Drees Homes

[bluedevilz]

Originally Posted by miko

Interesting thread. Has anyone managed a Drees home build remotely? We're thinking of building in Churton Grove, but would still be living in Boston until close to the close date. Think the onsite builder is up for that?

Just moved into our Drees home in Churton Grove and so far so good...

I know for a fact talking to Erin the sales manager that people build remotely all the time.

Erin and the current builder Heath call you with updates every week, I also know Erin has and will take photos and email them to you if you are from away.

So yes, it can be done.

As NYer mentioned below though, I would make a trip down. One trip to walk the lot, pics just can't give you a good enough feel for that also to spend a day at the design center in Raleigh and make all your choices in person.

Good luck

[ducter]

Originally Posted by bluedevilz

You can find sites like this for ANY builder....

I think any builder should be watched, bottom line, Drees has been around for 80 years, they have a good reputation overall and get a lot of referrals and repeat business.

With any large name or tract builder, the most important person is the onsite builder, Churton Grove has a good one in our estimation.

If you have a contractor who is on top of things and on the site daily and cares about the product, that is more than half the battle.

I see many posts about the "quality of laborers" working for tract home builders, who do folks think are working for the custom builders??

Its the same subcontractors and labor pool, so the real key with a company like Drees, or KB, or Pulte or whomever is the onsite builder....

Good point on how the custom builders use basically the same crews and companies for their work. Usually I tend to simply see upgrade items in the house but not upgraded construction practices or material.

[coltank]

Originally Posted by bluedevilz

You can find sites like this for ANY builder....

I think any builder should be watched, bottom line, Drees has been around for 80 years, they have a good reputation overall and get a lot of referrals and repeat business.

With any large name or tract builder, the most important person is the onsite builder, Churton Grove has a good one in our estimation.

If you have a contractor who is on top of things and on the site daily and cares about the product, that is more than half the battle.

I see many posts about the "quality of laborers" working for tract home builders, who do folks think are working for the custom builders??

Its the same subcontractors and labor pool, so the real key with a company like Drees, or KB, or Pulte or whomever is the onsite builder....

The onsite builder and the sales person will definately make a big difference, but I still wouldn't pool publicly traded builders together with family or privately owned builders

[Pat Teston]

I have been very unhappy with the plumbing and piping system that Drees had implemented in my condominium, and I have now incurred thousands of dollars cost to fix freeze damage over the past 3 years I’ve owned the home. There is a design flaw on the pipes that connect to the hose bib out in the patio. The pipe runs in between two joists underneath the home that extend under the patio and continues into a small enclosure which protrudes into the master bedroom. In the winter, no heat can get inside that enclosure nor the bottom pipe between the two joists. And the pipe has frozen twice, in 2007 and 2009. The first freeze damage occurred in the enclosure that is inside the master bedroom. The water spewed into the house for 5 days while I was outside the home, damaging my entire basement. The cause was clear; no heat from inside the home can get into the enclosure. The pipe should never have been extended into the house. This freeze damage caused me to have my basement refinished and all my furniture in the basement had to be replaced. I turned off the valve for the outside pipe for 2 years, completely draining it to avoid a similar problem. But when I turned the valve back on 2 years later, there were more freeze damage—this time both within the master bedroom and at the pipe underneath the home. I have now employed three plumbers and a representative from the condominium complex, all of whom admitted there is an obvious design flaw on the piping system (which confirmed my suspicion in the beginning), and the only smart solution is to completely re-route the piping, and just solder and cap the previous piping. Further, I have had 2 leaks on 2 sinks because the gaskets (and the garbage disposal) were not installed correctly. I understand there is one-year warranty to list complaints about the home, but design flaws do not readily present itself until more than one year has passed. Although, I do like the lay-out of the home, I am sorely disappointed with the plumbing design, and honestly I will not purchase a Drees home again in the future.

[Drees built home owner]

Originally Posted by sharon hawks

I am building a home in Churton GRove in Hillsborough and am using Drees. Any feedback on the Drees Company? Things are going OK but I am very concerned with the speed with which my home is being constructed. I did bring out an independent inspector and he told me a few things that they need to change and they appear to be doing so. Anyone else have an opinion?

They are working fast because they receive bonuses for finishing on before the original estimated time for completion.

We bought a home built by Drees. During construction they were attentive to any concerns we had and they took care of them. The problem however was after we closed escrow it was impossible to get them to respond to anything we were concerend about even though we were still within the one year warranty period. The warranty department of Drees has some of the most rude and unprofessional people you will ever encounter and they will evade any issues you bring to them.

My advicw is to hire not one but two independent inspectors and be tenacious with Drees about fixing any problems before you close escrow. They want you to close as soon as possible, once you do you are forgotten.

[vamomof2]

I agree entirely, we built a home with Drees that had such severe leaking issues that it caused Toxic mold to grow in the home and make our entire family extremely ill. Even though we had problems during construction they put band aids on the problem the entire first year of the warranty period. Even though they had their own inspectors produce a report saying the house was contaminated (never given to us). We had to abandon the home in April 07 as it was too dangerous to live there, we won our lawsuit against Drees in Dec 08-they are still fighting in appeals and our house sits empty.
They hire unskilled workers and have no no supervision.
Check out Drees Homes Ruined Our Lives! for more info on this company.