Tartan Homes Reviews

The staff is amazing they go extra mile to for new home owners satisfaction. I really appreciate Kyrie and teams efforts.

They are one of the best home companies in Ottawa, great staff and design.

This an update on my first review of Tartan after taking position of my town home on 2020-03-27.
Extreamly disappointed with the very poor quality and cheap labor they used in this brand new home.
Our roof leaked the first time it rained. Floor tile cracked 1st month.
It took 6 months to replaced a cracked window after we moved in, they blamed it on covid..window was cracked at least 3 weeks before closing. We could not use our backyard untill October cuz they blocked it untill they put the grass which should of been done end of August. They were nice and informative before signing, now it takes months before issues are resolved.
I am not impressed and feel like, for the amount of money this house cost, this is a huge rip off.

Great builder and Great customer service, I am Real estate Agent and from my experience I advice my clients to buy from Tartan Homes.

We bought a new built home from Tartan, very disappointed with their quality. We had lots of issues such as: 1)Water leakage from roof to second floor, main floor and basement.
2) Tile cracks on main floor.
3) Dry wall damaged
4) Door jams
5) Mice got into basement due to construction defects. Cost us $668 to fix. We had to hire another company to fix their problem.
6) Vinyl siding open
7) Energy efficiency certificate was not done until 6 months after moving in.
7) They took 6 months to fix a broken window, even though it was broken before closing.
8)screws coming off walls.
9) Drive way asphalt cracked two weeks after it was done.
In summary it is not worth the money.

Excellent homes with reasonable prices. Great customer service.

For those considering buying a Tartan home, I strongly advise you not to. Look for a reputable home building company who actually cares about the quality of home they put their name behind, and that don't just subcontract cheap labour to make a greater profit.
My home is just over two years old and the window trim is leaking. I called their 24 emergency line yesterday who said they would have the head office call me today. Never received a call. I had to call the 24 emergency line who gave me the number to service. Their customer service is terrible, once you buy a house they don't care. Only time they have great customer service is when you are in the process of buying a home.
Regarding my leaking trim window, they will not send someone to look at it. Instead I have to investigate where the leak is coming from. Tarion provides 2 years warranty for water penetration, however if its been defective since the build then they should assume responsibility.
List of defects since possession:
Damaged soffit
Bowed entrance wall
Paint on carpet and hardwood floor
Dented hardwood floors
Missing pot light
Unanchored pipes for washing machine
Poorly secured fence.
Leaking faucet which damaged the countertop
Poorly secured shingles
And many other thing poorly secure or screwed
**update** The leaking coming from the window trim was actually due to a leaking roof which at the time was only over 2 years old. The roofing company that came to fix the problem discovered that one of the sheets of would was never nailed down properly. He was able to simply lift the sheet of wood and see through the attic. Tartan used the wrong screws and not enough of them. Trying to get any compensation from Tartan was a nightmare, they would choose to ignore me and not take any responsibility.

First time home buyer- I wish I knew then what I do now. Do your research. Tartan may have nice model homes, but the whole process with Tartan from time of purchase to now, having lived in my home for three months, has been disappointing. The sales people are nice until you sign the dotted line. Then they lose all politeness. Your emails go ignored or you get blunt, sometimes rude responses.
Tartan will not give you options for changing floor plans. They will not let you change small things like where light switches go etc.
You will have less options with them than many other builders. It really isn t custom.

Be prepared to hear no a lot.

The design centre is okay, I wouldn t say they have the most up-to-date selections. I worked in a tile store prior to going there, and everything they had in terms of flooring and backsplash was two seasons or more. Most of their floor options don t have a matching stain option for bannisters, so most tartan homes I ve gone in, including my own, the stain on your railings don t match your floors. Looks off. Plus I would say their upgrade pricing is a little exorbitant.

Their designers don t really help. They guide you. So for those that need help, you won t really find it there. But be aware they also can give bad advice- or they don t know the product their selling.
One of their designers told us to put knobs everywhere in my kitchen, even the lowers, since I was going to upgrade myself, but now because knobs are placed centre of drawers I can t switch out with pulls unless I fill the knob hole first, match the paint of my cabinets and hope for the best it looks alright. Wish they warned me if this.

But the absolute worst part is the trades Tartan hires. I am not lying when I say the paint job in my house is the worst I ve seen. All my neighbours too. Paint on the floor. Paint over dirt. Missing paint. Nail holes not sanded down before being painted. Paint all over the UPGRADED door knobs and hinges, so they look old.
Paint on my tile. Cracks and scratches in the drywall everywhere. Stain from the banisters on the drywall.

First week in- we had a leak in the ceiling from the en-suite shower. They did address this somewhat quickly. But I am paranoid of the remainder of the water hookups.

The carpet job was terrible too. Seams everywhere, random cuts along the baseboard that you can see. Nails and tacks all over the stairs. Scratches, gauges and dents in the trim along the stairs. Exposed raw edges. And when they come and fix it, it s not the best repair job, plus they leave you with a mess to contend with.

Basement ceiling had to be entirely redone- do you know what a pain that is when you re already moved in to have a ceiling sanded and painted? They also didn t bring drop cloths. So spackling was all over my furniture and new carpet. Fantastic.

instead of installing my back steps, someone just dumped them in my yard and never came back to install. Yup, still sitting there...

It s also in the small details. light switch plates that are not level, and their locations suck- I have to walk 5 feet into a dark bathroom to find a light switch that is behind a door. Finishing touches, like caulking are not done. My niche was terribly done but they still tried to pass it off to my like it s acceptable.

My point is - Tartan is only as good as the trades people they hire, and you don t want these tradesmen building your house. You just don t.

It may sound like one bad experience, but I ve spoken with neighbours and it s the same across the board. The office people are sometimes responsive and other times will ignore you.
So really do your homework when looking for a builder.

Worst quality and cheap quality in the homes. Your paying premium and getting poor quality. Try another builder if you can avoid tartan. Ohhh good luck dealing with Christine in the service centre if you do buy.

Poor poor poor workmanship in interior and exterior. Rushed job BEYOND COMPREHENSION. Will never buy Tartan again. After 4 months of living in our 'forever home' we are still waiting for tradesmen to complete work to be done. Disrupting our lives ; not recommended

6 leaks in 5 years. A retaining wall that s a nightmare. A hood fan that allows mosquitos in by the dozen. Forgot to install my fireplace switch. Warping cabinets. A quarter of my kitchen tiles all cracked from the hidden leaks under the floor. Worst customer service on top of all that. Even the buying experience was rushed and unpleasant.

If you search Tartan homes on Facebook there s a page for all those who trusted this builder with their biggest life investment and watched that money go to waste. AND ARE STILL PAYING FOR IT!! You can voice your disappointing experience there.

I hope every tartan buyer a promotion at work so they can afford keeping up with the poor workmanship that we call Home .

Even they don t deserve one star, bad service, bad finishing, the paint job is terrible, the wood floors has lot of gaps and they refuse to fix it, leakage at the basement, the asphalt on the drive way so soft the chair legs sink when we sit , tile job so bad , sometimes they don t respond to the email or the complaint.... the problem is its house its not something u can return
I regret I purchase from them
Take your time before u make your decision

bad Customer Support

edit: things changed on their side and we are much happier with the service now

Owned 2 tartan homes
Great company to deal with. Very high quality homes. Highly suggested especially for first time home buyers

The worst finishes I ve seen. Terrible paint my windows leak and the granite guys messed up my sink and they won t fix it.

So the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. They don't do total high pressure sales but they are intense.
In the end we chose not to buy a Tartan house. I found there prices to high for what your getting and the layouts where suiting for our needs.
The experience over all was pleasureable.
Worth a visit if tour looking .

Wouldn't recommend if you want to do any change outside of their list. All of our requests like relocating kitchen sink and stove, adding extra window in the breakfast area, moving laundry to the basement has been turned down. Definitely we did not see this coming before signing the agreement as they said they always try to accommodate customer requests!

Not sure what defines a premium builder, so far I would rate them poorly for their customer service. This is my second time buying house from a builder; with Tartan the experience is very bad.

Not a happy customer!!!