NEXT at Elgin East (Sequoia Grove Homes) - Real Estate

[David-S]

Had our PDI yesterday (Building A, floor 7). As expected, work is still incomplete all around the site. We were brought in the main entrance on Saigon Drive. You are required to wear hard hat & steel toed shoes (provided by the builder). The common areas are completely unfinished. The concierge desk was covered by a tarp since work is still going on all around inside the entrance.

The PDI took about 2 hours. There were quite a few defects in our unit but mostly minor like wall dings, missing caulking at backsplash, etc. All of our decor choices were done correctly. The rep conducting the inspection was really good at finding defects and was very helpful in answering our questions. Showed us all the relevant things like main water shutoff, breaker box, Rogers service panel, etc. He even took us outside the entrance opposite the one on Saigon and showed us where move-ins will occur. He said they are doing about 30 PDIs per week.

The wallpaper is up in the hallways as well as carpet. There are runners down because the workers are going in and out still And everywhere is still pretty dusty & dirty. Still no word on move-in dates - probably depends on the weather and they’ve been lucky with that so far.

 

[Joy L]

Wow David, thanks for the detailed report. I’m very happy for you and your family. I’m building A and level 1 but no contact from the builder yet.

 

[David-S]

Wow David, thanks for the detailed report. I’m very happy for you and your family. I’m building A and level 1 but no contact from the builder yet.

Thanks Joyce. I imagine you’ll hear soon. But the builder is still saying ”several weeks” later for new occupancy dates and we don’t know what their schedule will be like over the holidays. So your guess is as good as mine as to when we will move in.

 

[Joy L]

I’ll be sure to update you too once I get any info!

 

[Joy L]

Thanks Joyce. I imagine you’ll hear soon. But the builder is still saying ”several weeks” later for new occupancy dates and we don’t know what their schedule will be like over the holidays. So your guess is as good as mine as to when we will move in.

Hi David, just got an email invite for the PDI today and it’s for Jan12. Happy holidays if we don‘t speak again!

 

[David-S]

Hi David, just got an email invite for the PDI today and it’s for Jan12. Happy holidays if we don‘t again!

Glad to hear that Joyce. I think they may have been holding off on PDIs for the ground floor because of all the comings and goings of the workers on that floor and all the work still going on inside the main entrance. But at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Happy Holidays.

 

[aundyan]

Hi everyone, I'm Antonius, the future resident of Building A ground floor as well.

Thank you Dave for the link to this thread.

Our PDI is going to be this coming January 9 morning.

 

[David-S]

Hi everyone, I'm Antonius, the future resident of Building A ground floor as well.

Thank you Dave for the link to this thread.

Our PDI is going to be this coming January 9 morning.

You’re welcome Antonius. It’ll be interesting to hear your impressions of the state of the main entrance since it was kind of a mess when we had our PDI. I’m wondering how much progress they’ve made in the past few weeks.

 

[aundyan]

You’re welcome Antonius. It’ll be interesting to hear your impressions of the state of the main entrance since it was kind of a mess when we had our PDI. I’m wondering how much progress they’ve made in the past few weeks.

I'll keep everyone updated

 

[aundyan]

So, we had our PDI this morning, and we met a couple who also own a unit on the ground floor. We are going to be floor neighbour, and Joyce as well, right?

Entering the hallway, our impression of the units' doors surface that's facing the hallway was that the doors were very plain, flat and white. It's their final look. We would hope to have some degree of luxury, like bevelled, or maybe even with some colour, wooden look.

Regarding our unit itself, I'm not going into details, since the list of imperfection is very long. However, at a very high level finding:
- the final touch needs a lot of rework, such as caulking, filling (like dented on the wall), sealing, cleaning, painting, or perfecting the connection of shoes of the baseboard

- the missing item from our upgrade was very easily spotted, which was the sliding door of the bath tub.

- the disappointing thing that might not be easily fixed is the kitchen island structure, how the pieces of wood are laid and connected. The only way to suit our expectation is by remaking the entire island and cut new piece of quartz.

It's just our assumption that maybe since there are so many units to complete almost at once, the workmanship is affected negatively. When we had our house built 27 years ago, it was really satisfying.


The person from the builder's side who accompanied us during the PDI, capturing all the deficiencies, was Nick, a nice and patient person.

Regards,

Antonius

 

[aundyan]

You’re welcome Antonius. It’ll be interesting to hear your impressions of the state of the main entrance since it was kind of a mess when we had our PDI. I’m wondering how much progress they’ve made in the past few weeks.

We entered through the South most entrance (the opposite entrance from the lobby entrance, which is at the end of the hallway). So, we didn't see how the lobby/concierge area looked like.

 

[David-S]

We entered through the South most entrance (the opposite entrance from the lobby entrance, which is at the end of the hallway). So, we didn't see how the lobby/concierge area looked like.

Thanks. Lobby still not ready, I guess.

 

[David-S]

So, we had our PDI this morning, and we met a couple who also own a unit on the ground floor. We are going to be floor neighbour, and Joyce as well, right?

Entering the hallway, our impression of the units' doors surface that's facing the hallway was that the doors were very plain, flat and white. It's their final look. We would hope to have some degree of luxury, like bevelled, or maybe even with some colour, wooden look.

Regarding our unit itself, I'm not going into details, since the list of imperfection is very long. However, at a very high level finding:
- the final touch needs a lot of rework, such as caulking, filling (like dented on the wall), sealing, cleaning, painting, or perfecting the connection of shoes of the baseboard

- the missing item from our upgrade was very easily spotted, which was the sliding door of the bath tub.

- the disappointing thing that might not be easily fixed is the kitchen island structure, how the pieces of wood are laid and connected. The only way to suit our expectation is by remaking the entire island and cut new piece of quartz.

It's just our assumption that maybe since there are so many units to complete almost at once, the workmanship is affected negatively. When we had our house built 27 years ago, it was really satisfying.


The person from the builder's side who accompanied us during the PDI, capturing all the deficiencies, was Nick, a nice and patient person.

Regards,

Antonius

Thanks Antonius. We also found that the sliding shower door in the ensuite was missing. It looked like they had started to install & stopped. There was a box with the sliding door in the main bedroom waiting to be installed. I’m curious - did you choose the upgraded island or the standard island? We didn’t notice anything odd about our upgraded island other than missing electrical outlet (which apparently shouldn’t have been mentioned as coming with the upgraded island). So we’re afraid we might have missed something.
By the way, the builder emailed us today with a revised final occupancy date of February 8.

 

[aundyan]

Thanks Antonius. We also found that the sliding shower door in the ensuite was missing. It looked like they had started to install & stopped. There was a box with the sliding door in the main bedroom waiting to be installed. I’m curious - did you choose the upgraded island or the standard island? We didn’t notice anything odd about our upgraded island other than missing electrical outlet (which apparently shouldn’t have been mentioned as coming with the upgraded island). So we’re afraid we might have missed something.
By the way, the builder emailed us today with a revised final occupancy date of February 8.

I just created an illustration to describe what I mean in this forum, and I'm attaching the .png file here. I didn't take the photo, since Nick did and he reported the issue very well.

So, our island is upgraded in term of the finishing (the quartz), but without the electrical outlet. What's very apparent, which I circle with red on the illustration, is the way they stack the wood. It gives an impression from common people's eyes, like not having enough material to fully support the structure. Visually, it doesn't look esthetics either.

 

[David-S]

I just created an illustration to describe what I mean in this forum, and I'm attaching the .png file here. I didn't take the photo, since Nick did and he reported the issue very well.

So, our island is upgraded in term of the finishing (the quartz), but without the electrical outlet. What's very apparent, which I circle with red on the illustration, is the way they stack the wood. It gives an impression from common people's eyes, like not having enough material to fully support the structure. Visually, it doesn't look esthetics either.View attachment 532260

Yes, doesn’t look too sturdy. We got the island with the storage cabinet underneath which might provide some support but only on the one side.