To put a lot on hold all you need to do is call in and request a hold. We will take your contact information and stay in touch with you for the duration of the hold. Although we will continue to hold for as long as you are still interested , please note that a lot hold can be challenged by another party (giving you 48 hours first right of refusal), and we do reserve the right to limit a hold to two weeks if market conditions are very active.

Yes. To challenge a hold, you must provide a 15% deposit cheque and enter into a Purchase Agreement with us. At that point we will give the individual with the existing hold 48 hours notice to either provide us with a 15% deposit cheque and enter into a Purchase Agreement or lose the hold. Once you challenge a hold, if the original party does not exercise their first right of refusal, your Agreement and deposit will become a binding sale.

We have both open and closed subdivisions. Closed subdivisions only allow for lots to be purchased through a designated builder group in the area. Open subdivisions have lots that are available for purchase from any builder, or from an individual who intends to do their own general contracting. The best way to determine which of these applies to the area you are looking at is to call into our office (780)481-4375 and ask to speak to the project manager of the neighbourhood in question. They will be able to direct you appropriately.

Most municipalities make their land use bylaws available on their municipal web pages. If this is not the case, you can usually call in to the municipal offices and they can make a copy available for you to view onsite. If you have specific questions, about how the bylaw applies to your intended building project, it is best to call the municipality and speak with their development permit officer, however, you may also call into our office (780)481-4375 and ask to speak to the project manager of the neighbourhood in question, and they may be able to give you some direction as well.

Note that we are only able to return a damage deposit to the party that paid it to us, or a third party that the original lot purchaser has specifically given us written permission to direct funds to. This is to protect third and fourth parties from being liable for damages to the municipal infrastructure that the deposit is held against. We have a strict policy against signing deposit “Assignment” agreements as we will not enter into contractual relationships with anyone other than original purchasers.

To begin the process of having a damage deposit returned (either directly, or through your builder), please call into our office (780)481-4375 and ask to speak to the project manager of the neighbourhood in question. They will provide you with a fax and email that you can send your grading certificate to along with a note indicating your contact information.

Once we have the grade certificate we come out and inspect the property. Although the inspection is primarily to ensure landscaping is complete and adheres to the architectural controls of the area, it is a full inspection of the exterior of the home, and a property can fail the final inspection if any part of the exterior finishing is incomplete.

If the inspection fails, we will contact you, give you the reason and advise on how to address the issues. If the inspection passes our accounting department processes the refund of any remaining monies not applied toward damage invoices that have been sent out in the past.

If you have completed your building and landscaping very quickly, the deposit may be held until we have finished the Final Approval of Construction (FAC) process with the municipality. The FAC process usually takes place two years after the lots have been serviced. Although we try to keep these inspections occurring in a timely manner, timelines are subject to the availability of the approving municipality and delays can occur. The municipality identifies any damages to the municipal infrastructure that must be repaired, and also determines whether the damage is due to building activity (and thus is invoiced and/or deducted from the damage deposit) or if it is due to contractor deficiencies and thus is paid by the developer and/or contractor. We do our best to avoid any unnecessary or unreasonable delays, however, as per your purchase contract, we do have the right to hold the deposits until final damages are assessed and billed.

Please call into our office (780)481-4375 and ask to speak to the project manager of the neighbourhood in question and we are more than happy to add you to one or more of our email contact lists for updates. You are also welcome to call in for more frequent updates.

We do not put a building time limit in our contracts. Doing so would only allow us to take action after the fact if someone were to not build within that time frame; it would not actually ensure that everyone did build within that time. Once the time limit had passed we would be able to sue for damages, but generally that does not help get a house built faster, rather it further delays completion, which ends up being counterproductive.  Although we generally ask that people try to build within a two year period, we do not put that in our contract with you, nor do we put it in your contract with your neighbour, so either party may take longer than that amount of time.

The contracts and/or architectural controls generally do specify a time limit within which people must have their landscaping complete, but we are lenient provided landscaping is addressed in a reasonable time frame. We stop honouring all damage deposits five years after lots in any stage have been serviced.