Drees Custom Homes Reviews

Paid over a million dollars for a home that was not even close to a custom build. The products used, workmanship and customer service was the worst. Our entire street and cul-de-sac all had same issues. NEVER again.

There are numerous fit and finish issues throughout the house. Many doors were not installed correctly and do not open and close properly. There are signs of poorly patched and repaired damage throughout. There is a foul odor in several of the rooms coming from the paint and grout. There are several other examples which I will not mention here. We have very strongly articulated throughout the project that we preferred a natural product such as stone or cast stone on our home and NOT structural foam or some other inferior product. Once a sample of the cantera selection was provided, It was explained to us that the available cantera stone would not work and that lead times on a cast stone product were in excess of 16 weeks. To my knowledge, the actual stone material was never delivered. Drees attempted to charge us for this. we absolutely will not pay for a product or service that was not provided. As a home buyer, we rely on the builder to properly measure and install the products we ordered. It is incumbent on Drees to properly measure the materials where this would be installed and specify accordingly. Drees did not practice due diligence in this. That Drees would ask for payment for a product that was never delivered and installed adds outrageous insult to injury. As much as this was a colossal disappointment, we agreed for Drees to install the standard level structural foam in order for the project to proceed in a timely manner. We were 19 months into this project since we began the process of building with Drees. This in itself is unacceptable even given the current challenges. It is important for you to know that we have seen entire neighborhoods go up and completed in the time since we began our project. No less than three friends and colleagues have begun and completed their new home construction projects and are now living comfortably in their homes. One of them has even already moved and re-sold their home due to a promotion. We, on the other hand, have been paying rent for living quarters and a large monthly sum to store our personal effects and furniture while we await our new home for 24 months. While the subject of how long our project is taking has been the object of embarrassment and ridicule, this is not an “emotional” issue for us, this is a real dollar cost issue. We are tremendously motivated to expedite this project and have very little flexibility for further delays. As a reminder, there have been numerous materials that, according to Drees have become “discontinued” or “unavailable”. Examples of this are the exterior brick we were required to reselect. This is a HUGE item that completely changed our original design appearance and quality. In addition, this newly selected exterior brick appears to have been installed by very unskilled and poorly trained workers. The mortar and joint work is horrendously sloppy and poor. Another example of discontinued items is the tile in bath #3 and #4. This required us to return to the design center to reselect from very poor options that are now available in the same quality level. Sadly, the installers failed to follow selection specifications. This required us to reselect yet again. In fact, there have been numerous issues with the tile installers that have resulted in severely deficient and poor quality. Some of these include incorrect grout color, transitions and damaged tiles. Yes, I did take to the opportunity to re-select a higher-level product in the hopes that this would meet the look and quality of our original selections. Once again, there are deficiencies in the finished product. This was expressed to Drees. Throughout the process, we were extremely responsive and have quickly agreed to addendums, redraw fees and additional retail costs as they occur in the interest of moving our project forward to completion. In the end, we closed before the house was completed in order to avoid bank penalties and fees. Many items remain to be addressed. We are well into our third month since closing. Drees has offered to extend the warranty period. However, the time taking to perform the needed repairs and corrections is still quite long. ... More