Empire Communities

UNETHICAL COMPANY! I would never recommend Empire to anyone. They have absolutely no sense of solving problems all they want to say is no we cannot do this we cannot do that. I have been given a parking spot in the middle of 4 other spots with just lines. When asked about switching they said no. When I suggested installing a camera in case of an accident they said no. Moved in to the unit with bath tub clogged, BRAND NEW dishwasher not working, damaged hardwood floors and cabinets.
They also tried to force me to upgrade during the decor. They purposely show you a sink a size of bowl and scare you to upgrade to a $600 sink.
I even contacted the CEO, sales Director, VP of sales etc and none of them was able to do anything at all. No compensation no solution nothing.
Please stay away and go to other reputable builders out there and save yourself headaches.

What can I say, this home has been a crazy experience. Let’s start by waiting over three years to move into it. On top of the three year wait the job was rushed, and the quality isn’t good. There have been many things wrong with the house. I obviously would expect a few but not over 100 items. To say the least I have tried to be understanding of the situation. What makes the entire process worse is that the employees are so rude and full of attitude. I actually can’t belive the amount of attitude you receive when trying to contact them about items that are broken, such as the front door doesn’t work due to the weather strip, the window doesn’t close, tiles are chipped, tile choices are the wrong colour. You have to be available for service Monday to Friday 8-4 as they will not work with your schedule. You book off work and lose out on money and no one shows up. The joys of building with this builder have been overwhelming. This will be my first new build and my last unfortunately.

I had purchased a detached house in Stoney Creek Lush Phase 1 in September 2014. Since then my closing has delayed four times. Now they gave me new closing date of March 2018. Given their track record, I can't trust this builder.

Empire is the worst builder of Canada. Worst customer service. Management has no idea about customer service. They don't care about their clients. I had made the worst decision of my life when I bought the Empire house.

Despite my several calls and emails, they had no solid answer. Empire management only care about money. Very unethical and non professional attitude.

I would urge all potential buyers to please stay away from this mafia style builder. Buy from a reputable builder.

We closed almost 2 years ago and it has been nothing but a nightmare. They have come to redo our hardwood floors and kitchen tiles several times to fix our sloping floors. And none of that worked. They even brought in their own engineer who told them they had to add more support in the basement. The engineer signed off on his report by only looking at pictures that empire sent him. Now I have to be out of my house for 3 weeks while they redo the entire main floor flooring and support it correctly as it still slopes. Our shower door has been leaking since day one
and it still isn't fixed. It is causing mould. All which tarion agrees has to be fixed. Our upstairs
where the bedroom the flooring also slopes. They have made the lives of my family horrible
for almost 2 years. Incompetent is an
understatement. Mike Holmes supports them but when u try to get him to step up you are ignored. I have so many pictures of all of the defects.
And we are not evening talking about the minor
things. The builder is despicable and all they care about is themselves and getting their
money. They don't care what they put you through and how much you have to fight to get things done.

This house is totally nightmare. We complained so many times that our dishwasher is not working due to no power. they keep on making excuses that no 30 day warranty form. we got appliances after 30 day warranty form and still almost 6 months but no solution. my dishwasher has algae now. i hope to see grass from dishwasher next summer. it is not only dishwasher, nails are pooping out from everywhere. the powder room washbasin is not glued properly,and about to fell down any time. they fixed door many times still making noise.
we are very disappointed. they didn't provide me house for free. I paid for it. We learned a lesson never ever buy house from any builder.
it is totally a mental challenge.

Moved into house in summer of 2015
- Possible cracks in foundation wall covered up by floor to ceiling insulation in the basement. I wanted a cooler basement.
- Build only part of fences for corner lots but anything that touches other properties they don't do anything about and say you're on your own. And they only did this after I put "Fences Not Built" in Tarion 1-Year Warranty Form.
- They hate home inspectors.
- No attention to detail.
- They use "Paris Kitchens" - Ugh! Read their reviews.
- I didn't get a "Frame Walk"
- They put lights/switches in stupid locations.
- Standard finishes all suck so if you want a decent look to your house, you have to upgrade and that costs $$$.
- Tops of doors not painted.
- Garbage and debris buried around property and foundation during construction.
- No cabinetry in laundry room.
- No water meter installed until 30-Day Warranty Form Submission, so city back-charges me on an amount THEY determined.
- Hasn't started on top coat for driveway until it was mentioned in the Tarion 1 Year Form.

I had high hopes for my EMPIRE home. All in all the house is decently built. But finishing touches were messy or missing altogether (caulking left in the sink, caulking missing behind the sink, missing closet shelves, missing drain spouts, key for the garage door doesn't match the lock, outlets that don't work, etc.) After a lot of phone calls and chasing them around these issues got resolved. Except the garage door and outlet not working. I can be patient on a lot of things but when I pay for a house that I worked my butt off for, at the very least I expect good customer service. And Empire's customer service is HORRIBLE! They give the same bs responses thinking that I would be stupid enough to be appeased. There is never a straight answer. When contractors do show up there is never any notice. They literally rang my doorbell at 6am. When the notice did get taped to my door it was AFTER the work was done. After getting the run around about my sod, they laid it down during the hottest week of the year. Of course the grass never took despite diligent daily watering. (Pics included). The only things growing are the weeds. Then the people Empire hired to put up the fence posts tore up what decent grass we have with their machines. It would to cost me $1000 to have the lawn done professionally. The deck they built is made with splintered unsafe wood. It's crooked and looks like a blind 3 year old built it. I am embarrassed to have anyone come over because the exterior of my home looks DISGUSTING. I cannot believe Mike Holmes shackled his name to this builder. Had I bought at one of the more expensive developments then maybe Empire would give a damn about my home. God help us who already bought homes from these people. For those of you who are thinking about it, run far and run fast.

House is almost 3 yrs old.. You have to fight for any warranty work .. THe customer service people can't book any warranty contractors cause they won't call customer service back.. Stay away from Tom at empire. He is bs. Comes across nice but he is not.. I have grading issues and roof leak since day 1. They tricked the city into approving my grading.. And my back yard still floods. Roof shingles are starting to lift. Very disappointed in empire homes. I can't believe Mike holmes recommends them.

After many many delay's we closed. They switched utility companies and now the water heater rental is almost triple what the original supplier quoted. The term is 15 years and the cost to terminate this contract you are forced into is astounding. I closed with 50 items that needed to be addressed on the PDI and barely any of them have been seen to. I question if the lot is actually the size I paid for. I feel like I have been decieved. I feel as though they have tried to take every penny they can possibly get their hands on to the extent that it feels like thievery. And I feel that the home itself is sub-par and shoddy. The final product is lacking practicality due to them "cheaping" out such as doors open into each other and the dishwasher hook up across the aisle from where the dishwasher is supposed to be located (by their own design!) If at all possible I would strongly urge anyone considering to buy Empire to heed all the reviews on the internet, I wish I had.

Empire should be banned from building in Binbrook, I had over a 100 problems with my home when they turned it over to me so I put the problems on my PDI and Tarion and it took over 2 years plus many missed days of work to get the problems fixed. Its like pulling teeth trying to get things fixed and they have a excuse for everything. If you buy a empire home hire a professional inspector to look over your home when your getting it built if you have no construction experience. Do not let Tom into your house, he's the king of excuses, ask for Dylan or Jim.

I will never buy a home from Empire ever again, it was a nightmare. Do not believe the good reviews, those are people who don't have any knowledge of home construction.

The owners of Empire are also on the Tarion board so good luck with your warranty claim, the builder is on the board to protect themselves.