Barbera Homes

Summary One of the most frustrating and horrible sales experiences of my life. Barbera took what should have been an exciting and fun experience and ruined it. The 6 month process ended up taking over a year, updates were not provided after repeatedly requesting them, delays were not explained, vendors were incredibly subpar and months after closing punch list items are still not closed out nor have any dates been provided as to when they will be closed. They may be a perfectly acceptable builder in the 200-300K price range, but anything over that and it becomes very evident that they are out of their league and do not have the competency to operate at that scale. I will try and keep this updated as time allows and any progress is made or I think of other information I can provide to ensure any potential home buyers are educated. Timeline What was supposed to be only a 6 month experience ended up taking a year. We were never appraised of if there would be delays nor how that would impact the overall timeline. After repeated requests for updates Barbera’s representative told us that they were not contractually obligated to provide any updates or timelines and thus would not be provided anything. This was roughly 3 months into the “6 Month” process and we didn’t even have a frame on the home yet. We were needing to renew our lease on the apartment and were trying to determine even a broad timeline. Were things on track, were they delayed, did we need to ensure we had another place to live in 6 months? None of this mattered to Barbera and they continued to not provide even a broad estimate on the status of the home or when it would be completed. Even after the point in which they were contractually obligated to provide a date, it took weeks to get a tentative date of completion. This date, of course came and went and it wasn’t until weeks later that they actually completed the home. It is apparent that Barbera either doesn’t have the Project Management skills or competent subs, which is literally the entire value they are supposed to provide as they are simply a GC. Home are started and stopped for long stretches of time with no progress going on. Do not expect things to go smoothly once construction starts. Each piece of the process will be followed by long periods of dead time with no updates or information provided. Vendors The vendors Barbera deals with follow suit with Barbera and are certainly sub par. Every single time we went to visit one of the vendors after making an appointment we were left waiting for atleast 30 minutes. The show rooms are very small in comparison with others in the area and located far away from the neighborhood site. Visiting them is largely a non value add due to the fact that they are unable to talk pricing with you directly. Everything must be passed to Barbera and then on to the customer, so Barbera can apply their markups to the cost from the vendor. This makes it extremely difficult to pick out your material. You may like a certain hardwood or trying to choose between a couple of options, but without being able to determine whether they are within your budget or if the price difference between different options would be a deciding factor you can’t really make an informed decision. You have to blindly choose and then wait a week to receive the pricing from Barbera directly. Quality The quality of the home again, seems to meet the minimum standards to pass inspections but that is about it. We’ve lived in our home for about 4 months now and continue to notice where corners were cut and evidence that there really was no passion from many of the vendors. Items such as door frames being cut short but then left, tops of doors being left unpainted, poor paint lines, burnt electrical outlets that shouldn’t have been installed, etc. Our hardwood floors are already showing many scratches simply from general use and where corners of different planks have peeled up. Rooms with carpeting are showing gaps under the baseboards where the carpet was not cut to the right dimensions. Post closing Immediately after signing the paperwork it was explained to us that we did not have a mailbox because it was “too cold” to install them so we would need to go to the post office to pick up our mail. At first this didn’t seem like a big deal, until we realized what all this entailed. The post office closes at 5 and is 30 minutes outside of the way, so in order to pick up your mail you will not only have to leave work early but spend an additional 30 minutes driving. This also means that the USPS won’t deliver packages either, including all of the Amazon packages that you order on a daily basis for all of the items you need when moving into a new house. In typical fashion, at first no dates on when mailboxes would be installed were provided, then they were provided but then missed again with no explanations, new dates provided and missed again. Entire foundations were dug and poured for houses but it was too cold to dig a post hole for mailboxes. Post closing service seems to be hit or miss. Some of our tickets are answered promptly, however many of the punch list items that were brought up prior to closing 4 months ago still remain outstanding. Examples, include the fact that our refrigerator door had a large dent in it and needed to be replaced and is still not done. The largest items are the seasonal items, such as lawn and garden items. We have still not received a date from Barbera on when we will get a lawn installed instead of having to live with a mud pit. Their only response has been that there are a lot of things that have to happen before they can do lawn installation and it’s weather dependent and they’re not sure when their landscaper will have availability. The largest weather dependent factor of lawn installation is whether the temperature is within the right range for the grass seeds to actually grow effectively. This appears not to matter to Barbera though as part of their contract states that they are not responsible for the outcome of the lawn installation. I had assumed they would still care enough to plant during the planting season but that doesn’t seem to be the case. We will soon be in temperatures that are too hot for optimal grass growth but Barbera appears to not be concerned with that.

Barbera Homes built a fabulous condo in a beautiful community for me and my husband. It was positive experience from start to finish. The Barbera team is knowledgeable, professional, flexible and supportive. Top notch vendors and suppliers were used, which resulted in a quality built home that was finished on time and exceeded our expectations.

What a success! Parkside at the Crossing's 68 units sold out in less then 24 months. It is a 55 + active adult ,single home attached condo community.With a high walking index to shopping, restaurants,health centers, movies and The Crossings Park which offers great open spaces, walking ,biking trails and the famous Saturday farmer's market!The sponsor Barbera Homes-delivered superb construction and high style design with the latest building technology !

This new construction project has been a huge success! The site consists of 24 homesites and is located in North Colonie School District We closed 20 homes in 2013.

I've been working with BH on Fieldstone Estates in Niaskayuna for close to a year. Sales have been fantastic and they are a very well run organization that makes my job much easier, and each customer I've had has been very satisfied. Looking to close out the project this upcomin summer.

Our beautiful home was built by Barbera Homes in Autumn Ridge. The quality of the workmanship inside and out is outstanding. This was our first time building a home and we were a little intimidated by what to expect. We were so pleased and relieved by the professionalism and organization Frank and his team exhibited throughout the entire process. They were attentive to the fine details and very responsive to promptly address any questions or concerns. We would highly recommend a Barbera Home to anyone. Be prepared for a fine quality-built home with superior customer service to follow along.

The quality of the home built by Barbera Homes is noticed by everyone that comes over to visit us. It's also one of the first things I noticed when looking at the model. Happy to be living here!

My house was built in Autumn Ridge and to say the least, I am very pleased. I'm absolutely in love with my kitchen and every other beautiful aspect of my home. Barbera Homes provides outstanding customer service and is highly professional. I felt as if I was top priority. An excellent job was done and I highly recommend this company.

In addition to my appreciation for your work and communication with us, I also wanted to tell you that I am astonished and grateful for Frank's involvement in the small details of the requests we have made. In my work experience, this level of follow through is unprecedented among CEO's I have known