Schumacher Homes
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Verified Reviewer | Asheville, North CarolinaRUN...
RUN... *****Please read this before you move forward*****
Absolutely the worst experience I've had. Zero communication, terrible sub contractors, Zero follow up and follow through. Please contact me with questions, I have some very interesting information for you if you're considering letting these clowns build your house. Build started in January 2017 and still not done as of October 31, 2017. Complete mess, first builder quit, second got fired, third couldn't care less. Branch manager quit, office left without leadership for 3 months before position filled. Disorganized office staff, missed charges, added bogus charges to make up for their screw ups. Oh yeah, move in date pushed back another 6 weeks because the builder that got fired failed to mention that Duke needed to be contacted to move the power meter off the temporary pole onto the house. We understand that each build introduces it's own obstacles to overcome, but the way this process went off the rails is something else.
****Update - February 28th, 2018****
Well, it's been 4 months since we've moved in and what a mess...
I'll try to stay focused here but there is a lot of ground to cover...
The windows leak due to improper flashing. This has been a known issue for over a month and no progress on getting this resolved. Apparently they don't know how to properly flash their own windows that they install. So everytime it rains, guess what? standing water inside the window and frame and floor... What a freaking mess...
All of the interior door frames are all 1/2 inch out, so when you close the doors you can see the other room through the crack.... the fix is to take the casing out and shim the frames out... again, no progress on getting this resolved...
There is some siding that was ruined during construction that still hasn't been repaired. Sub has come out to look but no progress either.
The 'warranty' that offer is a joke at best and a nightmare in reality, trying to get the sub-contractors back out to fix their screw ups is next to impossible because they've moved on to the next project and couldn't care less.... Their warranty guy is a dumbass, he wants to come out and take a look at stuff that he's looked at several times before. Why not just do one site visit, then schedule the subs to come back out to fix it? Why does he have to come out and try this and then try that and waste time... I think he believes that by doubling his efforts he can make up for lack of know-how...
They seed their contractors from out of state, so you've got guys coming from South Carolina, Tennessee or the eastern part of North Carolina to do their work. I don't know why they don't use local subs as it would make things a lot easier as far as getting them to come back and fix or finish their work...
Schumacher is by far the worst builder in the area. They have a great front-end by getting you in and showing you what they can give you, blue prints, options, the whole nine yards. Where it falls apart is in the execution, it's like they don't know how to build what they sell. The communication is beyond non-existent and they have a high turn-over rate with their staff. The general manager brought in after Steve quit was Zachary, he lasted about 2 months and then he quit due to the fact that he was tired of getting yelled at by pissed off customers.
They're one of the least expensive builders in the area, but there's a reason for that... If you like poor service, shoddy workmanship and being upset all the time and considering litigation, then these are the guys for you. If you like getting what you pay for and expect the builder to deliver on what was agreed upon, then avoid these guys at all cost.
Feel free to email me at brian8677@***.com with any questions.
Unprofessional and rude
Years of waiting to build a home and my first experience was bad! Meet with Bob the new home sales consultant, Moorseville location not a good experience, I had lots of questions that were not answered.
All he wanted to do is do all the talking he did like me asking questions. His attitude was its my way or the highway, not flexible at all. The advertisement on internet has prices for each floor plan, but it doesn't tell you all the hidden charges like $35,000- $50,000 for prep fees, and 20% or more on up grades. They give you nothing, other companies have some standard upgrades in there prices.
So, that $200,000 house on the internet is over $300,000. They tell you they are transparent, if that was so they would tell you hidden charges on the website. Do your homework if you are looking to build, look for a company that cares about you, all they only care about making money off of you!
Like looking at land to see if the land is buildable $1500! Don't be fooled by there models, there are better builders out there.
Retirement Home-Nightmare
When beginning our retirement process for a new home, we visited many locations of sample homes. We thought the quality of the model home would be our home.
Instead we get a home with problems from day one. First our concrete driveway cracking all the way, we are told they cracked and we drove a tractor on it, however we were in a different state. We had holes in the wall, paint issuesm doors not installed properly, kitchen cabinete molding falling down. Some of these were fixed with much prodding and pushing.
As days progress we keep fidning more issues. The siding was put on sloppy and not correct in some places. Nails in drain holes. After pleading for months someone came out and fixed some issues.
We went to do landscaping and found concrete buried from a mistake on where porch was to be. A light in master bedroom rusting. Screws missing on almost every door if there they are stripped. Today GM came to the house and told me the siding was not wrong and that is how they do it in this area.
I told him I saw three new houses that were not like that in this area that didn't represent that. I told him I had pictures and he responded he didn't build those houses. I got angry with his response of them not going to fix it. The people that they hire mostly do not speak English and some don't have correct working documentation.
When I signed with them I didn't expect the sloppy unprofessional and poor quailty work. That is when I lost it, I am human and it was my earnings and money for my dream home. I am sorry to GM, but after a year of lies and empty promises I am so frustrated. I spent alot of money on this home and expected way more than I got.
My dream house has become my nightmare. I have many pics to back up claims.
Preferred solution: Repair to our liking of siding...repair or compensation on driveway, hardware put in doors, and light replaced.
Avoid at all costs
Review Charleston SC location
Worst. Decision. EVER.
Worst experience of my
Worst experience of my life. There was no communication throughout the process.
At closing they charged me an additional $15,000 for things that they gave me no notice of before and certainly had no consent for. They made changes to my house design without consulting me. The house was incomplete at move-in, and contained a number of hazardous items. We were told these items will be taken care of within a couple days, but at the very latest would be on the 14 day punchlist.
It has been three weeks, no one has been to work on our house, and these items remain incomplete and dangerous. The builder Stephen George is non-communicative, lazy, and will lie to your face. The house was also two months behind schedule. During construction, there were weeks and months on end where no one would be working on our house.
I have so many complaints I cannot even list them all here. With all the great builders in the Asheville area please do not support this company. You will regret it. I will say that Stacy and the office is fantastic.
But once you sign on with them she is no longer your contact. Here's a couple pics of my "finished" house 3 weeks AFTER move in.
Hidden issues... still dealing with Punch list a year later!
We signed the contract in March 2015. Construction didn't begin until around August finally, but then wasn't complete until May 2016.
We had a punch list of items to be fixed - including floor boards to be replaced that their sub damaged by "walking" our expensive Viking double oven across the hardwood floor from living room to kitchen! A solid 20+ feet of damaged dented floors. They actually tried to "repair" this by using paint and wood putty. I laughed and said try again.
All in all, I thought the rest of the punch items were fairly minimal. For instance, they ordered the wrong size kick plates for two vents so they sat gaping holes. Four months later, my husband loaded the dishwasher and headed to bed. Heard a weird noise and came back in to the kitchen to find the hose had broken loose and was now *** hot water onto the kitchen hardwood fast.
Got Boss Restoration here within 30 minutes to start drying. Entire kitchen and powder room floors had to be replaced. $550 electric bill that month. While Boss guys under the house, discovered 2 ax vents not attached - so 4 months of open holes in floor and air conditioning the crawl space.
Also discovered the powder room sink was never actually plumbed to anything so every time someone washed their hands in that sink for 4+ months drained to our crawl space. Repairs for these found issues were slow. Plumbing came quick enough, then hvac came. While here I asked why it was so hot in the master bath - vent cover never removed under cabinet, had to be cut out.
Floors finally replaced but Schumacher didn't come back to replace trim until late December after several complaints. And that work was done by a young guy "warranty manager". He's been the only person we've seen since then. Fast forward to our one year warranty review - where they repair nail pops and things.
We noticed our custom master shower keeps getting mildew in the edges, wasn't sealed and the front ledge appeared to need grout. Floor sub sent to take a look. His look of concern mirrored my assumption of something sinister going on in there. The ledge was swelling away from the frame.
He was reluctant to say anything more than that their company is a new sub for Schumacher and he didn't want to touch it until he reported what he was seeing bc he didn't want to assume responsibility. Same Warranty Manager guy shows up yesterday unannounced to "take a look at the supposed leak issue" and begins easily removing tile and scraping away the wet cement mud bed and soggy wood underneath. He does this in complete silence with me watching. So I say "huh, I'd say there's a leak.
And what's the plan?" He says they need to rip out the bottom few feet of tile and whole bottom and redo it. Could take up to 3 weeks. No one wants to claim responsibility for this" so I laugh and say "well I know who ISNT responsible and you need to get it done faster than 3 weeks." We've had multiple electrical issues, HVAC issues and now a few major plumbing issues. I'm honestly concerned on what I'll find next outside the warranty period.
We paid A LOT for our new home. As with other comments, they added a ton of "allowances" that we never saw come back nor saw pricing for actual. Was quoted $378k to build and would get a 10% incentive off so thought we'd be looking at $340-350k range. I paid out more than $400k all said and done and not even sure how or where.
Went thru 3 different foreman from start to finish. Design flaws as others have said and no common sense to correct them like the garage door opens right into the dryer in the laundry room. It's July. 14 months after we moved in and the punchlist is still incomplete, and the warranty issues worrying.
How did some of these actually pass inspection? There are months I'm in love with my house and months I worry there's more going on I can't see. That worries me.
While Schumacher built me a beautiful home, some of the work was clearly sloppy, expensive, and I hope I've seen the worst of it. Considering hiring an inspection on my own just in case.
NIce people poor homes
RUN...
Horrible Horrible Attitudes from Management
Love the showroom and options and the quality of their construction. BUT during our pre construction meeting with the CAD person, Building Super, and General Manager at the Lewis Center location, the General Manager(Keith) appeared annoyed about even being there.
When we asked about the breakdown of the $1700 charge for some changes we made to floor plan, he could not explain in detail the charges and became very defensive and said It is what it is and that's it. You can go back to the original floor plan if you don't like it. When we continued to ask for the breakdown of the charges he became even more defensive and said well we can cancel it all together if you don't like it. Worst Customer Service we have EVER received by anyone.
We were building a $350K house with them and Keith (General Manager) let us walk out of the meeting as if he could care less about us building with them or not. All we wanted was a breakdown of a $1700 charge. And his response was "Do you know how many of these drawings I look at a day, I can't memorize every cost detail". The correct response would of been.
You know I don't have it on me now but let me get that for you and get back to you. This general manager should never be allowed to interact with customers in any aspect of the process. His attitude is just horrible. Way to make a customer who is willing to spend $350k with you, feel like just a number and not an individual.
I can't speak about other locations but I would recommend not dealing with this one. Sales staff were wonderful and the building super was great as well (very personal with us).
Looks like we will be building with someone else at this point and are willing to lose our $1000.00 contract price hold money, that's how much of a horrible experience this one meeting was. We are glad we experienced this now instead of in the middle of construction.
Will never recommend to anyone
Schumacher Homes changed the whole elevation of home. They left 18 inches of extra foundation showing all around.
When i questioned them about it there response was they had to do it. No mention of it during preconstrution meetings and final plans we signed off on never showed the change. The district manager in Ravenna, OH was rude and unwilling to make it right. Also electric heat pump was hooked up wrong causing first electric bill to be $950.
Technician came and even stated it was drawing to much amperage and changed wires around.
2 months later still nothing done about reimbursement. So much for being an exciting time, building a new home!
Still having issues.....year after year
They are great when you are planning. They aren't so good with execution. They hire the cheapest sub contractors. And they must do so without any background checks. Subcontractors could not read blueprints.
Outlets and lights in kitchen not per print. Closet turned into cabinet because HVAC didn't want to put cold air return per print. (No, this wasn't approved by us)
Foyer not to print. Front door and foyer light do not align.
They left my house unfinished as we refused to pay for re-works. At the time they walked out, I had an exposed leach field because it was done improperly. Didn't finish our steps to bonus room.
Had our house reviewed by liscenced contractor. To correct all the things done poorly and/or to bring the house inline with blueprint would cost over $50K.
And three years later I find out they put a lien on our house. Didn't have to pay the lien but it cost us to have it legally removed.
And today we discovered that the cold water feed to the master shower must have been leaking since day one. Leaking between interior wall and shower stall. This week it went from a drip to a spray. Had to open a wall to find the leak. Unfortunately, not before tiles in bathroom and kitchen (oh yeah, it was flowing through walls and floors) began to lift. Kitchen cabinet is swelling and trim work in bathroom and kitchen will need to be replaced.
Is there any wonder why my hubby calls them "S**tmacher? No, it's accurate
Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution
On-going Nightmare
Our house deadline wasn't met. Even after extending the date by months, we arrived with the movers from another state, our house was literally under construction.
We ended up moving in with an unfinished house, construction debris (in and outside the house), construction dust, scaffolding. Our floors looked white (they are dark hardwood) there was so much dust. Here we are coming up on our one year move in date and we still have a list a mile long of things that haven't been completed or issues their contractors created when they came in to "fix" things. We have serious HVAC issues, dust blowing in through our vents, doors, windows, and outlets leaking cold air into our house.
Our electric bills have been astronomical. We have so many cosmetic issues I had to create an excel spreadsheet to keep up with all of them. We brought in our own inspector to ensure the safety of the house. He brought to light some issues.
The most concerning is that the diagonal support braces in the attic aren't high enough. We live on a ridge and get wind gust of 60+ miles per hour. I sit in our den and pray the braces will hold.
It has been a complete nightmare. I am happy to provide the pages and pages of spreadsheet I've kept up with since December of 2016.
Scam for building on a build ready lot Water and sewer and electric was on site. No att needed for this prepped lot Schumacher has a lot scam going on for extra funds Don't don't don't purchase t
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A total nightmare. Cost add ons without disclosure, poor communication, no regard for the customer. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.
So worried. Getting ready to sign with Schumacher as opposed to Modular. these reviews are troubling to say the least.
thank you.