It’s hard to miss. Every day there is another conversation or news story regarding the current economy. Every day, Alair Homes Edmonton is asked by prospective clients the same question:

“We are concerned about the current economy. Is it a bad time to renovate or build our house?”

Our response is: “Do you like getting a deal?”

We say this lightheartedly because we completely understand the apprehension of building in a less than stable market. And let us be the first to say, we are not economists (we leave that up to people that are much smarter than us), but we do believe in cycles. What goes up must come down, over and over again.

Regardless of this, it’s your money—you have invested and/or worked hard to save, and it is difficult to assess the risk. When presented with these options, our opinion is that collecting your data to make a decision and treading slowly is typically the best way to come out ahead.

The next question we get asked is: “What data/information do I need to make a decision?”

In our view, this depends on the type of development or building you are interested in, but typically here are the questions you should be asking.

Alair Homes Edmonton strongly encourages you to ask or get opinions from some key people who can help:

Once you have found the opportunity, should you build in 2016?

We can’t answer that, but we can give you some of our current experiences. From the City of Edmonton, a basic subdivision takes about 3 to 4 months. After this, development and building permits can take 3 months, so if you want to start this summer you’d better get going! In terms of costs, we have currently found that costs of labour are down, however with the Canadian dollar, the costs of materials are up a bit.

Where we have found the biggest advantage, is that the opportunities are open for longer, allowing us analyze them first before committing cash. In general the trade market has slowed. Volume builders are slower and this does mean that more trades are available. This puts more pressure on some of the trades, and it means the level of service we receive from our trade partners has gone way up. This has resulted in cleaner job sites, faster service, and decreased build timelines substantially, which has a net result of a lower cost to build.

Ultimately, if you are confident in your development/build, believe in Edmonton and the economic cycles, then YES—building or renovating now is a great time. Good luck! If you’re interested in learning more, or have a project you’d like to discuss with us, please get in touch and we’d be happy to meet with you.

How To Contact Us:

Phone: (780) 809-4501
Email: [email protected]
Meet Our Team: Learn more about the Alair Homes Edmonton Team