Phelps Renovations

Delays, shoddy workmanship and poor service sums up our experience purchasing a new home from Phelps Homes. Although this is for their Renovation division, I find it hard to find a reliable source to post my review on their new construction division so I will post here. People should know what they are getting into when spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house from this company.

We signed our offer to purchase in January 2017 with a closing date of April which we assumed would be sufficient time, given the foundation had already been poured when we signed. We were delayed twice, pushing our FIRM closing date back to end of June. We ended up selling our house based on our new closing date, then 30 days prior to selling we were called with another delay, then another and then another. In total, we were delayed 5 times for a total of almost 4 months. Tarion warranty covers delayed closing compensation, but this hardly covers the extra costs you incur - we had to pay a moving company twice, 2 months of storage fees, and room-and-board. At the end of the day, we would have been okay with these delays had we moved into a complete and quality built home. Every time we were delayed, one rep or another from Phelps told me it was to ensure our home was built to their top quality standards.

We initially showed up for our PDI inspection as scheduled but when we arrived, the Build Care Manager Chris told us it wasn't going to happen because the house was nowhere near complete - we were scheduled to close the following Tuesday yet they did not even have an electrician scheduled until the following Wednesday to install light fixtures. So we traveled 45 minutes out of our way, found childcare for our daughter just to be told it was a waste of our time.

Upon moving in, the real frustrations began. The day we moved in it was nearly 40 degrees outside with humidity. We had paid for an air conditioner through Phelps but they forgot to wire the unit to the electrical panel so our house was 30+ degrees inside. I had escalated this to several people at Phelps, including the Build Care Manager Chris, his assistant and even the site supervisor. They kept telling us sometime next week it would be repaired - it finally took my wife threatening them with legal action for them to re-allocate their electricians from another site that had not yet closed to finish the job and get us working a/c.

We had submitted about 30 items on our PDI and over the first 30 days of possession we had seen 1 technician for a total of about 6 hours to address concerns in the house. When it came time to submit our 30-day warranty we had well over 100 deficiencies. These deficiencies range from simple paint touch-ups to missing cupboards and glass shower enclosures to closets that they 'forgot' to frame in. Best part of this, is that when I pointed it out to them that our bedroom was missing a closet they offered to buy us an IKEA wardrobe instead! That sounds like a quality builder to me!

As others have mentioned, the house was a mess when we took possession. As technicians come in to make repairs, they will leave their mess for you to clean up - drywall dust everywhere, sawdust all over countertops, etc.

This is by far the most unorganized home builder I have ever experienced. Their customer service is poor, they have no sense of urgency and apparently no one to keep them accountable.

I could go on and on with ranting about Phelps, but if you really want to understand what they are like, simply drive through a community in Smithville and talk to anyone - seems like we've all been through the same thing.

BUYER BEWARE and GOODLUCK if you choose to purchase with Phelps!

We are happy with the design of the house. All other areas of purchasing a new home from Phelps were a disappointment. Our closing date was changed numerous times and was still not complete upon closing. The house was very dirty upon closing. We spent two days cleaning it up to move in. The items note on our PDI were not completed. We added 50+ more items after our 30 day inspection. There has been minimal work completed and we are getting ready to request our 120 day Tarion inspection. We have had a number of work days scheduled with nobody showing up. This has been very frustrating. Very person that we have work with start from our sales rep, design rep, two site superintendents have left the company. This is a poorly managed company. I would not recommend purchasing a new home from Phelps.

Houses are disgustingly dirty and unfinished, some damage. They say they have cleaners come in before you take possession, but I saw no evidence of this. Trying to deal with them is awful, once they hand off the keys they don't have time for you anymore. They have some real communication issues between all departments. Building a house is stressful, I get it...this is out of control though. And there is no one to make them accountable.

Phelps Homes Ltd. Has two branches: renovations and production homes. I'm describing experiences with the production homes branch located in Smithville. However, they are also building in Grimsby, St
Catharines and Jordan.
Homes have a lot of thought with regard to design, etc. The processes for moving in on time, having a complete house to move into and working with customer care is extraordinarily stressful and very disappointing.
Specifics would be: late closing date, incomplete home on the exterior, incomplete and/or shoddy workmanship on the interior. Special FYI: paint job will be terrible and one coat of paint; your flooring may not be installed wall to wall as stated from the beginning; PSI items will get pushed to 30 day Tarion list and then get pushed to conciliation stage with Tarion. Do not cancel your Tarion appointment as this is the only leverage you have.
Remember to be respectful, courteous and polite when dealing with staff. Nobody like to be yelled at...
It's better to be prepared for the experience and thefefore you may not be so shocked. Talk to the residents at Atwater, Streamside, Auburn Trail and Brookside for the realistic picture of what to expect.

Our first problem started with the sales experience, they only disclosed the hydrant that was on our property, after signing, we then find out about the Light standard and we were never told about the telephone box. The site was given the wrong closing date by our design rep (she is no longer with the company) so while head office is saying we are on time, they are working with another date, however that did not matter in end because we were delayed three times, with assurance that the last two delays were to ensure that our house was fully finished before closing. However, after three delays, we had to close on an unfinished house. We could not live in the house for the first week because the kitchen was not operational, when it came time for our stove cutout to be done, we were told by Phelps that they don't do this, that the company that built our kitchen is supposed, this company shows up early and say they're there as a favour to Phelps and mark where the cutout is supposed to be but won't cut it out because our stove had not arrived yet.
The Owner-Care representative ignores the clients, does not respond to emails and when work is scheduled, they pick the easy stuff but they leave a mess behind for the homeowners to clean up, I had to clean 3 pairs of shoes because they sanded drywall mud right over top of them, I guess it was too much work to push the shoes out of the way. Our major issues have still not been addressed and it's stressful, sadly, we are not the only home going through this.

What should be a exciting experience will not be with these people, All keep shifting problems and blame to someone else, cannot finish a home on time (not just me) rush to finish leaving a incomplete sloppy mess. Follow-ups on issues they just treat you like a inconvenience, Customer service will not tell truth to your face and laugh and brag about it outside their job trailer on one of their 50 smoke breaks a day. Yes we all hear you in the neighborhood.

Phelps was 1 year late starting the renovation, and flooded the entire place... Four times. They destroyed my home to the point where I had move out because the floods destroyed it and all of the furniture. We had to sell it because the damages could not be repaired. Have any questions? Feel free to email me at duck_man_03@hotmail.com

Phelps homes recently completed our bathroom renovation and we just love it. The finished product is exactly what we asked for. I would certainly use them again. Its nice to have a contractor that still has exceptional attention to detail.