Custom Home Guide · Chapter 6 of 6
After You Move In
What clients tell us at year three and year five — once the build is far enough behind them to be honest about it.
The patterns we see
Across more than two decades of completed homes in Greater Vancouver, the regrets we hear are surprisingly consistent. Storage that wasn't planned for the way the family actually accumulates. Outlets in the wrong places. Kitchens designed around a renovation magazine instead of a Tuesday-night routine. Lighting layered for resale photos rather than human use.
What ages well, what doesn't
Genuine wood, genuine stone, plaster walls, properly specified glazing, deep eaves on west elevations — these get better. Painted MDF, glossy laminates, fashion-driven hardware, builder-grade fixtures, undersized HVAC — these don't. A home is a forty-year decision. Make the durable choices in the year you build.
Maintenance is part of the design
The owners who write back happiest are the ones who treat maintenance as a calendar, not a panic. Annual envelope inspections, HVAC servicing, refinishing windowsills before they fail, repointing exterior cladding before water gets in. A well-built BC home asks for this and rewards it.
When this chapter applies
A quick framing of when the advice above is the right advice — and when it isn't.
Best for
- Owners who want to learn from clients three and five years deeper in.
- Anyone evaluating a layout with the long-term view in mind.
- Clients planning maintenance and warranty rhythms post-handover.
Fails when
- Decisions are made for the listing photo, not the lived-in routine.
- Maintenance is treated as reactive instead of scheduled.
- Materials chosen for the launch year, not the next twenty.
Verify before acting
- Confirm a year-one warranty walkthrough is on the calendar.
- Confirm finish-care documentation was transferred at handover.
- Confirm a maintenance schedule that matches the assemblies in the home.
Go deeper in the Journal
Detail-level posts that expand on specific topics from this chapter.
Craft
The Most Common Year-Five Regrets We Hear From Burnaby Custom-Home Clients
Year-one feedback is mostly excitement and nesting. Year-five feedback is honest. Here are the regrets we hear most often from Burnaby and Greater Vancouver clients, and the conversations they trace back to.
Read · 8 min
Craft
Five Mistakes That Show Up in Every Burnaby Custom Home After Year Three
The mistakes that show up in the first six months are obvious and fixable. The ones at year three are quieter, harder to undo, and almost always trace back to a decision made before the foundation was poured. Here's what BC's warranty system catches and what it doesn't.
Read · 8 min
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