Winnipeg Construction X - Page 319

bomberjet · #**6361** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 3:22 PM**

Inventory is super low. Friends of my sister sold their house on Drobot. Asking $500k, sold for $625k.

House is nice I guess. Bungalow built 2000 ish. Well maintained with a full kitchen in basement. Virtually no back yard.

thebasketballgeek · #**6362** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 3:47 PM**

Just looking at future trends I think inventory for single family homes will be low for the forseeable future with approximately 30% of our units are single-family, and we've been building the same amount in raw numbers since the mid 2000s while apartments and other forms of housing have skyrocketed.

The 2021 numbers aren't out yet but the city also stores monthly data for residential construction and as of November we actually broke our record in dwelling units constructed with 5.236 units. However, only 29% of the units constructed were single-family. Probably have to wait a week until we get the December numbers released. It's really interesting to see the number of builds by the city committees and pretty shocked at the low amount of builds in the Assiniboia area (where Waverley West is).

Dwelling Units: https://winnipeg.ca/ppd/Permits/Stat...llingUnits.stm

Building Permit Activity: https://winnipeg.ca/ppd/Permits/Stat...mitSummary.stm

esquire · #**6363** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 3:57 PM**

Interesting stats, bballgeek. The explosion in apartments over the last 20 years is really quite something.

I wonder if more homes will come on the market post-covid as boomers continue to age and put their homes on the market? Anecdotally I can think of many empty-nesters and elderly widows occupying SFHs that they really don't need, in the sense that some might be better off living in an apartment or condos with other people in their situation, and in a way that is suited to their lifestyle (i.e. cottagers and/or snowbirds). I'm sure many of those people aren't in a rush to leave their homes right now, but after covid there might be some temptation to cash in...

drew · #**6364** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 4:14 PM**

My advice regardless of what homebuilder you use:

1) Do whatever it takes, spend a bit extra, whatever - tell them you want your foundation prepped and poured in the late spring or summer. Refuse any late fall or winter foundation construction, period. Homebuilders are not to be trusted with the proper placing or protection of concrete when it gets below 5C. I don't care what they tell you, don't believe them.

2) be on the builder like stalker to make sure they slope the grade below your basement slab to where the sump pit is located, in all directions. Watch them. Verify for yourself. Tell them it's in the Building Code (it is).

3) Look and see for yourself the placement and quality of installation of the perimeter weeping tile and pipes that extend to the sump pit. Do this before any granular or pea gravel obscures their work.

Do this, and your chances for foundation and/or basement slab/floor problems down the road are vastly reduced.

New homes are not problem free, and the most common, serious problems are foundation related.

EDIT:

4) Pay extra $$ and get your house built on piles.

5) If you build in Headingly or towards the extreme west side of the City, pay $$ and get a geotechnical report. Bedrock can be only 20 to 30 feet below the surface there, and will impact your foundation design.

Biff · #**6365** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 4:14 PM**

We built with Randall in 2005. They were - ok. We wanted to build with Maric but we could not secure them to build in our development.

drew · #**6366** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 4:22 PM**

The best local builder in terms of structural work and robustness of construction is Huntington Homes. But they are also $$.

BAKGUY · #**6367** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 5:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1ajs

pemida from the perimiter wow this things huge

(i was not the person driving)

I am racking my brain trying to figure out what or where pemida might be?
You wrote pemida near perimeter? I have no idea what street that is or what section of the city? Please clarify when u can, much appreciated, thanks. Also, what development is this?

1ajs · #**6368** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 5:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

I am racking my brain trying to figure out what or where pemida might be?
You wrote pemida near perimeter? I have no idea what street that is or what section of the city? Please clarify when u can, much appreciated, thanks. Also, what development is this?

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.77752...7i16384!8i8192

peg · #**6369** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 5:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAKGUY

I am racking my brain trying to figure out what or where pemida might be?
You wrote pemida near perimeter? I have no idea what street that is or what section of the city? Please clarify when u can, much appreciated, thanks. Also, what development is this?

Its located at 3021 Pembina Hwy:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.78257.../data=!3m1!1e3

Bobby604 · #**6370** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 10:22 PM**

BomberJet, Esquire, Drew and all who have answered; Thank you so much for you input and guidance. I'll let you know how the search for a builder goes.

esquire · #**6371** Posted **Jan 13, 2022, 10:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby604

BomberJet, Esquire, Drew and all who have answered; Thank you so much for you input and guidance. I'll let you know how the search for a builder goes.

You're welcome. I wish I could give you more information but I've never built a home so I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of each builder. I know a guy who is in management with one of the custom builders and he is adamant that regardless of which builder you go with, you get what you pay for.

bomberjet · #**6372** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 2:19 AM**

I can also attest to when my parents built there house circa 2000. Step dad was there everyday. And even still, somehow, they missed putting in a basement window. Not sure how stepdad missed that detail. But things look different when formed than after the forms come down.

Drew is right, be a pain in their ass. You're spending boat loads of money.

Biff · #**6373** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 2:32 PM**

You do need to be around quite often. They don't like it but it is your money. Bring coffee to the crew every so often and it helps. Hold them accountable when they miss something or it will cost you.

We were very fortunate my father-in law is a lawyer. There were a couple of missed items that were met with resistance from the builder when we brought it up, but were quickly taken care of after a letter from him.

My advice, make sure you are thinking big picture/long term. Yes it is expensive. Every time you want anything for your new build it is a $1,000 or better add on which adds up quickly. But...it is much cheaper to do now, than renovate/addition down the road.

Good luck

bomberjet · #**6374** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 2:47 PM**

Like I mentioned, I'm going through similar thing right now. And am leaning towards building or buying a new home. For some assurance of what is available, cost, etc. There is so little available and we likely will need to sell our home and rent for a bit. Which will be a pain in the arse.

Even though there are still delays, cost escalation, etc with new homes. We'll know essentially what we will be getting and when.

Although now it's trying not to get stuck in the ticky tacky.

esquire · #**6375** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 3:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biff

We were very fortunate my father-in law is a lawyer. There were a couple of missed items that were met with resistance from the builder when we brought it up, but were quickly taken care of after a letter from him.

He must be pretty good. The homebuilding contracts I've read are among the most ludicrously one-sided agreements I've ever seen in terms of removing the purchaser's rights to do anything except pay money and receive some sort of finished product at the end.

You definitely want the lawyer to examine the agreement very carefully before signing anything to prevent any surprises down the road. This is obvious advice in general, but it's especially so with homebuilding contracts.

Biff · #**6376** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 3:59 PM**

He saved us thousands. Not everyone has a lawyer in their back pocket. They cost money too so you have to weigh your potential loss with how much you are willing to pay for a lawyer.

He enjoyed keeping them in line.

WildCake · #**6377** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 4:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Biff

You do need to be around quite often. They don't like it but it is your money. Bring coffee to the crew every so often and it helps. Hold them accountable when they miss something or it will cost you.

We were very fortunate my father-in law is a lawyer. There were a couple of missed items that were met with resistance from the builder when we brought it up, but were quickly taken care of after a letter from him.

My advice, make sure you are thinking big picture/long term. Yes it is expensive. Every time you want anything for your new build it is a $1,000 or better add on which adds up quickly. But...it is much cheaper to do now, than renovate/addition down the road.

Good luck

To add, we didn't go through the building process but bought a new build (pre-pandemic so houses sitting around completed but not sold were a thing lol).

We had to be constantly harassing our builder to do anything more than the basic paint touch ups during the one year warranty. Always a "it's not that bad" or "this is fine" from their rep, and us having to dig and research to back our statements that something was in fact not fine.

drew · #**6378** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 4:40 PM**

I am the guy you hire 4.5 years after you have built, and your home warranty is set to expire. Your basement slab is might be shifting, you may have water leaking into your basement, maybe significant movement in your foundation walls.

Once you are at the point you are hiring me, you are facing a big battle with home warranty and your insurance. They almost never say "whoops, our bad, we will fix it".

They hire their own engineer and any kind of recourse ends up in litigation. Which obviously is expensive but the outcome is never guaranteed (although i am never wrong haha).

You don't want to hire me. Do it right, at the start.

Don't waste time worrying about paint defects, or wonky kitchen cabinets. You care about the stuff that may end up costing you 5 to 6 figures to fix in as little to 5 years from moving in. Foundation. Foundation. Foundation.

esquire · #**6379** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 4:49 PM**

Back in 2009 I bought a house built by an independent guy a couple of years earlier, he lived in it with his family for a while. We sold it in 2017, never had any problems. I never really gave the foundation any thought. But sometimes I wonder how that was poised to work out in the long run.

drew · #**6380** Posted **Jan 14, 2022, 4:53 PM**

^ it's not to say that every house will have a problem, probably 90 out of 100 will be fine. You just don't want to be that house.

If you build new, you will likely notice problems in the short term, if they are there.