Senator Homes

We found the quality of workmanship to be awful. We have spent countless hours trying to get the builder to repair their mistakes, but they have waited until the warranty ran out (convenient), and refuse to fix anything because the warranty is no longer in effect. I am not sure how this house has passed any inspections.
This has got to be one of the most un-professional companies I have ever had to work with. My best advice is to stay far, far, far away from these builders.

I am usually a very positive person; easy to deal with, easy to get along with. I was brought up to have respect for others and to always use my manners. My mother always told me that if I didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. If I were to be true to this, I would have absolutley nothing to say about Senator, but I do, lots to say. When I first purchased my Senator home, I was very proud, people asked, "Are you moving?" - my reply was a big yes, and Senator, you know the big home builders from Toronto, were going to build me my dream house - the price was definitely out of range, but was lead to believe that the upgrades offered by other builders would be standard for us and quality would be second to none. So I could live with an expensive home, thinking I wouldn't have to spend very much in upgrades. I was dead wrong. Now if people ask if I am moving, I am embarrassed to tell them that I bought a Senator home. BUYER BEWARE, BE VERY AWARE is all I have to say at this point. I am still foolishly optimistic that things will work out. Senator is on a very short timeline with me as I am quickly running out of patience. If things are not settled soon, I will be none to happy to go against my mother's wishes, in the hopes of saving many potential new home owners from making the mistake of buying a Senator home. Stay tunned!

As everyone else, we were enchanted by the location of this neighbourhood and bought in to Senator's promises of a luxury, upscale home.
To make a long story short, please be aware that:
1. There is an active re-zoning application for an apartment building at the waterfront of the Lakeside Cove neigbourhood. That is something Senator was and is aware of but does not disclose to new buyers. Master plan in the sales office does not reflect reality for the area.
2. The samples you may see at the sales office are misleading. After paying your deposit and get set up with the decor centre, you will find out that the actual samples are in Toronto decor centre (people would simply walk out of the sales office if they would be there) where you will have to take what is included - a single choice of flooring, a single "Senator White" colour, very basic carpeting on bottom-line pad, bottom-end cabinetry and hardware, etc etc. Anything else will be extra twice or more of its market price, so your "$10,000 in upgrades" will evaporate immediately. Please see what you are getting before finalizing your purchase.
3. Non-existent customer support and service. At the decor centre, be prepared to be treated with extreme hostility if you question anything and having "within our legal rights" shoved at you without explanation when you expect a simple answer. You will be treated very well if you smile, nod and agree with everything they say, though. The choice is yours.
4. You will never be able to contact anyone above sales manager. I could go on and give examples of their irresponsible attitude and half-truths but it will take up too much space.
Judging by our experience with Senator and losing our faith and trust with this company, we are preparing to be very scrupulous and diligent with next steps. If you are not prepared to look over their shoulder every step of the way, you will definitely regret it, as many people indicated here.

There are so many bad things to write about my experience and the experiences what seems to be most that have bought in the Lakeside Cove subdivision on the lake in Barrie. Basically we feel that we were induced into buying by false information, and by very important details that were conveniently left out by Senator. In a nutshell, I would do anything to turn the clock back and stop myself from signing the contract, but short of time travel, Senator is not going to give me my $40,000 deposit back. To get a real feel of Senator, go to the Forum on this website for Senator's Lakeside Cove in Barrie. It is pretty scary to say the least.

Well, i am very happy this site has continued on. Our experience has not been good at all thus far with the purchase of our home in Barrie at the LAKESIDE COVE DEVELOPMENT by SENATOR HOMES. We were very excited with the location and the models being offered and the fact that this was to be an upscale home! Well, how wrong we were. The sales people were very nice when you were an interested potential purchaser. They would show you all of the features and explain the fine appointments that would be included in the purchase of a home from Senator. In fact, they had a sample board with samples of tile, hardwood, granite, carpet etc. So we signed and were excited based on the information they had provided and shown us. As time had passed, more information had become available, we noticed that some of the standard goods shown to us at the sales office are actually upgrades. We were told a certain level of cabinets would be available through-out the entire home, we were shown lovely standard tile at the sales center, we were shown several colors of standard hardwood. Not so!! The cabinetry promissed was only available in the kitchen and the rest of the house was a lower level cabinet, the tile selection at the decor center was absolutely brutal, and there is only one color of hardwood available standard. Now, the cabinetry issue has been rectified (thanks to all of the purchasers who raised a stink and stood up for what they were told/promissed), the standard tile selection has been improved but is still brutal for an upscale home (once again thanks to all of our collective complaints and dissatisfaction). The hardwood will set you back about 5-10k (depending on the size of your home) just to change the color. This is a pre-finished floor (this has not been rectified)!!!If you were told you can makes changes to your home, this is true. However, a minor detail was left out. It will cost you $150 each and every time you make ANY change at all even if its less work/cost/material for Senator. The communication has been non-existant with the builder either. They will return your calls, follow-up with you regulary when you are thinking of buying! However, once you have bought, they disappear. We have to pick up the phone every so often just make sure they are still in business because we have not heard from them. When we have gone to visit the sales office, the sales lady has asked us to leave when other potential buyers are in the office. What kind of gratitude is that for spending well over $550k?? TO ALL PURCHASERS, if you have been promissed something and senator has failed to deliver or is wanting to charge you for it, post it here. It is wrong for Senator to mislead and take advantage of people like us who have given them our hard earned money. POTENTIAL PURCHASERS, please post your questions/concerns here and i am sure a purchaser/s will be happy to answer your questions based on our experience/s. SENATOR HOME OWNERS FROM ANOTHER SITE: please give us your feedback too. There are many, many good builders out there. It is very easy to find out who they are, just google them and read the customer reviews/blogs. The days of people lining up to buy homes is gone. The days when builders could do whatever they wanted like a “take it or leave it” approach is looong gone. Senator has only sold about 30 homes out of 75 in phase 1 since October 2007. NEARLY ALL 30 purchasers are unhappy. What does that tell you? SENATOR needs to re-evaluate the definition of upscale because what we are getting for our money is DEFINITELY not upscale. Like most, all we want is what were told and promissed. We were excited to buy in this development and that has been lost.
SENATOR HOMES, if you are reading this, re-evaluate your standard offerings, give us the “UPSCALE” home you promissed us and turn us unhappy purchaser into ambassadors for you product and home. There is VERY LITTLE cost for you to come good on your promise of an “UPSCALE” home. Offer rounded corners standard, offer smooth ceilings or a knock down ceiling standard, offer level 2 or 3 of tile standard not the junk you have now, offer choice of color for hardwwod flooring without cost, dont charge the rediculous $150 for any little change. These are subtle changes with minimal cost to the builder and will make a huge difference in the morale of purchasers who feel ripepd off. I want to post a positive comment but i just cant with the experince we have had thus far. The ball is in your court SENATOR HOMES!!!!!!!!!

I have bought a house in the Chateaus in castlemore, this builder has the worst workmanship and i have many ontario building code violations and electrical issues. I have been compensated 10,000 dollars for some issues and am currently suing the builder in court. Please do not buy a house from them, you will wish you never had if you do.

I bought a home in the chateaus of castlemore which was supposed to be a "exectuive community", i paid alot of money for my house but only recieved standard features. My home has numerous building code violations, like inadequate insulation on exterior walls, damaged basement membrane which results in leaks during heavy rainfall, poor workmanship (dents and cracking drywall), my whirlpool was installed without a permit from the city. The furnace broke down a month after the 1 year warranty expired. Please do not buy from this builder, they have poor customer service and their workmen are not knowledgeable about constructing a home.

My nightmare began when I purchased an excutive home from Senator Homes. The home I recieved is not the up-scale home that was sold to me. My house full of defficiencies and the company service department is lacking the basic knowledge to do the necessary repairs. I have meet great resistance when trying to deal with Senator Homes customer service managers.
Senator Homes failed miserably in delivering the excutive home they sold to me.

Do not make the same mistake I did, steer clear of this builder.

i bought a townhouse from senator in brampton and i it was a sound investment that brought my family and i many happy days. The service wasn't the best but there wasn't much service to be done. I have invited my family and friends to buy here and would promote senator to anyone looking to buy a hassle free home

If you are in the market for an executive home and are considering Senator homes, take my advice and reconsider. I too bought into an "upscale community", with homes built of the highest caliber, where the finest quality and master craftmanship would be standard. The only unbelievable surprise here folks is the incredibly inflated price for very standard material, and the poor attention to detail, coupled with unconscientious trade workers who are primarily peace workers.

Some of the more serious deficiencies noted were
1) Roof plywood had five holes in it, the size of an adult shoe which were simply covered over with shingles.
2) Roof was not compliant with O.B.C minimum standards in that no ice and water shield was present.
3) Emergency services had to red tag my furnace, due to a gas leak caused by a defective coupling.
4) The furnace duct work had never been completed and were never attached to the vents, thus no warm or cool air could be felt throughout the home.
5) The stamped and approved building permit drawings that were submitted to the city, are not representative of what was actually constructed, as a result the homes' heat loss calculations are inaccurate.

There are literally dozens, perhaps hundreds of issues to discuss, perhaps at a later date. If there is just one positive in all this, it's that we've come together as a neighbourhood and made some good friends.