Excel Homes

Worst decision I ever made was to purchase a home built by excel homes! If I could turn back time I would continue to rent, inside of owning my home in the Heartland!!

From sales person over promising and no longer working with the company all the way down to our so called "warranty" repairs that I have to fight to get done, and then they don't get completed and I either have to continuously send emails or do them my self!

Its not just me who feels this way ... my ENTIRE BLOCK feels the same way, and they have just decided to accept the fact that they will never receive good customer service!

Purchasing your first home is supposed to be one of the best times in your life and I REGRET it every day that I've been here and its been a year now ... awesome way to live!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I built my first home with excel and it was the worst experience ever. The site super was terrible...tried to help when the wrong bathroom shower was delivered...told me to leave and don't come back until the home was complete....emailed head office and they did nothing. They had to change it out before possession and made a total mess, flooded the home due to trying to pull up another shower line which again I pointed out during a walkthrough was missing..this resulted in water stains in the ceiling on the main floor....they were too cheap to replace the board, dried it out instead. Even the property wasn't graded correctly...always had pooled water around the fence line when it rained. Terrible...sold the house after a year...will never build with excel again, buyer beware

Since contract was signed we have had nothing but issues. Missed a tonne of work due to incomplete repairs. It's come to the point we do it ourselves to make sure it's right. Concrete leaking in our basement and garage! 7 visits in total and several repairs and still leaking! Warranty team and customer care doesn't return emails. I've sent hundreds of pictures. Warranty team member Kevin called me derogatory names when asked when they were returning in front of many neighbours. Excels vice president came in person to apologize provide us a $200 gift card but kept that staff member on staff! 10 foot Flashing dangerously hanging from our home at one time and Marc, a "construction manager" told me its not dangerous. Neighbours were coming to our house worried about children being hurt. I seem to recall a little girl being decapitated from flashing. My husband had to race home to remove it. New members they've sent our way Shane and Michael are always blaming something else that would be something not covered under warranty, and leave work unfinished and not right. We have already contacted Alberta new home warranty and are planning to proceed with a claim. We are sick and tired, but looking for fairness! Not going to accept this. It's funny no customer service member replied to this. It's a known neglected home owner that was swindled. Never again! Don't buy an Excel Home!

I am going to attach some pictures they say 1000 words.

First it was the tile who sub contracts the work to other companies and what we found out they also sub contracted again. Crooked, chipped and huge grout lines which they agreed to remove some tiles and redo but only to a max of 3 sheets than we would need to go to new home warranty. We got so fed up with having someone here replacing tile we gave up!
They paint all the doors with the hardware attached so paint is on most of the door hardware and on some carpet.
Water pipes going to toilet come on an angle so the metal hole cover doesn't sit on the floor to hide the pipe entries.
Siding not cleaned when we moved in which you have to note on your walkthrough we were told.
Concrete walkway was poured wrong so they had to replace 2 slabs. After they poured the new slabs there was staining in some areas and they had to come back to fix it, attached are pictures of the quality work. The siding, bottom stucco and brick pillars were covered with cement dust which we had to have cleaned up now we have broken stucco and some cracked bricks. Which we still need to notify them on. The water main in the driveway started chipping and cracking during the winter, they say that it was the city who did that and not their responsibility. But no one knows why it was cut out and we are stuck with it.

Bought a semi-finished brand new corner home. Said the home would be done by possession date and ready to move in. First untruth. Home was not done. We signed for a regular sized porch and deck. Lo and behold... they said city bylaws prevented them from building what WE SIGNED for and they tried to "secretly" build it for less then half the original size. When we confronted them they said they got the permit after they made that blunder... not even fully prepared and making empty promises. Second untruth. Several of the cabinets and closets were made horribly and they had to return several times to replace and repair them. They also use the cheapest possible options.. and this is after we signed and paid the down payment for house. The sales rep and the repairmen were extremely unfriendly and just made the whole process more of a pain then necessary. Thankfully the sales rep was replaced, his name was Tom who constantly showed dishonesty and tried to save his own hide after we confronted him with several of the promises we signed for that he broke and was dishonest about.

Over all.. AVOID EXCEL HOMES. They make empty promises, use the cheapest possible method and supplies and often times do a shoddy job that requires constant replacement and repairs. Horrible experience. And we are not the only ones as this has happened to several others too.

My family and I decided to get a new home for the first time in our life 2010. We took possession and moved in 2011. We didn't do our research because we didn't know anything about buying new homes. That was our first BIG mistake. We just saw the showhome and loved the model so we decided to go with Excel Builder.

From the beginning until the end and longer (like today), we have had very unpleasant experience with them. Communication between the sales centre, the contractors, the sub-contracters, the builders and all were a mess and very much lacking. We had several issues, which some have been resolved but it took up to 2 years to do it. Other issues, like our roof, are still yet to be resolved and they haven't gotten back to us. We put in the request and problem in question 3 years ago and it still hasn't been dealt with. There was once where the workers (sub-contractors) were supposed to come look at the roof, and the foreman arrived to the house... and it was a no show from the other workers. They never came back to look at the issue. We had to call in multiple times to get different issues resolved, and multiple times for certain same ones. Like I said, the management and communication is horrible. My father gets extremely frustrated (well, angry really) at the mention of the name "Excel."

We have a family friend who also had very bad experience with them, where in the final inspection walk through with an inspector they hired, they checked and found out there were some corners cut and it didn't meet the safety standard. I believe it was related to the roof or attic. Instead of trying to correct, the sales rep scolded the inspector by saying "Why did you look there?!" They didn't finish they deal and went with another house and builder. Not impressed.

I will be looking into buying a home for myself within the next two years and Excel is definitely not on my list of builders to look for. I also found out too late that they ranked near bottom from all the builders in Calgary for single homes on JD Powers in 2011 reviews.

Please do your research before buying.

TERRIBLE CRAFTSMANSHIP. Our driveway is also crumbling to pieces among other things, yet they sent us a bill if we wanted to repair it for $800, even after the tradesman admitted it looked terrible, and he would not be happy with this for himself. Every error they make is put back on you. I have been in the home for under a year and am extremely unhappy! DO NO BUY FROM EXCEL HOMES. There staff is also clueless, and there customer service line will not call you back.

I have been in the home building industry for over 20 years. The house I bought from Excell/centrex has to be the worst display of craftsmanship I have ever encountered. Brand new driveway completely crumbling . Condensation and ice build up on windows like I've never seen before. Exteriors doors not sealed. All interior doors completely misaligned. Interior stairs have pulled away from wall about 1/2".house has major drafts around all windows and doors. Trades completely not respectful of property eg. Garbage bin placed on my lawn. Garbage all over my lawn. Trades backing onto my lawn to gain access to house next door. No quality control whatsoever. I would completely discourage anyone from purchasing a house from these companies
Thanks

Very disappointed. Weve been only in our Walden home built by Excel homes for more than 2years but part of the sidings of our house kept coming off every single year with a small wind blow. I was even told by their staff in the very first year again every time I contacted him for the sidings.
Last week sidings came off again.
I e-mailed excel homes customer care for almost a week now no respond.
Will not recommend.

Purchasing an excel home it was agreed that work and features that where not up to standard would be fixed or replaced. After over 1 year nothing has been done. Now I will have to put in several thousand dollars for painting, changing fixtures and cabinets. Even the kitchen fixtures like the fridge and dishwasher have to be replaced. I strongly suggest using another builder that will stand behind their words as excel homes definitely does not.