FAQ

Your primary contact while your home is being built is always your sales agent.

No, you cannot make unscheduled visits to the home on your own. For safety and insurance reasons this is not allowed. You will have an opportunity to visit the home with our Site Superintendent prior to the installation of the drywall, and again with an Inspector prior to closing.

Construction progress is affected by factors such as the availability of permits, trade schedules, material delivery, and weather. There may be times when progress appears to be at a standstill, and other times when a lot of progress is made very quickly.

The backfill around the house needs time to settle. It is best to wait for approximately one year before paving to avoid future settlement problems. Normally, driveway paving begins in the month of June each year and is finished by October.

Exterior painting often begins in late May. It may take some time until the exterior paint is complete on all homes that were built during the winter.

Trees are planted in the spring or late fall for better survival. NOTE: Utility boxes, light standards and driveway locations may prohibit some properties from having a tree.

Landscape plans are available for viewing at the sales office on your site. Tree types cannot be changed, since the city approves them.

Please allow yourself two hours, depending upon the time of year and the size of your home.

Selecting a home Inspector is an important decision. We suggest that you select someone who is registered with the Ontario Association of Home Inspectors and carries proper insurance. The OAHI sets qualification requirements, regulates its members and grants the ‘Registered Home Inspector’ designation to qualified Inspectors. Registered members of the OAHI have achieved the highest standard of training and education in the home inspection industry. A list of qualified home Inspectors is available at www.oahi.com.

Your keys will be available for pickup at our lawyer’s office the day of closing.

If your garage keys are not with your house keys, then they will be hanging on the inside of the garage door on the locking mechanism.

We recommend that you do not schedule movers, or any appointments in the home on the day of closing. The closing process and transfer of the keys normally happens in the afternoon of closing day. It may save you time and money to schedule these things at a later date.

Canada Post will provide you with this information. Visit their website or call 1.866.607.6301.

We have a list of emergency contact numbers listed under the “Homeowner Resources” tab of our website for each community. You can also reach out to our manager of After Sales Service (contact info is listed on our website under “Contact Us”

Depending upon the time between your Pre-Delivery date and your closing date, repairs may be in progress. A representative from our service department will contact you to set up appointments for the outstanding items. If parts need to be ordered, they may take several weeks to arrive. Follow up repairs will be added to your 30-Day Form.

Contact our service department.

Hardwood is a natural wood product and changes in dimension with changes in humidity. Lower humidity levels may cause the boards to visibly shrink. Proper control of the indoor humidity levels will prevent this from happening.

Hardwood is a natural wood product and expands in width when the environment is humid. If the boards do not have room to expand, they push upward with a visible pucker or cupping. Proper control of the indoor humidity levels will prevent this from happening.

The HVAC contractor calculates the size and location of the supply ducts and air return vents, after the architect drew up the floor plans. The location and number of installed vents is calculated by computer modelling and does not always mean there will be one floor register per window or one return in each room.

If warm moist air inside the house comes in contact with the window glazing on a cold day, moisture may condense on the windowpane at the edges of the glass near the frame. On very cold days, the condensation may freeze, forming ice. You need to ensure that moist air in your home is removed at its source. Run the HRV on high for 15 minutes after a shower and use the range hood when cooking to lower humidity levels.

We do not provide working drawings or plans. These can be requested from the city after closing.

This is due to the normal settlement of the backfill around the house. We will repair this type of settlement, once, at the time of the year-end repairs. If your year-end repairs happen during a winter month, the repair will be delayed until the following spring.

The lumps will even out when the frost is out of the ground. Avoid walking on wet sod or freshly installed sod. The landscapers roll sod once, immediately after it is installed.

Survey markings may no longer be visible after the lot is graded and landscaped. Please do not use wooden stakes as evidence of lot lines. A survey certificate, included in your Sales Agreement, maybe helpful. Alternatively a surveyor can accurately mark out your lot lines.

Ensure that you check the following before calling:

1. Thermostat is set to “cool” and at least 5° below the house temperature.
2. Breaker switch is fully in the “on” position.
3. Exterior wall switch (located near the A/C unit) is on.

If the unit still does not start up, please contact your service representative. Remember that the air conditioner takes time to cool off the house. Sustained high outdoor temperatures will cause the indoor temperature to temporarily rise. You may save on cooling costs by closing the window coverings during the day.

The burning smell is normal for a new fireplace. It is the oil left on the unit from the manufacturing process and it needs to burn off. The best thing to do is to run your fireplace for six hours to burn the oil off. You may need to open some windows to keep the smoke alarms from sounding.

The proper instructions for relighting the pilot light are located on a plate behind the lower grill of the fireplace.

The Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) has probably tripped. The GFCI outlet is located by the front door or in the garage. Reset it by pushing the small reset button on the outlet. If the GFCI has not tripped, check the circuit breaker in the main electrical panel.

The GFCI in the powder room has probably tripped. The reset button needs to be pushed to restore power to all three bathroom plugs.

Once the final electrical inspection has passed, the ESA will forward the paperwork to our electrician. The sticker on the panel is not normally signed as part of this process.

As the concrete cures and hardens, it shrinks and may crack. Settlement and changes in temperature also contribute to cracking. Generally cracks do not indicate a defect and do not require repair. Floor slabs are not a structural component of your home.

As is the case with floor slabs, concrete foundation walls crack as a result of shrinkage and/or settlement. Generally cracks do not indicate a defect, and do not leak. If you detect leakage at a foundation crack, contact the Service Department.

Salt, combined with freeze/thaw cycles that occur during winter, may cause serious erosion to concrete surfaces. Most often the front edge of the garage floor is affected. It is important to keep these areas clean, and to apply a suitable sealer on a yearly basis to prevent salt damage.