Urbandale Construction: Riverside South Experience Centre - Ottawa, Ontario

t S.

Purchased home during Covid Aug 2021, had delays for closing which was expected. Sales team and design center was great, no issues —everything was explained thoroughly.

Urbandale was able to rectify a staircase issues before closing date and was professional in correcting it. Much appreciated, they could have made us closed and have it fixed afterwards but they didn’t do that to us. Unlike other builders that would.

Only real issue was Chantal from warranty that was really unresponsive and failed to acknowledge any concerns from after purchase care…. thank goodness for Giles and Mario who have been trying their best to fix up minor issues after closing. They really turned a negative review to a good one.

Home is built to standard and expectations.

Angel C.

Extremely disappointed with our purchase experience so far. Lack of support from their sales team, this will be first & last home we get from Urbandale.

After sales service is poor, would not recommend! Much happier with our HN home.

Belle Y.

Our 36" standard fridge cabinet can't insert standard 36" fridge. We reported this issue after moved in within one week. The problem is the cabinet size is designed smaller, and also the wall of the cabinet is built slope instead of straight. Even though, Urbandale warranty office insisted their size is correct. Therefore, we measured the actual size and made a drawing sent to them. But after that, it's been more than one week, no response, however we tried to resend to them and hard push. No response, nowhere to get a phone call to contact them. Now a big fridge stuck in my living room!! We understood we are the new owner to buy this model, it may happens it is designed somewhere wrong for the first time to build it. but we didn't expect that Urbandale pushed us to accept the wrong design, the same as fireplace that happened. However fireplace is amended after our hard insisting. On that time, at least we had people to communicate with, but now, we don't know where we can talk everybody from Urbandale is lost completely.

I totally agreed with some reviews that warranty office is always trying to protect their contractor's benefit rather than home owners!! In fact, before moving, we reported to them that the fridge cabinet is smaller than standard. They replied it was improved. but when we moved in, we measured it couldn't fit my standard 36" fridge in. They sent workers to move off the frame feet around the bottom of the wall. But when the fridge came in, it still couldn't insert the fridge in. Moreover, the frame feet is supposed to be there based on standard fridge cabinet, which shouldn't be a solution. The fridge cabinet is a nightmare for us now, we hope to get somebody positively communicate with us, we hope the nightmare can be gone earlier. I will follow up my story and continue to post here to share, hope it can help all future home owners. Also I hope it can help Urbandale to improve their customer services.

Wennin C.

Urbandale does not live up to its reputation and so called "high standards".

A month after moving into our new home (after having our closing date pushed back 3 times), we experienced a sewer backup determined to be the result of negligent construction. As a result, items stored in the basement were damaged as well as trims, baseboards, drywall, carpet etc...

Its been over a month and we still haven't been able to use our own basement! To top it off, we are out of pocket because Urbandale has refused to cover our contents damaged and increased hydro bill (heavy machinery was running 24/7 for a week). No apology was conveyed or compensation offered for the inconvenience of being displaced from our home and the stress caused on our family.

Had high hopes for this builder but overall experience has been terrible! On top of the sewer backup, we paid for upgrades and have since discovered that some were not installed, but have not been offered any compensation for the errors. All Urbandale cares about is getting paid. There is no incentive to rectify issues or to deliver on a quality home that they can stand behind.

If you're looking for a problem-free experience, stay clear of Urbandale homes. All you'll be left is regret and headache.

Dragica K.

Building my house with Urbandale was the worst experience of my life. I agree with all other bad reviews. Urbandale is no longer the quality builder they used to be. They did not deliver anything they promised at their sales office. They forgot to deliver my two major upgrades and just offered to break the contract without taking into consideration the house price increase. So I was stuck with the house I did not want. On the moving day, they sent the wrong keys but to make things worse they were aware of the issues with the keys and just chose not to say anything about it. Luckily, my lawyer forced them to get the new keys. The quality of the house is equally bad. Among many issues, it turns out that Urbandale doesn't soundproof the walls so unfortunately I am quite aware of what's happening in my neighbour's house. They are so cheap that even cutting the stone floor tile at the entrance was too much work for them so they simply left some empty space. It's beyond laughable now that I have no energy left to stress about it anymore. I can see that many customers complained about poor cleaning job and preferred the job to be done better instead of the voucher Urbandale gives. However, they don't care about what customers are saying and continued with their business as usual.
Buyers, run far and fast away from Urbandale and save your money and nerves.

J S.

Sales team was awesome when purchasing the home Alex was really easy to deal with. On closing they did not even clean one of my units and left a note on a piece of paper saying they would offer to clean at at later date?! This is how you close on a home? It has been almost a year now and the items from 30 day report are still pending. The construction team does not care about the homes they build and they use very poor trades to come back and "fix your home" They spent a week fixing my property and there is still a lot of work to be done. Windows leaking, several leaks in the home, paint all over the floors, damaged kitchen cabinets, damaged ktichen cabinets etc The finishing trades are very unprofessional and there is no one on the Urbandale team that oversees their work which leads to the homeowner dealing with the warranty department. This is not right for any client. For example when they are building your home they are so lazy they do not even cover the tiles floors or the carpet. They let all of their trades walk on your brand new floors with no care. Stay away from this builder until they fix up their act. They are not the same Urbandale they used to be! If you want to save yourself from stress, headaches buy from a builder that cares! it has been almost 1 year and their is many items to be fixed repaired etc. I have had better experiences with Minto and Richcraft at least they come and fix your home in a timely manner. Urbandale is using COVID 19 to as an excuse to hide from their customers. Be very careful with this builder! I would not recommend anyone purchase from this builder until they can get their together and build and quality home.

Sorin A.

We got a house from these guys in 2014 so I can tell from experience they provide cheap windows and doors and they will cut corners whenever possible. We had the windows failing withing the first year, got some replaced that failed in the next year as well. They did not even mount proper strips around the windows. The door was poor quality as well. We had issues with the heating in one of the bedrooms that took years to fix it. I would stay away from this company unless you want some nice brochures and a long string of issues after. Graciously 1 star.

Alannah

I am dissatisfied with this company. Purchased my first home back in April 2019. I was supposed to move in June 1 2021 but am still waiting. They keep telling me they cannot give me any idea of closing dates. I’ve wrote two e mails asking for updates and no one has responded to me. No information about what is delayed or what has been completed has ever been disclosed to me. When I asked if I could have measurements to get a head start at ordering furniture and blinds they said no. Very poor customer service. I understand delays are out of their control but customer service isn’t and ignoring e mails is really unacceptable when people are giving you their life savings. There is no transparency and I feel like I am being kept in dark about what’s happening with my home.
This is not how I imagined my first home buying experience.