Shea Homes Reviews in San Diego, CA

The sales team (Lorena, Spencer, Josephine) communicated very well and in a positive manner. They were always responsive. Our interior designer, Lorri, was excellent and great to work with. Angel, the superintendent, was awesome and very knowledgeable of new residential construction. Superior workmanship, materials and quality building. Overall, we are thrilled with our brand new beautiful Shea Home! It's truly a dream come true!

Many things to describe

Great experience. Shea is a great builder with great staffs.

My husband and I were excited to get the chance to finally purchase our first home, but since we decided to purchase from Shea the experience has gone downhill. First they force you to make choices about any upgrades within weeks with only one visit to a showroom in which the designer does not know the prices of any of the options. You then wait weeks more for pricing and have a few days to make the final choice, giving you no time to choose more options and properly price compare. I recommend not purchasing any of their upgrades and doing it yourself afterward. You'll have more choice, better prices and likely better quality installation by anyone else. The actual builders do a very poor job. We've heard from all our neighbors about issues with their homes. Not only cosmetic problems but showers needing to be demolished and redone, exhaust vents not being connected properly, windows leaking. Our internet router was installed in the ceiling and when they finally came to repair it they said the wires were never connected and since it would be too much hassle for them to fix it they moved it to another part of the ceiling and only covered the previous hole with a white rectangle plastic plate. Not one stretch of baseboard on one wall is actually painted cleanly and white...it looks like they installed the wood flooring after the baseboards and didn't do any touch up. There is paint and extra grout everywhere. It is evident they bang up and damage the wood stair case, door frames and cabinets and just paint over them. Walls are literally wavy and floors are so uneven that bookshelves and furniture that were fine in our old condo are now wobbling when placed on the floor. When they make a mistake they do not admit it, such as how they installed the wrong countertops in our kitchen. The construction manager and others rudely walked into our house when I was there with an inspector, did not introduce themselves and talked so loudly that I had to go outside to hear the inspector speak. They immediately said the countertop was polished (which is what we chose but not what they installed) instead of matte without even turning on the light or examining it properly as we had compared it to two samples of the two finishes to demonstrate how it was the wrong one. Thank god the designer came later and verified it was the matte finish. Every time they fix one minor thing like a closet door off the track, they would bang up the door and just slap on some paint to cover up the damage, only after we'd point out the new damage. There are countless issues that have caused me to have to stay at home during work hours for multiple appointments for people to come evaluate and fix the builder's mistakes. Everyone I have dealt with liken the actual cabinet company and other third parties that come for repairs has been much more of a pleasure to work with and obviously have some level of pride in their work and care for the products. Many have shook their heads and pointed out the carelessness by the builder when reviewing the damange. Another significant issue is our refrigerator has NEVER WORKED! In our walk through we noticed the freezer was leaking. Though the construction manager first admitted he saw the same water drops I was looking at he later kept saying via email that he did not see water in subsequent visits. I had to take pictures to prove it was reoccuring. They refused to fix it and just put in a service request with GE. This should have been fixed before we closed, but Shea took advantage that our interest rate would be expiring (because they delayed our closing over a month) and we could not refuse to close until after the refrigerator was repaired. We closed on January 18, 2023, but the refrigerator still does not work and Shea refuses to replace it. They keep making us fight with GE which has already come out for seven visits to fix multiple issues with the refrigerator. Not only does the freezer still leak despite the GE Tech "fixing" the seal, but the entire refrigerator freezes everything, you cannot use the water dispenser or put anything in the refrigerator section. We already replaced the motherboard and are currently waiting for two new refrigerator doors and other parts that are backordered because GE refuses to be accountable as does Shea. This is corporate greed and unequal bargaining power in action. Shea took advantage of us and refused to provide a working refrigerator by closing. Since they have been aware of the issue for OVER FOUR MONTHS, their only remedy has been to give us one mini refrigerator and make jokes about how they need to charge us for calling them about our refrigerator continously failing to work since we closed on the house despite the fact they knew it leaked before we closed. My husband and I both work very stressful and demanding jobs that require more than full time work. We have a toddler and are expecting another baby in late June. The stress and waste of our precious time that this has caused is ridiculous and should not be happening. Now I have to worry about how I will store breast milk for my baby and am unable to food prep or store enough fresh food for my family because Shea will not take responsibility. Despite the fact I do not have time, I now have to review our contract which we were only given 24 hours on a weekday to sign during the purchase process (and its 100s of pages long) to determine if they have breached the contract since they delivered a house with a known nonfunctioning appliance. We did not spend over 1.6 million for such a subpar quality home and I recommend no one else invest in a Shea home. When the timing is right and we can afford it, we will be moving. But unfortunately we are stuck here and trying to make the best of it. I will likely be on maternity leave handling a small claims court case as that may be the only thing that will get Shea's attention and have them replace our refrigerator. ... More

The experience is great! There are some minor issues, but the response is very fast.

Sandy was fantastic A+ Phil will ease your mind after closing Great experience over all

A seamless and transparent experience starting from the initial tour to the final closing. A few minor issues at closeout were personally addressed. The workmanship & materials are of high quality and standards The sales team and the warranty team did a great job of making me feel confident even if its my first time home buying. They had the patience to answer countless questions and clarifications and made sure to address all of them. Shea has a star team at 3 Roots - Elizabeth, Sandy, Phil and Jimmie - they are simply awesome. I would highly recommend Shea homes, especially for first time home buyers. ... More

Thank you very much, Shea Homes

Asana move in was great, very informative and helpful explanation of all features.

I don't know what I was expecting but the craftmanship and quality of the materials is pretty poor. If I had to do it over again I probably wouldn't go with a new build. I basically paid a premium for the community, not the house.

We're SO happy that Shea built our home in 3 Roots! Shea faced many challenges given the labor shortage and supply market and still managed to complete our home in less than a year. Everything was executed fantastically. Coming from a construction family, I can truly say they built a solid home. I'm very impressed. The Shea team – everyone including the construction crew, realtors, and design center – were terrific to work with: polite, professional, quick to respond, and empathetic. Our closing date got pushed out because SDG&E didn't have our gas/electric setup, so every day from the original closing date to the new/future closing date Shea covered our hotel and meals ($40pp/day)! Once we closed, they included a housewarming gift of wine glasses from William Sonoma! It was such a nice surprise. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to living up to your name and brand, Shea. You rocked it! ... More

We have few issues that have been solved professionally snd timely. Crystal wax very responsive

Despite a 7 month delay of moving in due to “municipalities,” the home is very beautiful and just what we expected. Management is friendly and responsive for the most part. There is a lot going on while construction is happening. We enjoyed meeting workers and networking to install this or that in our home. In case we have any problems in the future, we know who we can call.

I love the layout of my new home. Some materials are of high quality, however I have had problems with every single trade. I found electrical that was not to code and hazardous when using my own electrician to install ceiling fans. The LVP flooring was very poorly installed with multiple gaps. The painters were horrific and got paint on cabinets, towel bars, flooring, all of the light switches… Many walls did not receive two coats of paint. I hired my own painters to re-paint. Plumbing issues. The list goes on and on. I’ve had way too many issues. Shea has been fairly responsive. I would have preferred someone actually supervised the construction as it was being done. ... More

Rob promised me to replace the dented range hood on 11/21. It is still not done as of today. There are also other smaller issues never addressed since closing.

We are so happy!

The home itself is good. The 1-3-5-11 check-in plan is a good idea and has been helpful. Tami who helps with the move-in process and the periodic check-up is fantastic as is Eddie (maybe Freddie, sorry) who seems to be one of the lead contractors. They are both amazingly responsive and seem to truly care. Kveta from the design studio was very helpful and kind as well. We never felt rushed. She listened to our wants and needs and helped us to come up with a design that looked great and functionally has been fantastic as well. She allowed us to maximize our upgrade budget and we are very happy. She communicated with us throughout the process. We even had a question after moving in that she helped to answer for us. What was not good was the community representative, Kathy, and unfortunately, she is the one that we had the most contact with. I would not recommend her and wish there had been another representative we could have switched to (if this had been an opportunity, I would have switched after the first or second interaction). She walked us through the community on our initial visit. As someone who is trying to sell me on something and trying to represent a large brand and a community, I would’ve expected her to be somewhat upbeat and pleasant (not over the top, just a little bit, even a smile). She was not. There was no enthusiasm or excitement. If the market wasn’t as crazy as it was at the time, she would not have had a sale through us. I hope that Shea does not rest on the same laurels, that they can do and act however they want because the housing market is competitive. Lack of excitement is not enough of a reason for me to write a negative review about a person or company and as you will read, this was the least negative thing about the experience. She was very unresponsive regardless of the request, but if she sent something to us, expected a return e-mail within the day. For example, I had to e-mail her multiple times the month prior to moving in. I wanted to get the information for the utilities I would need to setup, I wanted to know when I should start doing all of that as well. I never got a response even after multiple e-mails. She eventually e-mailed my wife separately and mentioned that we would get that information closer to the move-in date and not to set anything up for the time being. She could have sent that simple e-mail to me after the first time. Instead, I now have the impression that she either doesn’t care, doesn’t know, or doesn’t care enough to find out the answer for me. When the roles were reversed and she would e-mail us with requests we always attempted to respond ASAP and send her whatever she requested. I truly believe that in nearly every case we responded to her with what she needed within the same business day. If we didn’t have what she needed, we explained how and when we would get it for her. The one time we did not respond to her within 24 hours regarding a question that was actually directed at our financial institution, she sent a follow-up e-mail with our loan officer attached saying that the failure to respond had meant that we were in default or about to be placed immediately into default. This was less than 48 hours after the first e-mail. While I understand there was information she needed to get from us, and mind you this was one or two months prior to move-in not our initial loan info/pre-approval or anything like that, threatening us with default after not immediately responding to one e-mail is absolutely inappropriate and unprofessional. We had made all of our payments/deposits on the first day it was available to do so. A little bit of good faith would’ve been appreciated before jumping the gun and going to such drastic measures. One of my largest concerns was when there was actually a potentially emergent situation at the home prior to move-in. We had a small leak in our house literally the week before moving in. The leak was noted on a Wednesday or Thursday, we were not notified until Saturday (mind you our move-in date was the following Friday). Why we were not notified immediately is still beyond me and I still never received a satisfactory answer. When we were contacted by Kathy she was exceptionally brief on the phone. She gave little to no details and told us to meet her at the house the following day. We were left with the impression that our entire home was flooded and we'd have a delayed move in date. We were told we should contact our apartment complex ASAP to try and revoke our written move out date and to try to extend our lease. Fortunately, when we did arrive to the home, the leak was relatively small and had nearly been resolved at that point. There was a good plan in place from the construction crew in terms of identifying the leak, checking adjacent piping, drying drywall, and checking additional moisture levels. The crew had been actively working on the problem since its onset. Had Kathy, spoken with any of them, I feel that she could have communicated that information over the phone and at least taken some of our worry away. Instead, she left us confused, scared, and unsure of what to do. After talking with fellow neighbors, we understand that at least two other homes in our motorcourt also suffered leaks prior to move-in. The way Kathy interacted with them was, from what I am told, was exactly the same and some of them had significantly worse leaks. Honestly, if there were only very limited interactions with Kathy, I would not have written this review. However, as she is the community representative and main point of contact throughout the whole process I felt this information to be pertinent. I like my home and community thus far, it’s just too bad that Kathy put such a damper on the whole process. As of now, I would buy from Shea again. But, if Kathy were the only community representative where I was looking, that would cause me to pass solely because of her involvement. ... More

Everyone we encountered has been professional. The sales reps were responsive, the designer was excellent, and the field managers were informative. There probably should be more than one person handling warranty issues and customer service after close of escrow. There seems to be disorganization and miscommunication there. The workmanship was generally as expected - middle-grade quality. Despite all the delays prior to closing, the home buying process with Shea Homes was an overall great experience!

Everyone from Shea was very helpful navigating the homebuying process. Thank you!

My husband and I had a great home buying experience with Shea Homes! Our home did get delayed a few weeks but we were kept up to date on the progress. Micah also always responded quickly to all questions and concerns we had. We are so grateful and happy with our home!

The whole experience was great. Everyone I dealt with was wonderful and provided excellent service, before and after closing.

I am a returning homebuyer, I bought a Shea Hime property in 2004 and had a wonderful experience. This time I did have a great experience with the sales team however the process of inspection and addressing construction issues was not compared to my first experience and it definitely needs improvement.

Had a great experience with Shea overall at the direct level. However, had I hired some of the subcontractors myself outside of costs being part of the mortgage — including those who did the blinds (sloppy work), solar/Sdge (still trying to setup), or misnamed “white glove” service (just a bizarre lack of quality service) — I would have moved on long ago and found better service providers. Two months in, I still can’t get a few things completed that should be off the list of to-dos. These annoyances, and I hate to say it, ultimately fall back on Shea Homes — who has otherwise been fantastic. Overall, the important things are more than great. The annoyance level grievances are just an honest assessment of things a new homeowner, in a perfect world, should not have to waste so much time dealing with and Shea Homes should be more discerning/on-top-of their subcontractors on behalf of their new homeowners. ... More

All the staffs are very nice and approachable, I do feel like the designer can be more communicative on the time window and options. We took our time to pick the color etc only to find out we have one chance to quote bc of time. The font of my house was also not completely painted, since the walkthrough come in from garage, I didnt see it during the walkthrough, but after I reported to the builder, they were able to resolve it without any issue. Huge thanks to Micah to help me navigate through the buying process since this is my first house. Duane was also very accommodating for my time schedule to set up one month appointment. ... More

Shea is a good homebuilder and their staff are hard workers. I wish they will consider to keep the sink in the big laundry room (not even an options for buyers).