Shea Homes Reviews

I have heard great about Shea homes, but in my case many things were missing when I get the keys and until I remind them there is something is missing, they are not ordering it. It’s really painful to find each and everything. It’s been 2 months, still there are many items are in back order and there is no ETA. Moreover the issues in the home are not yet addressed. I am really disappointed.

I will not recommend anyone to use this builder!

Punchlist items from pre-closing meetings still not fixed after 3 months in the house. Electrical issues, painting issues, security equipment issues. LOTS of fit and finish issues. Wouldn't recommend.

We have chosen this home mainly for community and proximity to our parents. Unfortunately the quality of workmanship and material was way below what we expected for such a high price!

Ensure you check everything works cause they don’t seem to do that QA. For a brand new home at this price, we found things not working or broken items and gas leak in water heater closet that PG&E needed to come for and told us they don’t know why the builders just didn’t tighten. Some issues we had to go back and forth on with other vendors only to find out the builder needed to come check as they didn’t wire. We are waiting on some issues still to be fixed. Elevator didn’t work the one day within a month if moving in. Definitely wouldn’t have expected this many issues with a new home. Floor material used is really really bad and not durable at all!!! Gets scratched and damaged VERY easily. We were told garages would fit big cars but it is very very tight and tough to get in and out if your car in the garage. Also no ramp to drive car into garage as entrance has a bump so you have to get yourself own ramps. Garage unfinished which we knew but would have been nice to have completed. Also garbage bins have to be stored and pulled in and out every week from the tight spaced garage. Definitely the garage space is the biggest inconvenience with how it was planned. We were told our building was the last only to see new construction of the same type condos right now, thus could have opted for other floors and plans had they been honest and not felt like we had to rush cause they were selling out. ... More

The initial home-buying process went smoothly, although it took the company a long time to finish building my home. Now that I'm in it, I see issues with some of the workmanship, mostly with what appears to have been touch-up work to finish the job. Some of the painting, cabinetry, and other installations were done very sloppily, as if the workers rushed to finish and get out of here. Dealing with these and other issues with Shea's Customer Service also hasn't been the best experience. The representative I've been working with to fix problems doesn't communicate well at all, and she gets things wrong or forgets things all the time. When I've pointed them out to her, she's gotten rude, defensive, and even accusatory, as if these problems or misunderstandings are my fault. She just doesn't seem to care about my convenience or overall satisfaction. She makes decisions based on what seems satisfactory to her or what she thinks I should just accept, instead of asking me about what I want, including when repair technicians are scheduled. She doesn't apologize for mistakes and miscommunications, and gets upset if I don't just accept her decisions and treatment, to the point where she won't even respond to me. I don't look forward to having to work with this person for the next few years. ... More

The cheapest materials are used and the upgrades are way overpriced.

The quality control and attention to detail was very poor on our new home. The entire house has flaws and sloppy work through and we were very disappointed with the quality of labor that was put into the finishes. We paid extra for two tone paint and could have had a far better job done elsewhere, paint is sloppy and not even through the entire house and now we are stuck with a subpar job that we paid thousands for and extremely unhappy with the paint and baseboards. They really let us down with all of the finish work and is not what we would have expected when spending this type of money on a new build. We are also very concerned and upset that are lot has no full dirt and is solid rock. We are unable to plant any live trees, bushes, grass, or plants because there is no dirt and just solid rock that is exposed in the backyard. I am having to spend tens of thousands of dollars to hire excavation teams to come in and jackhammer the back yard to level it to have any landscape done and to finish the yard which is beyond frustrating and not ok. Alison with quality control has been out several times now and great but we are really hoping that Shea homes steps in and makes this right. We are very disappointed with the build and the lot. ... More

we had a misaligned microwave, misaligned under sink bathroom cabinets (big one and you wouldnt notice until you put stuff in there) paint not cleaned in 2 of the windows, dishwasher they loaned (due to delay from covid) made a leak in our kitchen so we never got to use, crack on the wall, obviously bent fence -- we're 2 months at our home now and these except for the dishwasher and the bathroom cabinet are still the same. we were promised a touch up paint but never got it either. we've contacted them multiple times but nothing. there are things you wont really notice in the customer walkthrough so i suggest if you can really spend double the time given to be sure. some of it we told JAVIER (from the walkthrough, and the one assigned to fix things) even before closing but he said "you're going to delay closing if we fix this" which would be a hassle if you had moving plans already. he said we have the 1,5,11 month program (visiting the home to make sure everything is fine) so we can fix it then. well that 1 month have passed and guess what, only 2 issues got fixed. ... More

Personally want to thank Shea for our new home. It's our first. The experience has been very rocky at times, but overall I am happy to be in our home. Shea Mortgage was probably the best experience of all. However when it came to the building experience, the Design Center would be the worst. Followed by sales. Because there was a lack of accountability, we as new home builders rarely felt like we were given all of the information and/or could have been directed better. When something came up (and it did several times) we were told it was too late or we should have known better. I never try to blame others, it's not my thing but for the builders to blame the home buyers was a first. Now with the overall move in. So far we are getting things fixed in our first year but again, there seems to be a theme with Shea when it comes to clean, honest communication. ... More

Sales team was very friendly and knowledgeable. They made the purchasing process fairly easy. Our issues started toward the end of the construction process: inconsistent quality control, pipes that were hanging 12 inches lower than they should have been in the basement, and a water heater that needed to be moved 3 different times. It was difficult to get concerns addressed throughout construction and during the final walkthroughs. We kept being told “well, it was built to our standards.” If that’s truly the case, Shea Homes needs to re-examine its standards. The goal was clearly to build our home as quickly as possible without much attention to detail. We were hoping for a much more positive experience after the great service we received from the sales team. ... More

Major communication issues from beginning to end, hard to get timely resolution on issues, missing appliances is an ongoing issue. It will be a beautiful house...once all the issues are finally resolved. Plan on managing fixes after you move in like a second job - they always expect you to be home and available and the list of issues to address post move is VERY long.

Good people , nice sales staff, , I just got an easy problem ( the technician of the AC company forgot to contact a little part that make the AC drain water in the roof and drywalls . But the shea warranty is good .

plumbing continued...then smart home should be an option,..not an expensive experiment forced upon your buyers. In addition, SST is giving Shea a black eye. The techs are incompetent, make things worse, must be continually called back for the same issues. Techs from Spectrum have fixed the problems that SST white glove created. Except for the area around the clubhouse the common area landscape is pathetic, most of it poorly planned and selected and even dying. Overall several levels below what we have seen in other Shea projects such as Trilogy in Nipomo.

My heater went out and this was not considered urgent. It was only 60 in the house. My mom is 75 and can’t do stairs so she was freezing. But nope not even a call back. Ridiculous.

After going through the entire experience, we’ve realized very quickly that if it wasn’t for the sales staff, we would have walked away. It started with the design studio session, we were told to be prepared which meant going through Shea design studio software (via computer) which had a 3D model of our home and allowed us to select our materials (flooring/ countertops/ cabinets etc.). My wife and I spent 2 weekends going through software and designing what we felt was our perfect house, only to show up to our design studio (in person) session to find out our Shea representative didn’t even review prior to our appointment. Thankfully my wife brought her computer which we had to get out and open up the Shea design studio software to show the Shea representative our selections. After spending an hour or so going through the model we spent hours building, we were told that 90% of our selections are no longer available - Are you kidding me? The design studio session was a one time only, 4hr block, and we just wasted an hour or so of our 4hr block to learn all the pre-work we’ve done was completely useless. Since we had to start from scratch, I advised the Shea representative to get comfy because we will be there until closing time only to be told that we only had less then 3hrs to make our choices. I immediately requested to speak to a supervisor, after a few minutes of going back and fourth, the Shea representative called her supervisor and got approvals to spend and extra hour with us but also allow us to have a second 4hr session. This was great news, however the dog fight to get to that point was complete nonsense. To add to a day that was supposed to be fun, during our design studio session, the Shea representative thought it was ok to show us examples on her computer (flooring, countertops, cabinets) vs product examples I could see and touch in person. We were told by the Shea representative that she hurt her back and was moving slowly, which I sympathize, but I told her to show me where the product is and I will carry it all but without seeing it in person we’re not making any decisions. During the final walk through, my wife and I were talked down to and belittled from the construction superintendent and we were told countless times - ‘trust us, warranties team has a huge bucket of money and will take care of everything’. The issue with this, during our final walk through, which was specifically scheduled +2 weeks before final signing/ closing, it was explained to my wife and I that we are there to point out any inefficiencies and that we wanted to identify now so it can be fixed for the final signing/ closing. Well, during this walk, we were repeatedly told to not worry about inefficiencies we’ve identified and constantly told we’re being too picky and this isn’t a ‘custom home’. Fast forward 2 weeks to final signing/ closing and wouldn’t you know it, not 1 issue we identified was addressed. Not only were the issues not addressed, as I walked in I was immediately given an iPad to sign stating all issues have been resolved. I asked to walk the house prior to signing and was greeted with attitude by the field superintendent, which immediately changed my attitude. After reluctantly walking the house with me, I pointed out inefficiencies we had reviewed 2 weeks prior and asked why these weren’t taken care of, only to be given attitude and told ‘this is no longer a conversation, your to needy/ picky and we’re not fixing and this is warranties issue now’. WHY would you not want to address all and any issues prior to the home owner moving in??? After I move in, I don’t want you back as much as you don’t want to have to return to fix an issue that was clearly identified in a timely manner. During the entire build process, I can’t begin to count the amount of times we were told about the warranties team and their responsibility and that Shea wants a happy home buyer. This was great until we actually have to go through the process now, again I go back to final walk through and taken 4hrs out of my day to walk our house to help review the build and support identifying inefficiencies only to learn none were taken care of prior to closing. Now we have to go back and walk our entire house again with warranties and do it all over again? But now warranties team tells us about all these ‘rules’ that must be followed in order to identify if Shea is responsible of fixing or if it’s on us. ARE YOU SERIOUS? Top it off, as we point out the exact same inefficiencies with the warranties team, we are now questioned if we created the issue or if it was actually during construction. As if things couldn’t get worse, the title company that is Shea preferred, had a security breach the Friday before the week of our closing. Outside of our bank reaching out, the only person who stepped up to let us know what was happening was a Shea sales representative and continued to support us by keeping us informed. Meanwhile, we still had our final/ closing scheduled which we proceeded with. Outside of the other issues that transpired during the closing walk, I was also treated like I was the reason there was a security breach at sheas preferred title company and told by the field superintendent that he wasn’t obligated to give me my keys. Seriously? Again, I had nothing to do with the security breach and my wife and I were the only ones reaching out to all parties to get updates and asking for next steps and out our entire lives on hold to make sure we were available only to be treated like that. We spent a lot of money on this home, we’ve done a lot of research on builders and truly believed Shea was the right fit for us but we question if we made the right decision spending the extra money for the customer service that doesn’t seem to line up and was preached to us constantly. Again, the sales team was top notch and seemed to be the only Shea team members who actually had our backs as the home buyers. ... More

First time buying a new construction home. Home was delivered on time but there were several open issues that were rushed in order to deliver on time. From stucco repair issues, incorrect water softener, incomplete tile finishes, and even refrigerator issues. This house was close to $1M, I expected the service and quality to be better.

They have good defaults like tiles and base carpets. But they really screwed up the cabinets. They installed with lots of scratches and damages. Even after requesting them to repair in the 1-month warranty, they didn't correct it yet. Their warranty service is really sloppy and not responsive.

I used the in home lender. Dealing with the processor and Lon officer was great. I would absolutely recommend them. Dealing with the supervisor and that group was also good. They were friendly and communicated with me. But once I got the house everything went down hill from there. The counter top, which we also paid and upgrade charge. Where the slabs meet and when they put either sealer or a glue they never cleaned it off and dust collects there and you can feel it when you’re cleaning the counter top. The quality of the finish of the home is horrible. So when you pay to upgrade something in your home your expect at minimum great quality not perfect because we are all human. But when you bring up the issues and the response you get is, we only fix issues you can see from 3 feet away and you paid a significant upgrade charge, that doesn’t fly in my eyes, we paid this for our cabinets. They have paint missing, there’s a lot of runs from the paint. There’s complete sections of the cabinets that were not sanded. There’s many places where the paint is flashing and due to them not being painted correctly. The cabinet doors next to the stove hit the stove when you open it. I mean just horrible. The side of the doors weren’t sanded which we also paid an upgrade charge. The side of the doors have long cracks going down by where the door latches on to close. They at least agreed to fix that but not to sand them when I first brought it up which to me sanding and painting is part of the process. The paint job was done by Someone who was lazy to a T. The metal on the window have paint when they should of been covered. The outlet cover plates have paint in them. Where the toilet paper goes have paint chips when they rolled the walls they weren’t covered. The cinder block wall in my back yard was done incorrectly. It’s just a privacy wall and it should be a retaining wall. Not only that the footing was done incorrectly. My yard has a hill going up against the wall and my yard looks bad. I had to essentially argue with them as to why the wall is not done right. My house is the only like that I can see my neighbors house from my window and theirs are great. There’s more but those are the major ones. A lot of the issues here are from workers just being sooooo lazy and just plain out not caring about the quality of their work. This is my first house and for it to be a new build and have this major issue is a horrible experience. If this house had been built years ago I would understand all these issues but not on a new build. ... More

A Problem I see is not at all a problem to the builder. Here I would like to share one of the weird answer I heard. In the living room, there are gaps between flooring and wall edge trim. At some parts there is a gap and no gap at other parts. When I asked about this, I got this answer... “Those gaps help to let the air flow and settle down the walls, also advised me not to fill those gaps.” Now I feel wind blowing through the gaps and Ants are passing by.

Shea used to be a premier builder. Not so much anymore. Some finish work is done sloppily. Shower drain slope is not done properly and main electrical box inside cover has major gaps . Wiring is so packed the cover is bulging down at bottom.

Norhtview at Stone Butte, quality is not provided! We did two walk throughs before closing and very little was fixed each time. We now have a fixer upper in our new home. I have drywall mud on many locations in my New Home? I will see how the work is done moving forward with the warranty department.

Bad quality on cabinets, windows, tile finishing, because of rush to sign the contract.

So, I wish my house was the exception, but unfortunately it is the rule. My whole block has poor quality finishes and missing items. For example, trade crew installed a tankless water system without a pump. Didn’t figure this out until we complained about not having hot water after the water was running for just under 5 minutes. We and others have extensive lists of things that need to be fixed. I understand that all new construction has some issues, but our lists seem to be much more extensive than is reasonable. Even a neighbor, who is a third time Shea customer, is equally disappointed in the quality of the finish work in the new homes that Shea is currently building. ... More

We were huge fans of Shea Homes (repeat buyers), but the quality of workmanship in our new home is extremely disappointing. We were so excited to move into a new Shea home, but have been dealing with frustrating warranty issues since we moved in ten weeks ago (one representative says they will fix it, but the other says they won't), and still are dealing with obvious issues that we assumed would be covered such as dirty carpet from the subs, grout overspray on our brand new tile, an irrigation system which leaks, nicks on our brand new cabinet hardware, cabinet installation issues, shoddy paint quality, and the electric hook-up to the clothes dryer not functioning, resulting in us not having a clothes dryer since we moved in ten weeks ago. Regarding this issue with the dryer, we were informed by our warranty representative that it is not an "emergency" issue so we were put off several weeks. We question how much of an emergency this situation would be considered to be if it were a Shea employee experiencing no clothes dryer for more than two months. We actually purchased a new dryer (and washer) because we assumed our old dryer was the problem, but it turns out to be an electrical issue, so we likely didn't need to invest in new expensive appliances. We would be so pleased to refer Shea to our friends as a reputable builder who stands behind its product, but are frankly very disappointed with the outcome of the purchase of what we hoped would be our dream home. All of our new neighbors share the same frustrations, so please listen to these suggestions. Our advice to Shea is to scrutinize the talent and intent of the subs you hire, so as to ensure that they don't undo each other's work, and can effectively verbally communicate with the customer . You advertise a great product, and your floor plans and lot plans are excellent, but your finish and warranty work needs a lot more attention. Overall, we are disappointed with our dream home and struggle with referring our friends and family to Shea Homes. Please do something to change our minds. Thank you! ... More