M. hart
Daleville,#2Author of original report
Sat, December 05, 2009
As with any product, there will always be a number of satisfied customers ..... but in this case, I am not one of them. In my case, the "former" Dothan Alabama office did next to nothing to address my concerns - it was as if they just blew me off and hoped that I'd simply go away. Let me go into a bit more detail of SOME of the other issues with my home (these are in addition to the other issues previously mentioned):
#1. Before construction was even completed, the contractors that were installing the sub floor told me that I had to go buy more 4X8 inch thick plywood (about $300 worth) to put over the floor that they'd already put down .... the floor that they put in left about a three inch gap to the bottom of the drywall.
#2. In the living room where the wood flooring was installed, there was a BIG gap around the entire perimeter ; I asked AHP to come out and fix it. They never did. I had to go buy the shoe mold, stain it and install it myself to cover the gap .... IN A NEW HOME!!
#3. On the face of the brand new oven/stove, there is a sizable dent from where something metal had been dropped on it. In the master bath, there was a hole in the floor of the shower stall. Told AHP about it ..... to no avail. The stove still has the dent and I fixed the hole in the shower myself. Not what I'd expect in a BRAND NEW HOME
#4. I had a ceramic tile "backsplash" installed in the kitchen behind the sink and stove area. The walls were so uneven, that the installer had to make cut tiles slightly crooked so that they'd appear straight. He had some choice words to say about the construction of the wall ( I can't repeat them here ).
#5. The walls in the hallways have drywall tape showing through. They weren't properly prepped/sanded before painting.... in a BRAND NEW HOME!!
#6. Bathroom toilet in the master bath leaked .... from day one. I had to fix it myself.... in a BRAND NEW HOME!!
Mr. Wilkinson, I am glad to know that there are some satisfied customers. And I have no doubt that much of the work performed was spot on. That still doesn't change the fact that MY experience with AHP was a poor one. AHP was not intersted in fixing the numerous flaws in my home. And AHP is CERTAINLY not interested in making things right at this point. And why should they? I'm just a little guy - I am the least of their concern. If AHP had done right by me as they did with their "satisfied" customers, I wouldn't be engaging in this online conversation.
We've been in the home for 10 years now. All I can do is now is "deal with it" and live with the biggest financial mistake I've ever made. Lesson learned.
Nelsen - there may be some folks who will recommend AHP and give them high praises. Two words : steer clear! Save yourself the headache and go with a different builder... or as you mentioned, build your home yourself.
Nelson
McDonough,#3Consumer Comment
Sat, December 05, 2009
We've been thinking about using America's Home Place in near future to build a home. I've read each of the complaints on here. Some are dated from 2003 with most in the 2007 or 2008 time frame. But I have seen that a lot of these have been updated recently - i.e. Oct. 2009. The strange thing I find is not that the updates are America's Home Place saying what they have done to rectify the problems/complaints reported. Now a few of the postings have been where someone did respond and say the client was finally satisfied.
But all of the rebuttals for Oct. 2009 seem to be one upper management person trying to smooth over this with a lot of "We're great but we realize sometimes mistakes are made" or "Sometimes we do run across contractors who don't meet our standards". And then they throw in a bunch of letters of recommendations. Nowhere does this person state they would attempt to help out people who seem to be having problems with a product that America's Home Place markets and should stand by.
I'm definitely reconsidering them as potential home builder. I think I'll take some classes and be my own builder and hire the contractors myself. A friend did this years ago and did a lot of minor work himself(with his wife's help, of course) and saved a ton of money.
Brandon - GM
Calhoun,#4UPDATE Employee
Wed, October 07, 2009
10/1/09
I serve currently as a General Manager for one of more then 30
Though there will always be issues with any company or business I want to focus a little more on the big picture and not just the worst of the worst. As a company, we are proud of who we are for many reasons. We are here to face our problems and we are here for our customers.
It is disheartening to read stories from clients that claim we have failed them and their expectations with building a new home. I will be the first to admit that home building is never flawless or perfect, and in rare circumstances we have failed our client. There are instances where we have made mistakes, however, we do all we can to repair those mistakes within reason.
Building a strong, quality home is extremely important to our company; equally important, is our relationship with our clients. It may be easy to repair the one, but often much more difficult to repair the other. I know that I do all I can, and Americas Home Place does all it can to serve our clients, to build a strong lasting relationship, as well as a strong, quality home. In most cases we exceed our goals with flying colors.
Below you will find just a few letters of recommendation from thousands of satisfied clients that I have had the opportunity to work with over the years. We are proud to say, a vast majority of our new home owners provide us with superior ratings with their overall satisfaction and building experience with
Sincerely,
Brandon Wilkinson
March 5th, 2009
I contracted with
Brandon Wilkinson (General Manager) and I started the process over the phone and I felt comfortable with him and AHP and flew from
AHP was VERY PATIENT with me. Several times
Mary Webb (Office Coordinator) was very knowledgeable and helpful whenever Brandon or Nate was not available. Nate Bell-Ellison, (Construction Superintendent), was in control at all times with the SUBS and the scheduling of each phase of construction from Start to Finish and he communicated to me on a weekly basis and sent me photos of the home as it progressed.
Overall, I was very pleased with their ability to complete my custom home on time, and within budget. I have dealt with many builders as a Real Estate salesperson over my 30 year career and I must say that AHP is a reputable as it gets. In these challenged economic times, it is wise to deal with a larger company that has the cash flow needed to stay afloat. So many independents have gone bankrupt and left customers high and dry.
I wish
Regards,
Bob Cable, Customer and Realtor www.bobcable.com
I don't know where to begin, but you guys and gal at AHP place were not only our builders, but GOOD friends. I'd even say GREAT new friends. The closing was terrific and I'll put this in an email soon. Both Nate and Mary are the best we ever ran into (and YOU also). Yes, they're a tad crazy (like you), but golly we (Jackie too) had fun with everyone of you during the entire building process. I'd even work at AHP (next life only).
I've not seen Jackie this HAPPY, since we moved into our old home 32 year ago. When we down sized, she became very despondent (not deeply depressed, but close to it) when moving three years ago into our Pulte home. That has all changed now. Jac is a brand new person since moving into the cabin on
I simply can not believe her new lease on life. We were sitting on the porch today and she said, " I'd like to bring the AHP staff down to Cumming and show the Pulte people how to build a good solid home. Now, I'll admit, we haven't lived in the cabin much, but I think she'll love the cabin even more as time goes by. She didn't even want to come home today (nor did I) and already wants to go back tomorrow. But we can't do that, because of our volunteering jobs.
Oh, Stewart was a fun guy also. I just didn't have much time to get to know him. You can share anything in this email with anyone you desire. As we speak now, Jackie is telling one of her girl friends of what a great cabin we own. See ya soon kid.
Your friend........Gene Alderman
Dear Tim,
Ive written this recommendation of your work to share with others.
When my husband, John and I really needed someone to walk us through the process of having our first home built Tim was there. Tim provided us with a level of service we had never encountered before. He literally held out hands and walked us through each phase of the home building process. Because of Tim my husband and I were left with no unwanted surprises. Anytime we had a question or concern Tim had the answer, or found someone who did, and was able to ease our fears.
Tim is extremely knowledgeable about the home building phase and assured us that even if things seem to not go smoothly at times in the end we would still have a home we could be proud of and enjoy for years to come.
Tim is an excellent Custom Home Building Consultant. I recommend Tim as a Custom Home Building Consultant to anyone who values trustworthiness, consistency, reliability and superb and outstanding results when faced with the highs and lows of custom home building.
Your top qualities include: Great results, expert knowledge and high integrity.
Thanks for all your help, Tim. We could not have done it without you.
Kim and John Harris
Dear Brandon:
We just returned from our second trip to
In planning the construction of our home at
During the building process, Nate was an excellent project supervisor. We really appreciated the frequent emails and pictures that he and Mary provided to allow us to monitor progress from
We are attaching a few photos that we took during our summer vacations with this letter. Thanks again for making our dreams of a lake house a reality.
Yours truly,
Randy and Heidi Martin
Hello Ms. White,
I wanted to write you back and tell you thank you for your help in addressing the problems I experienced during and after the construction of my house. I also wanted to commend those at the
I know I wrote several things in the evaluation that I was unhappy with. I feel like I needed to write you back and let you know that I couldnt be happier with the service I have received since we last talked. In my opinion, if you are going to point a finger and say that things are bad, you had better give credit were credit is due also. Richard and his staff have certainly done everything they could, to rectify any problems we did have, as well as service any problems that have arisen since the evaluation. Please see that this e-mail is sent to the same people that the evaluation was sent to, so they too will know that the problems I experienced are not going unnoticed.
Thank you for your time,
Ryan Raby
It has been more than a month since we moved to our new house. We are very please with it and would like to express our gratitude to the great team of
Best regards,
Jose & Nancy Orench
This note is to thank each person who helped build our mountain dream home.
First, Josh, who sent us a flyer on Seven Reasons to Build. We called and within a few days, not weeks, we had a set of plans to our liking.
Second, Richard, our contractor who made us feel as if he were building his dream home with his money. Richard also kept us well informed during the building process.
Third, Lisa, she kept the photos coming and the paper work moving. Lisa also helped us hire help on moving day. The twe gentlemen Lisa chose could not reach us due to no cell phone service at our remote location, but they drove up anyway.
Stewart, you should be very proud of your team. Building a great home in three months; unbelievable. We have our mountain dream home thanks to
Sincerely,
Nona & David Crews
The staff at
Bob and Margie whittles
Old Fort, TN.
Brandon - GM
Calhoun,#5UPDATE Employee
Wed, October 07, 2009
10/1/09
I serve currently as a General Manager for one of more then 30
Though there will always be issues with any company or business I want to focus a little more on the big picture and not just the worst of the worst. As a company, we are proud of who we are for many reasons. We are here to face our problems and we are here for our customers.
It is disheartening to read stories from clients that claim we have failed them and their expectations with building a new home. I will be the first to admit that home building is never flawless or perfect, and in rare circumstances we have failed our client. There are instances where we have made mistakes, however, we do all we can to repair those mistakes within reason.
Building a strong, quality home is extremely important to our company; equally important, is our relationship with our clients. It may be easy to repair the one, but often much more difficult to repair the other. I know that I do all I can, and Americas Home Place does all it can to serve our clients, to build a strong lasting relationship, as well as a strong, quality home. In most cases we exceed our goals with flying colors.
Below you will find just a few letters of recommendation from thousands of satisfied clients that I have had the opportunity to work with over the years. We are proud to say, a vast majority of our new home owners provide us with superior ratings with their overall satisfaction and building experience with
Sincerely,
Brandon Wilkinson
March 5th, 2009
I contracted with
Brandon Wilkinson (General Manager) and I started the process over the phone and I felt comfortable with him and AHP and flew from
AHP was VERY PATIENT with me. Several times
Mary Webb (Office Coordinator) was very knowledgeable and helpful whenever Brandon or Nate was not available. Nate Bell-Ellison, (Construction Superintendent), was in control at all times with the SUBS and the scheduling of each phase of construction from Start to Finish and he communicated to me on a weekly basis and sent me photos of the home as it progressed.
Overall, I was very pleased with their ability to complete my custom home on time, and within budget. I have dealt with many builders as a Real Estate salesperson over my 30 year career and I must say that AHP is a reputable as it gets. In these challenged economic times, it is wise to deal with a larger company that has the cash flow needed to stay afloat. So many independents have gone bankrupt and left customers high and dry.
I wish
Regards,
Bob Cable, Customer and Realtor www.bobcable.com
I don't know where to begin, but you guys and gal at AHP place were not only our builders, but GOOD friends. I'd even say GREAT new friends. The closing was terrific and I'll put this in an email soon. Both Nate and Mary are the best we ever ran into (and YOU also). Yes, they're a tad crazy (like you), but golly we (Jackie too) had fun with everyone of you during the entire building process. I'd even work at AHP (next life only).
I've not seen Jackie this HAPPY, since we moved into our old home 32 year ago. When we down sized, she became very despondent (not deeply depressed, but close to it) when moving three years ago into our Pulte home. That has all changed now. Jac is a brand new person since moving into the cabin on
I simply can not believe her new lease on life. We were sitting on the porch today and she said, " I'd like to bring the AHP staff down to Cumming and show the Pulte people how to build a good solid home. Now, I'll admit, we haven't lived in the cabin much, but I think she'll love the cabin even more as time goes by. She didn't even want to come home today (nor did I) and already wants to go back tomorrow. But we can't do that, because of our volunteering jobs.
Oh, Stewart was a fun guy also. I just didn't have much time to get to know him. You can share anything in this email with anyone you desire. As we speak now, Jackie is telling one of her girl friends of what a great cabin we own. See ya soon kid.
Your friend........Gene Alderman
Dear Tim,
Ive written this recommendation of your work to share with others.
When my husband, John and I really needed someone to walk us through the process of having our first home built Tim was there. Tim provided us with a level of service we had never encountered before. He literally held out hands and walked us through each phase of the home building process. Because of Tim my husband and I were left with no unwanted surprises. Anytime we had a question or concern Tim had the answer, or found someone who did, and was able to ease our fears.
Tim is extremely knowledgeable about the home building phase and assured us that even if things seem to not go smoothly at times in the end we would still have a home we could be proud of and enjoy for years to come.
Tim is an excellent Custom Home Building Consultant. I recommend Tim as a Custom Home Building Consultant to anyone who values trustworthiness, consistency, reliability and superb and outstanding results when faced with the highs and lows of custom home building.
Your top qualities include: Great results, expert knowledge and high integrity.
Thanks for all your help, Tim. We could not have done it without you.
Kim and John Harris
Dear Brandon:
We just returned from our second trip to
In planning the construction of our home at
During the building process, Nate was an excellent project supervisor. We really appreciated the frequent emails and pictures that he and Mary provided to allow us to monitor progress from
We are attaching a few photos that we took during our summer vacations with this letter. Thanks again for making our dreams of a lake house a reality.
Yours truly,
Randy and Heidi Martin
Hello Ms. White,
I wanted to write you back and tell you thank you for your help in addressing the problems I experienced during and after the construction of my house. I also wanted to commend those at the
I know I wrote several things in the evaluation that I was unhappy with. I feel like I needed to write you back and let you know that I couldnt be happier with the service I have received since we last talked. In my opinion, if you are going to point a finger and say that things are bad, you had better give credit were credit is due also. Richard and his staff have certainly done everything they could, to rectify any problems we did have, as well as service any problems that have arisen since the evaluation. Please see that this e-mail is sent to the same people that the evaluation was sent to, so they too will know that the problems I experienced are not going unnoticed.
Thank you for your time,
Ryan Raby
It has been more than a month since we moved to our new house. We are very please with it and would like to express our gratitude to the great team of
Best regards,
Jose & Nancy Orench
This note is to thank each person who helped build our mountain dream home.
First, Josh, who sent us a flyer on Seven Reasons to Build. We called and within a few days, not weeks, we had a set of plans to our liking.
Second, Richard, our contractor who made us feel as if he were building his dream home with his money. Richard also kept us well informed during the building process.
Third, Lisa, she kept the photos coming and the paper work moving. Lisa also helped us hire help on moving day. The twe gentlemen Lisa chose could not reach us due to no cell phone service at our remote location, but they drove up anyway.
Stewart, you should be very proud of your team. Building a great home in three months; unbelievable. We have our mountain dream home thanks to
Sincerely,
Nona & David Crews
The staff at
Bob and Margie whittles
Old Fort, TN.