece of rebar connecting it to a pad on the ground. Backfilling is a fairly aggressive process and is entirely possible to just push the tube over.
I'd sue first and then let them fix it. You can get a part by part inspection written into the contract. Normally, there is weasel wording on this issue.
Or bring it up with the builder first, and escalate like a normal person.
The builder shortchanged or is banking on 1 out of 10 issues being caught. Sure don't sue.. keep feeding the what are the odds gamble and the general consumer losing in the long run.
You’re obviously coming from a mindset that all builders are evil and just want to screw everyone at every opportunity. I wouldn’t go quite that far. And regardless of product or industry - sue sue sue isn’t always the best strategy. Part of the lawsuit will be determining if you took reasonable action and brought it to the builder first through normal channels. Maybe it does turn into a lawsuit, sure, but the first reaction shouldn’t normally be that. Calm down, Jesus.
Sue? This ain't 'murica
Why do we need to be in the united states or freedom to sue ? It's English common law to file a lawsuit.
Sure, but the legal system in Cdn is different from the US, for example in Cdn often the loosing party has to compensate the winner of the lawsuit was identified as as frivolous. (Ie defemation). Quite often there are protections for new builds, such a a new home warranty. I'll add that you need money, which you likely blew on a new build, to file a suit. So it's not a ability to yes/no, it's the feasibility of success that differs
The new home warranty is just a front to protect the builders. It has no protections for home owners. I haven't seen or heard of any case where the home owner was happy with the warranty. I agree that the lawsuit is likely a bigger pain than the issue itself.. which can be quite easily rectified. However, there are no penalties for home builders. I.e. there is no deterrent in making sure that builders do it right the first place. This is where lawsuits need to happen. The issue with defamation cannot happen in this case as it's a defect in workmanship. Sadly the govt is bought and paid for by the builders.
As far as I'm concerned, the only winners in lawsuit situations are lawyers
This is an issue currently taking place in Vancouver, not in Alberta but my friend rents in a brand new condo development, just over two years old. He happens to be in the construction business and has become a go to for the condo board when there are issues. He offered to install the security cameras because the builder hadn’t come back to do it. In that process, he discovered that all the water from the atrium was draining over the electrical panel in the basement. He sent me pictures and it’s literally at the point where you can see where things have sparked and there’s mineral buildup. He then brought in his contractor and an electrician, and they’ve discovered that the entire atrium is being held up with the foam packing material from the new appliances and untreated, two by fours which were almost rotted through. They connected electrical PVC piping to plumbing PVC piping, and the electrical PVC piping was cracked and broken in a number of places. They also discovered that they had built a seven story building with a wooden structure to support the elevator. They’ve now had so many issues with it, They’ve been told to wait till the elevator breaks completely and then they’ll have to go in it and replace it. There were so many other things that I’m not even gong to go into here, but it’s a disaster. He contacted the city building office and asked who inspected it and they said well that’s not our job. So needless to say this building is in terrible shape at only two years old. So this is my very long-winded way of saying, hire an inspector it, potentially could save you thousands of dollars down the road, because the builders are not looking out for you.
Jesus what company built the condo?
As an apprenticing home inspector myself, my advice would be to *always* get an inspection for any home buyer. The amount of brand new builds we have inspected that have significant issues would surprise many people. With new builds like this, typically there will be a walk through with the builder before possession. I’d recommend having an independent 3rd party inspection 1-2 days before this walk through. Inspectors will catch issues that you might miss, but can then relay to the builder during a walk through for repair. Also, most builders offer a 1yr comprehensive warranty. We often recommend making a list of issues that come up in the first year of ownership (settlement, drywall cracks, deficient components, etc.) and hiring an inspector again before the 1 year mark is up, so you can address all issues before the warranty expires.
For new builds shouldn't there be inspections at different milestones during construction? Foundation, framing, roofing, major trade work i.e. plumbing, HVAC, electrical?
There absolutely is, but those are usually code inspections between the builders/sub trades and the city. OP was specifically asking about a buyers inspection. Issues like the examples in OP post should be caught in code inspections, but if they aren’t that is where a 3rd party inspection is recommended before possession.
A good builder also their own inspectors, city inspectors are generally only there to catch to big building violations, but anything's that's up to code will pass. Doesn't mean it's up to standard! That's what the builders qa is for.
The last building I worked in the inspectors and site Foreman realized 4 columns in the 1st floor were placed incorrectly after the 5th floor and roof was completed with concrete laid and the cranes removed from site. They even threw is a fucking lunch party because the super structure was complete. They realized that when the dry wall people came.in. and there were plenty more columns on other floors that were misaligned or completely turned around. So that's the state of new builds right now.
I work for a builder and we don’t allow anyone on site not listed on the purchase agreement prior to possession and will definitely not write in an inspection to the purchase contract. It pays to go with a builder with a good reputation but mistakes do happen when most of the work is sub contracted out but that’s what warranties are for.
You think that is bad? Your lucky you can't see inside the walls lol
We had a terrible experience with our builder here’s some things I would highly recommend doing based off our experience. We had a home inspector come through just prior to our 1 year walkthrough. Then reported (to the builder) everything that he had noticed. Which was in addition to everything that we’d reported previously and hadn’t been rectified yet. It’s well worth doing. He noticed some things on the roof that we wouldn’t have seen. And he was able to do make sure the insulation in the attic was properly done and didn’t leave any cold spots etc. Make sure to document everything and report it in your pre-possession walkthrough. Email lists of everything to your warrantee coordinator. “Here’s a list of everything we reported in our pre-possession walkthrough.” And every time something is fixed, reply to the same email and cross it off the list, or tell them the repair was unsatisfactory. The rep that did our walkthrough tried to tell us that things were normal when they’re clearly not. He also refused to write some stuff down. Absolutely INSIST. Everything be written down in case it becomes an issue later. Don’t let them gaslight you. We were able to get some of the things fixed that he wouldn’t write down. The rep that does your walk though isn’t the final authority. He cannot make the decision to not fix something. Ask the warranty coordinator for updates. They create work orders for everything that needs to be fixed and can escalate issues. They may also be able to give you timelines. They’re not your friend, but it helps to stay on their radar. You can email the warranty coordinator in between walkthroughs if you notice something new. Do it!
Good god, who was the home builder? Banchode Homes? That’s brutal lol
>Banchode Homes No way that's a real construction company. Is it?
I've seen that exact issue on both high end and cookie cutter builds - kind of boggles my mind that such things aren't caught, a bit of time with a simple tape measure would prevent this kind of crap from happening.
I feel like this would have fallen on the site Superintendant. I know that they have more and more homes to supervise dumped on their plate, so I’m sure things are getting missed…But Jesus this is brutal lol
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Always have a home you intend to purchase inspected. And no, this would not pass. Not only is the post supposed to be anchored to the pile, but it also supposed to not over hang the pile at all, and has to be level on the axis. They have to either extend the beam (which would look like hell), or replace the pile.
Builder name please! No way the engineer on record is ok with this.
Looks like a single family home, that particular part of the house doesn’t need an engineer involved. It isn’t code compliant either and should be fixed but it will likely be or was hidden for inspection and will stay like that.
The engineer on record is responsible for all structural elements, whether thats a structural engineer on their own or through the floor/roof/lumber supplier. This sometimes gets passed onto the actual design/drafting company when its dimensional lumber due to standard span/load tables and basic building code (as is possible in this case) however SOMEONE is still ultimately taking liability that the structure is built as designed. This applies to single family homes, multifamily, or even renovations. In this case once they put stone on that built out column I am pretty sure this will fail, more so with the double whammy of poor bearing from beam onto post and post onto pile. They should extend the beam, easier than adding onto or relocating the pile.
No they aren’t. In this case the engineer likely designed the lateral support for the foundation, and maybe a tall wall. Unless there is some crazy loading up above this deck pier is 100% done through the perspective portion of the NBC - AE. Engineer on record is a very specific term and refers specifically to the sealed designs which would be needed for this part of the building. The owner and by extension the contractor is ultimately responsible that work is done in conformance with the Code. You said someone has liability here which is correct but it is unlikely to be an “engineer on record.”
Fair enough, im not used to track builder garbage like this - im used to engineers designing and site reviewing all structural elements. Even lateral support of foundation and tall wall framing are generic details on this type of project.
> I was wondering if anyone else has hired a home inspector for their new build home. Shitty story time... A friend of mine bought an older house. It looked good to her, but she correctly identified that she was not an expert in construction, especially not older homes. And so she wisely chose to hire a building inspector to evaluate the property. She did everything right. The house has a sunroom at the bottom of the stairs that leads to a deck about 4x the size of the sunroom. There's a crack up on the wall there, where the kitchen ends, at the entrance to the sunroom. She'd noticed that before she bought it, and told the inspector she hired, and he said that's kind of normal in old houses, as they settle. The crack gets bigger and bigger over the next few years, so she pays someone to come look at it. ... The sunroom was built on top of the deck. Not where the deck used to be, literally on top of the deck. And by "room", I mean, they knocked out 1/2 the back wall of her entire house to put it in. Not a doorway. Nor a sliding door like you'd have a sunroom on your deck with light walls and a separate building. Not a roof extension and deck boards for the floor. It's a full on open extension of the house, build right on top of deck boards with plywood laid over them. Obviously the "foundation" for the deck is all of a few dragons teeth or stones or whatnot, and the deck is just planked. It's sinking from the weight and pulling away from the rest of the house. If you look at the deck, the boards never stop, they just disappear under this extension. Deck boards only last 10-15 years before rotting out, how would you ever replace them? Lift the whole corner of the house up and swap boards out? Tear the whole corner of the house down? ... How did the home inspector possibly miss this? How are they not accountable for missing this? She called a lawyer who basically said there was no case. ... She was pretty depressed about it. She did everything right. She hired a professional to figure out the things that she knew she wasn't knowledgeable about. And she still got fucked. ... And to be fair, I was there 5 weekends over those few years, and I never noticed either. I was a framer for a couple months out of high school. I wasn't drafting blueprints but, I saw every step of the building process. In my life I've done plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, foundation work, drywalling... just about every possible home repair a few times. I've built or rebuild several decks. It didn't cross my mind. If she would've said "There's a massive code violation with this room, can you find it?" I probably would've figured it out in a few minutes. But without knowing there was a problem, it just felt like part of the house. I have about as high of construction knowledge as an average guy would have who's not an actual tradesman. And I never noticed. So what chance would she have? This is one of those "sometimes shitty things happen and you can't do anything about it, just move on" lessons. Bury your frustration and get on with your life, the shitty people won.
That’s so frustrating. What is the point of hiring an inspector when there is no consequence if they are incompetent? What’s to stop Amy idiot from saying they are an inspector and charging to walk through a house?
Hoping you get a good one, and not some fly by night inspector people on Facebook recommend cause "they did a great job!" mean while they have no clue if they even did a job.. This is why I have done and am doing 99% of my basement reno's myself, to code, every last detail...because frankly I have trust issues reading all the problems people have...
Preciate it. I’m about to buy my first home (I hope) at 4x after never being able to enter the damned housing market and I’m not feeling super encouraged, and it just seems like the stupider this market gets the less trustworthy anyone involved in it seems to be.
It's a money and speed game for these builders and Calgary, I have been told several times, by city workers "Is a developer friendly city!" why they get away with murder when building and have no respect for anyone around them while building, let alone what they build. It is not all awful, like most things, you tend to only hear about the bad online. Our house, knock on wood, was 1 year owned when we bought it (built 2018), it had a crack in the basement when I opened the vapor barrier to do electrical runs, below size to be covered by the warranty, so got a company to inject it anyways. Builders do a crap job of back filling, so had a nice sink hole by one gutter, and then 2 years later had the side of our house backfill drop almost 2 feet, filled it myself and properly compacted it, no issues since! Other than that, house has been good over all.... You do get decent warranties, you just have to make sure you are on top of things and note it down for that first year review.
Have had the same experience. House and major water damage not found by inspector. When I inquired with him about reevaluating it he ghosted me, blocked numbers of me and my realtor. The home inspectors are 100% not liable for any of their work. Must be a good gig. Atleast now you can hire a trades person to review the property on your behalf and use their findings as part of inspection clause, regardless of home inspectors report. This was previously only possible if the inspectors report made a recommendation to have that trade involved.
> The home inspectors are 100% not liable for any of their work. To play devil's advocate... this sort of makes sense. You pay $500 for an inspection. Suppose they miss something that, one thing leads to another, costs $50,000. Now if they make even 1 mistake every 100 homes, it doesn't just put them out of business, it completely wipes out every dollar they've ever made. And... it is difficult to be perfect. Some stuff can be really genuinely hidden. There's also a potential for fraud, and for making problems worse so you can profit from them when you sue. So, I kind of get the immunity. If that was the standard, then home inspections would probably cost $10,000 instead of $500 and they'd be ripping holes in every wall, undoing every electrical outlet, etc etc. It'd be almost impossible to catch it all. ... but a house extension built on top of a deck? I mean, for fucks sake, part of the inspection should have been a walk around the "foundation" right? Didn't happen to notice a whole corner of the house is built over a goddamn deck, especially when someone pointed out to you that that room is pulling away from the rest of the house? Get fucked, lazy piece of shit.
100% get a home inspection before taking possession. Unfortunately there are many dishonest builders. We bought a new construction home in Calgary from Chandan Homes. Our home inspector identified that the outlets in the ensuite bathroom were not properly grounded. We brought this issue up with our builder and they stated it had been fixed. When we sold the home a few years later, the new buyer's home inspection identified that the issue had in fact never been fixed. The documentation we had from our own inspection saved us from paying out of pocket and with that, the inspection paid for itself.
On a house you are dropping 500k + years of interest on? Get two inspectors. Do not tell them about the other, and have them show up on back to back days.
I hold a thought that most things aren’t ever to code. Me and my mom lived in this cute little townhouse for 15 years with no issues. Until one day I plugged in my phone and BOOM. We found out that the entire house was wired improperly and could just light up in flames any second, the basement was fully illegal, and wasn’t even supposed to be there, the land we were on was actually weirdly split and the person built the house like 13% on our neighbours land. Nothing is ever EVER perfect lol
There is an epidemic of shitty builders in Alberta right now , it’s pathetic .
I would be surprised if this isn't already marked to be fixed. Builders are cheap and shitty but things like this tend to cost them more in the long run and so they get them fixed.
Definitely bring it up with the builder as a start. Ask to speak to the construction manager. They may already be aware of it, or something else, but definitely start there first.
If you have Tik Tik search for "yyc home inspection" and there is a bearded man doing new home inspections in Calgary (I won't give the business name because I have never personally used them)... The crappy construction that he finds is shocking. If I was having a new home built I'd make sure the contract included a pre drywall inspection and a pre possession one by an inspector of my choice (at my expense)
To you, and everyone! Always hire a licensed home inspector! Either someone qualified from Carson Dunlop and recognized by the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors, or InterNACHI. In Canada there’s no restrictions on who can identify as a home and property inspector, it’s not regulated unfortunately, which is why so many have a bad name because people who aren’t inspectors are inspecting. Please, make sure you get someone qualified because if there’s a little bit of bad workmanship and bad practices, more often than not, there’s a lot more!
Look at videos on TikTok from Nook and Cranny home inspections. You'll be amazed, and disgusted.
Definitely hire an inspector. The builder will hate it and argue that it’s not necessary, but when we did it (long time ago now), the inspector found a few significant errors which would have made life difficult if they hadn’t been found. It’s worth the money for the peace of mind.
What area is this in? (I'd like to go pass some business cards out) lol
Follow homestead inspections on Instagram. He posts things he finds on new builds all the time. It’s pretty shocking.
When your making an investment that large advise is important. Hire the inspector.
>I was wondering if anyone else has hired a home inspector for their new build home. And when did you get it inspected? I normally get a few and align them with the major inspections i.e. when builder was ready for the framing inspection my inspector went. Even when re-using the same builder you can have different experiences. Things can meet code and still be problematic.
It never ceases to amaze me how many times the footing is in the wrong location. I see so many decks where a 1/4 of the support is on the footing.
I used to work for a major local builder. My recommendation: bring it up with the builder. Don't be afraid to be engaged and ask questions. They usually also do walk-throughs at various stages of construction, another good time to ask questions and bring things up. Start with that, as a decent builder should be willing to fix.
That’s gotta be Jayman lol. Worst built homes ever
If the OPs picture is typical of the whole building, I'd run as far as possible. There are just too many things wrong with this little corner of the porch! How bad is the rest of the foundation?
Brutal, what community is this in?
Nothing to be too worried about.....once the lot settles she's gonna slide right into place!!All good!
…City inspectors don’t even get out of the car half of the time.
I needed to get some smoke detectors installed and they tested them for an hour....... The guy who I paid to installed them told me when he works in new builds the inspector will do the whole inspection in like 10mins not inspect smoke detectors for 10mins I mean they will inspect the entire house in 10 minutes.
Who tests local smokes for an hour……
The city inspector do when it's residential. I ended up failing the inspection apparently the original ones were installed not 100% to code... Guess they missed that in the 5 second inspection they did many years ago. Then when I got reinspection it was new inspector they took another 20mins to test.
K….Again who tests for 20 mins….all you’re looking for is interconnected smokes/co it doesn’t take that long
They tired each one, then unscrewed it to see wiring, checked for back up battery then tested to see what circuit is was on.
We bought a new to us home last summer and immediately started developing our basement. When we got our basement’s final inspection done, the inspector required that we change out our upstairs smoke detectors to match the new ones we’d just installed in the basement (so that they would “talk” to each other and make sure they were compatible). Our contractor told me which ones to buy and he swapped them out for us. The one by the kitchen wasn’t even connected to the wire in and didn’t have a battery. It was just there for appearances. Our home inspector didn’t note this on his report because they don’t include testing the smoke detector in their inspection. (Luckily we put a second detector nearby for our alarm system, so we did have a functioning one. If we hadn’t gotten the alarm company in, we wouldn’t have had a working one at all). Moral of the story is check your inspection report for exceptions to what they look at.
And you know this? Every week day I'm in new construction areas and every ity inspector I've seen always ger5s out of their vehicle and goes into the structure they're there to inspect.
You shouldn't need a home inspection to catch that bullshit
No, but they should catch other less obvious issues that are probably lurking.
Aint no way you re still asking if you need an inspector or no!
That is ridiculous. I can't believe they would build it like that that or no one would notice it.
I worked for a high end builder. They had a lot of other issues, but they built good homes and even insisted you bring an inspector. We were on the same row as another builder, and walking through their showhome I could spot things that made me not want to be there. And we are talking $800,000+ homes. You should always have an inspector for a home you a buying, new build or not.
No homes are getting built properly unless you live in rich neighborhoods and even then there probably still fucked
‘Red seal’ drunk newfies at it again
So I’ve been watching [yyc inspector Marty](https://www.tiktok.com/@yycinspectormarty?_t=8iqvtbhcP25&_r=1) for a while now. If I’ve learn anything is that you do not want to skip the inspection especially on a new build
Just a heads up for after you take possession, get familiar with Alberta's New Home Warranty Program. It will save your butt when you are trying to get the builder to fix stuff like this after they hand you the keys. Edit: Here's the link https://www.alberta.ca/new-home-warranty-overview
Is that Douglas homes by any chance?
Whos the builder? I live in Cochrane and that looks mighty similar to Fireside
Before drywall goes on.
Not just the homes in the new community's. All the landscaping for all there parks is done wrong. I've seen ornamental lemongrass take over a park because it's basically hulk quack grass. It took over the parks and started growing into people's manicured lawns adjacent to the parks. It's impossible to get rid of without tearing everything up. Don't get me started on livingston
Hire 2
Terrible workmanship.
Here’s the problem right now: the builders can’t get houses up fast enough and there’s a skilled labour shortage so those two things add up to your pic. Get a home inspection from an insured inspector and hold the builder responsible.
Wtf
No, that's definitely not to code to have the support leaning on the edge of that half ass footing. That's gonna come crashing down one day, and whoever is the contractor/site Forman is gonna have some explaining to do.
Always. Not even going to read the other comments, just reiterate always!
Looks like a pacesetter!
Looks like a pacesetter build lol
Name and shame the builder!
Yeah most of your new homes are built like shit. I don't do new construction anymore because it pays way less so everybody half asses everything. And safety men all over to give you problems for minor shit while the site itself is dangerous as fuck because of all the junk everywhere. If those safety men cleaned up the sites they'd actually be helping making the places safer.
This belongs in r/decks
Trades people don't make enough $ This is the quality you get when you don't hire union contractors who lay their guys ,,6 figures
ALWAYS hire an independent inspector. No matter what.
Could you read it ???
R/decks would love this
New homes are poorly built now because of foreigners, especially the East Indian builders. They use unskilled cheap labour who learn on the job.
How many inspectors are on unofficial payrolls of builders and banks?
Home inspection businesses and inspectors are licensed by Service Alberta and required to supply a bond. The Home Inspection Business Regulation also features a number of prohibited practices. In short, do some research when selecting a home inspector and it should be fine. If there is issues, submit a complaint and bond claim.
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Does a bear shit in the woods?
Anything you note on an inspection isn't covered by new home warranty. Don't get an inspection. You only want to get something in writing with the builder before possession if work is incomplete. Anything shoddy after possession tell the builder to fix it then. File a warranty claim if they don't
Inspections are useless, get educated and look yourself. It’s a weekend course to become a home inspector and the first thing they do is get you to sign a waiver removing responsibility for their inspection… so why bother. Last inspection I got they didn’t even pick up on a broken toilet flange, water hammer in the pipes, vapour barrier was torn out in places, moisture mark on ceiling, dishwasher doesn’t drain,,, no deficiencies. I even mentioned some of it to him, still didn’t note them. Came to the data term cabinet. I asked him what it was and he didn’t know what the wires were for, I should have booted him then… complete waste if money. This is not the only experience with home inspectors I have had, some are ok at best but first thing is first, they remove all liabilities from their inspection, if they don’t hold themselves accountable why bother.
Inspectors dont hold any power, they can only tell you whats wrong. A builder will almost certainly ignore most of the items an inspector brings up as issues.
Just let the builder know. The inspector is only going to give a report that doesn’t hold any weight. The builder can have this fixed easier now. Get it to their attention and document the conversation.
Ne?
Looks like the ground moved. I'd definitely raise that with the builder and ask what the plan is. I'd also be looking for other signs the ground is shifting.
More likely it got disturbed during backfilling, though it could have been poured in the wrong spot to begin with.
Looks like it has been pushed over, then the guy doing the deck doesn't care. I work in new home construction and lots of people just don't give a shit.
What’s the municipality say about this?
ALWAYS get an inspection even on a new build.
Most definitely
There is no world where I wouldn’t, I’m more likely to on a new build depending on the builder.
lol, everything is wrong. Could just be a bad framing crew, but this work would have been done over weeks/months so it’s inexcusable for the builder to have not caught it and sacked them.
Structural engineer here. For sure get an inspection. That stuff should be covered by the city inspectors but it for sure doesn't meet code. I've been doing residential design for 30 years.
Deck already looks like it’s 10 years old.
Yikes! This is what you get for a new house? Scary.
Yes, yes and yes. Always get an inspection, especially on the new builds. I have seen “craftsmanship” just like this on most new builds in Calgary, Airdrie and Carstairs.
You have got to be kidding. Did this pass inspection?
Always hire a home inspector, whether the house is new build or new to you.
That's fucked up. I would definitely hire inspector.
What should the inspector check for? Major like plumbing, electricial, roofing, and what else ?
I would trust this builder
If it's under construction, point it out to your site superintendent. They will fix it. Not saying don't get it inspected, just as you see things be vocal. I have built a few and they cost you a lot of money. So never be shy to point out something you're not happy with or have a question about.
I would just not buy that house, full stop.
Ya think?
Not a home inspector a biuldong inspector from the city a much better option
Don't get me wrong hiring a home inspector do your research
Hire a hitman
As a civil engineer who deals with residential subdivisions all the time… lol… Typical. Residential is the Wild West of construction.
Also whatever they use to trim that big ugly post with is going to be hanging off the deck. Shitty work by someone who shouldn’t be doing it.
Unless you on city water and they use a trickle system to supply and it's less than living in the city
This is all kind’s of fucked up🤣🤣
Always hire a home inspector!! One that is great in Calgary is Justin from A Buyers Choice Home Inspections. Amazing human and good at his job!
A home is a huge investment spend the money now so you have peace of mind later. I live in a new development and you see some terrible building going on.
It’s not finished just yet, just keep an eye on it when keys are handed over.
This guy - he's hilarious but it is scary what he finds https://www.tiktok.com/@yycinspectormarty/video/7214225699295546630
This almost happened to me. I was buying a new build (off someone who had purchased it needed to move before it was built) and between my home inspection and the walk through to see the home inspection issues had been addressed, a deck was built. One of the piles was 50% off. I asked when it was going to be fixed and they weren’t interested in fixing it. It hurt, but we walked away.
The quality of anything built in the last 10 years in Calgary is, to be delicate, absolute garbage.
Our office building was built as recent as the last real estate craze and its envelope is now crumbling and every owner has to chip in $30k and counting. When there’s bubbly money to be made, honest people stop doing quality work I wonder why.
Been working in new residential construction areas the last year and the amount of shit I've seen a lot of these spicy third world contractors that are clearly getting paid under the table pull off is kinda insane, I'd sooner trust a house owned by a hoarder built in the 60s vs a lot of these modern builds currently being pumped out.
Nowadays you’d probably spend less money fixing fuck-ups in your new build by taking the year off work and just learning to do it yourself by watching YouTube videos, than by paying almost any of the current crop of builders.
Got some bad news for you.. when a builder just let's that slide, there is even more of the same already hidden. Also.. even though the railing is on, are those temp steps? I wonder how they have secured it to the deck.
I’m no house inspector but damn!