Drees Homes Reviews

Drees has been great to work with on all fronts. I have had some issues with their contractors lack of attention to detail. But Drees is taking care of most of them.

One of the things that attracted us to Drees was their willingness to adapt their standard build to fit our needs. In our case the changes were mainly cosmetic but others in our subdivision had more extensive changes regarding room layouts. We had previously done a new build with a different builder who was totally inflexible to changes so working with Drees felt like we were more involved in our new house. Of course any builder is only as good as their subcontractors and unfortunately in our case the concrete guys were less then stellar. To their credit Drees did attempt to correct the issues but a repair job is never as good as being done correctly in the first place. ... More

It was a good experience building a home with Drees. We are satisfied with our home and thank everyone involved in this process.

Overall, the experience was great! Drees was always very responsive and quick to address our issues.

The process with Drees was over all really good. The home quality and attention to detail is really nice. We had some unusual issues during the build due to our lot (not Drees) that I would have been nice to more aggressively address, but Drees has stood by their commitments and continues to work through the problems. I would definitely build with Drees again.

I would recommend Elevate to anyone. Even though some of my criticisms are harsh, the overall process, responsiveness of Chad and many of the Elevate team seems to care about customer satisfaction and that outweighs my concerns. I do think do to some lesser quality materials used the value is less than desired but still an OK value - not good, not great, but OK. Now the details. First the great - Chad is an amazing project manager. He is responsive, helpful, and knowledgeable. Megan in the design center was a pleasure to work with and Elevate had many nice upgrade and standard options. Todd was great too. He was very helpful with the design of the house and incorporated many of his ideas. Also Elevate has been very supportive even with some challenges with Hamilton County zoning. Huge props to the team for leaning in and ensuring my wife and I are supported and taken care of. Now the not so great: 1) The TRIM AND Cabinet DOORs Elevate uses are incredibly cheap particle board. It breaks and chips with the slightest touch. For the price charged use real wood. 2) The Garage Doors and Standard Opener are also only OK. They do offer an upgraded opener. Take it! While it is only marginally better the standard is quite low end. 3) DO NOT paint your GARAGE door. Make them upgrade to 9600 series which has better R value and will come colored. Painting will chip, scratch and make the doors stick and is terrible. A maintenance nightmare! I am asking Elevate to switch my doors to 9600 series because after 2 months my doors already need touched up again. IF Elevate does the right thing AND updates my doors to the 9600 series, I will update this review. Again when people are buying $800K to $1.5M homes, get the better garage doors, openers, and trim. 4) LVP installers did an ok job. Elevate has already agreed to fix unlevel areas so huge props to Elevate 5) I was not thrilled they elevate saves money by doing the following: 1) uses 24” on center for none load bearing walls 2) uses 2x4s for the roof joists and does not make it so they can have attic storage 3) uses I-Beams for floor joists versus engineered floor joists 6) was disappointed that Elevate will not 1) install Garage ladder due to number non load bearing weak 2x4s used as joists 4) does not offer a garage floor coating 5) concrete was poured WAY too wet and ended up cracking - yes concrete cracks, BUT it does not have too - on the plus side they do install a vapor barrier which gives added protection. 6) uses Guardian which did NOT center my speakers properly in my Media room even after I asked the guy to use a tape measure and NOT eye it and does not offer a ring like recording service only offers full monitoring security. 7) did not hook up the fridge water line and had a major leak under the tub which required part of the ceiling to be tore out and replaced. I am concerned about the plumbers and the quality of the work 8) Electricians installed a 50A breaker when a 60A was clearly specified AND put home lines in my secondary panel and I also clearly stated I did not want those in my garage panel - did it because it was “easier and cheaper” for them I am hopeful many of my current concerns will be addressed at the 90 review and if they are, I will update the review. Again, overall a good experience and I would recommend Elevate to any, I am concerned about the 20 year quality of certain items due to some of the construction methods and material used, but time will tell. If I had it to do again I would have insisted on the better Garage Door and opener from the start, told them I wanted 16” on center construction, insisted on real wood trim and cabinet doors AT a FAIR price - already charging insane amounts for cheap particle board upgrades-, use structural wood for joists so it can add an attic space above the garage, AND use engineered floor joists versus I-Beams - if you ever want to run something in the ceilings I-Beams make it 10 times harder. ... More

Overall we are very happy with our new home.

Everything went well - only question quality of some materials used

Mike was responsive to concerns. The deck as sublet and of lower quality and the reason for the overall 4 stars. I noted that on my prior review but no one contacted us.

It started out shaky with having the initial GC that was assigned to build our home on how he treated my wife and I when ask questions. AND we were able to get assigned a new GC(Drew). He was awesome!

DREES Home builders should work more closely with the potential residents about the HOA requirements so there is not a possible misleading of what is acceptable for privacy with the space allotted (The Lot) and the "views" around the property being presented to the potential buyer

I think the final product is good, overall. However, I had a lot of stress going through the project that could have been alleviated had the builder done a better job at communicating when problems arose (for example, I would hear that something was going to get done, then a month later hear the item is back ordered and there will be a much longer delay). The quality of the paint is horrendous. The paint shouldn’t be chipping when I wash a piece of dirt away with a baby wipe or soft side of a sponge. The quality of the sod is pretty bad. The landscaper allowed too big of spaces between sheets and there are gaps. It looks horrible and had the sod been a specific job I paid a contractor to do I would be asking for my money back Some of the walls aren’t straight. One of our walls bows out and another wall has a seam so pronounced it looks like it’s bowing out as well. There have been a few times where I’ve stepped on the carpet and there has been a tack that wasn’t in all the way and I’ve cut my foot I understand that there are a lot of parts to a house and that it’s not going to be perfect. However, bowed walls, paint chipping if you brush it with your shoulder, and sod that isn’t even is just ridiculous. The floor plan and exterior of the house are great! ... More

Did a great job.

Don't assume the Sales Agent has covered all of your options. Investigate other homes of your model selection. This is also true with the closing agent. their job is to move through the closing quickly because their revenue is depended on how many closings they complete. The one lesson I learned (again) Buyer Beware!

During the build process, everything was going well until we reached the point when the builder told me he would be able to calculate the completion date, and then my walk-through and closing dates. He neglected to include the part where Drees' warranty person would do a walk-through first, then they would have 10 days (I think) to correct what was found BEFORE I would do my walk-through, and then they would have 10 days to fix anything I found before I would close. For the next 2 months, I continually asked if certain delays in building would create a delay in my completion and closing dates and/or if we were still on track to complete and close around the time we had discussed, and the original dates we had discussed were continually confirmed. It was not until I received notification that my walk-through and closing dates were 1 month later than had continually been confirmed. It was at this time that I learned I had not been told of Drees' procedure calculating these final and important dates. It would definitely be best if Drees provides a written, comprehensive outline of their procedure in calculating completion, buyer walk-through, and closing timeframes. Due to the pandemic and certain items being continually delayed, my builder continually kept pushing forward with as much as he possibly could so progress could still be made. I was also told about how he pushed some vendors to deliver and/or install certain items earlier than they planned in order to reduce further delays for my home. It was apparent he was working very hard to reduce delays while getting the necessary work completed. After closing and having a few items completed on the repair list, I asked the builder about some items needing to be repaired which were noted by my private inspector, one on the roof and one in the attic space, neither of which I was able to check personally to see if they were done. I was told since it wasn't on the list from my walk-through, it wasn't done - something that I found interesting as I made them known to the warranty person with whom I did my walk through that these items were found by my private inspector and other items I had mentioned were on that list. I was told (and this was also brought up during the building process) that they only fix issues noted by the city/county inspector and not private inspectors. Since it is a buyer's right to hire a private inspector, this does not make sense...what are we paying for, then, if the builder feels they have the right to ignore those findings?! These items have been fixed, but it needed to be done by making a claim with warranty. After moving in, I realized there were no towel rings (to hold hand towels and/or face cloths) in any of my 3 bathrooms. I have always had them in past homes, so had to purchase my own and have them installed. Not a super huge deal, but felt like the bathrooms were not 100% "complete" without them. The shower curtain rod in both my guest bathrooms are silver...my hardware are all bronze...so this looks out of place. For the price paid for these homes, seems to me no towel rings and shower rods which do not match is "cutting corners" in a way. During my walk through, since I could see there were plants with some concerns, I asked if they replaced any within the first year if they died (I have found most landscapers and even Home Depot provide this warranty) and was told no. Within the first month or so, my gardener has cut at least 4 plants/bushes to their base. Since part of the price of the home is a fully landscaped yard (with specific plants/bushes/trees), you would think they would provide some type of warranty for them. My 2 previous homes were also custom built and those builders, who provided landscaping for only the front yard, provided a 1 yr warranty for the sod and plants they installed. I have been living in my home for 2 months, and all in all, the home seems well built and warranty has been easy to work with for those few items I needed handled right away. ... More

We had a Build-on-Your-Own-Lot project done with Drees Homes in Raleigh NC. We'd rate Chuck F. (the marketing manager) and Jonathan N. (the builder) with 5 stars because of the huge efforts they made to address all issues before the closing, and also Rachel P. in the designer center who was very accommodating and we could feel she was genuinely willing to help us make best choices for our needs and did not push for the most expensive options. But for Drees Homes as a company, we could not give 5 starts because some upper management person was not reasonable and tried to bully us to close the sale before all problems were fixed, and some contractors did a poor job. However, considering the complex nature of the building business, we understand sometimes things could go wrong. As long as they are willing to fix all problems, we are willing to recommend Drees Homes to others, even though there is still room for them to improve. We'll see how the warranty repairs go and update later if possible. ... More

All good, thank you for the support

Good buying experience and quality

I like the area. Drees employees take their job very seriouly.

Our project manager, Matt was great. Any workmanship issues were scheduled and corrected promptly with the exception of a concrete issue. The floor plan works exactly as we wanted based on our ability to customize with DOYL. Thanks George. Not cheap with upgrades and lot improvement charges, but the overall value of the home is good. It immediately appraised above the purchase price. Very happy with the house and lot.

Overall satisfied. Their quality audit process ensures typical building issues get resolved.

The personnel we have met have been very professional and knowledgeable.

Overall had a positive experience purchasing and building our home with Drees. The process is never smooth and hiccups happen, which they were mostly responsive to. The workmanship is good, not great. Bathroom shower had to be redone due to a issue they found (which I would not have noticed so that is good). The worst experience definitely has been the landscaping they provided - large portion of the sod that was provided was in horrible condition and they were happy to come out and replace those pieces. The placement and installation of trees is terrible. I had 5 trees installed - 3 are crooked and 1 was placed in the middle of the backyard (why?!). They do not fix/move them either after installation so make sure when they do the initial landscaping, you're watching closely. Like with other builders as well, your lawn is just all clay so the quality of the soil is horrendous and you're going to have to do a lot of work after to get it right. ... More

Overall my experience was pretty good.

Responded to problems in a timely manner