Fernbrook Homes

Had my closing a few months ago for a townhouse built by Fernbrook Homes and the following are my comments/experience:

Pros
- Sales representative was easy to work with and quick to respond to questions throughout the process up until closing.
- Customer Service, site office staff and office staff will work with you and respond promptly to delay compensation issues, deficiencies and rectifying upgrades that were not installed or missed (either refund buyer or fix the problem).
- Although technology was very outdated and everything was done manually at the Decor Center, the staff there did work with customers carefully choosing the best upgrades according to budget and offered lots of advice.

Cons
- Even when all the items listed in the feature sheet formed part of the Purchase Agreement, construction related items maybe substituted to save costs without compensation nor consent from buyer. Fernbrook will simply state that building codes were met or the approved drawing did not specified item to be required (e.g. exterior sliding door replaced with swing door that intrude into interior space, steel beam replaced with laminated lumber beam, etc.). Note: Fernbrook and Tarion will both use "meeting building codes" as definition for "substitution with equal or better quality", so as long as the item meets the minimum building codes, builder could substitute any construction features even when the promised feature is of better quality/material than the substitution (if a feature is important to buyer, it is not enough to include it in the Purchase Agreement, must ask lawyer to put in language to prevent substitution for the particular item(s)).
- Workmanship in general was very poor, rather than fixing the obvious items before the PDI, Fernbrook would let buyer identify them and waste everyone's time to have each trade come in fixing one thing at a time. Builder also overbooked slots for rectifying defects and promised slot would be missed because the customer service technician was asked to drop my appointment to work on something else without notifying me. My agent did actually agreed that the workmanship at my home was really bad as she just looked at another client's home also built by Fernbrook and the workmanship there was much better but closing was delayed for more than a year. So, looks like Fernrbook does have crew that are good but buyer might suffer a much longer delay, and to avoid delays, Fernbrook would employ contractors that are quick but do a sloppy job to speed things up.
- Lots of garbage (e.g. lunch boxes, socks, shoes, plastic bottle filled with yellow liquid, cigarette boxes, used tape, etc.) were left in the ducting, under vanity cabinets, under kitchen cabinets, any crevices or nooks.
- When closing, check each adjustment carefully against the Purchase Agreement with your lawyer, builder's lawyer overcharged on many items (either they have too many closing at the same time and used a template to save time, or overcharging simply hoping buyers would missed them).
- Issues with water tank rental agreement is nothing new (e.g. no definite termination date, unreasonable rental charges that could also increase anytime in the future, no clear buyout schedule, etc.), but always check to see if buyer can include a reasonable buyout option/amount in the Purchase Agreement to have a way out if the charges or terms in the rental agreement is unfavorable (which I learnt the hard way).

I purchased a Fernbrook home in Maple in October 2015 and closed July 2018; although the long wait was disappointing, it is expected in this industry and I planned accordingly.
Upon closing there were deficiencies, which I have come to learn is common with new builds; we were in a time of growth and hiring good contractors is not always easy.
Fernbrook is in the process of fixing the deficiencies, and to be fair, I will provide an update on their completion, including quality and timeliness; this may also increase my overall score.

Royal Oak Club Oakville: Having never built a home from scratch before, we had a lot to learn about the process and there was a huge gap in our understanding about the process, but Fernbrook came through on almost every part of their promise. We now have a beautiful home in a lovely neighbourhood. The personal service from the ladies at the design centre ( pre build help from Carmela, Susan S at Downsview was outstanding ) and the the "after sales " service was excellent. ( amazing assistance and trouble shooting from Stacy P and Darius). As long as we were patient and persistent we found that Fernbrook was able to resolve all our needs. And few times they saved came to our rescue to resolve a problem.-thank goodness for their help! We have been truly satisfied with our new home.

I had the pleasure of purchasing a home from Fernbrook in Oakville. The entire sales experience was exemplary. From the construction process, picking out the upgrades into the decor centre, to the after care service. If I was going to buy another home it would definitely have to be a Fernbrook. The quality of their workmanship, the layout of their homes, and their locations are second to none. I would highly recommend them. If you're in the market for a very well built home, you should make Fernbrook the first name on your list.

I came across these reviews for Fernbrook Homes and thought I’d share our experience.

We moved into our Fernbrook home in Spring, 2016. This was the third time we have purchased a new home, and we have previously lived through a complete renovation of a century home.

Our experience with Fernbrook continues to exceed our expectations. The designs are inspired, with architectural details usually reserved for only the best custom homes. The choice of finishes and materials at the decor centre was fantastic. The sales team was a pleasure to deal with, both before and after our purchase. Changes to layout and finishes were accepted without additional cost, and our home closed on time.

As with any new home, there were some incomplete and defective items. While repairs didn’t happen overnight, the customer service team did everything we asked of them and more.

I would not hesitate to recommend this builder to anyone, and would certainly purchase another Fernbrook home.

I love my new home! Fernbrook has been great! The market value has gone up every year and the house is solid and still looks brand new after 6+ years!
Stacey the customer service manager has been fantastic! She really cares about the home owner and it makes a big difference. The few issues that we had were dealt with professionally and completed within a reasonable period of time. I would recommend Fernbrook to anyone who is planning on buying a home. They are a solid investment.

We have had 11 new homes over the years with different builders and this experience from construction to completion and overall service rated right at the top. Thank you Fernbrook.

Terrible experience, what a disappointment.

We bought our home from what we thought was a "good reputable builder". We have had nothing but problems in the 4.5yrs we've owned the home. At this point in our new home purchase we now have to spend $10,000 to replace our roof...YES the roof needs to be replaced within 5 years and Fernbrook is not interested in assisting (nor is Tarion). We have had 3 water leaks in 5 years and I have had enough of the poor patching jobs and need to get the entire thing replaced (roofers won't even entertain repairs anymore and will only come to replace the roof at this point).

We also had to have the front room on the main floor JACKED UP because they forgot to install a load bearing beam in our basement where one was needed. We discovered this after realizing a door wouldn't open all the way as it was hitting the floor half way through. The floor had SUNK over 3" on a span on 8 feet! Talk about quality.

I can go on and on..but I think I've made my point. I couldn't be more unhappy and disappointed with this house built by Fernbrook Homes.

As soon as we moved into our new house, the level of customer service dropped to an astonishingly poor quality. We had to engage our lawyer multiple times for advice on how to get Fernbrook to respond to our concerns.

Definitely beware of this builder!

FernBrook homes hired cheap contractors resulted poor job. No sound proof etc. Some of site fernbrook staff's are very professional's. Some of them are extremely good with customers compare to head office. That's the only reason why I didn't write more negative comments about the builder.