Creating quality communities
October 23rd, 2007By Donna Kay Kakonge, Dream Homes & Condos Magazine
From acquiring the land, to choosing tradespeople, to the time it takes to build a home and all the good and bad stories about building – Townwood Homes and Baywood Homes share their knowledge on getting from A to B in new home building.
The first step in the building process is that the land needs to be acquired, explains Townwood Homes president Tony Guglietti.
“In acquiring raw land for development, the process of taking it from its original state to a finished community can take anywhere from three years to 20 years, depending on the status of the raw land and where it falls within the development process of the official plan of a municipality,” he says.
Natascha Pieper is director of marketing and sales with Baywood Homes. Her job involves market research, product positioning and managing the sales for both low- and high-rise residential developments.
“Our land acquisitions are selected by sourcing keylocations, up-and-coming neighbourhoods, foreseeing where the market will go and getting in there sooner,” says Pieper. “Hard work on the front end ensures our acquisitions are based on comprehensive studies, giving us the information necessary to make sound business decisions.”
Baywood Homes is currently working on the Bohemian Embassy project on Queen Street West in Toronto. They have entered into a community that is definitely artistic in nature and have to be sensitive to the artistic culture.
“We had to create a building that would blend with the architectural integrity of the Queen West neighbourhood,” Pieper says. “Landscape planning and architectural detailing are extremely important. Our developments need to be extensions of existing communities.”
Pieper also says that government initiatives such as the greenbelt legislation and Smart Growth are important factors to acquisition, as they are designed to manage urbanization and promote building in areas that have, or will have, the infrastructure in place to accommodate population increases. With initiatives such as these, many low-rise builders are also becoming high-rise builders. Smart Growth and related programs are encouraging builders to manage sprawl by building up more than out, which is an important factor in the location and usage of the lands they acquire.
Guglietti of Townwood Homes says location is a prime consideration in acquiring land.
“The estimated length of time the development process will take, the yield the land will produce and the type of community the municipality envisions within their planning process,” Guglietti says are all things to consider.
Pieper says the selection of tradespeople to build the home is also important.
“Builders are creating a brand, and the trades play a significant role in that,” Pieper says. “Quality work, home readiness, open communication, definitive timelines and regular trade council meetings help us to ensure we maximize efficiencies on-site. These elements help our projects move forward, which is key to maintaining our reputation as a quality builder.” Guglietti agrees.
“Reliability, reputation, workmanship, past projects they have completed as well as their competitiveness to acquire the contract,” he says. “The most expensive trade or the least expensive trade is not necessarily a deciding factor. It’s how they perform and their ability to complete the job on a timely basis and to our specified standards.”
Once the key players are set, it can take months to build a home. Guglietti says it takes five months on average from the time a building permit is obtained. Pieper agrees and adds that the building schedule sometimes needs to allow for more time to accommodate customized changes.
“A longer closing can come from people making customized changes to their plan which, as a custom builder, we’re willing to accommodate,” Pieper says. “With these issues however, consumers are accepting of the closings because they’re getting the home that they want.”
“How well you are organized is critical to completing a home on time,” Guglietti adds. “Many factors, though, can be beyond your control through work stoppages caused by labour shortage, material shortage, strikes and inclement weather.”
Both Pieper and Guglietti say Baywood Homes and Townwood Homes respectively build all-year round, although the winter is a difficult time to build.
Guglietti shares some of his success stories of building with Townwood Homes.
“Many years ago, we were one of the first builders to re-introduce the bungalow to the Toronto real estate market, we were taken back by the response to this ‘new’ plan,” he recalls. “During this process, we were able to assist with the needs of many families seeking easier access to their homes for disabled family members.”
Pieper notes environmental reasons as one of the successes Baywood Homes has had in building.
“We’re building Energy Star homes now to get involved with the green initiative,” she says. “We’re building our first four Energy Star homes at Napa Valley in Bowmanville and the Ravines of Greenhill in North Oshawa. It’s where the industry is going right now and we’re excited about it. Production quality of the home has improved, which makes the industry as a whole better. Homeowners are ecstatic. People are genuinely interested in having Energy Star homes. They’re interested in the energy cost-savings.”
Pieper says Baywood Homes finished seventh in overall customer satisfaction this past year with J.D. Power and Associates. This has been J.D. Power’s second year surveying homebuyers in the GTA.
“We have customer care centres right on-site, to respond quicker to the needs of our customers,” she adds.
Although these are success stories, there are some things to watch out for in home building too.
“Fire is a fear of all new home builders,” says Guglietti. “In one instance, as an occurrence of a fire that spread from an adjacent builder, we were able to rebuild a purchaser’s home, and much to their relief, move them in on their original closing date.”
Pieper says it is mother nature that is sometimes the biggest obstacle.
“As an all-season builder, we sometimes encounter inclement weather conditions such as heavy rains or severe snow storms,” she says. “These can be difficult to deal with. However, with over 20 years as a builder, Baywood has experience with these types of situations.”
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Contact the Jeffrey Team for more information - 416-388-1960
