Davis Building Group

A review of our build process with Davis Homes Before breaking ground: During our search for a homebuilder we immediately felt comfortable with Davis Homes and chose to sign with them. We met John Chiarotti the first week of March 2018 and presented him with roughly drawn plans of the dream home we had. He was able to show us a home floor plan that was roughly comparable and helped us make adjustments to meet our needs. During this meeting we discussed our property, pulling up a GIS map online with him, and we told him roughly where we wanted the home built. We had already had borings completed for our septic test and we presented that documentation during this meeting as well. We loved the promises of quality, communication, and efficiency that John made through the sales process. We had a red line meeting on the 28th of March 2018 and signed the paperwork with an estimated start date in May and completion date around Thanksgiving. Immediately following our signing, we began to experience delayed communication and other issues. We made our design selections with Rachel Stafford on April 18, 2018 and finalized almost everything on May 10th. This is when communication became very quiet. Levi Busby told us the prints were done on May 31st and we received them on June 7th. The final prints and exhibit were provided to our mortgage lender around this time as well. We met with Levi Busby and Aaron McDonald (project manager) for a preconstruction meeting on June 25th. The plot survey was done July 5th. During the preconstruction meeting and the plot survey we noted an issue with the suggested placement of the home based on where we requested the home to be during our initial meetings with John. They suggested placing the house roughly a hundred feet off the road and we wanted the house approximately 550 feet off the road. During the sales process the driveway was estimated at 350 feet off the road. At this point, we still had unaddressed requests for the corrected driveway length, propane appliances, and a few cosmetic changes. We received an email from Levi on July 9th that the septic system was under estimated by $3,500 (20% of total cost) and informed by our mortgage lender that these unresolved requests now had to be handled out of pocket. In addition to these out of pocket expenses, we had requested during the selection process a propane furnace, water heater and stove. We had the stove and water heater, but Rachel missed the furnace, which added an additional $3000 to our out of pocket expenses. Because we had already started the process before speaking with John, we already had our septic boring done, and we were told that the septic was being handled, but were surprised to find out that Levi and team had ignored the septic permit process until late August, after which they informed us that we needed an easement to drain our perimeter drain into our neighbor’s pond. That process delayed us almost another month, but could have been avoided if the permit had been acquired earlier in the process. We were also not informed that in order to complete this drainage, we were going to have to pay for the boring out of pocket, adding another $2000 expense. Davis blamed us for attaining the boring before they got involved, and claimed that the septic details were “out of scope”, even though they had to put the septic field in under contract. We attained the permit near the end of September, and had to go through another pre-construction meeting with another project manager, Fred Abbosh, because Aaron McDonald had left the company and we were not informed. We finally broke ground on November 5th, 2018. After breaking ground: Our build was very slow after they broke ground because it was quickly becoming winter. They were able to put in our construction drive and dig out and prepare our basement fairly quickly, and put in the footer on November 8th, but weren’t able to put in the walls until December 1st. They poured the floor and garage pad on December 27th. We began framing on January 8th, and were under roof by January 15th, 2019. We began putting mechanicals (electric, plumbing and ductwork) on January 26th. Before we had permanent power in the house, Davis had our sump pump on an extension cord plugged into the temporary pole, which kept tripping. We noticed that water was collecting in the basement, up to 4 inches in depth, and when asked about it, our project manager stated that the rain we received tripped the breaker at the pole and that “all of his houses with basements were flooded” at the time. After expressing our concern, we felt unheard and went to work on it ourselves to make sure that the water didn’t harm the framing any more than it already had. We removed 90+% of the water from the basement, and four days later, it was flooded again. The pump that Davis installed was causing the breaker to trip. We hired an electrician to verify that the pole was in good working order, and were told by our project manager that the only way to ensure that the water would stay out was to buy a battery backup sump pump, and were given a $1500 estimate. We found the pump online and installed it ourselves for $700. We insulated the walls and ceiling between floors on March 7th, 2019, and were told that it would cause problems with moisture. Davis asked us to sign an addendum that was extremely vague, and our lawyer recommended we return an alternative addendum, which we agreed on and signed. Drywall was started on March 12th. Exterior work was started on March 18th. Note that we checked on the house several times per week and informed our project manager multiple times of issues before there was a resolution. Our project manager clearly had too many houses in progress at the same time, and was unable to keep tabs closely on our home. We would frequently find work done, and days later would be called, stating that they would probably be done in the next few days. We had to hound him for information frequently, and often he didn’t have the information until it was already complete. We noticed that the well hadn’t been drilled days before they tried to plumb it in, and the project manager had not realized that it had not been completed. We were given an estimate of 75’ of depth for the well in the budget, but our well was almost 300’ deep. Given the depth of wells at other homes in our area, that could have been more appropriately budgeted, alleviating an additional $3000 of out of pocket expenses. After the initial paint was complete, we noticed that they had not painted the top floor of our home the correct colors based on our exhibit, and the whole top floor had to be rerolled as a result. We had also selected stained pillars and a stained fireplace mantel. When stained, both were much darker than the samples provided. After fighting with the project manager, the operations manager and John Chariotti, Davis agreed to replace both the pillars and the mantel, but we had to buy our own stain and give it to them. Our home was basically finished on May 6th. We completed a walk through with our project manager and a majority of the items were addressed on our punch list. Then we waited. Since it was the rainiest season in 120+ years, Davis was unable to get our septic field in, so our finished home was unable to be lived in for almost 2 months. Note that if they had “begun” the septic process when they stated that they had in June 2018, this would not have been an issue, and the septic field would have been placed before winter. We were finally able to start installing fingers for our septic field on June 14th, and the perimeter drain was started on June 30th. They did not complete some of the items on our punch list, but the project manager changed the locks on the house before we were able to verify that all work was complete. We received the certificate of occupancy on July 5th, 2019 and were able to move into the house on July 17th, 2019, exactly 254 days after breaking ground, and 476 days from the day we had our signed our paperwork with John Chariotti. After completing development: We were given our keys, but our final grade had to be escrowed. We were informed after closing that the escrowed amount would not cover the 50’ perimeter of final grade, because again Davis had “underestimated” the cost of the final grade. In order to keep within our budget, we agreed to a 25’ perimeter for final grade instead of the 50’ in our exhibit. In addition to the perimeter difference, the landscaper hit and damaged our well, septic lid, and sidewalk. Davis resolved the well and septic lid issues. In addition to the issues with the landscaping, we noticed the following issues with our final product: Driveway grossly underestimated, and therefore no final drive placed. Half of our driveway is mud or large holes left by construction trucks. Dirt from driveway cut in not graded and left in 11 large (5’ tall, 10’ wide) piles along the driveway. Porch beginning to separate from house (about a ¼ inch over a few months). Sump drain above grade, a large area of saturated mud in the front yard. Construction related garbage scattered throughout half of the yard (beyond the 25 foot perimeter). When project manager confronted about it, he stated that it was “out of scope”. Large ruts in front half of property from construction trucks, impossible to mow over. Septic field left improperly graded and with a lot of rocks scattered from perimeter drain installation (we have fixed this one ourselves). Electrical issues in sunroom. Outlets tied to switches improperly, outlets only work when ceiling light is off. Light ballast in garage and basement working sporadically. Kitchen drawers improperly installed with some parts missing. Plumbing drainage issues caused back-up into house. Inbound water improperly connected at kitchen sink. Hard water line pipe to kitchen sink and refrigerator. Driveway up to the pad not graded to the pad (major trip hazard) and cement excess not cleaned up. Vent pipes left without animal screens. Broken shingles on house were not addressed after project manager stated that they would be. Closet doors improperly installed, contractor stuffed cardboard under plate to hold in place. Manual garage door without lock provided, though project manager assured us that one would be. Crooked walls and baseboards throughout the house. Missing screws in plates and some partially screwed in. Outdoor light fixture fell off days after we moved in. Broken lightbulb left in fixture in half bath after being placed on punch list. Had to fix a leaky kitchen sink immediately upon move in. Paint splatters all over the floor. Loose railing and paint splatters behind stair railing. Knicked baseboards throughout the house left unresolved after being placed on punch list. Paint and patching around showers is not even and unprofessionally complete. Toilets are constantly clogged. Paint splatters on mirrors after being placed on punch list. Duct work installed under floor joists instead of through in basement, mandating a bulkhead where it would be otherwise unnecessary. Pillar decor on porch not pushed down all the way upon reinstall. As of writing this review, we are 138 days past our close date, and we have not been contacted for our 90 day review, nor have we been contacted by our project manager or sales agent to resolve the outstanding issues. We purchased a 2-10 warranty during the build process, but were not adequately informed of any of the functions of the warranty. Please make these considerations when deciding to purchase with Davis Homes. Our experience was lengthy and arduous, with poor communication, underestimation and poor craftsmanship as standards for their build process.