Tarion has listed the finalists for the 2019 Homeowners’ Choice Awards, which the home warranty program provider says “give Ontario’s new home buyers the opportunity to have their new home builder recognized for excellent customer service.”
“With today’s increasingly competitive housing markets, a new home commands an even larger proportion of a person’s household income than ever before,” Tarion president and CEO Howard Bogach said in a statement. “As prices rise, so too do homeowner expectations. What these awards recognize are the builders who have not only met, but exceeded, those expectations through service excellence.”
There are four categories:Small, medium, large volume and high-rise.
Every fall, Tarion engages a third-party research firm to conduct a province-wide customer satisfaction survey of new home owners in their first year of ownership – specifically, homeowners who took possession between Oct. 1, 2017 and Sept. 30, 2018. Survey questions focus on homeowners’ satisfaction with their builder, covering every stage in the homeowner-builder relationship – from the signing of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, through construction and the pre-delivery period, to after-sales service. More than 54,500 invitations to complete the survey were sent by email and post. Over 14,000 completed surveys were returned, representing a response rate of 21 per cent.
To qualify for the awards, builders must have at least five new home possessions during the survey timeframe and a specified number of completed questionnaires must have been received.
Award recipients will be announced on April 17.
The following new home builders are finalists in the four award categories: Small, Medium, Large Volume and High-Rise.
Small Volume Category (5-20 possessions per year)
- C. Kelos Homes Limited, Thunder Bay
- Chris King and Son’s Construction Ltd., Kingsville
- Ed Robinson Homes Ltd., Dunville
• Lockwood Brothers Construction, Oxford Station - OPUS Homes Inc., Vaughan
- Terry Waito Homes Inc., Petawawa
Medium Volume Category (21-100 possessions per year)
- Klemencic Homes Inc., Trenton
- Larry Otten Contracting Inc., Stratford
- LeBlanc Enterprises, Cobourg
- Policella Homes, Welland
- R.V.L. Contracting Inc. – R.V.L. Homes, Grimsby
- Timberland Homes, Lasalle
Large Volume Category (More than 100 possessions per year)
- Activa, Waterloo
- Hayhoe Homes, St. Thomas
- Mountainview Homes, Thorold
- Rinaldi Homes, St. Catharines
- Sorbara Group of Companies, Vaughan
- Uniform Urban Developments, Ottawa
High-Rise Category (More than 100 high-rise possessions per year)
- Branthaven Homes, Burlington
- Brookfield Residential, Markham
- Del Ridge Homes Inc., Markham
- Great Gulf Homes, Toronto
- Onni Group, Toronto
- Tridel, Toronto