We are thrilled to introduce a new technology to enable online home buyers to experience a realistic immersive 3D view of an actual new home at Woodland Creek. Whether you’re across town or across the country, the ability to control an actual walkthrough of our homes takes online virtual touring to a new level. Tour a home just like you are there. Move in and out of rooms as you wish, feel the flow of the home and experience the true value of a Woodland Creek new home – it’s finishing level, customized features, and craftsmanship. Take a moment now to take in this experience – you’ll be amazed. More plans to come — take 60 seconds to explore Woodland Creek.
About Totangi Properties Ltd. and Woodland Creek
Celebrating their 48th year in business, Totangi Properties is a locally-owned and operated award winning property development and land management company established in 1968. In 2014 Totangi was ranked #1 in Canada for Customer Satisfaction by Avid Ratings. Brothers Warren and Blair Robertson and their team work closely with the 2012 Built Green Builder of the Year, SC Smith Building Company, in the creation of Woodland Creek and are committed to creating affordable, high-quality residential properties with lasting homeowner value.
2012 Gold CARE Award winner for Best New Subdivision, Woodland Creek is a residential neighbourhood of new homes in the heart of Sooke, British Columbia – a waterfront community near Victoria BC. A planned residential community with over 120 home completed to date, Woodland Creek was designed with the objective of providing a wide range of new housing opportunities for the community; close to schools, parks and the Sooke shopping and service core with the fundamental commitments of quality construction, lasting value and the long-term commitment of an established local developer.
For more information, visit www.totangi.ca and www.WoodlandCreek.ca
As we start construction on the 5 remaining geothermal lots at Woodland Creek in the town of Sooke, a waterfront community close to Victoria BC, we can truly say that the innovative approach we took to new home construction has paid off. It has paid off for the homeowners, the environment, the community, and our employees and trades.
Homeowners that purchased the first new homes 4 years ago were risk takers. As early adopters they were willing to try something relatively new. While an established technology elsewhere in the world, individual geothermal or geoexchange systems for single family homes was fairly new to Vancouver Island and definitely a first in Sooke. These homeowners have now benefited from lower energy consumption (over $1,000 per year) and a cleaner, greener, and healthier living environment. Their investment in a geothermal home will increase their resale value and will continue to pay financial and environmental dividends into the future.
The community of Sooke and environment have benefited from a leading edge residential subdivision with a smaller carbon foot print. With an average reduction in energy consumption of about 11,000 kilowatts per home, together each year, homeowners in the subdivision have consumed over 300,000 kilowatts hours less in energy and reduced carbon emissions by 210 tonnes. Imagine that in 10 years the subdivision will have saved 3 million kilowatt hours of energy – that’s 3 megawatts!
Our employees and participating trades have had a long term education in new technology and building green. By using the geothermal systems and employing Built Green accreditation and Energuide rating along with waste reduction, sorting, and recycling, everyone one has been part of a journey of continual improvement. We continue to see this with our team as we adopt new building techniques, use new materials, and adapt to the introduction of the new building code.
We took a risk as a developer to invest in an expensive geothermal project, but we think we have achieved a triple bottom line return socially, environmentally, and financially – and that’s made it all the worthwhile.
Here’s a look back at the start of it all….
Here are 5 key benefits of a Geothermal System.
Lower Operating Costs – Because geothermal systems operate more efficiently than ordinary heating and air conditioning systems, annual operating costs are in the range of 30% to 60% lower then other heating and cooling systems. Geothermal operating costs are approximately 1/4 to 1/3 of electric baseboard heat.
Environmentally Friendly – Geothermal systems eliminate the combustion of fossil fuels on site and dramatically reduce the need to generate power – thereby lowering emissions of greenhouse gases and the environmental damage associated with non-renewable resource extraction.
Comfort – Because geothermal systems use the relatively stable temperature of the earth as an energy source, you are assured of constant, even heating in winter and better humidity control in the summer. Geothermal systems eliminate the need for exhaust venting, reducing the number of penetrations in the building envelope and improving weather tightness.
Safety – No flame, no flue, no odours, no risk from carbon monoxide. Just safe, reliable operation year after year.
Quiet – The completely self-contained indoor equipment does not need a noisy, unsightly outside condensing unit. Geothermal systems are quiet and discrete. Other than the lower energy bills, you will hardly know they are there
Celebrating their 47th year in business, Totangi Properties is a locally-owned and operated award winning property development and land management company established in 1968. In 2014 Totangi was ranked #1 in Canada for Customer Satisfaction by Avid Ratings. Brothers Warren and Blair Robertson and their team work closely with the 2012 Built Green Builder of the Year, SC Smith Building Company, in the creation of Woodland Creek and are committed to creating affordable, high-quality residential properties with lasting homeowner value.
2012 Gold CARE Award winner for Best New Subdivision, Woodland Creek is a residential neighbourhood of new homes in the heart of Sooke, British Columbia – a waterfront community near Victoria BC. A planned residential community, Woodland Creek was designed with the objective of providing a wide range of new housing opportunities for the community; close to schools, parks and the Sooke shopping and service core with the fundamental commitments of quality construction, lasting value and the long term commitment of an established local developer.
June 5, 2014, Sooke, BC – Victoria-based real estate development company Totangi Properties has taken top prize nationally in the custom builder – small volume category for customer satisfaction in the building industry for their homes at Woodland Creek in Sooke. Regarded as a benchmark of customer service performance, the Avid Awards are given out throughout North America to builders who have set the highest standards for home quality and customer service. This is the first time a Vancouver Island company has received this prestigious recognition.
“We are excited and honoured to receive this recognition from Avid,” said Blair Robertson, co-owner of Totangi Properties Ltd. “It’s a validation of the great work that our skilled building and sales team provides and of the positive lasting relationships we are able to build with our customers.”
In North America, Avid Ratings has long been at the forefront of the industry in bringing transparency of builder performance to consumers since 1992. Purchasers of homes at Woodland Creek are given a voluntary independent survey 30 days after move-in and again one year later. The surveys tracked their satisfaction with their homes and experience of working with the builder.
“Totangi has been phenomenal for their customer service and as home builders,” said Kala Souter,homeowner at Woodland Creek. “The surveys gave us the opportunity to give our feedback, which in our case was very positive – in fact we even recommended Totangi to our friends who are building a house.”
Through the Avid Award system, each home buyer survey in the database is analyzed to determine each builder’s Avid Index Score which is a combination of the total home buying experience, the willingness to refer and the actual number of recommendations a buyer has made. Builders with the highest Avid Index Score in each category are presented with awards.
“This award is an honour because it means we are doing the most important part of our job well – satisfying our customers,” said Steve Smith, SC Smith Building Company, the builder at Woodland Creek. “We take great pride in the homes we build and it is nice to know we are doing a good job of listening to our homeowners.”
Totangi Properties established the residential neighbourhood of Woodland Creek in 2004. The community now has more than 100 new homes and townhomes built and occupied. In addition to the recent Avid Award, Woodland Creek has won multiple awards including at CARE Award in 2013 for best new subdivision. Homes at Woodland Creek include the Built Green designation and the latest in energy efficient heating and cooling.
About Totangi Properties Ltd. and Woodland Creek
Totangi Properties is a locally-owned and operated property development and land management company established in 1968. Brothers Warren and Blair Robertson worked closely with a talented team of local professionals and the District of Sooke in the creation of Woodland Creek and are committed to creating affordable, high-quality residential properties with lasting homeowner value. For more information, visit www.totangi.ca
About Avid Ratings Canada
Founded in 2003, Avid Ratings Canada is a full-service customer loyalty management firm, providing customer loyalty research, reputation management, organizational consulting and innovative marketing solutions that drive home building success. Serving more than 2,750 home builders throughout Canada and the United States. Avid maintains North America’s largest database of homebuyer satisfaction to benchmark its clients. To learn more about the award winning Avid 3.0 suite of services (GoSurvey®, GoSocial®, and GoTour®), visit www.avidratings.ca.
It always makes our day when we hear back from our customers – in this case our new homeowners Kyla and Derek O’Rourke who built a semi-custom home with us. Here is what they had to say:
“Words cannot express how happy we are with our home in Woodland Creek. You will not find better quality. The support we received before, during, and after construction was outstanding. They took the time to explain everything in detail and were more than willing to accommodate any and all of our requests. We felt the whole team wanted us to love our house and went the extra mile to make sure it happened.”
Our relationship with Kyla and Derek started when they visited our showhome and met our wonderful hostess Cecile. Cecile introduced them to our homes, plans, amenities, and different finishing options. Working together with our design team, Kyla and Derek created their new home complete with all the finishing details, paint colours, cabinets, flooring and room modifications they wanted. Using our “Bedroom Plus” program they added an additional 4th bedroom to the 3 bedroom Fir plan . From their initial design meeting with us to the occupancy of their new home, the entire process took about 6 months.
How does this ‘pre-sale’ / custom home process work?
In Kyla and Derek’s case, construction of their new home started about a month after the contract was signed. The building plans are drafted to incorporate any customer modifications and the building permit application is made. As construction progressed we stayed in touch with Kyla and Derek and often saw them visiting the site, excited to see their new home take shape.
Customer Experience — It’s important for us that the home buyer is part of the realization of the design and construction process. We are not ones to take the deposit and say “see you 6 months when the house is complete”. Once the framing is complete and all the doors and windows are installed (what’s call “lock up” in the industry), homebuyers are invited to conduct a walk through to confirm the location of electrical switches and media / internet connections and make any last minute changes. Throughout the entire building process the buyer is connected through a cloud base construction management system that allows the buyer to stay up to date on progress with their own personal website portal that includes recent photos, change orders, and direct contact with the construction manager.
Prior to occupancy, in this case just 5 months after the start of construction, an inspection and familiarity tour of the new home is conducted. We check in with the new homeowner shortly after occupancy as well, to ensure that everything in the home is functioning as it should. Every new homeowner receives a binder with all relevant new home information and we have a Homeowner Web Portal that contains warranty, operation, and special deal information. And we don’t stop there!
We believe in continual improvement and the importance of customer feedback so we subscribe to a 3rd party Customer Experience rating system called AVID Ratings. 30 days after occupancy, AVID ratings conducts an independent Customer Experience survey to get the homeowners feedback on everything from the sales process, to the new home features, and after occupancy service. They conduct this process once more at the 1 year mark. We also follow up before the 1 year mark to review any issue that are covered under the new home warranty and we have a handy Service Request form on our site should you have any issues in your new home that we are responsible for.
Thanks again to Kyla and Derek for their kinds words – you made our day!
Blair Robertson – co-owner Totangi Properties.
About Totangi Properties Ltd. and Woodland Creek
Celebrating their 45th year in business, Totangi Properties is a locally-owned and operated award winning property development and land management company established in 1968. In 2014 Totangi was ranked #1 in Canada for Customer Satisfaction by Avid Ratings. Brothers Warren and Blair Robertson and their team work closely with the 2012 Built Green Builder of the Year, SC Smith Building Company, in the creation of Woodland Creek and are committed to creating affordable, high-quality residential properties with lasting homeowner value.
2012 Gold CARE Award winner for Best New Subdivision, Woodland Creek is a residential neighbourhood of new homes in the heart of Sooke, British Columbia – a waterfront community near Victoria BC. A planned residential community, Woodland Creek was designed with the objective of providing a wide range of new housing opportunities for the community; close to schools, parks and the Sooke shopping and service core with the fundamental commitments of quality construction, lasting value and the long term commitment of an established local developer.
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