SPECIAL EDITION – Ottawa doesn’t like Mattamy

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For those reading this blog, you’ll already know that Mattamy and Ottawa aren’t exactly on good terms.  What with doing the illegal landfill and trying to sell homes without a permit, Mattamy (and their local lobbyists – some former Ottawa employees) have developed a reputation for just doing what they want.  Just like old Oakville habits of doing illegal (code) wiring.

Well, according to the recently released JD Power report, reported in the Ottawa Business Journal, Mattamy fell off their pedestal in terms of customer satisfaction.

“Given the challenging market conditions, some builders have had to make some very tough decisions regarding their staffing models, and service levels may have suffered as a result,” said Marc Thibault, a real estate practice leader at the Canadian office of J.D. Power and Associates, in a statement.

“Some of the service levels that homeowners may have been promised or have come to expect from earlier experiences with the builder are not being realized.”

It seems though, that last years top runner couldn’t keep up with the other guys in the “challenging market conditions“.  Mattamy isn’t even listed in the Ottawa Business Journal report except to point out they fell from a height of 807 last year to not even mentioned.  Looking at the chart, they seem to be in last place or at least tied for last place.  For the full report, go to JD Power. (NOTE:  In the JD Power report, except for Monarch, rest of list is alphabetical, not in order of customer satisfaction)

In order of Customer Satisfaction, according to JD Power:

Monarch:           665

Urbandale          652

Minto                    650

I feel sorry for those that had to experience the lack of service but appreciate their opportunity to tell the REAL story about Mattamy.

From their experience, I hope people will now realize why we recommend a house  inspector – even the top boys can’t get it right.

EDIT:  Tanya H, over in the Hawthorne Villager forum informed me that perennial favourite Mattamy gleaned 2nd place in the GTA, behind Brookfield.  Tribute Communities came in third.  Go to this JD Power link for more on the GTA.  The title?  Hardly surprising: J.D. Power and Associates Reports: New-Homeowner Satisfaction in the Greater Toronto Area Declines Considerably.  Who’d have thought??

 

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Mattamy Homes – do they deserve the awards?

Some think that I am the only one with a complaint with Mattamy Homes.  You go to some sites and yes, they tell how the Mattamy guy carried their groceries into their house or, they left flowers for them when they moved in.  I certainly do not dispute that this kind of thing happened.

 

But, what I find is, that there are people out there who were royally shafted by the bully tactics of Mattamy Homes.  These are not people who deserved to be pushed around by a builder and who certainly deserved at least a quality home for the price they paid.  Mattamy Homes does not have a reputation for giving you upgrades, etc at a bargain price.   But then, most people expect to be given a quality product for the price they pay.

 

For the record, Mattamy Homes has received a number of awards.  If you go to the Mattamy Homes site, they will list them for you.

 

What I find interesting is the link that states the following:

 

Mattamy Homes ranks highest in new-home buyer satisfaction in the

Ottawa-Carleton region with a score of 807. Mattamy performs particularly well in seven of the eight factors that contribute to overall satisfaction: home readiness; construction/site team; warranty service; price/value; physical design; home quality; and design centre. Mattamy Homes also ranks highest in new-home buyer satisfaction in the Greater Toronto Area for a third consecutive year. Minto follows Mattamy in the rankings, posting considerable improvement during the past two years and increasing in satisfaction by 86 points, from 652 in 2006 to 738 in 2008.

 

 

You’ll note “Home Readiness”.    If you were able to refer to the blog: “Mattamy Fairwinds Kanata Phase 5 Delay” Blog”  you would note that in fact Mattamy Homes sold homes before they got the permit to build the homes and now the owners are all being told they have to wait way beyond the date they were given.  How could they win an award in an area they are selling homes without being permitted to do so?  Sorry, I guess these were homes they sold before this fiasco.  You’ll note that Minto posted “CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT”.

 

But what of Mattamy’s running history?

 

They are on record of selling a house that had the furnace wired illegally (code) wired and got the Town of Oakville inspector to pass this illegal act and allowed occupancy.  As well, there is evidence that they did not seal a garage properly and this could have allowed carbon monoxcide to enter the dwelling nor was the house gas installation properly inspected.  In addition to this, there is evidence that they have not properly installed ceramic flooring according to code.    They have also been charged with False Advertising (Cambridge) and illegal dumping (Ottawa).  And don’t forget that the Province of Ontario had to stop Mattamy Homes from doing construction on land (Milton) that had been recently fertilized with Human Waste, and thus putting not only their own workers at risk, but also their neighbours. (I wonder if the present land owners are subject to some kind of lawsuit if the neighbours have acquired a disease from this illegal dumping?)  And let’s not forget the recent problem in Bracebridge ( I note over a 1000 views but no comments – why??) where the homeowners are facing problems with flooding and other construction horrors?

 

We all like awards and when a friend/neighbour is given one, we rejoice.  Do we rejoice when someone presents an award to someone who is guilty of breaking the law or, unethical business practices?  For some, a bouquet of flowers is all it takes to see the good side.  For others, they suffer the stench of poor quality and lack of interest.

That is why I say, hire a house inspector to monitor the construction of your home.  If you don’t, then be prepared to face the consequences of a builder who really doesn’t care about quality.  Let’s face it, we are in an economic downturn and those without any scruples will charge you max for min and, unless you are qualified to check everything out, you can expect to be shafted royally.  I know as the Town of Oakville let one of their inspectors say the wiring of the furnace was legal and that allowed the sale.  Ask the Mayor of Oakville – it’s on record.

Mattamy Homes – how do they shape up with other builders?

I did my own JD Powers style survey today but, before you look at the results, I must admit they are not as scientific as what JD Powers would have done (or expected that they did) but, I found the results interesting.

I did a google search on “company name PROBLEMS”.   I.E. Mattamy problems.  If I got no response from google (I did for Mattamy), I would then add the word “builder”, especially if I got things totally unconnected to the builder in my first search.  These results are only on a 1 page search and the numbers do not reflect multiple problems discussed in a forum, just the one hit on the forum.

Based on this, I got the following results:

1. Mattamy            4
2. Ballantry            1
3. Minto                 1
4. Brookfield          1
5. Arista                 1
6. Great Gulf          0
7. Daniels Group    0

It is interesting that the company that got the highest award from JD Powers for customer satisfaction had the largest number of problem entries on Google when I searched builders.  For the record, I did not include any complaint that I might have posted.

As you can see more than Mattamy Homes do have problems and therefore I would still consider hiring a house inspector to monitor construction.  Just that with some builders with more problems, you might get more value from hiring the house inspector.