This article provides a first-person account of the options available to consumers if they would like their new home builder to address deficiencies in their new home. One of the options they have is to fill out statutory warranty forms provided by Tarion Warranty Corporation and send these in to their builder according to specific timelines outlined by Tarion. As this article points out, taking the time to fill out the forms properly can be very important to the new home experience.

Heather Greenwood Davis, in a special article for the Toronto Star, reports that when she sent in a warranty form to her builder, she hadn’t listed all the deficiencies that existed in her home. As a result, when the builder visited to make a service call, his only obligation was to fix the items that were mentioned on the list.

The good news is that almost all builders will fix everything on a homeowner’s list, and any other items that are pointed out to them – and often, they’ll provide this service faster than the service rules require them to. Some builders even provide their own forms to help address any new home deficiencies experienced by the consumer. After all, providing their customers with good service is vital to the reputation and success of their company.

However, just to be sure, Davis encourages new homeowners who would like their builder to fix deficiencies in their home to put their requests in writing and file them with Tarion using the proper forms.  The article also provides an excellent list of tips from Tarion that are designed to help consumers prepare for any deficiencies that may arise in their new home – and many of these tips can be found at www.tarion.com

Finally, Davis provides something she thought she could do without: a list of warranty service tips from her mother.