Your New Home Construction Glossary Cheat Sheet

Home Tips & Tricks
February 24, 2015

After 26 years as a Calgary new home builder we’ve come to realize that our business has a whole lot of industry specific terms and acronyms. While it’s second nature for us, it may feel like learning a whole new language for you. For instance COP refers to Canada Olympic Park for most proud Calgarians. But in our world it actually stands for Certificate of Possession (and in reality being handed a COP can feel like winning gold for most new homeowners.)

Simple as Learning Your ABC’s.

In an effort to help you bust through any potential language barriers we’ve come up an Excel Homes Glossary of Terms and organized them from A through Z (the ever important Zoning By-Laws). You’ll find this handy list in the Home Buyer Resources section of our website, along with A Guide for First Time Homebuyers, Mortgage Calculator and Guide for New Calgarians (welcome!)

Getting Started

Before sending you off on your own, let’s have a look at a few of the more common terms together:

  • Presale Home: is when a customer pre-selects a model or type of house, the lot it sits on and the finishing package and/or colour scheme prior to construction starting. Homeowners have more flexibility and input in pre-sale homes.
  • Spec/Quick Possession Home: a new home that is either fully built or under construction prior to a customer purchasing it. Purchase to possession can be immediate or take up to five months (depending on where the home is at in the construction process.)
  • Purchase Agreement: is the contract signed by the builder and buyer to secure the purchase of a lot and new home construction.
  • Possession Certificate / Inspection Form: is a certificate that’s signed by the new homeowner, after the possession inspection, to approve the completion of the home and note any final deficiencies.
  • Lot Grades: refers to the engineering design level of the house on a lot in relation to the sidewalk, road, laneway and adjacent property. The lot’s grade affects design and construction and requires proper planning to ensure water drains away from the home.
  • Exterior Elevations: Detailed to-scale drawings that show a home’s exterior front, sides and back with the finishing details and placement (e.g. stone, siding, etc.)