Highland Homes Reviews in Austin, TX

Highland Homes has a great sales team. We never had any questions unanswered. Though we liked our building manager, highland homes outsources all the work and lacks a quality team and building manager hardly does quality check, We ended up following on many things after closing ( from a minor thing such as front door weather strip to a leaked window replacement ) which is frustrating at times.

We closed on our home in October 2020. We love the design of our home and the location. Highland has great floor plans to choose from. We have had numerous issues during the construction phase and after we moved in. Specifically, we have had several plumbing related issues. Mustang Plumbing is the subcontractor for Highland Homes and almost everything Mustang Plumbing has touched has been done incorrectly. The largest and most egregious issue was that Mustang Plumbing did not connect our grinder pump to the city sewer line in front of the house. On the day we moved into our new home we had sewage running all over our front yard and driveway. The next day Mustang did connect the grinder pump to the city sewer line; however, they failed to connect the grinder pump back up to the electrical system. A few days later we had sewer gas in our new home. Another Mustang plumber came out and resolved the issue. Another Mustang issue is that they incorrectly installed our disposal in the kitchen sink. A few days after moving in to our new home we had lots of water leaking under our sink. Yet another Mustang plumber had to come out and correct the issue. We have also had issues with our "Smart Home Package" offered by Highland Homes. Essentially, during the construction phase of the house, IES (another subcontractor) neglected to install several access ports needed for the Eero wifi extenders. IES offered to retrofit the extenders but doing so would have required rather extensive drywall work. We declined because we do not want patwork drywall in our new home. Another IES issue focused on our video doorbell. In order to install our video doorbell IES had to remove several bricks from the front of the house and then a brick mason had to come out and patch up the front of the house. It looks fine, but why not install the video doorbell from the very beginning. All of the IES issues stem from poor planning. Advice to future buyers - insist that your wifi extenders and video doorbell be installed before you move in. It is a huge inconvenience having people in and out of your house installing items that can easily be installed before you move in. I write this review on January 6, 2021. Since we moved in we have had to submit at least 6-7 warranty issues to Highland Homes. All but one have been addressed. But I find it sad that we have had to submit so many warranty requests on a brand new home. Our project manager, Matt, has been very responsive to each of the issues we have faced. I do not blame Matt for anything. However, I strongly encourage Highland Homes to source better plumbing and low voltage subcontractors. If you are looking to buy a Highland Home, you will love your design choices and the floor plan options. Highland Homes look great. However, be very thorough in your inspections because I do have my doubts about the quality of the workmanship (especially the areas that are hidden behind walls such as plumbing. Ask questions. Visit the home site frequently during the construction phase. Take pictures to document the building process. ... More

overall good quality of house, but expensive than other competitor builder (M.I home and some other builders. not clear why it should be expensive than competitor. I see lots of little minor thing not done properly. a little poor in finishing work.

We had a great process most of the way. The sales people were fantastic; super helpful and went out of the way in many cases to assist us. The construction side was pretty good - they cared and tried. They were pretty flexible and worked with us to accommodate some special requests. The company is higher quality than many others, but there were still small shortcuts taken here and there that were frustrating. We then got caught up in the COVID hype and they cancelled walk-thrus and refused to work on warranty items even though construction was continuing right next door on other houses. That was very frustrating and the communication was not great during this time, but the circumstances were unusual. Overall, they could have been better, but I have seen alot worse out there. Compared to their peers, I think they are near the top of the industry in terms of customer experience. ... More

New house took 15 months to finish. you could say it's normal due to supply chain issue, but then some houses on same street/same builder got finished under 10 months, so not sure what to say. Issues started out from foundation phase, you need watch like a hawk on every step and ask to be corrected, if you dont live nearby, good luck! Not a single time you were contacted and updated about progress, you always had to ask. Lots of quality issues, but so far they were all medium to minor ones, so something you can live by. But no way it was pleasant experience.

The product and floorplans are great, but the contractors repeatedly made mistakes and many did not put much care into their workmanship. Management failed to communicate effectively and oversee the quality of the project, leaving a long list of repairs and fixes that had to be completed post-closing. We had contractors in and out of our house for two months after we moved in, and although everything was made right in the end, it was a very frustrating and inconvenient process. If you build with Highland, visit the site often, and triple check all of the specs. We visited nearly every week and still, items were missed. Take detailed notes about brick and grout colors, and pay attention to tile spacing... and when it comes to baseboards and trim, make sure they don't use MDF. It was the only no cost option we were given, even though they admit there's no good way to install it (nail holes swell preventing you from ever having a smooth surface). ... More

I feel like the build was rushed in order to meet the closing date. This allowed for things to be missed and unfinished. I love the Floorplan and the house in general.

We were very excited to build with Highland for the 2nd time. We were impressed with the standard features and incentives offered this time around. Once we moved in we started experiencing one problem after another:the a/c drip line wasn’t connected to the drain causing the washing machine to dump an entire load of waste water into the walls. The issue was addressed immediately by the emergency plumber and Sean sent a restoration company to pull baseboards and set fans to dry the walls out. It was an oversight that should have been caught during several different inspections. It was very inconvenient but it was handled as well as it could have been. Then the dryer didn’t work. It turns out the plug was wired 110 instead of 220, which meant holes had to be cut in the walls in the laundry room and bedroom. The garage door opener and plugs suddenly didn’t work, turns out they moved a plug in the garage and didn’t connect all the wires. The garage door doorknob fell off in my hand. We still haven’t gotten the USB plugs, which are a standard feature, installed. One of the bedroom door frame boards has all sorts of chunks and notches taken out and the painters decided to remove the blue tape without fixing it. There was a lot of that from our final walkthrough. There are a many imperfections that weren’t fixed/touched up. It’s unfortunate that there isn’t much pride in workmanship anymore. Things that should have been done right the first time are now going to have to be addressed by the warranty department. I’m making a list. ... More

Be sure to have specific lists and items you wish to discuss with your builder contact before meeting. Spend time doing the walkthroughs and stay positive and appreciative of their time and effort. They are working with big issues related to the virus and the processes involved with getting items addressed in your new home.

We absolutely love our house, we tried to be a part of it through much of the process. Timelines and apparent work shortages cause us to do an initial walkthru before the house was even complete. Not everything identified was fixed prior to purchase and now that everything has to go through "warranty" service and response has dwindled considerably. We still have a laundry list of items and haven't heard much from highland. Up until this point we felt much more positive about our overall experience, just seems typical now to forget the customer once the home is delivered.

Overall, the sales process, lender and closing services with the title company was very good. However, the operations, ( builder and warranty service) has been less than satisfactory. It took serval calls to get someone to respond to our requests for warranty service. Our original builder did a walk through the less then a week before closing and a final one a day before closing. There were still issues with our house the day before we closed. The were some things wrong with our home that that was very obvious and which should have been addressed, yet he chose not to. We have someone else assigned to us due to the fact that our original builder's unsatisfactory response for service and the fact that he waited until the day before closing to do a walkthrough with us. The fact that there were details that still needed to be addressed and/or corrected a day before is completely inexcusable. Also, we were the ones who had to reach to builder to request a walkthrough, when it should have been the other way around. ... More

Highland Homes hurried to finish my house leaving several items unfinished or not working. The construction manager soon left the company leaving my house incomplete. The replacement construction manager did make sure unfinished and broken items were completed but it took significant time. The house is nice with some technology upgrades but some design aspects like garage size are problematic.

Overall we were pleased with our home, but it wasn't without a lot of frustration. Our construction manger left the company after the slab was poured. We were assured the new construction manager would be just as receptive. I believe he was spread way too thin and possibly placed his trust into someone else. We did a number of changes from the standard build plans and the construction crew didn't follow the build plans at all. As someone who isn't in the business at all or is handy blue prints it was easy for me to see the glaring omissions and items that were not built to spec. Since a number of items had to be changed completely and re-done this caused a delay and moved out the closing date by about 3 weeks. We brought up these issues throughout the process and we were pretty much dismissed with "oh, you've never built a house before. This is pretty common". While it might be common in the housing the industry to ignore the blue prints and then have to add things that were missed (like a fireplace, for one) it's extremely stressful on the buyer side. Building & purchasing a house is extremely stressful and certain things are out of your control, like mother nature, but the overall experience wasn't pleasant. We love our home, but based on the overall process I don't think we'd go with Highland again. I'm sure on a spec home they are great, but the ball was dropped on numerous customization items. If we decide to build another home down the line we'll probably go with a builder that is more familiar with custom homes. ... More

Definitely not up to the mark. Being premium builder the cost is definitely higher than other builders in same neighborhood but we don’t see that difference in quality or features or finishing. The main complaint is the amateurish finishing overall and clearly shows that care was not shown and was rushed. They are good in responding to service requests.

While ultimately, we believe that we made the right home purchase for us. the process needs some work. The salesman tells you that Highland Homes can't do certain things and then we find out that for other buyers they might/or will. They tend to blame things on the Developer to get out of doing things for the Buyer. The Builder tried very hard to accomodate us; but ultimately he's limited by what he's told he can or cannot do. The quality of work is lacking. They need to adopt a motto of 'doing it right the first time'. It's got to be costing them a lot of money to come back 3+ times on some issues (cleaning off the brick; having a poor choice of blinds on the back door; substandard work on the tile in the master shower; etc...). The grass they chose is a poor choice for a backyard that gets lots of shade; their landscaper told us so; yet the Salesman would not let us choose a better grass. The wood-look ceramic tile grout is not sealed; and if we seal it within the warranty period, the warranty is voided. The same thing applies to putting in dimmer switches; the warranty is voided. There was about a 3/4 to 1 inch gap between our front door and the door sill. It took nearly two months to get it fixed. We had to jam a small rug under the door to keep bugs and critters out. We were told that we had left over paint in our attic, but none was there. The list goes on. They are all friendly folks; but getting things done right the first time is not their strong suit. ... More

Don't move in until all issues are resolved!!

Keep ose eyes on the building phase, the attention to detail is lacking. For instance: we were assured that the drywall installers used screws instead of nails. I personally saw them pound all the screws inime nails.. No one is keeping track of the vendor work as far as I can tell.

We moved in December and already experiencing issues of poor workmanship. The houses in this neighborhood are so close to each other and the house which is getting built after we moved in has window directly facing our window. With houses being so close to each other, more thought should have been put to not have neighbors window face each other. Flooring is cheap wood and not perfect for a new home. Would love to provide more details when contacted.

We had several issues that stemmed from a lack of communication from the design side, like door trim that has known issues with the doorknob hardware, a kitchen island that was both more expensive and not what we we told we were ordering, and options like pre-sealed grout that we only learned about after the fact. That coupled with some issues like, tile needing to be regrouted because it was done poorly, and flooring being stained by banister varnish, left us feeling frustrated by the process overall. We understand that our home was built during the covid pandemic, and we always tried to be patient and understanding, but a lot of the work felt rushed, poorly done, or needed to be redone. We really appreciated our second building manager, who really seemed to be focused on trying to get our house back on track. ... More

Quality of materials and work of subcontractors is atrocious.

The quality of the materials and workmanship in Highland homes is not what you would expect for houses of this price range, the wood they used in our house during pandemic supply chain issues was substandard, base boards and all interior trim were installed as fast as possible leaving behind A LOT of small little cosmetic issues, if there is a spot where is hard to see around the trim, chances are there is no paint on it. If we try to remove a small stain from a wall using a damp cloth, the paint dissolves and the paper that wraps the drywall gets exposed immediately, several crooked electrical outlets around the house and a long list of small issues. They claim to cover all under their warranty, but they of course don't come to install higher quality materials you claim warranty fixes, they just come to fix things using the same original materials and they will give you 4-5 hours windows that you have to stay home from Monday to Friday for every single detail you need to get fixed. They offer competitive prices for the BASE model of the houses, but things that you would expect to be standard are not, everything is an upgrade and once you are done "upgrading" your house you are at least 50K - 60K above the "base price". ... More

When punching out your house before move in make sure to take pictures of each item and put it in a spread sheet to ensure each item is taken care of

Issues are still not addressed.

This is my second Highland Home & the experience has been pretty bad. Since I met with one builder at pre-construction meeting& then another took over I don’t think there was any real ownership of my build. Things just did not get done as promised. Shallow stairs are not, lighting changes were not done as told, trades that did the paint, grout, fence, fixtures, flooring were just sloppy. Job site was the dirtiest I have ever seen & I have had 5 homes built.

Sales process was professional. Massive problems with issues reported before closing - still not taking care off. Too many times we had invest our time for issues and no results. Simple things (i.e. shoe mold in kitchen) is still not taken care off. No communication from Building Manager. Very frustrating. More and more smaller problems occur and NO action after reporting.