Homeowners' Choice Award winners

Anyone buying a new home wants to make sure they're choosing a great builder; one with experience, integrity, commitment and professionalism. One of the best ways to find that builder is by checking their references. If you hear great things from homebuyers who've had a terrific experience with a particular builder, then it's reasonable to expect you'll also have a positive experience.The Homeowners Choice Awards are the ultimate reference check. They're based on feedback from thousands of new-home buyers in Ontario who shared details of their customer service experience during the homebuying process on everything from signing the Agreement of Purchase and Sale through construction to after-sales service.

This year more than 54,500 newhome owners, who took possession between Oct. 1, 2017 and Sept. 30, 2018, were invited to participate. The third-party research firm that manages the survey and tabulation process received more than 11,300 responses.

The survey results determined the 2019 Homeowners' Choice Award winners, who are recognized for outstanding customer service in four builder categories: Small, Medium, Large Volume and Highrise.There has to be enough data available to provide a full picture of a builder's success in providing top-notch customer service. Builders need at least five new home possessions during the survey timeframe and they must be named in a minimum number of completed surveys in order to qualify for consideration.When all the surveys were tabulated and the numbers crunched, there were 24 finalists for the four awards. Each of the 24 builders were cited for their responsive, positive approach to customer service. However, the award winners in each category were the builders, large and small, who were identified as consistently striving to create a positive, memorable home buying experience.Let me tell you about our winners: The Small Volume category covers builders with between five and 20 possessions per year. This year's winner is Chris King & Sons Construction of Kingsville.Timberland Homes in Lasalle was named the winner in the Medium Volume category, which includes builders with 21 to 100 possessions per year.In the Large Volume category (100- plus possessions each year) the winner is Hayhoe Homes in St. Thomas.Finally, the winner of the Highrise category (100-plus possessions each year) is Brookfield Residential in Markham.I'd like to thank the many thousands of new-home owners who took the time to tell us about their customer experience with Ontario's builders.In the best cases, buyers and builders have forged positive, enduring relationships through the buying, building and after-care process. And just as you're happy to share a good experience when a friend asks for advice, more than 11,300 homeowners have been kind enough to share their good experience with you.We're grateful for their advice. This year, Tarion's Board of Directors also chose a winner for the Ernest Assaly Award. This prestigious award, which a builder can only receive once in their career, is named after the first Chair of Tarion's Board of Directors.It's intended to honour builders who stand head and shoulders above the crowd; those with a long record of accomplishment in customer service, social responsibility, workmanship, innovation and employee development.Expectations are so high, in fact, that only a handful of builders are even considered for the award. I'd like to think that Ernest Assaly would be proud to know that this year's winner of the award named for him is The Daniels Corporation.In a world of Pinterest boards and online communities, it can sometimes be difficult to get the kind of dependable advice we all want when we're making one of the biggest purchases of our life. The Homeowners' Choice Awards represent a solid source of advice from the real experts: Ontario's new homeowners.Congratulations to all of our winners!Howard Bogach is president and CEO of the Tarion Warranty Corp. tarion.com Facebook.com/TarionWarrantyCorp