Are most Canadians happy with Canada?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Somebody should start a campaign to get these developers to Canada. They'd make a killing here.

I checked out their website and they are mostly small-scale developers who build small projects of 6-10 houses, and a lot of one-off custom projects.

Honestly, there are developers of this type all over Canada. If you want someone to build you a house like that in Ottawa and environs, you can find a number of companies who will do just that.

The main difference between Canada and the UK is that we still have large tracts of land that are being developed with homes by one or a handful of builders. As a result we are left with the downsides of mass production as it applies to home building.

These UK projects are more often than not like our urban or mature suburban infill. They're not in any way like subdivisions in Milton.

And finally, while I don't share the drooling gushing praise for these UK renderings (which I find just *OK*), renderings for new homes in Canada often look pretty good as well. Vinyl on the sides notwithstanding, though if you want to pay extra you can get brick or stone on all four sides in most any new home development in Canada if you want.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by urbandreamer

Another English mainstream housing development caught my eye

So,,, Other than full brick, what do you like so much? You already mentioned they need eaves. There's absolutely no decoration or anything around the windows. There's one hell of a snow catching valley between the upper and lower roofs, and between units (they look attached). There's what looks like a living room or sunroom directly on the street? I'm betting from how it sits on the ground there's no basement. There's no colour at all.

A lot of those could just be poor/inaccurate renderings, but I'm not getting any appeal beyond brick + straight lines = good.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by jonny24

So,,, Other than full brick, what do you like so much? You already mentioned they need eaves. There's absolutely no decoration or anything around the windows. There's one hell of a snow catching valley between the upper and lower roofs, and between units (they look attached). There's what looks like a living room or sunroom directly on the street? I'm betting from how it sits on the ground there's no basement. There's no colour at all.

A lot of those could just be poor/inaccurate renderings, but I'm not getting any appeal beyond brick + straight lines = good.

As I said in the past week, there is a lot of "grass is greener" going on here.

Funny you guys mention eaves. When I was in Australia one of the big things was how suburban houses in subdivisions (they have Milton-style developments in Oz) didn't have eaves due to developers cheapening out, and trying to squeeze as many homes as possible as close as legally possible to lot lines. (The edge of an eave "counts" in how close a house can be to its neighbours. No eaves, and you can move the houses closer together.)

[MonctonRad]

Eaves troughs and drainage spouts are important in Canada to direct rainfall runoff away from foundations to prevent damage as a result of the freeze/thaw cycle.

[davee930]

Originally Posted by jonny24

So,,, Other than full brick, what do you like so much? You already mentioned they need eaves. There's absolutely no decoration or anything around the windows. There's one hell of a snow catching valley between the upper and lower roofs, and between units (they look attached). There's what looks like a living room or sunroom directly on the street? I'm betting from how it sits on the ground there's no basement. There's no colour at all.

A lot of those could just be poor/inaccurate renderings, but I'm not getting any appeal beyond brick + straight lines = good.

Everyone has different styles. My point is that they use brick instead of vinyl siding as a standard in Europe. Quality vs quantity. Even is you think it's ugly.

Sure floor plans might be better here because of all the space, but what about the outside?

Isn't it better to have an ugly building with brick than an ugly building with vinyl siding?

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by davee930

Everyone has different styles. My point is that they use brick instead of vinyl siding as a standard in Europe. Quality vs quantity. Even is you think it's ugly.

I prefer the brick aesthetic too, myself. That said, it costs more, so I understand why home builders might balk at it.
I love my mid-century all-brick (which is relatively rare in my city)... easy to heat/cool and blocks noise incredibly well.

[Acajack]

Brick or stone look nicer than vinyl. I think most people would agree with that.

Though in a lot of cases in Europe a house's exterior won't be in brick. On the continent many newer SFHs have stucco with only a narrow strip of brick or stone along the corners.

In the Nordics many newer houses are wood or some form of siding that looks like a kind of fake wood.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Not exactly. When Canadians say French we often mean French Canadian rather than from France. Conversely, English often means English Canadian rather than from England. We also say London. Sometimes we mean the one in Ontario and sometimes we mean the one on that island off the coast of France. It's not always obvious like you're contending.

People saying "English" or "French" when they mean "Anglo" or "Franco" is a pet peeve of mine.

(Québécois are just as guilty. One employee of mine occasionally likes to refer to a Jewish Montrealer business partner of mine as "that fucking Englishman", despite the guy having exactly zero British Isles ancestry.)

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by lio45

People saying "English" or "French" when they mean "Anglo" or "Franco" is a pet peeve of mine.

"What are you doing in Cornwall?"
"Mine your own bizzness!"

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

People saying "English" or "French" when they mean "Anglo" or "Franco" is a pet peeve of mine.

Me too, though we have to admit that it's still used fairly commonly.

What's interesting is that it's generally used for the "other guy", but not for oneself.

You average Québécois francophone might refer to "les Anglais", but probably doesn't consider his or herself as "Français" (French). To a Québécois, "Français" is someone from France.

Similarly, many ROCers refer to Canadian francophones as "French" or "the French", but they'd very rarely think of themselves as "the English" or "the British" as an opposite to that. Even if they are themselves of English or British origins.

The main exceptions are the linguistic minorities when they are highly integrated to the other guy's society. As such you might run into Franco-Ontarians or Anglo-Quebecers who when interacting with members of their province's majority may say "I'm French" or "je suis un Anglais".

[lio45]

Ironically, in my case, when an Anglo calls me "French" they're actually half-right, though it's not to their credit (statistically, it was much more likely that they'd be totally wrong).

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

Ironically, in my case, when an Anglo calls me "French" they're actually half-right, though it's not to their credit (statistically, it was much more likely that they'd be totally wrong).

Rousseau on here once said he was shocked when in a Montreal shop, trying to speak French, when the clerk picked up on his accent and switched languages on him, saying (in English), "oh, you're English!".

[Acajack]

Re homes - living the dream in Ottawa!

http://rndconstruction.ca/

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by davee930

Everyone has different styles. My point is that they use brick instead of vinyl siding as a standard in Europe. Quality vs quantity. Even is you think it's ugly.

Sure floor plans might be better here because of all the space, but what about the outside?

Isn't it better to have an ugly building with brick than an ugly building with vinyl siding?

Anyone that has lived in the UK will almost certainly agree when I say that houses in Canada are better overall. Sure, I prefer brick to vinyl siding but otherwise your average new build Canadian house is better than average new build UK house. And if you want to compare to the average existing stock, then Canada blows the UK out the water. There is a huge stock of old houses in the UK and most of it is complete crap, like uninsulated terrace slums or only marginally better post war pre fab semi detacheds.

Continental Europe is likely similar, with some places maybe having an edge due to being more comprehensively destroyed in WWII.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Re homes - living the dream in Ottawa!

http://rndconstruction.ca/

I certainly wouldn't mind living in that red brick "Georgian", although some would hate it for "faux". What would that cost in Ottawa, something north of 2million?

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by davee930

Everyone has different styles. My point is that they use brick instead of vinyl siding as a standard in Europe. Quality vs quantity. Even is you think it's ugly.

Sure floor plans might be better here because of all the space, but what about the outside?

Isn't it better to have an ugly building with brick than an ugly building with vinyl siding?

Indeed.

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Rousseau on here once said he was shocked when in a Montreal shop, trying to speak French, when the clerk picked up on his accent and switched languages on him, saying (in English), "oh, you're English!".

Actually (pats myself on the back), the entire exchange happened in French. And what threw me for a loop about it, was that at first I thought the clerk was essentially saying that I was speaking French with an English accent, leading her to think that I was from England.

[stevanford1]

Originally Posted by jonny24

So,,, Other than full brick, what do you like so much? You already mentioned they need eaves. There's absolutely no decoration or anything around the windows. There's one hell of a snow catching valley between the upper and lower roofs, and between units (they look attached). There's what looks like a living room or sunroom directly on the street? I'm betting from how it sits on the ground there's no basement. There's no colour at all.

A lot of those could just be poor/inaccurate renderings, but I'm not getting any appeal beyond brick + straight lines = good.

Honestly, they are way better than anything in Vaughan.

VaughanVomit

[urbandreamer]

So many of you non-architects/artists mistake space and building specs for quality architecture/good homes. What's so nice about those designs? For what they represent: boutique infill - development scale like you might see in Waterloo, Stratford, Elmira, Baden, Chatham, Erin, Kamloops, Quebec City with an aesthetic and material quality you'll never find at that price/scale in Canada. Simple crisp modernism with plain lines are good if done right like they are here. Brick, not faux stone nor siding nor stucco. These are not ultra luxury one off homes. This is like eating Ace Bakery bread vs Wonder Bread, not something like St John's bakery.

I appreciate many different styles of architecture but will not tolerate mediocre sloppily built cheap design/buildings.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by stevanford1

Honestly, they are way better than anything in Vaughan.

I sure hope so! Vaughan might be expensive, but you’re not paying $2.9 million for a semi.

If you want a house to look like that in Vaughan, you can pay an architect to design it for you for a lot less.