Toronto King Charlotte | 114.9m | 32s | Lamb Dev Corp | a—A

hawc said:
Why? What's happening inside them?
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Huge lists of deficiencies typical of less reputable developers. They blame labour supply problems, but they definitely have trouble managing large projects. I hope they have better results with Harhay, or whoever they've partnered with to build this, Theatre Park, and Brant Park.
 
Automation Gallery said:
Hey grey, nice to see you back....cheers
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hawc said:
Huh. so Brad J Lamb isn't a reputable developer?

Who are the reputable developers and who are the less reputable developers in Toronto in your opinion?
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I'm not saying BJL isn't reputable. Parc Lofts and Glas were solid and they are invested in their own buildings.

I can't speak to every developer's ability to follow-up on Tarion minutea and performance audit issues in a timely or competent manner, so I'm not going to rank them, but I've seen similar problems in buildings by TAS, Urbancorp, Freed, and Streetcar among others; the sloppy results of inexperienced and under-qualified contractors hired in haste and left to work with little oversight. On the other hand, these "boutique" developers are often the most sensitive to urban context. In the greater scheme of things, they have taste, but they're either treading the minimum requirements of the building code or simply don't have the resources/experience to monitor construction closely enough.
 
grey said:
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I'm not saying BJL isn't reputable. Parc Lofts and Glas were solid and they are invested in their own buildings.

I can't speak to every developer's ability to follow-up on Tarion minutea and performance audit issues in a timely or competent manner, so I'm not going to rank them, but I've seen similar problems in buildings by TAS, Urbancorp, Freed, and Streetcar among others; the sloppy results of inexperienced and under-qualified contractors hired in haste and left to work with little oversight. On the other hand, these "boutique" developers are often the most sensitive to urban context. In the greater scheme of things, they have taste, but they're either treading the minimum requirements of the building code or simply don't have the resources/experience to monitor construction closely enough.
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Lamb, Freed, Streetcar, etc all cut from the same cloth. They're smaller "developers" who severely lack in many of the non-glamorous areas of development. Customer Care is non-existent. Quality control ranges from decent to flat out garbage depending on the developer. The construction companies used in many of the projects are inexperienced and cheap. You'll get nice finishes, though...and a nice looking building on the outside. You'll see a lot of cost cutting (more than the norm) and just flat out not deliver on things that are even in the purchase agreement. The condo boom brought about a lot of pretenders IMO. Development is more than just stainless steel and fancy window-wall. The biggest difference between the reputable guys like Triidel and the not so reputable ones like Streetcar and Freed is if there's a problem, they are nowhere to be seen. Good luck getting them to fix anything. Tridel, Daniels, Context, Concert, Plazacorp, etc not only will deliver a quality product, but will actually attempt to fix things in a timely matter. Why? Probably because they have more money and actual experience in development. At least Streetcar offer competitive pricing. But Lamb and Freed charge way too much for the quality/experience they deliver. Luckily for Theater Park, Harhay is the construction company there. They are pretty good. Look at other Harhay projects and they are all well done. Unfortunately for Brant Park, King Charlotte and the like, the construction company is 59 who is atrocious.

Funny you mention building code. It's kind of hard to enforce it but I can tell you some developers are doing less than what is required and it's easy to guess who.

But speaking strictly from a "I don't have to live there" perspective. Lamb, Freed are building up some of the nicest looking buildings in the city.
 
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Curtainwall glass always look really sleek and sharp. More buildings should be built with them.
A minor criticism I noticed on most buildings with curtainwall is that the sliding doors don't match the windows. The sliding doors should have a black frame rather than silver/aluminum. It looks out of place in an otherwise slick looking window wall.
 
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