90 day fixes
On Thursday I was working from home, since the builder was coming to fix some more items in our home. Also two trades dropped by – the painters (they only did some exterior stuff) and Prima Air to add a missing duct run. Talking about all of this reminds me that I need to let Phil from the builder know that some of the items on his list have been taken care off as well.
At one point there were about 5 people from Mattamy in and around our house, since the on-site customer service guys were also making their rounds. Doug, the 90 day customer service manager, had the unpleasant task to talk to me about the on-going kitchen story (more about this in detail later) and the issue of our showerhead upgrade in the ensuite bathroom.
In any case, almost all the work they had on their list (which I still have to compare to my original list) has been completed. The main item is the garage man door, which still needs to be set straight.
In a survey they also asked me what they could improve about their 90 day service, and I wrote that it would be much better, if there weren’t as many items left to start with 
In general the homebuying experience has been a rather unpleasant one, but I would not expect it to be too different with other builders. Their highest priority is to get you to the closing quick, and a lot of trades are not paid by the hour or by the quality of their work, but simply by completion. This is turn does not really lead to the best quality. So Mattamy does not really live up to their marketing promises.
Gettting them to complete their work, is almost a fulltime job, and the best way to get them to do something is to document it with a fax, which should be sent to the New Home Warranty Program as a copy. If you are not on top of them, things will not get done – they even lost my Pre-Delivery-Inspection list.
I am consdering to set up a site with tips for first time new home buyers, so others can learn from the experiences we’ve had. I am hoping to get some more people to participate in creating the content.