Cook Bros. Construction, LLC

Initially, we were excited to be building a new home as our real estate agent recommended Cook Bros Homes (CBH). The build period was approximately April 2021 to December 2021 when we closed. During the course of that time, we went thru four site managers which I believe contributed to the quality issues we've had. I will say this, the CBH office staff, designers, sales agents and controller were great. The warranty department was OK but waiting for the warranty people and/or contractors to appear at the house was, let's just say, urgency is not in the vocabulary. Our experience was as follows: 1. We like the location we are in, the floorplan and the neighbors. Development is still in the construction phase which has lent to some of the issues. 2. The night before our closing, the house was broken into and the refrigerator was stolen. Patio door was remove off the track and fridge wheeled out thru the patio door. CBH did have a new fridge to us the next day and the mud was cleaned up by a cleaning crew. Two things other than the break-in itself was the door wasn't replaced with a more secure door and we never heard from the owner himself. A phone call or a short visit to ensure we were OK and just being empathetic would have been nice. Update: we've since replaced the POS patio door with an Anderson unit which is more secure and a better quality. This was on our own dime. 3. Multiple contractors to complete warranty work either were fired by CBH or terminated the relationship which lead to warranty work not being done. 4. The front porch posted were not aligned or plumb which results into on post placed three inched over the front of the porch. I was told by the site manager that he would just leave it be. I was also told by the contractor who put the covers over the posts that this was a known issue during the construction and to just leave it alone. End results: suggested to CBH to extend the front porch by 18" and then epoxy paint the porch to visually take away the alignment. CBH did extend the porch but only were going to apply a sealant which I refused. The sad thing is, DBH wasn't going to do a d*** ting until I suggested the compromise. 5. Light bulbs constantly blew out as the cheapest ones were used in the house. We've replaced all bulbs at this point. 6. Don't know what the building code is here in Tennessee but the wiring in the attic looks like a bowl of spaghetti with wires running all over the place rather than thru a conduit or thru the studs as required in other states. 7. The gas stove's shut off valve in the kitchen is found in the back of the cabinet on the bottom shelf with an exposed hole. The valve is buried underneath the insulation. 8. Two pocket doors in the master bedroom were not plumb and were misaligned. We hired an independent contractor to remedy this but found that the framing for the pocket doors was cracked or broken and either nailed or stapled together and hidden by trim work. We still had to compromise on the fit of the door because there are still gaps. 9. Attention to detail overall in the house is probably a 7/10. Some trim pieces misaligned or do not butt up against each other. 10. A wind storm blew the soffit over the front porch out and was left hanging. Inspecting this showed that the piece of plastic was unevenly cut and was not secure. Contractor came by and just pushed the soffit back into place and nailed the h*** out of it. Said they would be back to caulk it but they never showed up. 11. After a heavy rainstorm, I have drainage issues where the water collects to the side of my driveway, jumps the driveway to cause a small stream running across the driveway and onto the sidewalk where it runs down the street and collects by the neighbor's home and creates a pond. In fact, five Canadian geese decided to have a swim there. Also, the house is at the bottom of a hill and after rains, the hill erodes away. A rock, one foot in diameter had rolled down the hill and hit my home missing the AC by three feet. The solution by CBH was to have silt fences put up to arrest the erosion. Poor choice as the silt fences do nothing. This gets worse as a larger home has been built behind me on top of that hill and the excavation that was done is eroding away as well. A retaining wall is the solution as suggested by a state of TN civil engineer but CBH says the silt fences will work until vegetation grows in. I could go on but it is not worth the time...I think you get my point. CBH is only as good as the contractors they use. I know CBH will come back and say they have difficulty getting quality contractors but that is not my problem. They should have figured that out by now and should probably pay their contractors for quality work. So, in closing, I would not recommend Cook Bros Home to build your dream home. We paid a lot of money for what we believe is a starter home and we are not the only ones in our development who feel that way.

They were great out of the gate. Things were going along ahead of schedule and I was very happy. When they engaged their electrician, it all went south. First, they installed the circuit breaker board on the outside of the house, not in compliance with the house plans, and spent two months telling me that they couldn't get the electrician to move it. This delayed everything They left the septic system off of the estimate 'because I was paying for the excavator myself,' but then insisted on driving the installation of that system. This was an extra $6,000 that I had to come up with on my own to complete the house. They insisted on driving the installation of the system and then claimed that they had no responsibility for it. When they finally moved the circuit breaker board, they didn't pull a permit for it. If there had been a fire, my insurance might not have covered me They installed the outdoor AC unit at the top of a hill that wasn't properly landscaped, and erosion caused it to move twice. They refused to move the unit and blamed me because I was paying the excavator myself. The plans did not call for the AC to be in that spot One AC duct goes through a bedroom closet and takes up about 40% of the room therein. They refused to fix this, never got my approval beforehand and claimed "We didn't think you were going to use that bedroom." Three months after moving in, they still haven't covered the trench they dug from the road to the house to install the water lines, leaving them exposed to the elements They NEVER cleared their scrap wood and irrigation equipment from the yard - I had to do that. They also didn't clear their building equipment from the inside of the house until I complained about it. The inside of the house was never completely cleaned before being delivered to me I had to complain repeatedly to keep them from smoking in the house, once they'd enclosed it They didn't properly install the fridge and it leaked water all over the floor. They later had to replace part of the floor They installed a separate door to the basement from outside, but it has two separate locks on it - one inside and one outside, meaning that you can't lock it from one side and unlock it from the other The basement wall leaks from two separate places. One they fixed with caulk and by redirecting the irrigation from the gutters. They other they refuse to address To date, they have refused to give me the name of the electrician that they used. They did change electricians in the middle of the project They built a front and back porch and installed 6"x6" support beams using nail gun nails, as well as important support rails the same way, flush to the support (not inset). When asked about this, their project manager (who did the porches himself instead of using a carpenter) claimed that Cook Bros has never built anything using insets, and that this method of building went out in the 1800's There was trim left undone and, when finally done, went unpainted. They repeatedly claim that I signed off on things that I either didn't sign off on, or that they aren't responsible for things based on their policies.

If you make an appointment with him, don't count on it. I had and 8:00 AM appointment. He lives only 7 miles from me and blows it off for another client rather than schedule that client at 10:00 am. If you are irresponsible in the begining... there not reason to believe his job would be handled responsibly.

Our experience was not good. They were arrogant at time, hard to talk to and they wanted to do it their way and not our way, as if it was going to be their home. They under estimated several things. We had to pay for that because they way the contract was written. They used some sub-contractors that weren't great. They would just hire the subs if they were available when the work needed to be done. The cleaners that came to clean the house, used the wrong product for the hardwood floor. They ruined our floors and we had to get them refinished. Cook Construction told us that we didn't pick out good quality floors. This has been a nightmare. Ceramic tile is coming loose and grout is breaking. The painter they used was not good at all. We are going to have to use another painter because the paint he used was not the correct texture.