Gotham | 53m | 17 fl | Completed

[Manny12]

Originally Posted by MattRichling

Doing a PDI for a client this Friday for a unit on the 5th floor. With an occupancy set not far after (Jan 20th if I read my notes correctly).

That's great to hear! I'm glad things are moving along. If you can post some pictures after the PDI, that would be awesome! Cheers!

[jcphoenix]

So I had my PDI. Most of it seemed okay with some minor issues (one issue being my bedroom is several inches shorter one way than in the floorplan and ditto with the length of my living area, but that's something I can't do anything about I guess) except for the bathroom, which I'm less than pleased about.

-At the colour selection meeting with Celeste, I selected a:
1. tiled skirt made up of very small rectangular tiles
2. a large rectangular one for the wall
3. a square black tile for the flooring

I distinctly remember asking for exactly the same finishes as they had in the model suite for the bathroom.

Unfortunately, my agreement as far as the finishes is at my parent's place in Barrhaven so I can't actually find whether those are explicitly mentioned in the documentation as far as what I chose for the bathroom. Did anyone else have this experience where they picked out three finishes for the bathroom?

Because today I walked into the bathroom during my PDI to discover they took the horizontal tile on the wall and slathered it across the entirety of my finishes (so they used it for the tub skirt and the floor as well). I think it looks fucking ugly frankly and I'm not happy. Marisa claims the small rectangular tiled skirt isn't even an option and that all the suites in the building have this large rectangular tiling over everything in the bathroom and no square or small tiling at all. When I showed her a photo of what it looked like in the model suite, she tried to claim that that's only an option for when you have a shower stall and it's the tiling for the floor of the shower. If you look back at the photos I posted of the original standard finishes when they were showing the model suite, you will see that there were definitely DIFFERENT options for the tiled skirt vs the wall/floor tiling.

My bathroom:


It looks like the floor is trying to crawl up the side of the bathtub.

Second of all, in the bathroom, it's explicitly mentioned on the website features and finishes, in the original floor plans listing, and possibly elsewhere that there would be a vapour-proof ceiling mounted pot light above the bathtub or shower stall WHICH THERE WAS NOT in the suite. When I asked Marisa about it, she pretty much lied to my face and said that that was never an option. Of course, I went to the floor plan document on my phone and showed her where it listed the option. She then says because there's an asterisk next to it that says the feature is available based on suite design, that it's not included. Which is fucking ridiculous because she then says that she hasn't seen it in any of the suites in the building. So apparently, it's not included in any of the suite designs. LOL.



I asked her to write these things down in my PDI which she did not. I didn't notice until after I signed and then I asked her to make a note about the tiled skirt, which she did with a pen on my PDI, didn't sign it, and gave it to me as my copy, claiming she will write it on her PDI. So now I'm concerned that neither issue is mentioned in my PDI but my boyfriend says we should be able to bring these issues up as well in the 30-day warranty document.

So does anyone else remember picking out a tiled skirt for the tub and a tile for their bathroom floor? Does anyone have square tiles on their bathroom floor? I hope everyone else calls them out on the pot light that was supposed to be above the shower stall. Does anyone have any advice if there's anything we can do from a legal standpoint regarding the missing light? It's mentioned in our agreement of purchase as a feature though it has the same asterisk next to it that says "based on suite design". Legally, can they get away with not having it in any of the suites in the entire building based on that asterisk?

[voltz8]

Hey JC:

I used your pictures when picking out my finishes. At the time, Celeste had to double check the bath tub skirt for me because I called it out as you did today. I was told that those little tiles were only for certain units with showers and that it was only for the display unit and not an available selection for bath tubs. I was pretty po'd but got over it.

My tiles for the wall and floors were rectangular, I did not get any square choices.

Definitely verify the finishes you've selected, if they installed something different, then you'll have some evidence.

That is pretty annoying that the bedroom dimensions were short a couple inches, they were already pretty small on paper.

How was the rest of the unit? I hope everything else was OK. Think of it this way, a light can be easily installed, but a floor that is not level can't be fixed as easily.

Cheers.

[jcphoenix]

Originally Posted by voltz8

Hey JC:

I used your pictures when picking out my finishes. At the time, Celeste had to double check the bath tub skirt for me because I called it out as you did today. I was told that those little tiles were only for certain units with showers and that it was only for the display unit and not an available selection for bath tubs. I was pretty po'd but got over it.

My tiles for the wall and floors were rectangular, I did not get any square choices.

Definitely verify the finishes you've selected, if they installed something different, then you'll have some evidence.

That is pretty annoying that the bedroom dimensions were short a couple inches, they were already pretty small on paper.

How was the rest of the unit? I hope everything else was OK. Think of it this way, a light can be easily installed, but a floor that is not level can't be fixed as easily.

Cheers.

Thanks for the info voltz8. It's good to know at least. I'll check my upgrade sheet when I get home.

I've also cooled down a bit since I posted hah. That was the first thing I had to get off my chest - that and the pot light above the bathtub. My boyfriend and I will change the tub skirt ourselves then cause it looks ridiculous.

Everything else was mostly fine. Our closet doors in the bedroom were the biggest other issue - they were installed improperly so that the closet doors were grinding up on each other every time you opened them to the point where one closet door had deep scratch/scuff marks at the top. Other than that, some scuffing all over the place, a few issues with paint touch-ups and that was mostly everything.

I am excited to move in and it looks like it's pretty ready as long as they get that damn front entrance finished up in time!

Didn't really take any photos for reasons except for PDI reasons but I snapped this with my iPhone quickly below (I didn't realize there were going to be cabinets directly above my island...happy about the extra cabinet space though the way it blocks off the view of the person in the kitchen is a little strange)...and my boyfriend snapped the one below that which at least gives you an idea of our view - that I'm really happy and excited about. It's a nice view with the rooftops all going into the distance heh.

[leafsfan81]

Hi JC, what floor is your condo on?

[jcphoenix]

Originally Posted by leafsfan81

Hi JC, what floor is your condo on?

5th floor.

[rocketphish]

Pardon my condo ignorance, but what is the large rectangular object set into the wall just below the thermostat? Nice looking place!

Originally Posted by jcphoenix

[jcphoenix]

^ It's where the heat pump is. My boyfriend also says it's probably where the air intake is for the condo. We're not particularly enthused about the glaring panel in the main area in our suite but we're going to probably do something to try to blend it into the surroundings/make it look less ugly. We're thinking about painting the main door a chalkboard paint and using it for lists haha.

[Ide]

Originally Posted by voltz8

Hey JC:

I used your pictures when picking out my finishes. At the time, Celeste had to double check the bath tub skirt for me because I called it out as you did today. I was told that those little tiles were only for certain units with showers and that it was only for the display unit and not an available selection for bath tubs. I was pretty po'd but got over it.

My tiles for the wall and floors were rectangular, I did not get any square choices.

Definitely verify the finishes you've selected, if they installed something different, then you'll have some evidence.

That is pretty annoying that the bedroom dimensions were short a couple inches, they were already pretty small on paper.

How was the rest of the unit? I hope everything else was OK. Think of it this way, a light can be easily installed, but a floor that is not level can't be fixed as easily.

Cheers.

Thanks JC for posting an emotional, honest and gusty review. As I had a rather unusual list of upgrades, some done with the purchase offer and other from their upgrades catalog, I learned about the relocation and reprovisionning of the lights in the bathroom as I added extra light fixtures as I like to be sunbathed by light in the bathroom. I was also told that it was the de facto standard to wrap up the floor tiles up the bathtub shirt. A word of advice: have them correct the tiles up the bathtub shirt - not an easy job to do, from an experienced do-it type of guy. Tiles and grout are very hard and by trying to fix it yourself you may damage other tiles not meant to be. It is a small area and it shouldn't be that expensive. Do you have a parking and or locker? Did they show them to you and which one are assigned to you? And did they change on the occupancy date? How are the common areas? Will they be ready when you move in? Just a few more days till we all move in. It will be a fabulous building. BTW, what do you think of the quality of the finishes and materials?

[nredding]

One drawback of walls of windows is you have those concrete pillars taking up space in the living room, as in the above picture.

[MattRichling]

Did the PDI for a client. Overall, the unit itself was not (IMO) ready for the PDI, and they have a lot to do (unit and building) before occupancy. Granted I am sure it will come around and they will get it all set by then. Brad was even on site today.

The unit itself was missing quite a bit, but nothing too crazy for a PDI. Small issues with tiles in bathroom, baseboards, paint, = more or less things that usually come up. Doing a second PDI next week once more is complete.

This unit was great, and will be nice to see it fully finished. One of the Glasshouse units with a full wrap around terrace. Great size with lots of light and space. Didn't take too many photos since I am headed back, but here are some. Yes, the unit will be for rent ($ will know shortly).

Edit: Oh and I was wrong in my previous post. Occupancy is on the 30th on Jan (not 20th).







How they are heating the building...

The Lobby...

[jcphoenix]

^Loving the countertops in that unit. If I had known I was going to have cabinets above my island, I probably would've picked a lighter color for cabinets and went with something like that for the countertops. Though I'm guessing that's an upgrade.

nredding - though I wish it was slightly smaller, I like having a pillar in my unit overall for the industrial vibe, which is part of the style that we want to deck out our condo in. The windows are actually fairly nice and big even with the pillar there. I would've loved to have had the ductwork exposed as well (if it had been round) rather than covered up. And I love having the concrete feature wall in the front hallway. Not a big fan of the door colors though throughout the building.

Ide - it's good to verify that this was mentioned to some buyers so thanks. We will probably hire someone to do the work rather than do it ourselves for quality reasons, like you suggested.

I was told lockers would be assigned by Dan Fried on move-in when we get our keys. I didn't get a parking spot. Marisa didn't mention a change in occupancy date and I'm under the assumption I'm still on for January 30th. Though it worries me that the front entrance area still looks like a mess. I didn't check on the common areas but from what I understand, those are usually the last things completed on condo projects. Finish-wise, the quality seems pretty good from what I can tell on everything.

[jcphoenix]

My occupancy has been delayed till February 9.

How convenient of them to date their notification so it's just ONE DAY out of the range for which they would owe us an additional penalty.

[Ide]

Originally Posted by jcphoenix

My occupancy has been delayed till February 9.

How convenient of them to date their notification so it's just ONE DAY out of the range for which they would owe us an additional penalty.

Very interesting! My occupancy is about a month away and I haven't been called for my PDI yet. How long are you allocated and how many guests are you permitted to have with you? What would you suggest to bring along? Will you be given a second chance to review and check if any issues raised during your PDI have been rectified before you move in? As for hiring someone to change your tiles on your bathtub shirt, I would have it done by the builder as having anyone else do the work may affect your TARION warranty. And, your latest occupancy date may move further as, at my latest inquiry, I was told that people were still moving January 30th as planned.
We will be moving soon, likely with a slight delay.

[Ide]

Originally Posted by nredding

One drawback of walls of windows is you have those concrete pillars taking up space in the living room, as in the above picture.

I bought a larger unit with a full walls of windows and no concrete pillars - like JC said, it is a design element. It is wrong to equate a wall of windows with concrete pillars.

[jcphoenix]

Originally Posted by Ide

Very interesting! My occupancy is about a month away and I haven't been called for my PDI yet. How long are you allocated and how many guests are you permitted to have with you? What would you suggest to bring along? Will you be given a second chance to review and check if any issues raised during your PDI have been rectified before you move in? As for hiring someone to change your tiles on your bathtub shirt, I would have it done by the builder as having anyone else do the work may affect your TARION warranty. And, your latest occupancy date may move further as, at my latest inquiry, I was told that people were still moving January 30th as planned.
We will be moving soon, likely with a slight delay.

Yeah, I'm pretty pissed about this new delay, especially with such last minute notice despite all the attempts I made to reach out to Lamb and check on progress. I'm sure they knew that it was very likely not going to be ready for the 30th, even at my PDI.

You were smart and have your place for an extra month; as a first time home buyer, I naively thought that the builder would stick with the firm occupancy date except for exceptionally rare circumstances and to save money, we did not want to take an extra month hit of rent costs.

Now because of this delay, we will have to move out of my boyfriend's apartment, most likely rent the Minto Suites for $3000 for a month and then move back into the new place in a few days because there's almost no other options (hotel with enough space for our things will cost around $200+/month, we need to be in the downtown area for my work and my boyfriend's school, airbnb can't guarantee there won't be a sudden cancellation) and now we don't trust the builder to not have yet another delay further into February. For peace of mind, despite the $3000 hit that's going to stress the fuck out of both of us, we're going to go with the Minto Suites.

-----

Regarding your other post Ide - I think the general timeframe for a PDI is about an hour but if you need the time you probably could push it longer if there's issues. There were three of us at my PDI, my boyfriend and one of our friends who decided to tag along last minute.

I would suggest taking a look at this blog post by Matt - it was very helpful for me going into the predelivery inspection:
http://www.mattrichling.com/blog/tips-for-doing-your-condos-pdi-inspection

The only other thing I would add on top of that is to bring a flashlight.

I'm not sure if you can get a second viewing predelivery or not as I didn't ask. That's a good point regarding the tiles and warranty but I'm not sure I want to have any more dealings with the builder to be honest at this point.

[MattRichling]

Originally Posted by jcphoenix

The only other thing I would add on top of that is to bring a flashlight.

Added! Thanks for the tip!

[Boxster]

Are the exposed pipes on the hallway ceiling going to stay like that?

[Ide]

Originally Posted by jcphoenix

Yeah, I'm pretty pissed about this new delay, especially with such last minute notice despite all the attempts I made to reach out to Lamb and check on progress. I'm sure they knew that it was very likely not going to be ready for the 30th, even at my PDI.
- The builder needs to have occupancy permits for each unit from the City of Ottawa. Since it is Brad Lamb first Ottawa building, his team may have to complete more work on the common elements on the building than expected, like the front lobby before occupancy permits may be given or an expected delay from one of the sub-trade, etc.

You were smart and have your place for an extra month; as a first time home buyer, I naively thought that the builder would stick with the firm occupancy date except for exceptionally rare circumstances and to save money, we did not want to take an extra month hit of rent costs.d
-I am not giving my notice until I do my PDI: I will have at least 2 months to spare.

Now because of this delay, we will have to move out of my boyfriend's apartment, most likely rent the Minto Suites for $3000 for a month and then move back into the new place in a few days because there's almost no other options (hotel with enough space for our things will cost around $200+/month, we need to be in the downtown area for my work and my boyfriend's school, airbnb can't guarantee there won't be a sudden cancellation) and now we don't trust the builder to not have yet another delay further into February. For peace of mind, despite the $3000 hit that's going to stress the fuck out of both of us, we're going to go with the Minto Suites.
- Very expensive and untimely. Beside the extra expense, it is like moving twice!


-----

Regarding your other post Ide - I think the general timeframe for a PDI is about an hour but if you need the time you probably could push it longer if there's issues. There were three of us at my PDI, my boyfriend and one of our friends who decided to tag along last minute.
- I have a good friend who is a super-intendant for a general contractor in town and an other friend who is very picky and do not missed anything.

I would suggest taking a look at this blog post by Matt - it was very helpful for me going into the predelivery inspection:
http://www.mattrichling.com/blog/tips-for-doing-your-condos-pdi-inspection
-Thank to both Matt and yourself for an informative article, and the flashlight.

The only other thing I would add on top of that is to bring a flashlight.

I'm not sure if you can get a second viewing predelivery or not as I didn't ask. That's a good point regarding the tiles and warranty but I'm not sure I want to have any more dealings with the builder to be honest at this point.

- You may negotiated this against some compensation for the delay...one hope. We all have been waiting so long for it.

[Ide]

I got confirmation from the Toronto office yesterday that there are no changes to everyone with an occupancy date of February 13th onwards. The office was quick to respond to my inquiry and confirm that my occupancy date was firm and was not push back. This is good news.