Builders & Developers
Completed, unsold, and sitting through a Calgary winter.
Spec homes, show homes and completed inventory need monitoring from occupancy permit to possession — often across a whole portfolio.
A completed but unsold home is a vacant property with a large amount of capital in it and a specific set of risks. New construction has systems that have never run through a full season, freshly poured concrete still releasing moisture, landscaping that has not established, grading that has not settled, and mechanical equipment commissioned but barely used.
The failure modes are well known to anyone who has held inventory through a winter: heat left off or set too low in a house with no occupants generating moisture load, mechanical rooms nobody has entered since the final inspection, sump pumps that have never been tested under an actual spring melt, and hot water tanks sitting idle. Add possession delays, and a house that was meant to be occupied in November is empty in February.
Show homes have their own version — occupied during the day, empty every night and through every closure, with a landscaped presentation that has to stay perfect and a furnished interior that makes them a target.
For volume, the useful unit is the portfolio rather than the property: consistent visit cadence across every vacant unit, one reporting standard, and a single view of which properties are fine and which need attention this week.
What actually goes wrong
First winter in an unoccupied new build
Systems that have never run a full heating season, in a house with no occupancy load, is a combination that surfaces commissioning problems.
Possession delays
A property built for a November possession sitting empty into February was never planned for as a vacancy.
Capital sitting exposed
Completed inventory is the most expensive form of vacant property there is.
Portfolio visibility
With twenty vacant units, the question is not how any one is doing — it is which three need attention this week.
Warranty timing
New Home Buyer Protection Act warranty periods run on their own clock. Documented condition through the vacancy is useful when something is raised later.
Services
What this usually involves
In roughly the order people add them.
Vacant Home Checks
Scheduled physical visits to an unoccupied property, with a timestamped photo record and a written report after every visit.
Temperature & Freeze-Risk Observation
A recorded interior temperature reading at each visit, with freeze-risk observations through the Alberta winter.
Photo Documentation
A timestamped photographic record from each visit, kept as a running visual history of the property.
Winter Property Care
Cold-season property care: temperature and heating observations, freeze-risk checks, snow clearing coordination and storm visits.
Snow Removal Coordination
Snow clearing arranged with a local provider and verified on your next visit, with photographs after clearing.
Lawn & Yard Coordination
Mowing and yard maintenance arranged on a schedule and verified with photographs on your next visit.
Contractor Access & Attendance
A representative opens the property for a scheduled trade or professional, logs arrival and departure, and secures it afterwards.
Maintenance Inspection
A professional assessment of a property's current condition and maintenance needs, independent of any transaction.
Need someone at the house?
Tell us what the property needs. Direct services throughout Greater Calgary.