Urbandale Construction Limited

We purchased a new build Urbandale home in 2019, moving in at the beginning of 2021 after a few minor delays. Overall we love the home but there are definitely improvements that could be made, and I certainly wouldn’t give Urbandale a 10/10. Some positives and negatives:

Positives:

- We were able to make changes to our floorplan for a few thousand dollars. This included expanding rooms and adding windows. Awesome.
- Likewise we were able to make plenty of changes to the electrical and kitchen for fairly reasonable fees, also awesome.
- The selection of materials and finishes is staggering, and there is some really nice stuff that is available without an additional charge.
- The sales and design centre staff were all great to deal with
- We found Urbandale floorplans in general (beyond our specific model) to be very well thought out and make good use of available space
- The house is very well insulated and efficient. Our furnace almost never goes into high-fire, even when it’s minus 30 out.
- Urbandale has generally been responsive to any issues we identify.

Negatives:
- We weren’t allowed to participate in our PDI due to COVID, and a bunch of issues were missed, including our hardwood flooring being wrong. We had to play hard ball with Urbandale and the flooring company to get it resolved to our satisfaction. We did eventually get it sorted, but it was an avoidable pain
- Communication from Urbandale in general hasn’t been amazing. They do respond quickly if you ask for things, but you do have to hound them a little on occasion to get things resolved.
- While Urbandale is responsive, it takes forever to get anything fixed. I get that there’s a trade shortage, but it seems a little ridiculous at times.
- Our house has the worst interior paint work I’ve ever seen. Drips, unevenness and straight up missing paint all over the place. Apparently that painter has since been let go, but now we have to write up every little issue we see in hopes of getting it fixed. Again, a pain.
- The general quality of the walls and trim leaves a bit to be desired. Unfilled nail holes and small gaps in trim, and a couple of walls have noticeable curves in them.
- We’re a year in and still have little things that need fixing. Nothing major, but don’t expect your house to be perfect on move in. We just completed our one year Tarion form and found yet more items to be fixed.

Overall I would recommend Urbandale, as I do believe they do a better job than many other builders. But I would like to see them improve communications and quality assurance.