HawthorneVillager.com

Wow.... sorry to hear about your bad experience. I hope you are enjoying the new house now.

All I can say a bout the builder is that we pointed out so many things during our PDI and not much was done at closing. My mistake for not asking for every item in writing as I took the builder's person word at pdi that "he will personally make sure all will be fixed". Anyhow most got fixed now after speaking to another builder rep but not all.... so my 30 days report will be a hefty one. Most were cosmetic things but I am surprised at the workmanship as I would have done a better job at painting and finishing items!

We are enjoying the house and as you said can't wait for the dust to settle

We are in our first house as well and have witnessed the poor workmanship that is deemed as normal. We are trying to work with representatives because I too believe this was a rush job and there are many more touch ups than what should be the norm. We are hiring an inspector for the 30 day form because we are scared of what is behind the walls given what we see on the surface. We also had a wet basement at close and was told that its normal given the inside vs outside temp. A dehumidifier has helped considerably but there is still wetness and some water in places behind the water barrier. We are currently trying to work with the builder to try and make our new home experience turn around from what we are considering to have become a frustrating ordeal.

I'm sorry that happened to you. What a horrible way to spend your first night in your first house

We also noticed that they did a very sloppy job with the finishes of the house. There are paint drops literally ALL OVER the hardwood on the main floor and the hardwood stairs. I had originally spent a really long time trying to get the paint stains off the hardwood but the crazy scrubbing I had to do was causing some of the wood stain to come off so I stopped so we still have paint all over the wood. The carpet on the upper floor looks horrible.We have FOUR areas where the carpet is actually tearing and coming up. This sucks because we will probably have to move furniture to fix this. We noticed our sink wasn't draining well and found a cigarette butt in the kitchen sink. We had issues with the AC (and when we were moving the house was soooo hot) and when we emailed them, nobody even came to see it for over 2 weeks ( and that was after I sent ANOTHER email complaining that nobody came yet).

I have heard that Mattamy is good for customer service before the house closes, but once you get the keys, it takes a lot of calls and emails to get them to do anything. Looks like that might be true.

But I'm sorry to hear what a crazy experience you had, I would have been scared to stay in the house after that and no one wants that on their first night. I hope you have better luck with everything else in your new house!

Thanks guys -


I'm sadden that so many people in our phase has the same problem with poor workmanship.

I wish there was a way we could all collaborate a letter and submit it... the more voices there are - the louder we are. the better chance Mattamy will admit and fix their mistakes.

I think I remember seeing that fire truck in the middle of the night!! I'm glad things were not worse.


Mattamy is sending a rep and someone from the Furnance company to check my furnace and attic today. I asked about it, and Mattamy said there maybe a part that might need to be replaced. So I guess it is this issue you had.

I hired an inspector (PM me for info) for my 30 day Tarion. Well worth it - we found that the drywall tape on the "Party walls" in the attic were not even mudded and fell off - can cause potential decrease in fire rating. Please go and check your attics!

The train is louder than excepted and also passes by more frequently than we were told at the sales office!!!! I really hope that the wall and berm are done soon as that should help greatly from what I heard.

On a second note... I like the idea of writing a group letter to Mattamy about the poor workmanship and lack of prompt follow-ups by the builder. More so I suggest that we all send the 30 day report with most if not all the crappy finishing items (item by item as I did)... I listed almost every single item I was able to see and attached over 50 pictures. Folks, even though it is messy around the house, go out and take a close look as I found a broken bsmt window frame, cracked bricks and stuff... This might sound like an over kill however we paid premium prices for these house and deserve to get a top notch product in my opinion.

post some complaints here as well. People should know what they're getting into. http://www.miltonlifestyle.com/

I personally don't find the train noise to be too bad. When you are in the house you don't really notice it. It does go by pretty often though and it can be a bit loud outside. I think it will be better when the berm is up. We also listed every single little thing we saw on our 30 day and the list was pretty long!

Yes train is louder outside but not all of them as some I barely hear even outside. Loudest are the ones with double or tripple engines....

@ Laura4949... I have not yet sent my report but few things I can share:
- Scratch on basin in washroom which looks more like a defect
- Scratch on mirror in ensuite
- Rough finishing on walls all over the house (i.e. couple spots were patched and left unpainted!)
- On all windows I found that they didn't sand down the spots where the screws were screwed to the walls... go over the inside of the wooden frame with your hand and you will feel the bumps.
- Inadequate sealant in stand up shower...

Exterior:
Check for (brick, window frames, doors) damages and missing caulking around windows and doors.

During PDI our house was not cleaned properly so with dust and lack of time you were not able to catch everything. Once you move in you will discover all the little things.

I hope this helps

Finally we got the driveway paved (1st coat) now bring on the sod

Sod is finally here.... next is the fence

Hey guys - just wanted to follow up with my post about the furnace and all the poor workmanship I experienced thus far...

So FINALLY I was contacted by a very nice woman from Warranty services and she listened to my whole story and was VERY understanding and actually took what I was saying seriously... unlike the builders and customer care....

Good news is - they offered to fix my 30 day list right away - which they did and they are sending some workman over to complete some other projects I wanted to complete around my home.

Overall - very happy that someone at Mattamy actually cared about the ordeal and wanted to make it right. Too bad it took about 3 months....Obviously it doesn't take away what happened, but it's nice to know that someone finally came through. I'll be honest though, I still don't think that I'll ever purchase a new home through a builder like Mattamy again.... it's too much stress and too many communication problems between builders and customer care and other services. Looking forward to having the house all fixed up and ready for a street party!!!

Ps. Watch out for skunks - they are running around our streets at night and I had a run in with one with my dog, thankfully the little stinker ran under the port-o-potty...