Ian Paine Construction Ltd

I would not recommend IPC as a builder.

My experience of Ian Paine Construction Ltd. was terrible and they were not the right builder for us in three instances.

1) Hiring IPC and watching quotes come in way over budget and realising IPC had designed us a house that was no where near $200 per sqft as agreed. Although we had a big input in the floorplan, what caused our build to become over budget was a special ICF foundation we never requested, a butterfly roof that was designed by IPC, and a miscellaneous labour fee of $80k that we later found out from other builders was not industry standard. So we have a now found a builder that can build us a house we can afford.

IPC is an award winning builder, which is why we were drawn to this company. The design of the house was great, but the cost was not.

When IPC gave us a budget estimate, we took it to the bank and got the full amount for the build, as we could provide the contingency (we thought the bank might provide this, but luckily we had the funds). The contract even states that the build comes in at $1.1m, which IPC signed. The quotes came in 2-5x higher than IPC’s estimates and IPC said we would have to increase from the agreed $200 per sqft to $250 per sqft. IPC also X-ed out the basement to try to remedy this, but this was not the house we agreed to build.

2) Firing IPC and getting a surprise and inflated invoice (including meetings, driving hours, assistant fees, foreman fees (our lot is empty)) attempting to take most of our deposit with charges dating back to before signing a contract. We were never notified of these charges or of this invoice until 3+ months later.

3) Having to go to Court to dispute these charges, hearing the judge disagree with IPC charges and being awarded a majority settlement. IPC attempted to charge outside the contract agreement, which IPC was advised they would not win in court. This wasted more of our time.

It is important to note that Ian Paine Construction is under new management. Although the company has been around for 30-40 years, it has been under this new management for around 5 years.

It is also important to know that with their ‘miscellaneous labour’ within their budget, their 10% management fee becomes more like 18-20% of your build.

This was a nightmare that cost us to lose 6 months of time, our mortgage rate (BOC raised rates 3 times) and our house design. We got a new designer who gave us high ceilings, large sqft, and even added more features that we didn’t originally have, but with a normal roof and normal foundation. We have now chosen a builder with building and carpentry experience, who physically knows how a house is built and does not have to delegate these skills to a foreman at our cost. There is no ‘misc. labour’ on the budget, and the percentage management fee, is the fee.