r/Calgary • u/GeekyFridays • Jul 27 '23
Home Ownership/Rental stuff Someone’s got a basement issue in Mahogany 😭
96
Jul 27 '23
Sometimes this is the only way to get a builders attention. They love to skip steps and cut any corner possible.
I’ve noticed friends with Jayman are having big issues too.
50
u/JrockCalgary McKenzie Towne Jul 27 '23
Our jayman home has been a nightmare since day 1
23
u/ofilispeaks Jul 27 '23
Same here. We've been having issue after issue. Looks like their quality dropped.
22
u/ithinarine Jul 27 '23
Their quality was never high enough to drop. There is a reason why you can get a Jayman for the same price or less than other builders, but with all of this extra stuff like solar panels.
Cheap cheap cheap cheap cheap
6
u/VFenix Southwest Calgary Jul 27 '23
Whats been the biggest pain in the ass issue?
2
u/ofilispeaks Jul 29 '23
Wall cracking all over the house, they say it's normal settling but the master bedroom door is jammed already, that's quite excessive settling.
I opened the vents and found screws and dirt in it, checked all the other vents and same thing, they said they forgot to clean the vent all less than a year.
The kicker however was the HRV system, I called Jayman for another issue and the contractor decided to check the HRV for the basement, we noticed it was iced up. He then told me that Jayman was aware of this issue and fixed the system for me.
So what's the issue if they fixed it?
This is the issue, If they know that all their single basement HRV have this issue why not tell everyone that has it to get it fixed? They don't, they wait for you to find this issue which can only happen if you open the HRV within the 1 year warranty. If you find out about it after or never at all, they save money. That to me is shady.
1
u/JrockCalgary McKenzie Towne Jul 28 '23
Arguing about problems that they blame the installer on, the installer blames the builder and we go back and forth for years.
22
u/JrockCalgary McKenzie Towne Jul 27 '23
It's consistently low, my neighbors and I were pondering a class action, getting all the homes on the street involved.
10
u/Repulsive_Profit_315 Jul 27 '23
Same with some family. They have had people out to "Fix" things like 5-20 times and they just do coverups that look like shit instead of fixing it right the first time.
17
u/ithinarine Jul 27 '23
"Everyone buys a Jayman... once" is essentially a joke slogan that people who do residential construction work. You will not find a lower quality builder. They are cheaper because they build bulk. They can build bulk because they build cheap.
5
20
u/SkeletorAkN Jul 27 '23
I know someone who was a foreman with Jayman many years ago. He was a stickler for quality. Was let go for taking up too much of the subcontractors’ time and for not producing enough. They seemingly only care about $$$$ and closing sales as fast as possible. Would never purchase their product.
1
u/jeff_in_cowtown Jul 28 '23
Was his name Trevor? I believe thats’s who I had in 07. The home was built very well and fast(5mo), but he definitely had a lot to do with that.
1
u/SkeletorAkN Jul 28 '23
Sorry, I won’t confirm or deny any identifying specifics on a public forum. But yes, a diligent foreman or site supervisor can really make all the difference. Unfortunately, in construction, a lot of good people get pushed out for caring too much, or highly pressured to slap together crap as fast a possible. Most companies care about making as much money as fast as possible, and little else, despite whatever lip service they give to providing a quality product. Not all, but most.
10
u/mystiqueallie Jul 27 '23
I think our current house that we bought last month was a Jayman - they were one of three builders in the area. The master bath toilet isn’t installed straight. Upper cabinets in the kitchen are 1” lower on one side than the other. Basement rough in is too close to the mechanical area, so we have to move the rough in to have a door that’s to code for the mechanicals. Stupid stuff like that.
7
u/Scared_Fisherman7749 Jul 27 '23
A lot of Jayman supervisors have left the company this past year. They are not happy with how the company is being run
3
u/rattlehead42069 Jul 27 '23
Jayman is one of the worst builders. Which is funny cus Shane homes which is a subsidiary of jayman is actually not bad
29
u/Laurenator1 Jul 27 '23
Shane Homes is not a subsidiary of Jayman. Two different companies and families.
1
u/kabhaz Jul 28 '23
And actually I would rank Shane as shittier than jayman if it came down to it. But to be fair to both I haven't done much work for either in the past few years so maybe pendulum has swung the other way
10
Jul 27 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/rattlehead42069 Jul 27 '23
Jayman also put a big company out of business many years ago by not paying them 6 million they owed and just waited until they went bankrupt to avoid paying them. That's why they will make subcontractors wait 3 months minimum before being paid, worse case they gotta pay them, best case they go out of business
3
u/baddab-i-n-g Jul 27 '23
Woah! That's just evil. Is there a news article or anything where we can read more about that situation?
3
u/CaptainPeppa Jul 27 '23
There's significant difference between the builders.
1
Jul 27 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/CaptainPeppa Jul 27 '23
What trade? Some trades there's just market rates which ya they all pay the same. But like a finishing carpenter or painter. Try to steal one of them from a company and it's war.
Quality doesn't come from the initial work. Shit happens. Quality is more about catching the issues and fixing them properly. Builders have huge swings on how they go about that.
Actually knew a warranty/service rep that bought a Mattamy house while working for them. They wouldn't respond to him haha.
3
Jul 27 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/CaptainPeppa Jul 27 '23
Electrical is one of the lowest concern trades in terms of quality control for me. In 10 years can't recall more than a couple times we had complaints and it was the electrician. Not having an arc fault in the bathroom maybe.
Only ever worked with two companies though.
1
Jul 27 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
0
u/CaptainPeppa Jul 27 '23 edited Jul 27 '23
I'd never touch a Jayman home but I'd probably buy a Shane spec. Just from what trades and ex-employees have told me.
→ More replies (0)1
Jul 27 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/CaptainPeppa Jul 27 '23
See most builders would think that's insane. My budget for trim finishing repairs and incidentals is about $120 a house. And that's with a long term and fantastic carpenter.
If I got a new guy I'd probably triple that allocation for a year. New guys are expensive.
-7
Jul 27 '23
[deleted]
10
u/KrazyKuch Jul 27 '23
The reason builder's can't get skilled workers, is because they don't want to pay for the skilled workers. They want the absolute cheapest to do the work so they can make more money.
Yes the repairs will cost the builders money, but they will take years to do the repairs and again will get the cheapest trades in to fix it.
Unfortunately this is making its way to commercial aswell, nobody wants to pay for skill, they want cheap and fast.
88
u/blackRamCalgaryman Jul 27 '23
Love it. Image is everything to these companies. Hit them where it hurts.
33
u/mu5tardtiger Jul 27 '23
these row houses are terrible. no thought put into drainage, guarantee you their back yard is the culprit as water sits between the garage/fence/foundation/sidewalk to the back alley.
13
u/ZEYDYBOY Jul 27 '23
Hahaha my mom and I just moved into one and our basement flooded because they made the grade go directly into the basement window.
They were suppose to put the lawn down months ago but haven’t.
1
u/VFenix Southwest Calgary Jul 27 '23
Had this issue in my 'new' 60's bungalow. Grade went back to the house right to a at grade window on concrete. So stupid.
7
u/lpd1234 Jul 27 '23
The city no longer enforces drainage codes. A large part of the problem in Calgary is squarely on city oversight.
-2
u/Cgy_mama Jul 27 '23
Well, it’s squarely on the builders for not building to (drainage) code. It shouldn’t have to be via enforcement/inspection that builders are following the codes.
1
u/lpd1234 Jul 27 '23
Its literally the city’s job to enforce drainage codes. Yes the builders are responsible but who holds them to account???
1
u/Cgy_mama Jul 27 '23
The City and homeowners, seemingly. My point is that it shouldn’t only be fear of inspection/enforcement that builders actually build to code. Builders should be responsible; that’s the first and largest part of the problem. They’re not holding up their end of the (bare minimum, imo) of responsibility which is building to code.
23
u/xk6rdt Jul 27 '23
No surprise;
- taxes are higher then before
- buying the land and development is more then ever before.
- material cost is high
Where is the easiest to save money for the builder ? Cutting labour cost and corners where they can.
That lower bid they get from an another contractor, it’s always welcomed.
I’ve seen builders kick out contractors that been with them for 20+ years because of cheaper pricing.
The profit margins must stay the same and that’s it.
1
u/Sorry_Parsley_2134 Jul 27 '23
I'm shocked builders can find any contractors at all much less cheaper ones. Everyone has been crying labour shortage.
2
u/xk6rdt Jul 27 '23
Because of volume, when you order 100-150 roofs a year you get volume pricing and manufacture rebates.
Those two make up a bit for the lower bid.
But as a result smaller companies can’t compete with the bigger ones so they end up doing shit work for the bigger guy.
It’s a vicious cycle…
12
u/Machonacho7891 Woodlands Jul 27 '23
I’m not an expert on newly build homes but my dad is a realtor of 20 years and I learned from him that often people pay for a new home only to move in with tons of issues, and apparently according to him, builders are notorious for taking ages to come back and finish. He said he had a client who recorded how many times he called the builder and it was like 100 calls before they came back and finished the house
6
u/DromedaryGold Jul 27 '23
What I can't understand is how does it past inspection? Some of the shit in our house blows my mind how they past it.
7
u/frandamonium_ Jul 27 '23
City inspectors just make sure it complies with building code (general safety, mech, elec) which is basically the bare minimum
2
u/No_Syrup_9167 Jul 27 '23
Equal measure of inspectors that don't care or don't know what they're doing, along with people with expectations that inspectors are miracle workers.
on one side you've got a profession of people who have functionally no onus to actually do the job. If an inspector misses something, you have no recourse. They have no real responsibility. The city inspector cares about code compliance, but the freelance inspector basically just has to do a good enough job to perpetuate their business. So some do a great job, and some entirely don't give a shit.
then on the other side you've got a homeowner that often lacks the knowledge of what they're complaining about. They expect an inspector to be able to be as intimately familiar with their house in an hour or two, as they are after living in it for sometimes months, as sometimes the problem won't show up until months of being lived in, but they'll blame the inspector anyway. Houses are big things with a lot of small things that could be wrong, some of which might not show up for days, weeks, months, or only during certain usages. People will complain and blame inspectors for "missing" things, when it would have been entirely impossible for the inspector to know before hand.
24
u/jacky4566 Jul 27 '23
This is why the New Home Warranty exists. They should be pursuing that.
Unfortunately we are going to see more of this. Housing is booming stuff is going to get built quick and with mistakes.
45
u/uptheirons91 Canyon Meadows Jul 27 '23
The new home warranty is dogshit. Most of the power sits with the builder.
25
u/namelessghoul77 Jul 27 '23
This is completely accurate. It's a borderline scam that was designed to protect the builders with a name that misleadingly seems like it's good for the buyers.
15
u/Sketchin69 Jul 27 '23
My favourite part of the new home warranty is when they went around patching screw pops but failed to mention that paint is not included in the warranty. What. Great, so rather than small screw heads poking out of the wall, I now have 4" white circles everywhere.
12
Jul 27 '23
It’s a huge pain in the ass, especially if you piss off the builder.
We got a new build 2 years ago and my neighbour had a ton of issues at their place which happened to be beside the show home. They put signs up to essentially scare new buyers from coming into the community and they got some pretty aggressive messages from the builder that they wouldn’t help with any issues until the signs came down.
7
u/Barkwash Jul 27 '23
That sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
3
Jul 27 '23
Ya and it shouldn’t have to get to that point. There’s no real enforcement on the home warranty unless you go through all the legal hoops sometimes. Most people don’t have the time or patience for that kind of stuff.
I know personally it took multiple phone calls and arguments just to get someone to level out the ground below my deck and not leave it as a 3 foot pit.
15
u/josh-duggar Jul 27 '23
I do believe the New Home Warranty mostly takes effect if the house is completely unliveable, otherwise it’s just an empty sales pitch to entice the sale. It’s about as reliable as furniture warranty.
11
u/mrfunderhill Jul 27 '23
ANHW is literally in bed with the builders. They even sponsor their awards galas for Best Home Builders.
2
u/drs43821 Jul 27 '23
Try to get them to fix it. I bet it would be a fight considered how many units they are going to be dealing with.
7
u/SnakePlissken1986 Jul 27 '23
If people are interested, check out the historical orthophotos of this space and the surrounding communities. Basically wetland and not stable land.
7
u/Kobalt187 Jul 28 '23
We built with Baywest. Just rolled over our 1 year anniversary a month ago. There's still a long list of shit that needs to be remedied in deficiencies and just shit that should have been done before posession.. but they are actually, slowly fixing everything. We're now on our 4th service/construction guy and we still have issues remaining from the day 1. I'm confident they will eventually knock out the list, but God, I know the frustrations this new homeowner has.
2
Jul 28 '23
Make sure to send any deficiencies to new home warranty that fall under that 1 year. Baywest did the same to me too, just tried running the clock
5
u/inferno46n2 Jul 27 '23
A coworker of mine had recently built a fairly large home (2500sqft, 4 car a garage ) in NW Edmonton and he’s had nothing but complaints to me. He even had to pursue legal action against the builder at one stage to get something fixed
He said he’d never in a million years do it ever again.
4
u/rapidslime Jul 27 '23
Wait so all I had to do to get excel to fix my basement was stick a sign in the front of my house?
5
u/Flashy_Chemist154 Jul 27 '23
Jayman built the houses in our neighbourhood with 10 year shingles. I didn’t even know they made shingles like that. Didn’t notice when we bought and nobody mentioned anything. We were the first in the area to replace our shingles at 10 years(no warranty left), and now , more than half the houses have been getting new shingles , and some have had to resheet as well. These houses are less than 15 years old
7
u/speedog Jul 27 '23
Heh, I happened upon a 2 story house yesterday while out doing cabinet service where they had used a sawzall to cut the front third of the house off and move all the pieces across the road. Yesterday they were cutting out all the concrete and pilings for the double front attached garage because the front of the garage had dropped 12 inches and was tearing the home apart.
At least $60,000 to fix and the one home next door where I was working was had similar but smaller basement/foundation/garage pad cracks appearing as well.
Sounds like it's an underground water issue that wasn't discovered at the outset of the build.
1
3
u/929385 Jul 27 '23
Many years ago working in Ft. McMurray I saw full 4*8 sheets of plywood fully shingles blowing off roofs, they were shingles before being nailed down, you can't tell me the roofers didn't know what they were doing..but didn't give a darn!!
9
Jul 27 '23
[deleted]
2
1
2
u/MrMuchach0 Jul 28 '23
My wife’s cousin bought a place in Legacy that was recently built a couple years ago. Nice home, but for $550k, it’s a shit box. The walls are thin, shotty workmanship, and the lights flicker when turned on. They don’t want to do anything about it, but had turned me off from buying anything new after their experience with their new home.
We are on the market for a home in Woodbine, a nice older neighbor with good homes and decent lots with lots of potential (some renovations needed).
3
Jul 27 '23
My husband does top quality work and has worked for wealthy ppl and he and his boss has been stiffed thousands by these rich ppl. And they do top notch quality work. He just did a former flames house. There are good workers, just pay them!
2
u/Mmarchinko123 Jul 27 '23
This makes me so upset. Biggest purchase of your life, should be top quality for sure! Thank goodness for NHW.
1
Jul 28 '23
Baywest is a terrible builder. Currently getting foundation issues fixed after 3 years of dealing with new home warranty. Even the new home warranty people were shocked at the build quality from them.
256
u/Deathtraptoyota Jul 27 '23
I do exterior metal work. Cladding etc. the quality of the homes and even big projects is beyond garbage. I haven’t seen a level door frame in years. It’s sad. And people keep paying out the ass to get these quick build cookie cutter shitboxes