How to Find the Best Home Builder in Ontario: The Checks, the Questions and the Site Visit That Tell You

The checks that take two minutes

1. HCRA licence: anyone building a new home for sale or under contract in Ontario must be licensed by the Home Construction Regulatory Authority. Look them up in the Ontario Builder Directory; it shows the licence, the homes enrolled, and any conditions or discipline. How to check an HCRA licence walks through it.
2. Tarion: new homes built under contract are enrolled in the warranty program. Ask for the enrolment and look at the builder’s record on the directory.
3. Insurance and WSIB: ask for the liability certificate and a WSIB clearance. Verifying a contractor before signing lists the rest.
4. Years in business under the same name, and whether the people who will run your job are the people you met.

Match the builder to the house

Builders specialize whether they say so or not. One builds subdivisions, one builds cottages on rock, one builds ICF custom homes on rural lots (that is us), one does timber frame. Look for your kind of house in their last ten projects, in your price range, in your area. A builder who has never dealt with your township’s building department, your conservation authority or your soil is learning on your money. Finding a reputable custom home builder and what a home builder actually does set the expectations.

The questions to ask

• How long in business, how many homes a year, and who is on site every day?
• Can I see a contract and a specification schedule before I commit? A specification schedule is where the price lives.
• What is included in the price and what is an allowance? What are the allowances based on?
• Fixed price or cost plus, and how are change orders priced and approved? Fixed price vs cost plus explains the difference.
• What deposit, what draw schedule, and is the holdback handled per the Construction Act?
• When can you start, how long will it take, and what happens if it runs late?
• Who are your regular trades and how long have they worked with you?
• How do you handle after-sales service and warranty items, and who do I call?
• Can I visit the site, and how often will I hear from you?
• Will you give me two references from the last two years, and one from five years ago?

Visit a job in progress

A finished house hides everything. A framed one shows you straight lumber, tight sheathing, flashing done in the right order, insulation that fills the cavity, an air barrier that is actually sealed, and a site that is either organized or chaos. Look at the workers too: hard hats and harnesses, a foreman who knows your name, trades that seem to like being there. The before-drywall checklist is a decent list of what to look at on someone else’s job.

Compare quotes properly

Three quotes that differ by $80,000 are usually three different houses. One includes the septic and the driveway, one has $30,000 in allowances that will not survive contact with a kitchen showroom, one is a shell. Lay them side by side against the same specification, line by line, before you compare the last line. Cost to build a house in Ontario has the ranges to sanity-check against; the one far below the range is the one to worry about. Then compare the warranty, the after-sales process, and the person. You will be talking to this builder every week for a year.

Call the references

Most people skip this and it is the most useful call you will make. Ask: was it on time and on budget, and if not, why? What went wrong and how was it handled? Were there deficiencies at possession and were they fixed? Would you hire them again? Then ask the question that gets the honest answer: what would you do differently? Questions to ask before signing finishes the list, and contract red flags is what to read the night before you sign.

Interviewing us

We would be lying if we said we did not think we deliver a good build, and we would be lying if we said you should take our word for it. Run the checks above on ICFhome.ca the same as anyone else: the licence, the Tarion record, a site visit, two references. Then come and stand in the showhome in January. It is the most persuasive thing we own.

Related guides on this site

Sources and further reading

• HCRA Ontario Builder Directory
• Tarion: the new home warranty
• WSIB clearance certificates

Questions people ask