BRICKLAND HOMES

I have been in real estate for over 15 years and I have worked with many builders. I met Rosemary and Ed about 5 years ago and have recommended Brickland Homes to many clients that want to build their dream home. I was very impressed by their quality and as I got to know them over the years their integrity, trustworthiness and care for their customers really stood out. Each member of the team was extremely easy to work with and very responsive. I never worried about getting a return phone call or an answer to a question, Rosemary always followed up as promised. Ed’s attention to detail, listening and working with the architect to bring to life the suggestions and wish list was fascinating to watch. I remember a folded-up napkin with a floor plan drawn out in pencil was brought to a first meeting by an excited future resident. It was just a few short weeks and the folded napkin drawing became a floor plan with both a front and back elevation. Justin, the Construction Supervisor, is both professional and patient. His work ethic, attitude and willingness to take the time to listen while taking care of your home are just a few of the reasons everybody loves Justin! It’s important to work with a builder with a proven track record and with their 25+ years success in the business, I can recommend Brickland Homes, knowing they will do an excellent job. –

We contracted with Brickland Homes in 2013. We've been in the house for two years now, so have had time for the emotions of home building to subside. We can still say, without exaggeration, that working with Brickland was one of the worst experiences we've ever had. They claim to be custom home builders, but balked at any requests outside of their 'standard'. They do not have a custom home capability or mentality. Attention to detail is entirely lacking and not once in our interactions did they apologize or take responsibility for issues. They used loopholes and ambiguous contract language to avoid accountability, usually placing blame on us. Change orders did not meet even a minimum level of pricing detail, every change order was incorrect, and all errors were in Brickland's favor. They didn't provide a design consultant, 3D or color renderings during the design stage. Their vendors and subcontractors are not custom quality, and many are barely competent. Our Project Manager was the owner's son, who has a degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies. He was inept, and explained that he was instructed not to respond to us without first getting approval and review from his Mom and Dad. We lived 2 hours away from the build site, and even after multiple, specific requests, progress reports were non-existent. They would not share their project schedule, though assured us one existed. They literally told us that there was 'too much uncertainty and they didn't want to be held accountable'. The build was late in completion, and well over budget. And by the end of the build, our Project manager pretended to lose his phone and would sneak out of the neighborhood if he saw us coming. We have learned from our neighbors that our experience with Brickland was not unique. The list of issues and conflicts we had with them is extensive, but to keep this review somewhat brief, we'll just note that we have a 20 page documentation of our history with Brickland, none of it positive.

Overall, Brickland Homes did a good job. We were pleased with the planning process and the majority of the construction. The house seems well built and the finishes are good. Strapping was used to tie the roof to the frame to help prevent the roof flying off in extremely high winds. The time till completion was reasonable. Around the time the home was complete, we were asked to give a testimonial by the saleswoman which we did. However after living in the home, we have had a couple of issues that have tainted our view of Brickland. We were not particularly happy with the landscaping company used by Brickland. After living in the house for awhile, I discovered this company had not done a good job of plant placement considering what direction that part of the yard faced. So we found plants that don't do well in very sunny spots were placed in very sunny spots. Many plants eventually had to be replaced. The owner of this company was particularly difficult to deal with. We have extensive tilie flooring in the home which was installed during unusually cold weather when the home was not heated. Being completely unfamiliar with common tile installation problems, we did not realize that the grout was not going to lose its whitened appearance over time. Efflorescence occurs when the grout is not mixed correctly, the wrong kind of grout is used or it is installed in temperatures that are too cold. After some pushing, I got the builder's tile company to come out and acid wash the grout and repaint it. I was not happy with this solution but they were not going to retile all the floors. This can be a problem later if you want to steam clean the grout - the paint can peel off revealing the original discolored grout. Another issue was a leak in the original roof. We had open cell foam insulation installed rather than traditional insulation. It virtually seals the ceiling in the attic. After being in the home for 5 years, we discovered a water stain on the living room ceiling. We called out an A rated Angie's List roofer who found a nail hole in one of the shingles over the celing stain as well as some other improperly installed shingles. I did some research on this type of insulation and found that a leak can take years to make its way through open cell foam insulation to stain the ceiling. This type of insulation is not very absorbant so does not soak up the water. I e-mailed our construction supervisor with Brickland and wrote 2 letters to the owners. Their roofer has a 1 year guarantee and we have a 10 year warranty that does not cover the roof. So legally Brickland has every right to refuse to pay. However, this was obviously an istallation defect that could not have been detected any sooner due to the particular type of insulation installed. I provided this information, retained the damaged shingle which matched the weathering of the rest of the roof and offered to have the roof repair company talk to the owners. The owners finally wrote me back, after my 2nd letter, stating they thought the construction supervisor's response, a refusal to pay, should have sufficed. No mention was made of the fact that, in his e-mail response to me, the supervisor did not state he was representing the owners with his answer and he provided information that was in direct conflict with what companies who install this type of insulation state about roof leaks. The owners completely ignored the evidence in the form of the damaged shingle and the the the research I found to back up my claim so refused to pay anything toward the repair work. It is unfortunate that we had these problems with Brickland. Since most of our experiences were good, it is disappointing that a couple of really negative experiences ruined my overall impression. We felt like the roof leak was a highly unusual situation because of the unique insulation and it ws clearly the fault of the builder They should have paid for the repairs as gesture of good will and out of an ethical obligation to provide a good product. When responding they did not address any of the information I provided - probably on the advice of their attorney. And, quite surprisingly, they they failed to understand why we were initially pleased and gave a positive testimonial but later were not happy despite the fact that the roof leaked due to their roofer failing to fill a nail hole in the shingle. So in addition to not being satisfied with some of the quality of their work, I was also extremely disappointed in the way they handled this out of the ordinary situation.

The house is perfect for us. It's roomy, without being too large and difficult to maintain. Cleaning is easy and so far there has been nothing to modify or repair. Brickland homes seemed very careful to put us in the home that we needed, without pushing the larger more expensive homes on us. We 're very happy with the way things went.