Estridge Custom Homes

Contracted with Estridge to build a home in their Centennial development in September. As of the first of April Estridge could not guarantee a completion date of the home that originally should have not taken more than 120 days to build. Delays in the building of the home were experienced from the begining. We finally called it quits and were lucky to get our earnest money back. However in the meantime we had to pay over a $1,000 more in rent than we expected to because of the "hold over" on our short term rental property.

We hired Estridge Custom Homes (ECH) to build our house. We were told that we could expect our house to be built to print and contractual specifications. Our site supervisor had no previous field experience providing little guidance or oversight during our build. The building process seemed to occur in an atmosphere of contractor anxiety and resentment; disorganization and confusion - often in a hurry. Many subcontractors use non English speaking crews making communication difficult. Much work was completed on week-ends, ECH ‘Christmas Break’ and other times of minimal or no oversight. We have 2 significant design flaws from HVAC & plumbing (their work/equipment share space) because of no coordination or communication with each other or us to make changes to benefit both systems. Anything different from the “usual way” they did things was difficult. The subs were unaccustomed to working with the homeowner. There were several issues of crews being careless of other subs work – arrogant attitudes (i.e. painters damaged flooring). Attention to detail was not part of this build process. The quality of materials and especially the quality of workmanship was much less than we expected and less than we’ve seen in comparably priced homes. With a few exceptions, the ECH vendors were familiar with providing the medium standard with the given allowances. Quality controls seemed dependent upon who showed up for work that day and our oversight – it clearly became our job. There were numerous construction errors/issues early on not noticed, acknowledged, or addressed - - and numerous revealed later. ECH was resistant to take responsibility for and to fix errors or quality issues. When trying to resolve several of the final issues, I lost track of how many times VP Gary McNutt asked me, 'How long do you plan to live in this house?'. One of the main subcontractors’ explained the process best saying, “What you have is a production home with more options –not a custom home.” Our overall building experience was exhausting, disappointing, and inexcusable from a builder experienced as ESTRIDGE. We did not get what we paid for.

We based our decision to go with Estridge based on their "no builder grade materials, no upgrades necessary" marketing and their emphasis that their company does business by the Golden Rule (really, it's on their website). What we ended up with is an expensive, cheaply built house. The design materials were definitely builder grade as verified by their own vendors. We have gone round and round asking to find a resolution to our builder grade carpet, builder grade paint, faulty wiring and have been told that those are all design flaws, not building flaws and they aren't responsible for them (even though we had to use the Estridge design center and couldn't bring in outside vendors). I can honestly say that the Golden Rule is most definitely NOT part of their business practice. After the sale, their customer service evaporates. I will never build with them again or buy an existing home that they built.

Overall, our home has been nice. However, we did have a couple issues during the warranty period with a window leaking into the house and the sub-pump check valve leaking. These were not dealt with well by their warranty team. The window leak was fixed, but damage done by the water that had leaked was only painted over and never completely fixed cosmetically. Also, we were essentially lied to about the check valve and told that it couldn't be fixed such that it wouldn't leak again. So they did nothing to remedy this problem. Now we're selling the house and having to pay for these repairs which should have been taken care of by the warranty. When I called the office, I was told the warranty period is over and they will not cover it even though we have documented paperwork mentioning the problems during the warranty period.

They do a very good job and the quality of work is good.

The building process was easy compared to all of the horror stories I had heard about building a home. The process began in February and we moved in at the end of June- very speedy. The entire team, from the salesperson to the site manager, was professional and extremely friendly. They worked with us to build our home as we envisioned it. It is beautiful and we have experienced only a few minor problems in the 3.5 months that we've lived here. They offer a 3 year warranty and are very good about coming out to fix things in a timely manner.

We had heard horror stories about builders and the building process, but we had a great experience with Estridge. Yes, there were small mistakes that were made along the way (they forgot to vent the microwave, wrong faucets, etc) but these items were taken care of IMMEDIATELY and never with any frustration on the builder's part. Estridge builds a beautiful home and they were very happy to have us, as well as our independent inspector, be a part of the entire process.

The company hired by Estridge ate our food without permission, which George did replace. We complained to Estridge day two into the job with no response. On day three, I called the emergency response line and left a message that the company was eating our food and using our supplies. Estridge called the head of the company, rather than returning my phone call. The contractor told us after the phone call that he'd put in a door for us that we wanted because of all the trouble. For the next few weeks we called Estridge trying to make an appt. to tell them about our experience. We finally had to call the VP of Estridge to get help. We sat down with the director of the Warranty Department to share our experience. Once door was installed, holes in the floor were exposed where floor boards were cut too short. Estridge refused to repair that because that wasn't part of the gesture. They finally replaced the floor boards after my husband argued with them repeatedly.

We have attempted to call the "Home Life" center to report issues with the interior of the house but have received no response. The interior painting was done very poorly. Instead of spackling and sanding all the corner joints, the painters painted directly over the metal corner bead. The result is that now the paint is worn and chipped at every corner junction in the house. The home is 9 months old. At our 6 month inspection we were told this had to do with our kids running around and not the poor workmanship! Additionally, the carpet is of very poor quality (as verified by an independent carpet installer) and we have yet to get a call back on a complaint we filed regarding the heating system. While Estridge may build a structurally sound home, they take very little pride in their interior/detail work. The sales person was completely misinformed -- I should have taken that as a clue that we were in for a bad experience. I would not buy an Estridge home again.

WE WERE SATISFIED WITH OUR HOME WHEN BUILT, AS WE LIVED IN IT, AND EVEN WHEN SOMETHING WAS NOTED NON-CODE 10 YEARS LATER.

GARY MCNUTT, & DARRYL WENTZ, WERE GREAT TO WORK WITH AND DID A SUPER JOB ON OUR HOME. WE LOVE OUR NEW HOUSE AND OUR 'FINAL WALK THROUGH' WITH THEM WAS JUST LIKE A NICE WALK THROUGH OUR NEW HOME. THERE WAS NO HAGGLING OVER WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT... THEY TOOK CARE OF EVERYTHING. WE WOULD BUILD WITH THEM AGAIN IN A SECOND (ESPECIALLY SINCE OUR NEIGHBOR HAD A NIGHTMARE EXPERIENCE AT THE SAME TIME WE HAD A GREAT ONE). THE DESIGN TEAM EVEN MADE IMPROVEMENTS ON OUR PLANS AS THE HOUSE WAS BEING BUILT AND MADE IT EVEN BETTER. LIZ SINATRA HELPED US PICK WONDERFUL SELECTIONS FOR OUR HOME AND WAS A PLEASURE. IT IS OUTSTANDING AND IT EXCEEDED ALL OUR EXPECTATIONS.

WE RECENTLY SAW A NEGATIVE ARTICLE @ ESTRIDGE AND WERE AMAZED. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, WITH GARY MCNUTT, TO DARYL, THE HOME SUPERINTENDENT, TO PHYLLIS IN ALL FOLLOW UP WORK.. WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED NEAR FLAWLESS PERFORMANCE. THEIR DESIRE TO MAKE EVERYTHING RIGHT BORDERS ON GOING OVERBOARD. NEW HOMES ARE DIFFICULT, BUT ESTRIDGE MADE OUR EXPERIENCE A HAPPY ONE.

WE HAVE HAD A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE AFTER THE SALE, WE WOULD LIKE THEM TO FIX ALL THE ITEMS THAT ARE NOT TO OUR SATISFACTION, AND WE WILL LIKE TO HAVE IN WRITING A LIST OF HOW AND WHEN THIS ITEMS WILL BE FIXED.

I HAVE TRULY ENJOYED MY ESTRIDGE HOME AND THEY SELL WELL ON THE MARKET. REALTORS REALLY LIKE TO GET THEM.

EVERYTHING WENT AS WELL AS ONE CAN EXPECT WHEN BUILDING A NEW HOME. THERE WERE A COUPLE INSTANCES WHERE PHONE CALLS COULD HAVE BEEN RETURNED IN A MORE TIMELY MANNER.

THE COMPANY REFUSES TO FIX THE LEAK AND SAYS THAT THE LEAK IS A 'PHENOMENON'. THE HOUSE IS LESS THAN A YEAR OLD AND THE ROOF SHOULD NOT BE LEAKING.

YOU WILL GET A QUALITY HOME WHEN YOU BUILD WITH ESTRIDGE. THE PLUMBER THEY USE WAS NOT THE BEST, IF THEY WOULD HAVE READ THE DIRECTIONS WHEN INSTALLING THE SHOWER, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO PROBLEMS. NOT A TYPICAL SHOWER IT IS LIKE A SHOWER ROOM 5 X 5.

IF YOU DO DECIDE TO BUILD WITH ESTRIDGE, EMPLOY A WELL-QUALIFIED HOME INSPECTOR. VISIT THE SITE CONSTANTLY AS WE FOUND NUMEROUS ERRORS DURING CONSTRUCTION THAT THEY THEN FIXED. TAKE A LEVEL WITH YOU AND MAKE SURE ALL FLOORS, WALLS AND WINDOWS ARE LEVEL. WE HAD NUMEROUS ISSUES WITH THIS.

THE WHOLE PROCESS IS WELL ORGANIZED, PEOPLE ARE VERY FRIENDLY AND SEEM KNOWLEDGABLE

THIS SAME PROBLEM WITH KITCHEN TILE HAS OCCURRED WITH SEVERAL OF THE MEMBER'S NEIGHBORS WHO HAVE THE SAME BUILDER. AFTER NUMEROUS ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT THE BUILDER TO HAVE PROBLEM CORRECTED, THE BUILDER HAS COMPLETELY IGNORED THE MEMBER & THE SITUATION.