New Condo - Quality Issues much?

[A~G]

I've always wondered about the build quality of houses/condos that go up in a very short period of time. I know this article isn't directly related to that... well... maybe... but this is crazy!

These condo owners already paid $600,000+ for a 600sqft unit + insane maintenance fees but this is next level!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...ed-condos.html

I apologize ahead of time if its a repost

[King Luis]

now i'm not that knowledgeable on condo's with their maintenance fees, but wouldn't the exterior windows be covered by the building if they go faulty? it's not like the floor or countertop that is being used by the owner.

[Arash]

The issue is not due to build time, it's related to choice of materials used. The glass doesn't necessarily fail, its performance goes down due to loss of insulative properties after some time in service. By that time the developer is long gone and unit owners are left with skyrocketing maintenance fees due to heating and maintenance of the old leaky glass.

I has John Straube (interviewed in that article) as my building science prof while I was in uni, he's quite knowledgeable and has done extensive research in this field, so I would trust him when he says many of these buildings will fail after a decade or so in service. I have a unit in a glass building and my maintenance fees have started to go up quite a bit recently. I'm planning to sell it in the near future because of this very issue.

[BMW_7]

King Luis, you are correct. I will echo someone else's comments from that article as I've done reserve fund studies before and agree with this statement:

"I think your missing the point of the reserve fund process a bit. I prepare reserve fund studies and have done so for several Toronto waterfront highrise condominiums. When they have a glass curtain wall system, the study takes into account the annual cost to replace individual panes of glass from about year 10 onward as they fail, which could be $20,000/yr initially in years 10 to 20 and increases to say $40,000/yr in years 21 to 40. Then in addition to this, it also includes a larger, more global restoration of the system in year 41. This is the project that is in the many-millions $. Then math is used to figure out what annual contribution is required every year to build up the reserve fund so that it can sustain these expenditures.
So to answer your question "How many of these properties will be able to absorb the cost with their reserve?": The ones that are handled by quality Property Management teams and who's reserve fund study is prepared by competent Professional Engineers that understand the future repair/replacement needs of buildings.
I agree with you that the lawsuit route is not something you want to rely on or have to do ever, but I assure you it will happen when it becomes clear that the management and Boards who should have been planning correctly as described above were asleep at the wheel. It doesn't pay to cheap out on Property Management or Professional Consultants. My several decades in the business has made clear to me that clients who cheap out on their consultants are the ones that will be the high risk of being negligent in their planning and as a consequence inadequate in their saving."

[SiR]

this article is making the rounds lol

problem is there arent to many "competent" property management teams lol

[sirex]

lol

[ChrisTO]

hmm...first 3 letters in CONdo...

[woofster]

I would say that this would apply not only for condos but for houses as well. Most of the windows or glass doors used on homes are double-pane Argon-filled glass. This is not exclusively a condo thing but more of an overall building design issue.

[Robb]

House > Condo

Id rather live in a former grow-op house than a condo or apartment.

[ChrisTO]

except the implications of replacing windows in a house is far less costly...try replacing a window high up on a condo.

i don't think you are calling your regular window guy for this.

Originally Posted by woofster

I would say that this would apply not only for condos but for houses as well. Most of the windows or glass doors used on homes are double-pane Argon-filled glass. This is not exclusively a condo thing but more of an overall building design issue.

[bmdbley'sBro]

-

Condo owners in a tower off Front Street are suing the developer, Concord, claiming the window-wall system in the nine-year-old building near the Rogers Centre has defects and water is seeping through.

[daytona]

actually its not the wall windows but the windows on the balcony that has fallen.The sky falling mentality because of one person report isnt alarming.All over the world this kind of construction is done regularly,in Hong Kong,Singarore,Taiwan this is common design and these condos been built decades ago with little issues.Concord is a different breed of builders though,they have some of the fastest constructions times in the industry,I remember my condo was on the tenth floor on the build and Concord just started pouring the forms and in less than 4 months they caught up to my unit in height and completed theirs 2 months faster than my condo and my project started 4 months earlier.

[careless7]

Precisely why the newest house I have ever owned is 1966.

Brick knee wall with window condos aren't any better.

Check out the sweet brickwork on "The Hudson" condo NE Corner of Spadina & King (AKA Fresh 'n' Wild)...