Please look elsewhere for a builder.
My husband and I were so excited to build our “dream house” on an acreage. Of course, the acreage development’s recommended builder was Montebello Homes.
Unfortunately, we had issues as soon as the ink dried. A few examples:
-The builder changed the drawings on us to make things easier for them, without our approval and started pouring the footings for the house. Once we discovered this, they needed to rectify the problem and re-pour to concrete, which they weren’t happy about
-Throughout the build process, we caught many items that were not done correctly (windows installed backwards, walls located in the wrong spots etc) as per the drawings which needed to be fixed – many times we felt like we were the general contractor ourselves catching these errors.
-If we wanted to customize anything or “add on” anything, the builder would not be transparent with us about where we were financially, and could never give us a straight answer. I had to start my own spreadsheet, which in the end is what the builder even relied upon for overage charges due to extremely poor bookkeeping
-We requested a wall to be a feature wall and be covered in shiplap, but asked first what the cost would be. Without getting any cost, we visited the house to find the wall completed. We again asked what the cost would be, and instead we were met with the response of “we will just remove the shiplap if you are going to be difficult”
-Our possession date was pushed back many times, and even was pushed back once 7 days prior to taking possession, leaving us not even knowing when we would be moving.
-upon possession we had the longest list of items not finished or deficiencies our lawyer and realtor had ever seen. The builder promised to have many of these items fixed promptly, but unfortunately, we needed to hound them and send email after email or phone call after phone call to get any amount of work finished
-we requested a concrete patio on our back of the house, and the builder rushed to pour the patio slab, and it sunk very quickly becoming very unstable. It took months of emails and calls and meetings to have them agree to finally fix the issue – something that was negligently done in the first place
At this point, we will have been in our home for almost 9 months, with a full list of items that still were not finished when we took possession. Even with a significant dollar amount held back from them, they will not answer us anymore!
Since moving into our home, we have heard nothing but negative comments from our community as it sounds like this builder has outstanding items at many of the houses and is not keen on finishing their projects or even assisting with any deficiencies that pop up.
I have spoken to the owner of this company as well as the lead project manager, neither seem to care about finishing our home whatsoever.
If you want an added stress or headache in your life, please build a house with them.
