Lennar Reviews in Sarasota Bradenton, FL

Given high material prices and the very strong demand from home buyers for new homes in Lakewood National, it is my belief Lennar cut corners when possible with respect to quality. The perceived pressure placed on the staff/workers to rush the process to close exacerbates the warranty work necessary afterwards. Interior paint quality and workmanship has been my biggest issue. However a missing smart lock for the front door, a thermostat (per the Honeywell help desk) that isn’t programmable to your phone, a missing kick plate for the dishwasher, and an expensive door that must be replaced because the glass insert was hastily installed, and an electrical outlet that was wired incorrectly are other examples. The construction manager worked diligently to resolve a significant punch list the week leading up to closing. Plus he personally made sure other issues were resolved after closing. So far, the warranty work representatives have been attentive, responsive and friendly. ... More

Our sales rep Art made the purchase process fast and easy. We were sent pics as the home was being built. We have had only one issue after purchase so far and sorry to say there has been no follow up communication from the warranty group. Entry on website received no response from warranty person. The contractor called to make an appointment 4 months out to complete work that should have been done by closing.

sales personnel are great. construction management is horrible

Dont feel we received enough communication with timelines during the build process. We had to reach out many times. Would not use Lennar Mortgage company ever again. Our Mortgage rep was very difficult to work with and made the whole process very stressful. Mixed communication received on final walk thru between our CM and sales rep. Still working on getting some building issues resolved. It just to bad that the builders didnt take a few extra mins to take pride in their work we wouldnt have to have many different contractors to come back and fix their mistakes. (misalligned garage doors which also have to be repainted, front door gap at threshold, cracked mirror, sloppy texturing on walls, grout missing in many places around tile, misaligned cabinet draws, broken garbage can draw, two different style pendant lights in kitchen, poor wiring on electrical) These are nice designed houses - take pride in your work! ... More

Very rushed closing with hundreds of punch list items, some not fixed yet. Warranty service which is supposed to start at 30 Days is just now contacting us at 60 days. Sales and Finance teams delivered, and Construction team helpful, but corporate control of the process and follow up is non-existant.

Pros: Lennar has great houses to offer. I'm satisfied with their design and abundant features. Cons: Lennar's purchasing process is not as streamlined as other competitors. Their departments and affiliated agencies do not seem to be in close communication. I had to make extra effort contacting them to push things forward. I was anticipating to be instructed at every step of the process so I would know exactly what's next. This did not happen. I hope Lennar, as the number 2 builder in the country, would spend more effort to work out an tightly orchestrated workflow for buyers, and guide the buyers at each step. More usefully, if the construction manager/sales can work together and provide construction updates with photos, text, email, that would be even better. There were also some problems with the appliances before/after closing. It took a while to get those issues addressed. After closing, Lennar would not help with appliances, and instead they referred us to the manufacturer. But all the issues we had were all caused by the poor installation quality. So, bring your own home inspector on the walk-through day to save troubles after closing. Summary: I would buy again from Lennar due to its great design. I hope the above mentioned improvements can be done to make customers even more satisfied. ... More

I am very satisfy with the response i get from the construction managers, Tom and Fernando. Also Heather, from customer service, is great. And, when i need help I can also count on Olivia Macey, in sales for, to immediately get involved and help. Even though I still have some issues that need to be resolved, but overall, the people i deal with at Lennar are excellent employees and Lennar is lucky to have them. So I hope that Lennar Management appreciates these valuable employees and treat them accordingly.

Everybody was terrific, from initial contact with Olufunsho the sales rep. to Alkia at Lennar Mortgage, J.L. with Lennar Title and most importantly Lennar Warranty for any post purchase issues.

The home buying experience was very frustrating. Our home was delayed by 4-5 months while other homes on same street that contracted 3-4 months later were finished earlier. Compared other homes we’ve had built, It appeared that Lennar just slapped stuff together so they could close. Now we have to deal with it through the warranty process which is inconvenient. Examples are broken window, front door doesn’t line up with hopes drilled, no hardware on the door, island 3/4 inch lower on one side, floors stained, no address plate on outside, and I can keep going. We spent alot of money to move here and bought a new house so we wouldn’t have to deal with this stuff. We were told many things were on back order but when we called the distributor directly they had no record of an order being placed. I will say the warranty department has been responsive and Nekol does a good job. Our comments are consistent with the experience of every homeowner we’ve met. The bottom line is we would not buy from Lennar again, ... More

Poor communication. Changed CSR reps 3 times. Multiple delays mixed with the horrible communication required multiple moves and overlapping rent on multiple locations. Then gave estimate of 6 months, so we signed a 7 month lease, just to find out 2 weeks later they wanted to rush the close within a month so they could hit financial targets for the quarter. Several issues due to rushed close causing dealings with about a dozen contractors post closing. Various issues around the house still unresolved. Too many to go into detail, but a few; garage door misaligned, bathtub badly damaged, crack in cabinet molding, missing pool automation box. Escalated to management multiple times with poor excuses and not a single apology for issues and financial impact caused by their team. Love the house, but would never buy from Lennar again. ... More

straight forward approach. Easy to communicate with.

Salesman threatened us. because we did not go with Lennar's preferred lender, which is owned by Lennar. Salesman stated in clear terms, if the lender we chose, a national mortgage company, was not ready at a moment's notice to close , Lennar would keep our deposit and sell the home elsewhere.

Overall Lennar is better then most builders in the area. The houses are solid as I was fortunate enough to watch my house be built living down the street in another Tortuga Home. Dealing with mortgage people was a challenge just getting the math correct on their end. Dealing with the Salesman, Construction Manager and Warranty Manager were easy as they always responded in a timely manner. Getting things fixed after the sale, for the most part, was in a timely manner. Construction site is filthy (with non construction material) as workers do not pick up after themselves which intern blows all over your new property. All in all we are happy with our decision to choose Lennar. ... More

It was a good experience.

Take your time during the final inspection. Do not close on your home until the corrections are completed. We have been waiting for over six weeks for the pavers to be replaced in the lani. The granite used in the kitchen is not sealed properly causing permament stains. The granite installation company and Lennar have stated the granite is defected in many homes in Lorraine Lakes but have informed home owners they will not replace the defective granite.

Olufunsho was a good sales person. Fernando, the construction manager was helpful.

Sales and initial communication was great. Quality of workmanship was average. Some good items in the house and some cheap items. More effort on cleanup before move in would help. Fixing the problems is taking a long time (or maybe they will never be fixed?).

Be aware of all the corners they are now cutting.

In this market, we were too far in to be able to back out when we realized we had made the mistake. From the Sales Side: We've learned that there are so many in our community that were lied to from the beginning with regards to what was being offered and to what degree Lennar could change those terms through the course of construction and there's nothing you can do about it. Personally we were told that when we got on the "list" for this home we were good to go and would not be bidding on this home. Calling sometimes daily over 2 months we were reassured by the Lennar sales team that we would have first notification when the home was ready to enter into contract. Without warning from Lennar we were then told by our real estate agent that Lennar had scrapped the list (something that the other builders with integrity in the area did not do) and everyone would have to bid. Luckily Lennar botched the bidding process (no one bid) and we were able to get a home. The number one complaint amongst the community is that many were sold on maintenance free yards. This is not the case, as somewhere along the lines Lennar only contracted for lawns to be maintained, not the landscaped areas. We now have to either hold a second contract for the maintenance or do it ourselves. They may have finally updated the signage as you enter to reflect this, but for the longest time they maintained that this was always the case while they had signs and documentation that clearly stated otherwise. From the Construction Side: Being in construction its hard to watch the process of a home that you've paid over a half million dollars for be constructed by subcontractors spread far too thin to meet unrealistic deadlines without an ounce of forethought or quality control being addressed. For example, the electrician still puts the boxes off-center and lower than the mirror knowing hes going to get a change order to come back and move them later, because that's what the plans show Subcontractors included families and children (yes, the subcontractors used their kids to complete things such as tile, etc.). We hired a 3rd party inspector during the framing inspection. When the major items of the report were ignored; one of which later required removal of ceilings to fix, we realized having a 3rd party inspector did nothing and did not use one for finishes. When it came to finishes, the punch list on the day we were supposed to move in was well over 150 items. After the 3rd walk they threatened to start taking our deposit and sell the house out from under us (a tactic that was confirmed to have been used on neighbors as wells). The day that we had to be in the house (2 months after the estimated completion date) they were still fixing the uneven wood sheathing on the second floor. They had torn the carpet up for the 2nd time and due to the carpet taking longer than expected, we had to accept that we would not have the carpet running down the stairs (covered in liquid nails) replaced in time. We chose a carpet runner and exposed wood stair treads so that we could get moved in. At least they removed the tack strips. From having to relocate openings (doorways) so that they didn't interfere with the cabinets, light switches relocated so they weren't behind doors, ceilings torn out and replaced to correct the 1.5" dip in the master bedroom (that they could have fixed in the framing phase), the second floor that feels like you're walking through a fun house room at the county fair that we will never be able to put anything other than carpet on without major remediation, exterior paint that is only the primer, a constant line at 4' above the floor around the house because they couldn't finish the joint in the drywall.....the list goes on and on. Some things we will have to live with others we will muddle through the warranty claim process and hopefully get a repair that isn't worse than the original problem. This will not be an exciting 1st year. The automation items are another up-sell for Lennar. When we moved in, they were incorrectly installed (alarm sensors mounted over door trim not inline with the sensors on the doors) or not at all. While most are easy enough to do for most people, if it were my mom trying to get it done, she would have had to hire someone outside to finish the install. Here's another great instance of Lennars thoughtfulness in the construction of the home.....We have a rear sliding door that has three sections and opens from either side....Where do you think they put the sensor for the alarm? (hint: only one side). The door in the mother-laws suite? nothing... We've been without a dishwasher for over a month thanks to the quality appliances installed and we just now received notification that the repair they came to do today didn't work so again here we go with brand new appliances that don't work for another 2 weeks. Regarding HOA: The community as a whole has noted as a whole is that we don't know what we will end up with in the end for a community center. This is a big up-sell for Lennar yet the more we see the less we believe it's going to be what they talk it up to be. An example right now is the playground the size of my living room with 2 swings and a slide. This community is supposed to have between 1300 and 1500 homes and one playground smaller than a kindergarten school yard. What else are they going to cut corners on? The HOA won't be under control of the home owners for 3-4 years. Until that time the company in charge of things has no interest in entertaining the request of the home owners for items such as additional lighting around the lake. This isn't a good review and I doubt it will get posted but we have very little positive to say about Lennar. Even when they come through on fixing things, they often should not have been an issue in the first place and the repair is 50/50 on whether it will be completed or of a quality equal to or worse than the original issue. ... More

From the moment me and my husband, we met our sales consultant Cindy , through the process of building, dealing with title company , our construction manager Vladimir and my warranty consultant and coordinator Nekol, I can only say how much I appreciate these individuals and share how much of help and advice and a great guidance I experienced. Overall our family is very satisfied with the new home, how beautiful of a finish and craftsmanship , all my friends who already visited me expressed their admiration and shear my opinion. Great, great experience!

Our lennar agen Nate Davis was extremely helpful

There are so many issues. The quality of workmanship is terrible. The response: it's a production home. Yes, I paid over $900,000 for a "production home." The pool does not work. There is a panel missing by the equipment which, once actually installed, would permit me to run the pool from the panel (also missing) inside my house. I spent nearly $250,000 to rip out the utterly ridiculous work on the inside and replace it with quality elements more appropriate for a now million dollar home 45 minutes from the coast. The hot water heater does not provide enough hot water for a ten minute shower. The person in change of your warranty program confided that it will take months to get to the warranty items. Windows don't lock. Frames are crooked. An interior wall is so bowed that a closet designer could not complete the installation. There is trash everywhere. There was no pre-closing cleaning...I had to pay for the house to be cleaned. The electrical panel/circuits were poorly set up. I had to pay an electrician to correct the problems. Why should I have to wait months for Lennar to do what they should have done before closing? In sum...never again. Your company stinks. ... More

Overall it has been very chaotic. The account reps are responsive however the hand off to the companies to complete the work has been extremely frustrating. The paint which we paid an additional $3000 has been the major issue. Several rooms were improperly painted. First coat went to ceiling. The second coat only up to 6 inches from ceiling leaving a two tone wall. This was noted back in September when closed and it still is not corrected in three bedrooms. Multiple requests made still not resolved Painters on two occasion came with a cup of paint thinking that they could just do top areas. Finally we have scheduled in early March to repaint each room. ... More

This box is too small for me to express all my dissatisfaction

A huge thank you to Chris customer care manager who helped me a lot with scheduling post closings repairs. Very upset with Tremayne construction manager over his response to all remaining issues with construction and very poor workmanship.