Click through the links below to view each step:
Step 2 Choose a Licensed Builder
Builders should be held accountable for well-constructed homes, and they should make sure their customers are supported throughout the entire home buying process.
Talk to Your Builder
Deciding on buying your new home is one of the biggest decisions of your life. You should meet the person or people who you will be placing your trust and confidence in to build your new home.
Search the Ontario Builder Directory
As a prospective home buyer, it is important to search the Ontario Builder Directory to ensure the builder you are considering working with is licensed to build homes in Ontario. This directory provides a 10-year history for all licensed builders, as well as those who are no longer licensed to build homes. If your builder is not listed, you should ask why? It may be for many reasons including not passing the technical test based on the Ontario Building Code regulations, or not providing the financial securities mandated to build homes in Ontario.
Ontario Builder Directory (OBD)Confirm That the Builder is Licensed
If you are visiting a sales centre or speaking directly with the builder, it’s important to ask if they are licensed by the Home Construction Regulatory Authority. You can also ask to see the builder’s licence.
Deciding on a Builder
What You Should Know
Before you make your final decision to work with a licensed builder, your research and conversations should give you an understanding of the following information:
- The neighbourhood that the builder is working to build.
- Design of the individual home (including the parts of the design that are optional).
- What can be changed about the design, and what can not.
- How the builder handles upgrades and extras.
- Services that the builder provides throughout the home-buying process, including after you sign the contract, during construction, and before you move-in.
- What is the builder’s policy on visiting the home during construction and the safety and liability concerns.
- When your home will be ready.
- How active will the construction site be after you move in (noise, safety, dust, etc.)
- Warranties that are provided by the builder, and backstopped by Tarion.
- The home-buying process.
Please be aware that, as part of the licensing requirements for home building in Ontario, builders must demonstrate that they have the technical competency to be able to deliver a safe home built to the standards of the Ontario Building Code. Other competencies that builders must demonstrate is their knowledge of customer service best practices and Tarion policies and procedures.