Alquinn Homes

My experiences with Alquinn Homes and there home warranty have been very poor. Alquinn homes warranty is very slow when it comes to issues around the house and are difficult to get ahold of. Just 5 months ago my basement flooded due to the main water line bursting off the valve due to incorrect installation. This has caused very costly damages to my home and my personal belongings. Alquinn homes warranty has done nothing to my damages and aren’t very cooperative about the problem. Just a couple of months ago I noticed something on my roof, only to find out that it is a strap going through the roof. This has been confirmed when looking into the attic as you can see a beam and a strap around it going through the roof. I’m not sure how that could have been missed but in the near future this could cause major problems for something that is so easy to avoid. If you ever come across a house made by Alquinn homes I suggest that you look elsewhere because there seems to be nothing but issues and money lost on a house that is brand new.

We bought our home because of the beautiful lot and Alquinn's reputation for quality, but we were pleasantly surprised to also get a super energy efficient home! Alquinn doesn't sell itself as a home builder focused on sustainability, but they definitely should. I had an energy assessment done on the home and it came back super impressive! According to our Natural Resources Canada certified energy assessment, it is 26% more energy efficient than comparable new homes! Where it really exceled was the airtightness. ACH or air changes per hour is a measure that indicates how leaky a home is. If your home has a high ACH, your money spent on heating or cooling your home is literally leaking out of the walls, doors, and windows. Alquinn's home had an ACH of 0.64 which is CRAZY low. Our energy assessor said he has never seen test results come back that low. It's as low as what passive houses and the best net zero houses aim to be at. To me, this is a great indication of the quality building standards utilized by Alquinn. Quality framers, well fitting windows, excellent insulation work, and all in all top notch attention to detail is required to reach this low ACH. With the high cost of electricity and natural gas lately, we will definitely benefit with lower operational costs month to month with our Alquinn home. This is definitely a great thing since our mortgage costs have gone up so much with interest rates! We have now lived in our Alquinn home for 9 months and there has been very little in the way of deficiencies or warranty needs. Again, another great indicator of building standards. Shannon was wonderful to work with. Any problems or concerns, she kindly and patiently helped us through them. As a first time home buyer, I was happy to have Shannon to deal with. As a first time home buyer, we didn't know what to expect, but Shannon was always available to help us work out our concerns, questions, or problems. There was a few hiccups here and there, but the home was built during the end of covid where supply and labour shortages plagued many industries. We are grateful for our beautiful home and the little things Alquinn did for us. They even welcomed us with a nice house warming gift including some really thoughtful toys for our young daughter. If you want a quality home, that is energy efficient, built by a local leader, Alquinn Homes should definitely be a builder that you consider.

We decided to build with Alquinn based on the fact that they were a local builder and wanted to support local. Right from the start we should have walked away but decided to stick it out as they had the lot we wanted. First off John tried to up the price after THEY were unavailable for us to sign the contract and had to wait wait a week. Then waiting was the theme. Waiting for the drafter for months after a change that was supposed to be in the initial drawing. It would take a month to get anything back. Sump pump in my sons bedroom and then we were told to just sign the plans and "they" will deal with it when a new drafter was hired. This was brought up sooooo many times and nothing was done. We finally called the drafter ourselves after the house was dug and the foundation was poured and the sump was in. Finally Alquinn "agreed" to move it into our rec room for 500$. Alquinn failed to run heat into the second floor bedroom and we ended up with a box out in our kitchen and dining area to run the heat. Now the heating in the bedroom is nonexistent as there is too many corners and it runs along an exterior wall. Then when we asked that the boxout continues back around to create a sort of coffered ceiling they just said that they would look into it and ignored it. This failure of planning caused us to lose Sq footage in a # of closets and our pantry. The list goes on of false promises (cant use the other word on here but what rhymes with pies). We had to go in and spend 2 hours cleaning the floors as they failed to clean them and were going to lay the flooring over all the dirt and sawdust. Then John called me and threatened to charge me with trespassing because we went into the house. This is after they promised us that they would clean the floor prior to having the flooring installed. John threatened us not to continue with the build if we didn't sign a change order, that was incorrect and then once we sat with the sales person for hours fixing it to a satisfactory level he goes on holidays and doesn't even sign it himself. The completion date was March 31 2021 and we did not get possession until Oct 30th 7 months past completion date. Finally we were getting close and all that was major keeping us from moving in was the fact that Alquinn couldnt get us a garage door and told us that Spruce Grove would NOT let us move in without a door, I called Spruce Grove and found out that this was NOT true at all and we could move in. Keep in mind that I had a family of 4 living in the Holiday Inn, I called Shannon and was like hey......Just so you know Spruce Grove says it ok to move in....yay! Again I was threatened that they would not finish our house and how could I go above there heads and call the city. The "pies" were throughout the entire process. Shannon actually told us that during covid and the struggles they were having Alquinn was actually cancelling contracts as they knew that people didnt have the money to sue them or take them to court.

Moved into our new home February 28, 2018. Two weeks later water stains were visible on our living room ceiling as water was leaking from the upstairs master bathroom. Contacted alquinn and they sent someone out to look at it. Turns out they basically need to renovate the bathroom in order to fix the issue and told us not to use the facilities anymore until it could be repaired. Multiple phone calls over the last 2 months to try and follow up yet we still don’t have any dates to repair the issue. Also haven’t received any response to our inquiry regarding scheduling our 2 month inspection as there are other issues we have identified in the meantime. I am now 8 months pregnant and don’t know how we are going to get these renovations and repairs needed to our home done in the midst of having a newborn. Alquinn is aware of our situation however obviously doesn’t care.

We bought a new duplex from Alquinn in Feb 2016. The Alquinn home stood out with better quality and nicer finishes, as well as thoughtful details. The staff was so easy to deal with. We had a couple hiccups with our lender and they were very accommodating. So far, we have only had a couple cosmetic issues that have either been resolved or we have appointments to have it rectified. Alquinn was a great partner for us and we would recommend them without a doubt.

The service was excellent. The Site Sup was always available when we needed. He corrected deficiencies as soon as they were noticed. Alquinn employees continuely follow up to ensure we were satisfied with our house.