Maplewood Homes

Although Joe Hayes? formal educational and home building industry credentials are strong, in our opionion, his 'hands on' knowledge and real world building experience appears limited and his claim to be a custom home builder was overstated. Prior to and during the contract signing, we were told the building process was estimated to take 180 days; baring any significant weather delays. No weather delays occurred. We were also told a complete set of detailed building plans would be developed once the contract was signed. However, Joe?s ?building plans? were limited to CAD drawings, (vs. architectural drawings,). The plans lacked important details and continuity between versions. The variations between plan sets began with the initial 'rough? construction phase. These differing versions of the plans, (with their inconsistencies) were used to order materials and also given to each of the trades (i.e. carpentry, electrical, plumbing, etc.) to follow. Once the building process was underway, Joe had difficulty coping with any requests for building modifications, and we found him difficult to work with. When we pointed out something we believed to be in error, his response was: "Wait until I'm done with the building, then you can point out mistakes. and we'll fix them." In reality some construction mistakes can be easily covered up and difficult if not impossible to correct if the process is too far down the road. The variances between plan sets created unnecessary confusion, resulted in material shortages, frustration among the trades and unnecessarily delayed project completion by an additional 180 days. In addition and in spite of the time extension, the basement insulation was not completed and was subsequently removed from the contract. Based upon a discussion with one of the sub-contractors, Maplewood operations was cash flow constrained. Therefore, we agreed to release funds for the final payment (along with an escrow holdback,) so the trades would get paid before Christmas. We are pleased to report the building supervisor (Dan,) proved to be responsible, respectful and ethical in all of our dealings. However, it took another full year for resolution of outstanding issues to be completed, as he too dealt with material shortages and limited resource availability. Bottom line: We contracted for a 2400 sq; ft. custom home to be built which was projected to take 6 months. The project actually took 18 months to complete, and did not include a garage, decking, finish grading or landscaping as a part of the contract.

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With the exception of one 'glitch' in communication, thus far all has gone well. The glitch occurred within the first three months as we were to begin the design process. We expected to have the first draft of the design/cost estimate completed and a review date was to be set up. When the date passed without hearing from Maplewood, we reached out to a very embarrassed and conciliatory owner. He offered to refund our initial payment, but we decided there were more positives for continuing to move forward. Since then, communication has been excellent; both timely and substantive. We're expecting the sign the 'build' contract within the next 30 days.