February 2016
Probably the most difficult decision that we have had to make in a long time was to sell our home and build a new one. Hard for lots of reasons but the key ones: We love the community that we currently live in; and we have never built a house before so very very unsure about what to expect and how to go about doing it.
Two and a half years ago we began seeing advertisements for a new “environmentally friendly” community in Porters Lake called Seven Lakes, so we investigated. It was hard to imagine when we first visited Seven Lakes what the vision was. Moving into our current community years after the developer started we discovered that the developer had promised many things as part of the development: parks and trails; sidewalks; etc. All of which did not materialize – so we were a bit leery of promises of developers. Seven Lakes had lots of big ideas and promises. What we quickly discovered was that Seven Lakes was committed to this development for the long term and was building the infrastructure FIRST before the building of the homes, so what we saw over the months that followed was the paved streets going in, a better traffic plan in the Porters Lake area; a dog park, and playground; mailbox shelter; toboggan hill; even a butterfly park. There were even groomed trails that were put in and all of this was done with a plan and concern for the natural environment of the area. After seeing this we were convinced.
Since signing on the dotted line we have had nothing but support, help with the design of the house; recommendations; even recommendations about financing. Knowing that this is the first time for us to build, the team at Synergy and Seven Lakes has been right with us basically holding our hand and ensuring that what we want in the final product is exactly what we are going to get. We have lots of questions, we have had changes, the Seven Lakes Team are respectful, helpful and concerned about us and our needs but also continue to be concerned and respectful of the community and the surrounding environment which is very important to us. It is a beautiful community and with the commitment from the Penney Group will continue to grow and develop into a place we are looking forward to soon calling home.
– Steve and Jeannette
September 2016
When we decided to build our home in the Seven Lakes Community, we were diligent abut doing our homework! A building project many years ago had impressed upon us the need to check out everything, and everybody, very carefully. So, armed with a floor plan and a wish list, we met with several local builders to find the right fit. And, while we gleaned some interesting ideas from many of them, it was Synergy Homes that truly understood our vision and appreciated the reality of our budget.
Once our lot had been chosen, they hiked it with us more times that they probably care to remember in order to make sure that we were happy with the footprint of our home before the first shovel hit the ground. They were able to transform our floorplan into a full scale home plan, and their collective expertise made sure that dimensions, angles and add-ons were optimized within our budget. Synergy Homes has gathered specialists – from excavators to decorators – who have worked diligently on every aspect of our build. All their tradespeople take obvious pride in their work (the amazingly organized and colour coded wiring now hidden above the ceiling of our garage was a thing of beauty!) and they were allhappy to explain things to us as the build progressed. They have made great suggestions – for example with tech wiring, lighting placement, fireplace arrangements and transom windows – many of these things we had never even considered. There were even a few excellent money-saving ideas along the way! We receive regular updates from Synergy’s head office, including financial reports, as each phase is completed. Any questions or concerns have been quickly addressed.
We met with several different companies for various quotes during the early stages of the build. They all had nothing but positive feedback for us from their dealings with Synergy – all this helped confirm in our minds that we had indeed made the right choice of builder. We will be in our new Synergy home soon, and can’t wait to show it off!
- Jim and Judi