Complaint Review: Design Craft Homes

We hired Design Craft Homes to build our Custom Home. We thought everthing was going well until after the framing was completed-The NIGHTMARE was just begining.

We hired Design Craft to build and oversee this process because we work full time jobs. During the electrical, plumbing is when our nightmare started. We were forced to do our electrical walk-thru in the dark with flashlights because of the constant unavailablity of the electrician. Our plumbing had sags in the "long runs" of piping that we needed to point out on a regular basis. Was our Builder told of these problems? Yes..Was anything done? NO!!!

When the flooring went in, We asked the question as to whether or not the flooring would be "clued and screwed"..The answer to that by Design Craft Homes was - Yes. The flooring was going in, however we didn't see ANY remnants of clue. Was our Builder told of these problems? Yes. After one floor was done, all of sudden we saw clue on site. Do you really think they went back and pulled up the flooring that was already put in...Of course not!! Now we have floor pops. We have asked them to come and fix them and three times later...we STILL have floor pops in the same places.

In the main living area, we have 18ft span from floor to ceilings. With this length you are required to have steel beams put in your framing. When the drywall went in, the steel frame set out about 1-2 inches further than the studs. Do you think that the drywall was flush? Of course not. Was our Builder told of these problems? Yes..Was anything done? NO!!! They continued to put up drywall and said they would "float it out". That is alot of mudd! We now have waves in our walls and "rounded" corners, which I didn't want.

When the tile, carpet, and vinyl was installed...the Carpet wasn't even "tucked in" in numerous corners, but they put the molding down anyway. Some of the molding wasn't even attached to the wall. When a mistake was made laying our vinyl, the tried to relay over the top of the existing vinyl rather then pulling up the old. Of course after LOTS of complaining, they finally agreed to pull out everything and redo.

My master bathroom is tiled, To this day I have a hole in my tile leading to my jacuzzi bathtub in my brand new bathroom. When the tile was installed, the apparently didn't use "spacers" and I have a small bead of grout in between tiles. How long do you think the tile will last before cracking and leaking? Because of the poor craftsmenship of the bathroom, already I have had a LEAK going down into my Guest bedroom. The ceiling down there had to be pulled out and replaced. Of course now the tape is popping thru the paint and its only been a few months. The tile for the master bath that was selected is now discontinued and was told to select a new tile. For whatever reason, the tile company being used is NO longer working with Design Craft Homes. I still have the hole and an incomplete bathroom.

The outside of my house is Cempanel. The workmanship is done so poorly here its incredible. The calking in between boards is messy and there are nailpops everywhere...Some of the boards were apparently damaged and the installers tried to repair the board rather than replacing the board. Most of the installers didn't speak english, so we were unable to communicate.

The above mentioned are only a FEW of the problems we have experienced. I could continue writing for awhile longer, but I'm hoping you are getting the message.

I like to think of us as educated consumers..We have written MANY letters during this whole process to Design Craft Homes. We have given Design Craft Homes MANY chances to solve these issues. Instead of doing what the consumer (US) has paid for, I suppose they can cut whatever corners they can and expect the consumer be happy. We currently are in litigation. Design Craft Homes is hoping to settle on an amount and have us hire someone else to fix their problems. Do you want to hire a Custom Home Builder that doesn't stand behind his/her own company? I wish I knew then what I know now!! I spent alot of money on what I thought to be my Dream Home.

We have had other professionals in the constuction/buidling business to come and look at our home. All have agreed that this house has major repairs to be done and it is a new house. During the construction of our house there was alot of "turnover" of contractors and Supervisors employed by Design Craft Homes.

Terri
Fredericksburg, Virginia
U.S.A.