Reading this Canadian Lawyer magazine report: http://www.canadianlawyermag.com/4020/whats-the-future-of-glass-houses.html , I couldn’t help but think about the condo world, where a builders objective is to deliver a product fast and cheap, and where it is likely that the condo buyers will not get the higher end products available despite paying today’s premium prices. We’ve seen every jurisdiction … Read more
To the consumer a warranty should insure that a product meets their quality expectations, and the word quality is understood to mean the absence of any defect. A warranty usually addresses the integrity of a product and the responsibility for the repair or replacement of defective parts by the supplier. So how is a defect … Read more
While the Olympic Pillage Village was under construction there were TV news clips aired nightly of short cuts being taken to complete the project in time for the athletes. Should it be any surprise that CTV News reported on March 17th, Nicholas Gao and Yoko Chen, who took possession of their $600,000 suite in … Read more
The warranty insurance program in is basically worthless to homeowners, and allows corners to be cut in construction. “Buyer beware” remains a challenge, and even the best due diligence conducted by a buyer still presents unreasonable uncertainty.
This is not the place to cut corners in construction When I read this today it reminded me of what became clear during the Barrett Commission hearings over a decade ago in British Columbia. The many engineering assessments being conducted on leaky condos were turning up dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of building code violations. At one … Read more
We recently learned of “The Future of Housing”, an upcoming conference being hosted in Metro Vancouver on May 8, 2009, by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s BC chapter. The conference will be bringing together a diverse group of builder and real estate insiders to focus on the issues facing the housing market today and into the … Read more