Tarion: Lighting the Way for New Homebuyers

Newinhomes.com attended the Tarion Media Round Table to learn more about a recent case study that involved a whole community of homes that needed repairing, figures from Tarion’s annual customer survey, and to get updated on Tarion’s current activities and initiatives.

First of all, for those who are not aware, Tarion Warranty Corporation is Ontario’s not-for-profit, private authority that protects the rights of new homebuyers and regulates new homebuilders. The customer survey that they send out every year is what determines the winners of the Tarion Awards of Excellence. The survey goes directly to homebuyers who took possession the previous year, asking them to rate their experience with the builder with whom they purchased.

What matters most to new homeowners?   

According to Tarion’s survey results, here are the top 10 things that matter most to new homeowners. Builders and developers, take note!

1) Overall customer satisfaction before move-in

2) Being accessible

3) Ability to deliver the home as agreed in the Agreement of Purchase and Sale

4) Confidence in work and ongoing commitment to service

5) Overall customer satisfaction after move-in

6) Readiness of interior

7) Listening to and understanding needs

8) Overall communication effectiveness

9) Overall quality of their service and repairs

10) Ability to follow through on commitments

When the average builder scores are compared to the average scores by the 21 Tarion Awards of Excellence finalists, the difference is staggering. For example, the average builder scored only 64 percent for “Overall customer satisfaction before move-in,” while the Tarion Awards of Excellence finalists scored an average of 95 percent. For the most part, the average builder scored between 58 to 64 percent on the top 10 listed above, and the Tarion Awards of Excellence finalists’ scores ranged from 89 to 95 percent.

The goal of the survey is to get homebuilders to strive for a higher level of customer satisfaction, and also to highlight those in the industry that offer exceptional customer service for new homebuyers who are looking to buy in Ontario.

What does Tarion do?   

Tarion presented a perfect example of the great lengths they go to in order to ensure that new homebuyers’ rights are protected. The top 10 first-year claims from 2012 and 2013 include: Paint, doors, floors, drywall, stairs/steps, water/moisture, concrete, baseboards, trims, and cabinets/vanities. But, the case study presented was for a situation far worse than any of these claims.

To protect the investment of the homebuyers, the community location was undisclosed. A total of 23 built homes were affected when a neighbouring commercial site started construction, causing a massive soil movement. When the earth shifted, the homes began to sink, and of course, this caused many other issues within the homes. Tarion had to hire a team of engineers and other professionals to assess the damage and figure out the best solution. Families were temporarily relocated to hotels for a total of 38 days, and it took three years of planning and two years of repair to correct the issue. The total cost for Tarion was $5.14 million. What would have happened if these families’ homes were not covered by a new home warranty? There is no doubt that Tarion’s new home warranty is, in some cases, a lifesaver.

What’s new with Tarion?   

Tarion has their hands full with two pressing issues: 1) illegal building 2) condo conversions.

A home is considered illegally built in many scenarios; the issue Tarion has is trying to protect new homebuyers from buying with builders who are not registered with Tarion. If the builder is building in Ontario and has not registered with Tarion, the homebuyer will not have protection of any kind. So, if something like floorboards cracking, drywall splitting, or your home starts sinking within the first few years, there is nothing you can do. Unfortunately, illegal building is more common than you would expect. Currently, raising awareness and having a rigorous registration process for homebuilders is all Tarion can do, but hopefully the provincial government makes strides in preventing this sort of activity.

Via Tarion

Did you know that condo conversions are not covered by Tarion? A condo conversion is when an existing building is redeveloped as a condo. The reason that Tarion can not offer a new home warranty on these homes is that they are not considered new builds. Tarion says that they will be working closely with the provincial government this year to get coverage for condo conversions.

If you are curious about a new homebuilder, do not hesitate to look them up on Tarion’s Ontario Builder Directory. If the builder in which you are interested is licenced to build in Ontario, you will find them in this directory!

To learn more about Tarion, visit Tarion.com