New Mark Homes, LLC.

We had read all the positive reviews on their NMH website, toured their floor plans, and were very impressed. Initial Contract and organizational meetings prior to the build were efficient. Then, the delays, and lack of communication began. Yes, the worldwide pandemic was beginning, interest rates were low, building demand was high, supplies at that point were good, business environment was flourishing. Forecasting the effect of a never seen in our times pandemic was perhaps unpredictable. But the problem, in my opinion, was the existing operational procedures of the Company saw nothing but more dollar signs in an environment that they completely overlooked forecasting. What had always been predictable had for the first time in their history, became nightmarish. Behind the curve is a good summary of this Company. They are a perfect example of doing business the same way they were taught when it was formed and not changing with the times. There was absolutely no lean construction experience, horrific communication, bumbling scheduling, and over-booking for their level of staff, suppliers, and subcontractors. Actual percentage of on the job contractors was 20% during our build. If you are happy with someone doing a job for you on a 5-day per week schedule and actually only being there less than 2 days, then they are your Contractor. I believe NMH can't accept there is an organizational problem, which has to be admitted before you can correct. In the end, we were fortunate to finally get a Project Manager from their team with experience, outstanding work ethic, and a calm demeanor going about his daily overbooked job projects. It was not unusual to see him on the jobsites before 8 am and still checking in on neighborhood builds at 9 pm. He may have had as many as 25 projects - I'm guessing. Overall, the build quality was exceptional. The Project Manager hung in there with good follow-up communication to get the finish flaws corrected to our complete satisfaction. On our project, it was the PM alone that gave this Company any hint of acceptability. Not that NMH was alone in their disfunction. We witnessed a few other Contractors in our neighborhood that were equal or worse in Project management. But there are absolute exceptions that are much more efficient, well versed in Lean Project Management, and committed to forecasting in keeping up with the times we live in. Those Contractors were obvious in our neighborhood as their similar builds were finished as much as 4 months earlier than any NMH project. Project finally completed, well constructed, and the actual build is becoming forgettable now. But if you are in the market for a future home build, do your homework first. Try to avoid a Contractor or Contract that gives them complete absolute control. See your attorney and draft a building contract. If your chosen Contractor insists on their Contract type only, go elsewhere. There are good ones out there!

Communication, follow-through, attention to detail and the concept of customer service are really not evident with New Mark or the team. And in a market where there are other builders that have realized it's not good enough to just put up pictures of your past homes, and talk about how great the "quality" of your home building is -- New Mark is definitely behind the curve, and they don't even realize it. After more than 1 year going through the build process from the ground up, we saw every side of how the business operates, how problems are managed, day-to-day details overseen, etc. And while building a house is certainly not always predictable and things are fluid, we found we were constantly having to remind them of issues, pointing out inconsistencies in quality, poor attention to detail, communication that was rarely proactive, and we had more than a few surprises. And now that we've now been in the house well over a month, we still have the same punch list of items to be fixed -- with the promise that it's getting done, but little to show for it. We're not happy customers, we know others who are building with them having the same poor experience, and we're telling people whenever we get a chance to look at other builders first.