Stephanie from Edmonton

We are currently still trying to build with Montorio but it has been a very difficult process. Both my husband and myself have built before and had wonderful experiences so we were very excited to build with Montorio, especially since they list themselves as a “custom” builder. We started our experience back in September 2013 and are building one of their standard homes with a few minor changes (3rd garage added and some changes due to architectural controls). When we first signed with them we were given a time line of 9-12 months. As we had built before, plus my husband works in the construction business and even worked for one of the suppliers that Montorio uses, we fully expected delays and were guessing it would be closer to the 12 month mark. Unfortunately we have experienced ridiculous delay after delay. We were even told multiple excuses for the same delays. We did not receive any permits until March, which was blamed on the city. After further investigation we found it was the drafting department which took several months. We were told stake out would take 7-10 days after permits came in, it took 5 weeks (happened on April 25th). So here we were, 8 months into the process and not a grain of dirt had been moved. The hole was finally dug in early May. The site manager promised in an email that they would be able to make up time as soon as they started to build. They continued to stick to the Sept. move in date. We ended up waiting 2 weeks for the basement to be poured. By the end of June, with the house still not framed, so we decided to speak to the sales and marketing manager, as well as the head building manager. They claimed to understand our frustration and again, promised that they would do everything in their power to make sure our house was completed, although they said it would not be completed until the end of Nov. They promised we would be in by November 30th and I promised I would write a review of the company on that date, good or bad. Framing happened in July (although they went through 3 different crews and it took the city 4 inspections to pass). Things did start happening however there seemed to be several long stretches of time between the small crews of 1-2 men, so it took a while compared to other builders in the area. I do have to say that we have been happy with the overall construction of the house and that the trades have done a nice job. There were a few issues we brought up and unfortunately the site supervisor did not respond well to our notice of these errors. The show home sales manager was great though and made sure all our concerns were addressed. As we moved closer to November we continually checked to make sure they were on target as things seemed to again slow down. We were repeatedly told that it was and we even listed our house at the end of August (using Montorio’s realtor and following everything Montorio advised us to do as it takes longer to sell a house than the 35 days possession notice they give). Our house sold and the new owners wanted an end of October possession so we found other arrangements until the end of Nov. as Montorio was still sticking to this date. The week the new owners took possession Montorio dropped the bomb on us that they would no longer be able to keep their promise for an end of Nov. possession. We were furious as we had done everything they advised at this point, trusting them as they do this for a living. We started asking questions as to the reasons for the delays since a spec home (job 1633 which is the same design and neighbourhood) that was started 3 months after ours was listed as immediate possession on Montorio’s web site and was clearly ahead of ours in construction. They did not like us questioning them and so the site super's response was to refuse us access to the new house (my husband has all the safety requirements so it was not due to safety). This told us as clients that Montorio had the capability but not the drive to complete our house. They already had our money and have no problem forcing us to wait while they finished other houses to sell. We sent several emails, which were never returned, and phoned numerous times, which were always put to voicemail. We requested to be let back in, which they did thanks to the show home sales manager, and we asked for more frequent updates so we can better plan for things. We still have no idea when we might be moving in and Montorio is not giving us any kind of updates. Long story short, here we are at the end of Nov. and we still have not received our possession notice. I am almost 8 months pregnant with a 3 year old son, all of our stuff is in storage and we cannot access any Christmas items (ruining my sons Christmas) and we may have to repurchase all the baby stuff. Due to the holidays we are now scrambling and begging friends and family to find a place to stay and may have to resort to paying a huge hotel bill. I asked Montorio if they would help us as we are now homeless (based on their recommendations) and have to repurchase all this stuff. Their response was nope, that it wasn’t their problem. My husband asked me not to write this review as he is scared of the repercussions it may have as we are still in the process of building, but I made a promise to write a review on Nov. 30th and I would be no better than Montorio if I broke my promise, so here it is. We are now 16 months into the building process with no end in sight. ?