Merritt Custom Homes

I have always wanted to build my own clean, green home and after owning five in several states, including the last here in Camas with a remodel from HE double L (another contractor). Given the market in 2010, I bought the piece of land but had to wait another year to sell my house nearby. I then had to move my home where I work full time to a rental for six months; so to say I was stressed is an understatement. While considering the lot with a realtor friend, I spoke with several builders including a well-known larger builder who touted their and ldquo;build anywhereand rdquo; program when they built one 2010 Clark Co. parade home. It turned out they were anything but custom build friendly so the realtor friend and I wasted six weeks. Justin Merritt was recommended by someone in one of the trades for whom he had built a home. There were a couple of other people recommended by other people but Justin seemed the most open to me being involved in terms of choosing some subs (tile, flooring, tile roof, cabinets) and/or having veto power over his). He also was very patient while I was selling my other home; he spent hours of time with no assurance the project would ever be a go; in the meantime recommending a good plan drafter and engineer. We finally started July 2011 after the excavator ran off with the dirt promisedand hellip;and completed the project last December. To say I reviewed every detail is an understatement and ndash; down to the type of nails on the roof to insulation). All his subs did a good job and I was particularly pleased with the foundation, framing, plumbing, and drywall which can make or break a house if it's not done well (so far only two screws will need to be addressed and ndash; had about 100 in MN when I moved in to new construction several years ago). In the few cases where something did not come out as expected; it was fixed. Justin is a really nice guy who knows his and ldquo;stuff.and rdquo; So far he has been great with call backs for minor painting, etc. and I trust will continue through year end. In closing I was much more hands on most homeowners, especially being female. I don't think any other builder could have survived the process, let alone still had a smile at the end.

We started our experience with another builder, who I fired because of some personality red flags. After reviewing many different options in the region, I landed on Merritt Custom Homes. Our budget was set with a and quot;close friendand quot; pricing structure, which Justin Merritt reviewed and committed that he could achieve the same results within this set budget. We very quickly learned another issue with the former builder in that they were going to break code and build foundation over a sewer line without telling us. Mr. Merritt brought this quickly to our attention and we still made our plan work by making a few, small modifications. This was our first experience in building a home. We've heard horror stories from bad contractors to marital fights. Working with Merritt Custom Homes was so easy and straight forward we found it hard to know what people were talking about. The way the pricing structure was laid out made it easy to track cost adders and savings, keeping us on budget. He was prompt in getting us answers and working with us doing things a bit out of the box (providing many of our own hardware and materials). Our semi-retired neighbor, who is a bit obsessive, took pictures, watched and evaluated the whole process eventually giving us notes on how the contractor did. His comments were that the framing was the best he'd ever seen and that no other house he'd watched being built around us was built this well. We were extremely pleased in the result and in the process of building our dream home. There are rough spots and problems with each home build. The difference is how the contractor handles it, and Merritt Custom Homes handled each issue with promptness, getting subs (or himself) to quickly handle things and takings things personal to make it right. I have recommended and seen his work with friends and the comments are the same as mine.

Everything went great. We had some soil fill concerns that was not disclosed to us when we started escavating. Merritt quickly hired PSI to do some soil tests and helped us receive $5K compensation from the developer. He paid for PSI on his own dime. That's what contractors do when they care and aren't after a one time profit, but more of a life relationship with customer. Merritt kept everything tight and the subs working there everyday. He fights for his clients and yet his subs respect him since he is loyal to them but won't let anyone get taken advantage of. Building a near million home has a huge risk for my family and I am absolutely amazed at home smooth it went. We ended up buying a direct buy membership so we could buy cabinets, windows, fixtures and other stuff at a whole sale price and he had no issues with us intervening into any aspect of the house we wanted to. He only charges us for the services he provided. In the end I honestly felt like he under charged us for the amount of work and effort he put into the house and for how amazing it turned out. This house is easily a Street of Dreams Winner!! THANKS MERRITT CUSTOM HOMES!!

It went extremely well. We finished under budget. Got exactly what we wanted. I took before and after pictures and it doesn't even look like the same room. For approximately $6000 I bet we bettered our house by $30K. Highly recommend Merritt Custom. He worked with us through all the details and we k=knew exactly what we were getting.

A general contractor is only as good as his subs and Merritt Custom Home subs are mostly average to poor. The concrete guy stole rebar from us that they said they put in the slab (which we later proved a lie). Then they didn't slope the garage slab properly. It took them 8 attempts to get one end of the house wrapped correctly though the rest came out decent. Windows turned out OK. Cellar ceiling was a little sloppy but ok. Big problem was $50k foundation dig up and repair. When we pointed out deficiencies in his subs work, he stands up for his friends (the subs) instead of getting them to correct things. Also, he wouldn't honor his word or contract and tried to up charge us at the end with add-on expenses on top of a fixed bid contract. Recently, 2 years later, we had the footing drains he put in scoped and found a problem with his drains and/or waterproofing as we have moisture problems in the basement. He wouldn't return our calls or email until we sent him a certified letter. Then he just sent us a nastygram saying he is unwilling to do anything about it so we may have to dig up part of the foundation again. While a nice, funny, upbeat guy in person, I wouldn't recommend him if you are looking for quality honest work. We were very disappointed.

Justin Merritt worked with us from the very beginning, including getting detailed plans and engineering all the way to the final touches. Justin is very responsive and professional, and also has very responsible subcontractors who work with him, including his top-notch architectural designer, framer and electrician. He was willing to work with us to cut costs where appropriate, including doing some of the smaller jobs ourselves. If we had it to do all over again, we would definitely use Merritt Custom Homes.