Drees Custom Homes Reviews

I was rushed through the design process. Was not given sound advice. Nothing else was done on time. There was turnover between the builders and then we as a family felt it was our job to continue the communication.

Home was not ready in time and the quality of work was very poor.

This was a very frustrating experience with many mistakes and issues along the way. I understand that you can only do do much with 3rd party workers/vendors, but there was seemingly a major issue/ setback with every step in this build process. Parker our CM and Cory our salesperson were as helpful and informative as they could be. The fact that we have so many unfinished issues with our home at this point is very frustrating. The workmanship and completeness of the tile is awful, many mistakes by the design center, as well as many other avoidable setbacks made this whole process very frustrating. ... More

Poor labor!!!! The quality of the finish craftsmanship is poor. The sub contractors hired lack real finish skills, appear to lack any pride in quality of work performed and reliability. (Tile work was a 5 day task that took 13 weeks and is still needing to be redone in some areas). Paint teams have been here 3 times and will be back to redo most of the homes interior wood finishes! We are having to have all interior trim and custom add work redone for a third time, replace added ceiling beams, exterior for a third time, complete redo of paint and prep for porch, interior shower glass for a 4th time, master shower tile redone, redo all caulking (floor and crown trim). This is all post close! Our sales and builder reps are stellar! We love them (they are professional, honest and do all they can) BUT the teams used by Drees to build and finish lack a lot! It is unfortunate as we purchased based on the quality we see in the models her and in other Drees locations. We did our homework! We expect no less than the models. That is the face of Drees to the market. The homes built lack the same level of craftsmanship. Drees must find a way to resolve. Help us who have closed to find the teams needed to resolve issues faster! Hire the right teams. We spent close to 7 figures and should not have to be middle men to resolve. Our issues are being addressed, slowly, but now become a major inconvenience for us since we have moved in. Again, our sales and builder rep team is great but Drees corporate needs to take this seriously. ... More

The house was 75 days over the original estimated completion date. During that time, we had several promised move in dates from upper management. Unfortunately, all had to be cancelled due to their inability to complete the house. The quality of workmanship is poor with the constant excuse that trades are very limited. Remember, you get what you pay for and this is a determining factor in their quality and completion of work. Example, we had so many paint splatters on the wood floor that it took two painters over 4 hours to clean up.

If it wasn’t for our amazing builder I’m not sure if we would’ve went thru with completing our home with Drees. Our builder made our experience top notch as he was responsive to issues, gave frequent updates, followed through with promises and resolved issues on time. Unfortunately, the sales team and leadership at Drees was a huge disappointment. There is a major issue going on within our community and we have not received a response from upper management that could affect our HOA dues that was not disclosed during closing. It’s been weeks with no follow up from Drees. The poor communication signals that Drees only cares about making a sale and does not care about individuals and families once they are settled in their home. ... More

Expectations were much higher than delivered product. Simple request became battles. Drees proves the customer does NOT come first. We would not recommend the Drees Homebuying experience to our friends.

The home was overall ok but the value in terms of how much we spent and the sloppy work is poor. - Cracked Marble Backsplash - Damaged Cabinets - Unfinished Shoe Molding - Broken Shower Tile - Incorrect Stair Lighting Installed - Wrong Plumbing Installed And lots of other issues....still working to get them addressed.

I've been surprised on how many minor issues this house has. All the workers had to do was just care a little more. Door knobs are coming undone one by one in the house. Loose fixtures, wires exposed from lighting. This should not be the work of a custom builder.

Everything below is my experience and opinion since I began building my home with Drees in October 2021. Their sales staff needs training. Be warned... there are SEVERAL decisions that need to be made AT CONTRACT. You can have all the conversations, emails etc with the sales people, but certain things you think might be options to decide at the design center MUST be in your contract. If they are not, you will have to PAY $1000 to change the contract even though it was the SALES person's mistake. This includes plan changes adding an optional media room, doors on the study, showers instead of bathtubs etc. If in doubt ASK! The sales people should have a checklist they give you so you know before you sign. It is very confusing when some items you discussed are in contract and others are not. Do NOT assume the salesperson knows what they are doing! Buying new or building with Drees does not mean you get a home without imperfections or flaws. The quality is just not there. The contract does not require them to meet anything beyond minimum quality standards. We have cabinets with bad paint or missing paint in many spots, doors with damage that they filled and tried to cover as well as bad paint, Drees subcontractors LOVE caulk and will use it to try to cover their poor workmanship. DO NOT DO WOOD BEAMS OR SITE FINISHED STAIRS. You will PAY a lot of money and they will not turn out anything like the model home. You have to watch everything they do. They will put tile in the wrong bathrooms, build your cabinets incorrectly, frame the stairs using wrong measurements and so on... and you will have to constantly check for progress on the corrections. They will use the garage like a garbage dump and scoop up the debris on occasion using a bobcat, scraping and gouging the garage floor. You will have to pay out of pocket after closing to have your garage floor refinished or coated it is so bad. The tile in the master bath is uneven in many spots in the shower and on the floor. Tile floors are chipped, mirrors are poorly framed, I could go on..I had a list of 81 items in total, most were attempted to be corrected. A lot of the time the attempts to correct just caused more damage. Until they have an occupancy permit, they will try to fix their mistakes and appease you, but once you close you will have to chase them down regardless of what they promised you. From the day I signed to the day I moved in was not 10 to 14 months...it was over 500 days!! Some may think I'm too picky or difficult. I just believe that you should get what you pay for and that there should be some quality of workmanship. I shouldn't have a list of repairs to do from day 1 in a new build. I still love the floorplan and I am happy to finally have moved in. Unfortunately much of the joy was taken away in the building process. I will say that the Drees Design Center process was FANTASTIC and the first 3 or 4 months building were so much fun. Then the mistakes began... followed by months of delays and frustration. Be warned and be aware. I'm sure many builders will be the same. They are dealing with subcontractors who just don't care and without builder supervision they try to get away with poor workmanship. The building process isn't for everyone! ... More

We chose Drees to build our home because we read reviews online and found them to be a reputable builder. We met with Steven at the model home and he advised us with a plan that would work for us. Unfortunately, throughout the build process, there were many issues that could have been prevented had there been proper oversight and good relationships with the trades. Steven was very dismissive throughout the process, unhelpful, and lacked the knowledge, skills, and abilities to navigate us through the building process. Kate at the design studio was wonderful and provided the only consistent, positive experience that we had with Drees. Victoria was also helpful when we communicated our grievances although I don't believe upper management at Drees are aware of the negative experiences that the buyers in our neighborhood have encountered and may need to query further in order to keep their reputation. Mike and Phillip appear to be knowledgeable builders but unfortunately we were paired with an unskilled builder and an even more unskilled sales representative who made our overall building experience stressful and unpleasant as evidenced by the fact that we are almost 90 days past closing and still dealing with trades in and out of our home with no defined schedule for completion. I am uncertain if any of the builders are any better but this has been our experience. Good luck to you all on your new construction journey. ... More

3 months after closing and still waiting on punch list items despite me sending punch lists throughout the entire process.

As the Home Builder, you can't blame the hired work or contractors for their actions, as you partnered or hired them to do the job. THEY are a reflection of your company and the follow up to anything with Drees has been horrible.

For the price, we expected better quality of material, workmanship. Requests to repair issues were not met with a timeliness response. We have yet to have issues repaired after having moved in and a few months passing.

We went through the entire build process with Drees and the Cons definitely outweighed the pros. Pros, weekly status calls were a nice touch. The Cons were slow progress, poor workmanship, dirty homesite, wrong items installed, creeks throughout the second level subfloor, paint and cement splatters on door hardware and porch railing, splotchy painting and staining, and multiple attempts to correct persistent issues with doors and walls.

Our home building process with Drees was terrible. We built with them several years ago, which was a great experience, and expected the same level of service and quality but did not get it. Quality control was nonexistent and we had to watch every step of the 18 month build like hawks, pointing out the issues ourselves or they would be missed or covered up. Food trash and beer bottles were tucked into the walls and left in the attic, paper trash was shoved behind the firebox creating a fire hazard. We had 3 water leaks during the build due to poor quality, one from an overflowing toilet being used by the crew which ruined the materials in the master bath with human waste. A fourth leak after the build from a drain line just pouring into a wall instead of being hooked up correctly. Two of these leaks resulted in mold causing us to tear out walls, cabinets, and materials to be replaced. The HVAC has required multiple repairs to correct issues from the installation. We’ve had electricians visit two times to correct electrical issues; lights that didn’t work, incorrect wiring in the main panel, etc. There are multiple other issues and I’m sure more will be discovered as time goes on; we will likely be in a constant state of repair throughout the full warranty period. We’ve had external inspectors come out to check multiple items at our own expense; it’s expensive but necessary to find and correct the issues to make the house safe for our family. All of this for a house costing well over $1million. Drees has fallen far from where they once were; if you buy with them get several private inspections throughout the build process to protect yourself and be ready for the stress of monitoring and scheduling every repair that will be needed. ... More

The builder does not hold their contractors to the high level of standards that the sell to the customer. In addition, the builders do not follow-up and communicate well to the buyer on the progress of them home. Due to this behavior the customer is expected to manage the completion of open tasks, even after the customer has moved into the house.

Quality for a custom build is par with other mid range builders. Company’s contractors in the area where we bought were horrible. They rushed things and didn’t do half of the things we mark during walk through. I would not recommend Drees. My experience wasn’t a good one, while I’m pretty sure others my had a different experience. Just sharing our review/feedback.

My family and I chose Drees for several reasons, but most importantly because we assumed we would be getting a solid, quality product incomparable to other builders in the community. Unfortunately, we have encountered several issues throughout the construction process and even after closing. A lot of our issues were not rectified prior to closing despite making them known in a sufficient amount of time. The quality of worksmanship on several areas in the home are mediocre at best and it takes a lot of persistence on the homeowner’s part to make sure things are done correctly because the builders are not overseeing the homes as they should. Overall, I am not pleased with Drees as a builder and there is much improvement that needs to take place for the price point of these homes to be as high as they are. ... More

Hard to find good craftsmanship right now - houses being built too quickly, sacrificing quality and attention to detail. Feel like our house is worth 60% of what we paid for due to the finished product not meeting our expectations.

Poor quality materials used with unprofessional workmanship. My brand new house already has too many issues. Corporate is not responding to issues raised. Not sure the point of this survey if not planning to correct things.

I would not buy from Drees ever again. They install or fix one thing, but brake/damage two to three other things. Getting them to actually fix something is a joke. Quality of work is not there anymore. Our 19 year old home we sold was more energy efficient than this new home.

Up front purchase experience was ok. However, once we signed the papers it all went downhill. Issues with the floors and tile from day 1 and were unable to get responses from Drees. I even wrote letters to the. Operate office and the regional ofgice and called customer support- no response. We finally had someone from drees out last week-2months after closing. There are o few other quality issues that will hopefully be addressed.

I would love to be constructive and could write a novel about our experience. Ultimately, our home was built carelessly and with minimal effort. We will strongly caution anyone and everyone against Drees. Horrible experience, horrible quality, horrible use of our resources.

This was our first and last purchase with Dree's. Our purchase experience upfront was pleasant and professional. We felt initially very pleased with our decision. However, from the moment we moved in it has been extremely disappointing & stressful experience. It has become a second job to keep on Dree's to be consistent about finishing the home & fixing/correcting mistakes. Here are some highlights. 1) A few days before our move in date, we paid a licensed seasoned home inspector in the area to review the build. Dozens of defects, poor craftsmanship & dangerous/out of code (some exposed wires for example), were documented. The home inspector report had pictures and detailed notes, all of which was shared with Dree's. We expressed our concerns on these findings and requested timelines for each fix within the coming weeks from Dree's. 6 months in, we still have never received a detailed response to each issue and are finding ourselves doing weekly reminders on all open items with the builder. That said, they are being completed slowly, however communication is spotty & disconnected from the contractors who do show up at random unannounced times, sometimes without even the correct materials to do the fix/repairs. 2) The day we moved in, we found the place dirty and unclean. We even found on one of our toilets, poop stains from one of the contractors. All of this was documented with pictures and shared with Dree's. The only comment on this observation was that they said they had cleaners already come twice before we moved in so it wasn't their problem. 3) We were delayed 3 months from the original move in date. There was no compensation for this and therefore it was at our own expense. We recently found out other builders in our same community paid $200+/month for every late month from the original completion date. Dree's explained to us that COVID has caused massive disruptions to their supply chain and contractor work. However several other builders in the same neighborhood who had similar sized homes, competitors to Drees, did not had such long delays. Therefore this conflicted with what Drees told us everyone was experiencing. Note, the home started just when COVID hit and the dozen or so other homes in our neighborhood started after our home (again similar size and costs etc), and finished before Drees. 4) Drees is still slowly making the fixes as we continue to keep on them. However, the quality, communication, attention to detail is not there. Especially for a $1.2M+ home. Unless Drees takes a serious look at its broken processes, low quality 3rd party contractors they are using, we highly recommend to avoid putting your hard earned money purchasing a Drees home. Did I also mention that we discovered when we moved in that they painted our whole 4,500+ sq foot home with the wrong color that is the outside grey trim vs the white paint originally selected? Overall what started out as an exciting time for my family has turned into a stressful experience. I hope that Drees will improve and listen to the concerns from the customers upfront. ... More