Kings Wharf developer Francis Fares disputes condo workmanship report

A well-known Halifax developer is speaking out after a CBC investigation revealed growing frustrationamong condominium owners about poor workmanship and repair costs.

Frances Fares, owner of Kings Wharf/Fares Inc., says the 2013 documentleaked to CBC damages an entire industry and harms reputations.

• CBC INVESTIGATES |Nova Scotia condos hurt by widespread workmanship woes: leaked report

Speaking with CBC News on Wednesday, Fares explainedthere have been issues with poor workmanship, in part because builders are trying to keep costs down, but he says it's not fair to "paint every builder or every building or every developer with the same brush."

He says it's key for prospective condo buyers to do their own research.

"It's a small city. People know who are building good buildings. People need to talk to people living in those buildings."

Fares also says modern buildings have seen big improvements in quality.

"The building envelopes are much better now. There's more insulation.There's more waterproofing.So the industry has shifted and has changed."

'Things get hidden behind walls'

Heather Cruickshanks, a contractor who's spent many hours at condo construction sites, says the report isn't wrong. She says problems at worksites are hastened by project timelines.

"You know, we do have ways that this is dealt with. We have architects, we have engineers," said Cruickshanks."But again, they can't be on the site all the time either and these projects are often time sensitive. So what happens is that things progress and you know sometimes, things get hidden behind the walls. Not necessarily intentionally."

Municipal inspectors aren't necessarily to blame for missing the problems, she says, because it's not realistic for them to be on site for eight to 10 hours a day.

"You can have a site that's perhaps not quite as clean, and when they're cleaning, the easy way to get rid of it is through the tub or the toilets and then run the water," she said.

"We all know the mess that pigeons make. We have that, and we have water infiltration that comes in when the drywall's installed."

Nova Scotia currently doesn't have mandatory multi-year warranties to protect owners.Cruickshanks thinks they'd make a big difference.

"I think it would make a huge difference," she said.

"It puts all the accountability at every level. The contractor would be accountable, the developer would be accountable, and the engineer and the architect."

But Cruickshanks agrees with Fares, explaining that the owner must still do the due diligence and investigate ownership, construction and developer histories of the condo they're eyeing.

"It's buyer beware at this point in time, but I think we need some sort of regulation which would help everyone."

No safety net for coming for condo buyers

A warranty,insurance policy or deposit program to ensure that condo buyers get a quality product isn't going to happen, according to developerPeter Polley.

His company Polycorp builds condos,town homesand large rental units.Polley'sMont Blanc Villas and Residences in Halifaxwon a North American award for best development of its kind.

"It's not practical, it's not feasible. Unfortunately I think something like that would kill the fragile condo construction industry that we have in the city here now."

Polley said the condo industry in Atlantic Canada is just too small to have any kind of regional plan to make sure condo buyers are protected from shoddy construction. He thinks insurance would be a no-go as well.

"This isn't the sort of risk that insurance companies want to get into insuring in the first place," said Polley.

Like Cruickshanks, Polley believes people should do their research before they buy a condo.

"It's no different from buying a car or any other sort of major asset. Somebody shouldn't be overly comfortable buying a condo unitfrom somebody, that it's their first building or they have no proven track record. Or if they have a track record they should be checked out to make sure they're reputable"