My New Jasper Village Home

Decor Center Browsing

August 26, 2009
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I had the chance to go finally go to Conservatory Group’s Decor Center. It is only open for browsing on Saturdays. The weekdays are reserved for buyers to meet with with the designers and make colour and upgrade selections.

I have mentioned in an earlier post that the decor center has a good selection, and I still stand by that. Depending on your contract you will have different basic options available to you. Mine is brown or orange depending on the decor option. (ex. I have up to the orange level in carpet, brown for the kitchen faucet.)

I should also begin by saying that I will not be upgrading many items. Both because I think some upgrades may be overpriced, and because I dont have the cash to spend on them anyways. Although, if I was able to write in say a couple thousand in upgrades in to the purchase price, I would have done so. I wonder why they don’t allow that?

Note: I initially thought that the brown level included the “1A” brown level – it does not. It is considered a minor upgrade, in the sense that it is a “slight cost” (so said the rep.)

Depending on the upgrade, my basic options varied in selection. Your contract might have had different levels of decor options written in to it. I will just mention what I thought looking at my brown or orange level decor options.

Bathroom/shower tiles – I thought the basic options were pretty good
Floor tile – basic was OK but mostly all lighter coloured tiles. The 1A upgrade is not that much ($100’s-$300’s per room) and the selection becomes a lot better
Counter top – laminate options were good, but obviously won’t cut it if you want granite – sorry I didn’t look at granite costs
Cabinets – not bad basic selection. But I am also not a fancy guy, and most of the upgraded cabinets did not appeal to me personally. You have to make sure that you are looking at the correct cabinets and counter tops. Raywall is on the right when you walk in, so if it says “Raywall” on your option sheet then right hand side only in the cabinet area
Carpet – The orange options are alright. If you plan on keeping the carpet for years, I suspect plenty of people will upgrade. I plan on installing laminate wood flooringmyslef almost immediately so I didn’t care much. Again, CG will not leave an option out or “uninstalled”. So I will be ripping out carpet right away – ugh.
Faucets – Bathroom options are very good I think. The basic kitchen faucet option (there is only one at the brown level) is horrible in my opinion. I wish it was a bit nicer. It I am sure it will work long enough for me to replace it myself.
Sinks & Toilets – Not much (if any) selection at the basic level. The basic kitchen sink is nice. The bathroom sinks and toilets are just what you would expect. And when it comes to toilets I put function ahead of form – and basic style is good for me
Paint – You have to get above the orange level to get any significant selections. I don’t mind painting rooms myself for two reasons: one, it is cheaper and easy. Two, I have no idea what colours I will paint rooms before I start looking at furniture, window coverings, accessories etc.
Laminate & Hardwood – I think there is a great selection here. I a – m comfortable with installing flooring myself as I have worked in construction, but if you are thinking of getting hardwood, the selection in great. Prices I have no idea though – but I would suggest you research how much it would cost to get installed by someone else after construction
Appliances – Some good selections here. They fall under the “Whirlpool” name – including Kitchen Aid. I have no comparison here, but I’d say it was a good selection for kitchen appliances. I think I will be going for the first upgrade of kitchen appliances (fridge, stove, dishwasher) to stainless steel – $1700

Decor Center Orientation

August 15, 2009
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The Preparation

I had to go back to the Jasper Village office to sign the amendments made by my lawyer. While there the CG rep asked “Are you going to the decor center orientation tomorrow?” I had no idea what she was talking about. So she went on to explain that there was an orientation for all buyers to date taking place at their Decor Center the next day. I was a little turned off about hearing about this the day before. The next day I also received an email from “customer care” inviting me to attend. Perhaps I hadn’t been sent the email because our deal wasn’t sealed yet, but either way I did not appreciate the late notice – but decided to attend.

Decor Center – The Initial Browse

The Decor Center is near Yonge and Steeles in Thornhill (North of the 401.) I was early for the orientation and so I had the chance to browse around. All of the decor options are color coded in to different levels. I had already been told that I had the options of brown and orange. I was impressed by the level of selection available. Even at the “basic” level there was quite a bit of selection available. It is very large and well laid out – impressive. I actually had the idea that at the basic level my options would be “Would you like the light brown or the medium brown?”, so knowing that even before upgrading there are a number options is great.

The Orientation

The director of the Decor Center gave the orientation. There was some information about the process of building a home. There was also a great deal about their Customer Care Portal. This is the website for registering for decor center appointments as well as tracking milestones of building progress. There was also a lot of “feel good” speech – about how much they care, and about how they want to build you a fantastic home, etc. I am sure this was reasonably true but it seemed to be laid on a little thick.

We were told that they were still waiting for building permits from the town, and that they should arrive in 2 -3 weeks. At one point it was mentioned that it takes 22 weeks to build a house. To which one person quickly asked, “Well doesn’t that mean that people who were to close in December and January will have delayed closings?” In my opinion the director appeared to skirt the question, and then eventually gave an answer saying that he can’t really officially say, but yes. I didn’t think he handled this well – he could have just been honest as I think he probably already knew he was talking to a room of people looking at delayed closings.

In short, I was impressed by the Decor Center itself and its selections. But the director left me feeling a bit uneasy. He gave me the feeling of a shifty used car salesman. God I hope I am not buying a lemon.

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Tags: decor, decor center, jasper village, orientation

Meeting with my Lawyer

August 15, 2009
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Once I decided to purchase the home in Jasper Village Milton, everything moved quickly. I went through the Conservatory Group contract signing and initialing various pages. The contract required two additional pieces: approval by a lawyer, and approval of financing. The financing was not a problem since I had already been pre-approved for quite a bit more than the purchase price. I should say that “approval by a lawyer and financing” basically means I had a certain number of days to get a letter from a lawyer or lender saying this was a no go. If after so many days if I hadn’t aquired a letter saying I was unqualified, then I would be bound by the contract.

My lawyer was great. She walked me through the contract and focused on the important pieces. I had read the contract a couple of times already and had some specific questions. My lawyer told me it was unusual for people to have read their contract before meeting with her. I was surprised – seems like a big decision to make without having read the contract yourself! (Note: that exclamation point means I think you should read your contract.)

The Conservatory Group Contract

My lawyer told me this was pretty much a standard Conservatory Group (CG) contract. She had worked with them before, so she knew what to look for and what could be amended. I will focus on some things that I found of interest or surprising.

I pay for levies – if the municipality increases permit costs, or anything considered a “levy” on the builder, they would pass the cost on time. My lawyer told me that this isn’t that unusual, but some builders do cap that cost. I was told later by someone that Mattamy caps theirs at $1000, and told by another person that Milton is currently considering imposing an $8000 increase in permits. I really hope that one isn’t true.
A window for a door – There is a clause in the contract that states among other things that the builder can exchange a door for a window. My lawyer explained this is more for cases where the municipality has some rule about patio doors, or walk out basements and the builder can’t put the door in. This way the whole contract is not void. She assured me that this was very unlikely since it could really hurt a builder’s reputation.
Pave my Driveway – On the features list on the flyer of Jasper Village homes, it says “paved driveway.” But in the fine print (and also in the contract) it says that the buyer is to pay for the paving of the driveway. I was a bit shocked, but also was not a fan that it does not state the amount it will be.
Landscaping costs – when the town tells the builder how many trees to plant, they will pass these costs on to the buyers. This is pretty standard I was told. My lawyer was able to cap these costs in an amendment, so at least I know what this will be.
Dishwasher Fee – The contract states that I will have to pay for the dishwasher to be hooked up. The appliances are included with my home, but then I have to pay to have the water and electrical hooked up. The CG denied my request to have it amended that I will have it installed. To me I felt I was being nickle and dimed, but later on in my orientation I think it is just because of their direct contract with Whirlpool – who I believe does the install.
Delayed Closing Fee – This one bothers me the most. If the closing of the home is delayed past the 250 day mark, the builder can charge me a 1% fee for every 30 days past the 250 day mark. My interpretation of this is that it is there to counter Tarion charges. When a builder delays closing by more than 250 days, they are required by Tarion to pay the builder $150 a day. So it seems like to me that this clause just protects them from losing money – even through I would have been waiting more than 250 days extra for my home.

Everything else to me seemed pretty standard. There were some other things amended by my lawyer, but most of those applied to some issues of title. Hopefully this gives you an idea as to what to expect to see in your Conservatory Group contract.

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Tags: conservatory group, contract, jasper village

Getting Started & More to Come

August 12, 2009
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The process of moving in to my first home has already started. My purchase agreement has already been signed and I am pretty much locked in to this deal. I am excited at getting my first home, but some trepedition exists with all the costs and details that seem to “pop up” here and there.

So why this blog?

Well I guess as a starter it will simply be a way to share my experience with others looking at a new home. My home will be built by the Conservatory Group, and will be part of the Jasper Village community located in Milton ON. I will only be speaking to my experiences. I do not know what others’ experiences are with the Conservatory Group, or any other builders for that matter – so I can’t say what is and isn’t their usual practice. I will, however, consider my purchase agreement to be “typical” as there were not many amendments made to the contract.

This blog is not meant to endorse or to discredit any builder. I am only sharing my story, others I am sure may (or will) have much better or worse experiences than me. I have heard horrible stories from people who have bought new homes from a variety of builders. I also know many people have enjoyed their home buying journey and are still enjoying their home many years later.

One more thing on why I am writing this blog…

When I was researching the process of buying a new home, and comparing builders, I found several discussion forums. The problem was that these seemed to contain mostly complaints. People angry at their builder, but there was little information about the whole process from people who had purchased from any builder. Hopefully people will find this useful no matter which builder they are looking at buying a home from.

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