If you are building an estate home and want changes to an existing plan or a lot of custom work done, choose another builder.
I am currently in the process of building a home in Calgary with Morrison and unfortunately have been disappointed with the process so far. We sign a contact in the spring and wrote the first cheque and was told the second cheque would need to be cashed when the dry walling began which would be at the end of October. We post dated a cheque with the assumption that it would be cashed when dry walling began. Nope, they cashed it and it's almost the end of January now and only the basement has been poured. As far as building timeline given at signing we will moving in 5 months past that date. That being said, that is not a big concern with me, I can live with this. What bothers me is the lack of organization, over charges, and blatant screw ups. We have had prices that were given over the phone as the price we would be charged but when we received the change order had increased by $400! I know that this might not be a lot for some and in comparison for what we are spending on our home in total it is only a small part. But try looking at it as I do, like that is a car payment or a large chunk of a mortgage payment. We have found several charges that were added to our home that were"mistakes" and we were made to feel that the error was not because of their lack of attention to detail but due to us!
In the beginning we asked them to if they could do a built in wall unit within our budget and the answer was yes. A wall needed to extended out for it and instead of designing the unit and determining the size of extension needed they extended the wall with the intent of designing it after. I was told don't worry it will turn out wonderful! What a laugh they came in at double my budget! Now I have no choice but to pay.
Building a home should be a wonderful and uplifting time, not one where you can't trust your builder. The only good thing I've encountered is the electrical company they use. They truly understand their trade and go above and beyond to make sure you don't miss anything. I wish Morrison would take a couple lessons from them.
That is all for now. I will update my post as the process proceeds. I am hoping that things improve, wish me luck.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $825,000.00