News

Mattamy Homes and Tridel Ltd. got top honours at Tarion Warranty Corp.'s annual award presentations.

Tarion is the provincially mandated regulator of the home-building industry in Ontario and licenses construction companies. The award winners are selected on the basis of an extensive survey of new-home buyers in the province, conducted by Harris-Decima Research.

Mattamy, based in Oakville, took the award in the large-volume category. It has built more than 30,000 homes since 1978.

Tarion said: "Attention to every detail of service delivery can be found at all points in the Mattamy new-home buying experience - including a frame-stage walkthrough during construction, to give buyers a chance to make sure that what looked good on the drawing, is what they are seeing in reality."

Toronto-based Tridel was named best high-rise builder, an honour it also won in 2004 and 2005.

Tarion said the company "is known for building quality high-rise condominium complexes and for developing innovative programs that help ensure high customer satisfaction on a mass scale. Among the company's innovations is 'MyTridelHome.com,' a customized website that allows homeowners access to all their agreements and records, as well as a round-the-clock means for reporting their concerns."

The survey was sent to more than 53,000 buyers who took possession of a new home between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31. There were more than 11,000 responses.

Other winners included Noah Homes of Kingsville in the medium-volume category, and Menard Brothers & Associates Ltd. of Cornwall in the small-volume category.

The Tarion awards come as the condo industry comes under increasing scrutiny from a growing market.

Earlier this week J.D. Power and Associates released its 2007 survey of new condo buyer satisfaction, revealing that builders have made considerable progress in improving customer satisfaction but still managed an average score of just 620 out of a possible 1,000 points. Tridel ranked the highest in new-condominium buyer satisfaction in the GTA for a second consecutive year with an index score of 767.