What voids Tarion warranty?

lamin wrote: ↑ Try to do separate entrance with builder if cost is reasonable, it never looks as good when it is done after the fact.

cristianosham wrote: ↑ Do your upgrades after the warranty expires if your are worried. You can't like remove the upgrade and bring it back to stock if something happens like on a car or computer.

luckystrike1 wrote: ↑skeet50 has provided the absolute best answer so far. If you change the way the house was on closing date, most changes could result in non claimable damages.

Fireplace, just an addon so should not be an issue.

skeet50 wrote: ↑ The Tarion warranty provides coverage on items and the build as it existed on closing day. Any changes that you make to the home after closing are not warrantable. So how could this unfold?

Take the example of a leaky pipe in your home that causes damage in your new kitchen and hardwood that you installed after closing. Under the warranty guidelines, the builder is only obligated to repair the pipe and if there is a need to replace kitchen cabinets and hardwood flooring due to water damage the builder's only obligation is to replace it with the items that you had on the closing date. The builder has no obligation whatsoever the replace it with the same quality of items that you since replaced. In this case you would need to contact your home insurance and put in a claim for the damage.

Dealthrill wrote: ↑ Do you know if there is a structural supporting beam on that wall? if so, then you will be structurally altering the home then it may void all structural warranty as the loads of the home are not calculated in isolation. I personally think you should wait a bit to do the separate entrance and the window, just so you give sometime for the foundation to settle.

ollywood wrote: ↑ Thanks for the reply. Understood on both and makes sense.

So in the case of the pass through/opening I would want to create between my great room and dining- since that would effectively require me to create a "window" in the wall thus cutting out some 2x4's in the wall and creating a support.. would that effectively void all of my structural warranty or just that isolated area? This is the grey area that I'd like some clarity on.

skeet50 wrote: ↑ Depends on whether opening it up causes structural damage elsewhere in the home. We have the same thing in our home right now and we love it, but it was a feature of the home built by the builder.

Keep in mind the challenge with these type of issues is you potentially could face a lot of disagreement with the builder. Tarion is the warranty provider, but it isn't Tarion entering your home and making the repairs. It's the builder. And every time the builder has to come back for a warranty issue it is costing the builder money. Tarion really only provides the overall framework and administration for the warranty program and will only get involved when there is an unresolved dispute between the home owner and the builder. Changes that you are mentioning could potentially give the builder an easy out to say no, not covered because of the changes that you made.

Disputes do happen between builders, home owners and Tarion and many end up in legal action. Here's a link to a community in Ottawa that has major issues with the builder, the City and Tarion. The take away is that these issues don't get resolved very easily:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/h ... -1.4789234

ollywood wrote: ↑ Ah, gotcha. Now that I've reviewed the framework it makes sense. Tarion seems like the governing body if and when disputes happen...which I assume are frequent since builders never really want to spend money fixing things they've already completed.

I guess we have some decision making to do. For the example aforementioned pertaining to the opening, my fear would be that if another structural problem occurred in the home-even if its far away from the place of the opening- that they could leverage said opening as a reason as to why they wouldn't cover the repair.

If I replaced the kitchen I would never ask the builder to fix cabinets that have failed..likewise for any other upgrades aforementioned However, if there is a structural issue thats away from the upgrade ive created, I would hate to get into spat with the builder about that...something tells me thats exactly what would happen.