[badc0ffee]

I used to live in Richmond and walked through Bankview a ton. Love the hilly side streets, the mid density, the older houses with porches right up to the sidewalks, and the urban parks.

I think the weak part is the lack of a grocery store, and how weirdly car oriented/stripmall the retail is, although that's understandable because it's all on 14th, or 17th west of 14th. Still, I love spots like Actually Pretty Good pizza.

 

[potatopizzafan]

 

[evjc]

 

[potatopizzafan]

 

[Shaka]

Interesting material and construction choice - should go up pretty quick, no? I kind of like it.

 

[potatopizzafan]

Interesting material and construction choice - should go up pretty quick, no? I kind of like it.

It has been quite interesting to watch the progress. Its like a big Lego model, the precast wall panels are massive.

I'm impressed by Graham, very well managed, well organized site. Quite the contrast to the infills being built in the neighbourhood

 

[IanBray]

It has been quite interesting to watch the progress. Its like a big Lego model, the precast wall panels are massive.

I'm impressed by Graham, very well managed, well organized site. Quite the contrast to the infills being built in the neighbourhood

NEVER buy one of the new infills going up in Marda Loop. They are all being built by fly-by-night cowboy builders from a certain part of the world. Garbage construction at a luxury price.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Are those walls stamped pre-cast concrete?

 

[potatopizzafan]

NEVER buy one of the new infills going up in Marda Loop. They are all being built by fly-by-night cowboy builders from a certain part of the world. Garbage construction at a luxury price.

I went to an open house recently for one by the River Park Church. Some of the worst finishing quality I've ever seen. So many gaps in trim, flooring, etc. Looked like they used an old rusty handsaw for most of the cuts. visible silicon everywhere. Can't imagine whats going on behind the walls.

Front unit in a 4-plex. $950,000.
I just laughed and walked out when the realtor told me the price

 

[IanBray]

I went to an open house recently for one by the River Park Church. Some of the worst finishing quality I've ever seen. So many gaps in trim, flooring, etc. Looked like they used an old rusty handsaw for most of the cuts. visible silicon everywhere. Can't imagine whats going on behind the walls.

Front unit in a 4-plex. $950,000.
I just laughed and walked out when the realtor told me the price

Yeah it's a complete disgrace and many folks who do not have knowledge of construction of interior details do not see it unfortunately. they are paying close to $1M for complete dog-shit. The same worker doing the concrete is doing the window installation, and the electrical and the flooring and the painting. They are not skilled tradesmen. Shame on the City for allowing it to happen.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Shame on the City for allowing it to happen.

What should the City do? Quality is not something the City police. These places still get inspected. IMO it is the buyers responsibility to know what they're buying. Always get your place, even a new place, inspected. I backed out of two purchases because an inspector advised against buying them.

 

[IanBray]

What should the City do? Quality is not something the City police. These places still get inspected. IMO it is the buyers responsibility to know what they're buying. Always get your place, even a new place, inspected. I backed out of two purchases because an inspector advised against buying them.

City inspections are limited to electrical, plumbing and HVAC. They do not check the installers qualifications and only red seal tradesmen/women should be installing those. Furthermore, the City does NO inspection of windows, roofing or building envelope. Those three are the primary cause of future water leaks that cause tens of thousands of damages to homes when installed poorly by shoddy contractors which is happening now.

A homeowner has no way to inspect what is behind walls. They have no way to know if the roofing was installed during winter when it should have been installed in summer. They have no way of knowing that window flashings and sealants are missing etc.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Sounds like added costs to find and higher windows, roofing and building envelop inspectors for something a good realtor and home inspector should be able to spot. Like you, they should be able to take one look at a new build or flip and know if it was well done.

If anyone needs a good realtor, message me and I'll give you their information.

 

[CBBarnett]

I went to an open house recently for one by the River Park Church. Some of the worst finishing quality I've ever seen. So many gaps in trim, flooring, etc. Looked like they used an old rusty handsaw for most of the cuts. visible silicon everywhere. Can't imagine whats going on behind the walls.

Front unit in a 4-plex. $950,000.
I just laughed and walked out when the realtor told me the price

It's amazing how random some of the stuff is these infills too - it's like they grab a random set of contractors ranging from ultra-pros to people who have never done it before. Result is a jarring mis-mash of quality where some stuff any DIY person could do better with a youtube video right next to a perfect install.

Unfortunately for most people buying a home who have little or no interest in housing construction, it's really difficult to know what to look for until you've already bought a place once and slowly realized how crappy it's built over a decade of discovering stuff when it comes up to fix (speaking from experience!).

It's also difficult to rely on the market pricing for this - a crappy build and a properly built one with otherwise similar characteristics aren't often noticeably different in price.

 

[BigWoofer]

City inspections are limited to electrical, plumbing and HVAC. They do not check the installers qualifications and only red seal tradesmen/women should be installing those. Furthermore, the City does NO inspection of windows, roofing or building envelope. Those three are the primary cause of future water leaks that cause tens of thousands of damages to homes when installed poorly by shoddy contractors which is happening now.

A homeowner has no way to inspect what is behind walls. They have no way to know if the roofing was installed during winter when it should have been installed in summer. They have no way of knowing that window flashings and sealants are missing etc.

What's the practical solution? City inspectors on-site at every infill site to ensure things are being done properly and the workers have the right qualifications? It's unfeasible.