Gemcraft Homes

This was the first house I've ever bought before it was actually built. Since we were staying in an apartment just a mile and a half from the work site, I visited at least 3 times a week to watch the progress and take pictures of the house as it was being built. Here are the major issues as I see them. 1) No control over their sub-contractors. Their subs would take shortcuts which to me seemed questionable. 2) Inferior products. The list is long: windows, fixtures, doors, lights, flooring, sinks, and cabinets. The lumber used for framing the house was almost too bad to believe it passed code. 3) Quality of workmanship. Goes back to #1 I believe. Seemed that the goal was to get it up as quickly and cheaply as possible and hide the defects as you go. 4) Unproffessionalism. The construction supervisor always appeared to be listening when I discussed issues. He always appeared to have the right answer, however, appearances are decieving. We would discuss a defect, he would provide an ample amount of lip service, I would leave feeling like things would be taken care of, but when I returned to see the fix........the defect would always be covered by the next phase and so I never really saw anything get the fix that we discussed. Now.....if I were that construction supervisor I would be sure to have the customer come back and show him how I resolved his complaint. That never happened. 5) No thought about the homeowner. Three major examples: A) We did not have the basement finished by the builder but one would assume that eventually the basement would get finished. As a builder, I would have given some thought to the placement of HVAC systems, water heaters, well systems, in order to to take advantage of the basement space and eventual finishing. Not Gemcraft. Where the stairs come down to the basement is a nice open space and the space most likely that the homeowner would make a large family room. Instead of putting the well pressure tank where the water heater is (on the side that would probably be finished off as a storage area), they put it right in the middle of the longest wall in the area that would most likely be the family room. B) Leading out to the back yard from the basement (in that area that would probably be the family room) is a sliding glass door. This is where we would eventually like to put a patio. The view from the patio would have been mostly of woods since the house backs to a section of forest area designated as 'forest retention' by the county. That view is now marred by a water management feature known as a 'level spreader'. This is basically a big hole in the ground where all my downspouts run to that has been filled with gravel. So what you see is an area about 8' X 4' of gravel with 3 black corrugated flex pipe ends sticking out of the ground about 6 inches. Lovely. They should have put that on the other side of the back yard where there were no doors leading out or the possibility of a patio going there. C) Finally, the well head. During pre-construction meeting we noted on the plans that the well was going in the back yard. I specifically commented to them about the fact that I liked where it showed it because I did not want that eye sore in the front yard. Where do you think it ended up? Right. In the front yard because the well drilling company thought it was easier to do it in the front. Goes back to #1 again. Bottom line. Gemcraft is a build it cheap, build it fast kind of company. They are responsive in that they return phone calls and show up on time but they do not address your issues in a timely manner or they don't address them at all. They use whatever subs are available or whoever they can pick up at the local 7-11. Their materiels are cheap and if you look at a Gemcraft home that was built 5 years ago, you'll see the exact same fixtures, doors, lights, everything. Their houses are built poorly by cheap laborers who I doubt know how to use a basic level, square, or plumb bob since there are lots of things off center, not level, or plumb. Five months after closing there is still a list of approximately 20 things that have yet to be fixed. Still getting plenty of lip service though.