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Which condo developers are the best in the city?

Totally agree. As a renter in a brand new Murano unit (since late 2009), I can tell you now that I am considering buying a unit downtown, my experience with a brand new building makes me afraid of what's out there. I mean, who in their right mind puts only 3 elevators for a 40+ story building? Or how can a water pipe burst on the second floor twice in just a few months? Or how can the garbage chute never work? All very good questions. I wouldn't put Lanterra on there due to this building. I hope the other ones aren't like this. (PS. these are only some of the issues with the building that was condo-wide; plenty others I have with the unit itself).

I'm not a big fan of Lanterra. I don't want to bash Murano, as I own a unit there, but the building is really not solidly built. As far as the 3 elevators...maybe someone who's more informed than me can answer...but I think originally the tower was supposed to have less floors...then a bunch of others were added later.

With all this said...I think the quality of a lot of these newer buildings is pretty bad....it's really a crapshoot. Expect the worst, hope for the best.
 
With all this said...I think the quality of a lot of these newer buildings is pretty bad....it's really a crapshoot. Expect the worst, hope for the best.

So how does one choose to buy a new condo? Lanterra's condos are not the cheapest... Murano is definitely not something I'd call cheap. Lumiere being built nearby is even more expensive, and while mostly everyone on here likes the design, who knows how it will do as a place to live. Is buying a 3 to 5 year old condo the best option?
 
So how does one choose to buy a new condo? Lanterra's condos are not the cheapest... Murano is definitely not something I'd call cheap. Lumiere being built nearby is even more expensive, and while mostly everyone on here likes the design, who knows how it will do as a place to live. Is buying a 3 to 5 year old condo the best option?

Well, nothing's cheap now. Murano was very cheap when it first launched. Lumiere is a nice building and it's built by Menkes who's a very reputable builders. There are still some builders who are quite good..but you may pay a little more. Off the top of my head Menkes, Context, Great Gulf, Tridel, Monarch....all good builders . Buying a building that's slightly older may be a better idea as you can talk to neighbours and there's just more info out there for research purposes. And it's not that I think Lanterra's a bad builder per se, I just think there are others who are much better. Plus they have a lot of different buildings going at the same time which could be an issue. Ideally, it would be great to have a builder who has 1 or 2 projects going at the same time and not 5.
 
So how does one choose to buy a new condo? Lanterra's condos are not the cheapest... Murano is definitely not something I'd call cheap. Lumiere being built nearby is even more expensive, and while mostly everyone on here likes the design, who knows how it will do as a place to live. Is buying a 3 to 5 year old condo the best option?

A few thoughts.

To start with, keep your eyes and ears open. Read ' New Homes and Condos' section in The Saturday Star. Most of the write-ups there are 'advertorials'. However, you do pick up bits and pieces here and there.

In the past, a few developers -- don't remember the names now -- had taken an option to purchase a piece of land and started selling condos without getting city/other necessary approvals. When the necessary approvals -- height was issue in one case -- did not come through, they just refunded purchaser's deposits -- 9 months/ 1 year later. Purchasers lost an opportunity to purchase a unit somewhere else. In the meantime, prices had up every where. One would never want to deal with these developers.

A few builders have earned a well deserved reputation for quality/after sales service. Tridel and Minto are 2 such developers. Minto always has quality a cut above the others. I live in RoCP developed by Canderel. Their after sales service was excellent. When I went for PDI, Canderel representative told me that someone had already inspected the unit and had noticed a few deficiencies that will be taken care of ASAP. My painter had noticed uneven floor of the living room. I did not. When it was pointed out to Canderel, they took care of it, even though it meant that engineered wood floor had to taken apart and re-laid -- unlike a post that I read on another thread, where developer was adament that minor unevenness of the floor is the result of natural process when concrete cures and that nothing will be done about it. Any other problems brought to the attention customer service was taken care of -- in a few cases, almost immediately.

Customer service, on their own, offered to help install any new light fixtures that we might wish to install in our unit -- free of charge. Never heard of any othe developer offering this service.

Having said that, there were some problems in the beginning. During the interim occupancy period, at one time, elevators to the top 7/8 floors, mainly sub-penthouse and penthouse flloors, did not work for a few days.Residents had to walk up and down above a certain level. At another time, for a day or two, elevators for the lower ffloors did not work. We have walk up and down. A few units on the upper floors had extensive damange from burst pipes. These problems were well taken care to the satisfaction of the unit owners.

In big projects, problems will come up. It is how the problems are dealt with. That's important.

As I have said at the beginning, keep your eyes and ears open.

Sorry for this long post. Hopefully, this will help you somewhat.
 
Tridel must have kick-ass post-sale service, because their build-quality is not great.
 
Tridel must have kick-ass post-sale service, because their build-quality is not great.

I would disagree with that comment as most Tridel buildings (except for The Icon on Wellington) are very well built and very rarely do you hear complaints from its purchasers about its poor built quality or workmanship ~
 
Ratings on observation and experience

Tridel is good in terms of build quality, building fast and customer service. For such high prices they charge even for their smallest unit you think you get exceptional layout, appliances, and other amenities but that is far from the truth. Its just std/ basic
Quality: 9 Customer Service: 9 Value: 6.5

Minto and plazacorp are underrated builders. Very good in terms of quality and customer service. Better value for the buck than Tridel also

Quality: 8 Customer Service: 8 Value: 8

Bazis is an excellent up and coming builder imo. A friend of mine is renting out a unit from Crystal Blu and i was impressed. He has 10ft ceiling, quality seems good, very good appliances, layout and amenities. They want to be modern and give you something extra other builders don't want to.

Quality: unknown Customer Service:8 Value: 8.5

I have also heard good things about Great Gulf Homes, Daniels

Mixed thoughts on pemberton, camrost, menkes, liberty development, monarch

Don't know firsthand but seen many poor reviews about urbancorp, cresford, lanterra, conservatory group, concord
 
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I pretty much agree with everything you said, yaz16.

Tridel is a very good builder. Their design leaves much to be desired but they build a quality product and do a great job of walking purchasers through every step of the construction process. Their customer service is top notch. I'd say they're at the top or at least near it.

Minto and Plazacorp very underrated. Good bang for the buck. I've always been a big Plazacorp guy

Daniels is hit and miss. They're pretty good though. Monarch and Menkes are pretty good. Great Gulf and Context too.

Camrost is OK. Some of their projects are pretty bad and I've seen them first hand. Some really bad workmanship in their buildings. I'm a big fan of 9T6 St. Patrick though.

Based on what I've seen Lanterra, Urbancorp, Conservatory Group and to a lesser extent Concord are pretty bad builders. You really get the feeling that these guys are only in it for the money.
 
I have purchased from Plazacorp and must admit that I am very impressed both with the quality of the workmanship and the finishes. Good value for the money. And unlike a lot of builders, what they show is what you get. No this is an add on at crazy prices. They offer upper middle quality as a rule and deliver.

I am comfortable enough with them that I bought again from them on paper in 2008 to be ready in 2013 at Liberty. Again their showroom shows you what get and it is very nice, modern and all included in the price.
 
Ratings on observation and experience

Tridel is good in terms of build quality, building fast and customer service. For such high prices they charge even for their smallest unit you think you get exceptional layout, appliances, and other amenities but that is far from the truth. Its just std/ basic
Quality: 9 Customer Service: 9 Value: 6.5

Minto and plazacorp are underrated builders. Very good in terms of quality and customer service. Better value for the buck than Tridel also

+1 The new Minto 775 building looks really good and isnt the typical boring glass tower. Same goes for Plazacorp. HUGE floorplans.......their 1 bedroom units are the same size as 2 bedroom units from other builders in the city!
 
I have purchased from Plazacorp and must admit that I am very impressed both with the quality of the workmanship and the finishes. Good value for the money. And unlike a lot of builders, what they show is what you get. No this is an add on at crazy prices. They offer upper middle quality as a rule and deliver.
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That's one of the reasons we chose Plazacorp, interested (although we were able to do some add-ons that we wanted to but not others). However, I have not been impressed with their customer service -- scanty communication at best and slow response time.
 
Pink Lucy,
I must say that I purchased 2 units from them in 2001 and now a 3rd in 2008. The first time I did the inspection the list was quite long but they got to most of it very quickly. When I went to do the 2nd 10 weeks later (1 was for personal use: 2 bedroom/den and a 1 bedroom as an investment) they pointed out alot of deficiencies that I would have frankly not noticed and took care of them very quickly.
The 3rd will be a small 2 bedroom at Liberty Village in King West Life. Again the intent is for one of my children to use it but if not, I will rent it out. If I am anywhere near as pleased as the first 2, I can't complain. Especially when I hear about what some of the other builders do.
I suspect perhaps part of the reason their customer care had scanty communication is that this is a relatively small company though they are becoming larger and I think they were somewhat understaffed in their customer service department.
Did they finally get around to correcting your problems?
 
We haven't done our PDI yet; I have heard that process is quite good. The level of customer care I'm referring to is the time between purchase and PDI; there is very little. For example, it would be nice to get an update, even every six months, on construction progress. I remember reading here on UT about customer care at Quay West -- the developer (Monarch?) set up an internet-based communication channel, held on-site meetings to go over move-in processes, etc. That type of information would be most helpful and welcome but it seems hard to come by. For example, we received a letter a while back stating what our possession date would be and that we'd get a follow-up letter to confirm X number of days before that date ... well, X number of days has come and gone. I can only assume our date is still valid but there has been no confirmation; I'm personally not concerned because I don't have to book a mover or be out of my current residence at a particular time but for people who do, that's an issue and they are frustrated. Renters have to give notice, owners have to decide when to list their properties, and no one wants to find themselves without a place to live because of a last-minute delay!

I did hear from people last year who did PDIs on a Friday and got their keys on a Monday! Fortunately, that isn't happening with our building, so they have made improvements there.

So while ultimately I expect to be happy with my purchase, I'd just like to hear a bit more from the folks who have been holding a significant amount of my money as a deposit and who stand to be paid a further hefty chunk of change when the purchase is complete!
 
Yaz16, do you know more about other developer like BJL, Empire Communities, Cityzen, Urban or Freed?
 
Empire is a decent builder though i'm not a fan of many of their condo names (fly, school house, rain). Freed while building some unique shape low to mid rise condo's do take a while to make them. Couldn't comment on their quality nor customer service.

Don't know about the others
 

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