Anyone own a CamWest home? Love it? Hate it? Meh? (Seattle: sales, real estate) - Washington (WA) -Seattle and King County Suburbs - City-Data Forum

2tothe5th · 01-02-2013, 01:18 PM

My husband and I are house shopping in Redmond/Woodinville, and we're interested in doing a new development with CamWest. All I can find online are bad reviews about their parent company, Toll Brothers, but that's generally from people out East. I found one blog from a guy in Kirkland who was having trouble with his wood rotting, but that's about it from a local source.

Anyone else have a CamWest experience to praise or lambaste? We felt really rushed into buying our current home (we've only lived in America six years, and have owned this house for 5), and don't want to make any mistakes this time around. This will be a more permanent home (10 years+)

Ira500 · 01-02-2013, 02:29 PM

Veronika owns a Camwest home in Duvall. I can say they use higher quality construction materials than other builders who charge similar amounts for houses. I assume she still likes it. You there, Veronika?

Barb Oliver · 01-04-2013, 01:48 PM

You may want to try a JayMarc Home. They are a local builder and are now building four homes in Redmond. Their web site is [url=http://www.JayMarcHomes.com]

recommendREWA · 01-04-2013, 04:48 PM

I can highly recommend a CamWest/Toll Brothers home. I have been familiar with and sold many CamWest homes over the past 7 years as a real estate professional. Many buyers look for a second CamWest home, as well as refer their family and friends to buy. Toll Brothers also is the only two time winner of "Professional Builder of the Year" by Professional Builder Magazine. 95% of homeowners would recommend Toll to a family or friend. CamWest/Toll has a easy customization process that allows you to make changes to your home that many other builders simply do not allow. A wonderful 10 yr warranty service that is fully transferrable and excellent customer service. You can have peace of mind after purchasing a CamWest/Toll home. I have many happy CamWest homeowners.

VeronikaW · 01-05-2013, 09:06 AM

I own a CamWest home! I haven't had any problems with it. And their customer service is AMAZING! I was totally able to customize my home any way I wanted (floors, wall colors, countertops, etc.). My parents bought a DR Horton home, and I was amazed by how few choices they had for upgrades and such.

Any time we've had a minor problem, their customer service has promptly responded and taken care of the issue (all have been small, cosmetic things).

I couldn't recommend them more highly!!

V. =)

Plk93 · 05-19-2014, 11:21 PM

We purchased a brand new CamWest home in Redmond, WA, in 2012, at mid 600k, now it's upper 700k.
It was already built as a model home, so we didn't get choose materials or customize anything other than finishing touches. We liked the location and floor plans worked for us, and everything was par their "standard" grade.
Their customer service was good at purchase, after inspection, we walked through with a project manager from CamWest, and he address the issue, fixed most of them. But, after we moved in, we notice things, contacted their customer service several occasions, but no response what so ever. We gave up eventually, fixed by our own. We wondered if it's because the company was sold to other back then?
According to their customer service binder, They have 45 days check-up, 2years warranty for technical issues such as electric and plumbing, also 10 years warranty for major structure defects. But, are they all empty promises?

As for their quality of materials and workmanship. Oh, all CHEAP and very POOR! Sub per for 600-700 k homes!! Everything they use is cheapest one in the market, tiles, appliances, they use " granite tiles for bathroom countertops, and call it "granite counter tops", cheapest SS appliances to make it look good only on paper or MLS photos. But, all materials, from door knobs, flooring, paint, carpet, shower heads, faucet, window coverings, are all sooooooo cheap, I had to replace most of those things right after we moved in!

So, If you're buying new home, don't buy appliances from them, or choose your own light fixtures and appliances by your own, and hire local pros who can do better job at reasonable price. Replacing them cost more than installing better quality ones!

Workmanship is also POOR!! Contractors didn't pre-drill for hinges, so all kitchen cabinet door had split at hinges. Nails sticking out, drywall screws coming out, paint errors, Electric switches, placement of towel hungers are joke. insulation in attic is so thin barely minimum, since we moved in mid summer we didn't realized it until first winter.

We found crack in garage concrete floor at inspection, but we're told that it was not foundation issue, just from drying process (now I know it's due to unprofessional installation. They didn't cut controll joint lines when they laid concrete) my neighbor also found a crack in their foundation last summer. And just last week, we found a major crack in part of foundation, under back porch, when I looked closely, I can tell this guys know he made mistakes and tried to hide it with patch of concrete! But it fell off and the error is exposed, the corner of the concrete patio and one of support pillars is almost falling off. Hope it's not serious, but We are difinately contacting CamWest soon, and really hoping they will response soon!

PNWGuy · 05-20-2014, 08:31 AM

a builder is as good as the contractors they hire for the job. And there is no guarantee they use the same contractor from development to development, or house to house. Finishings will vary depending on the "value" of the home, and the market - a sellers market may not have as nice quality finishings, whereas a buyers market may have higher quality finishings. All depends on the supply/demand.

the only differentiation I find between builders is their warranty, which tells you how much they stand by their work.

btw, we just sold our camwest home in a 28 home community, it took about 2 years to sell out all the homes, I can tell you the quality/finishings were much higher for the first house, then tailed off towards the last house. We were one of the first to buy in our community, and I would walk through all the homes as they neared construction, and I would not have wanted any of the ones that were sold last, compared to our home.

Plk93 · 07-19-2014, 01:24 AM

We have been trying to reach CamWest, and now Toll Brothers, but no luck so far. The CamWest Web site was up there until recently, including 10yr warranty form, but it's all gone now, all the saved links go to Toll Brothers Web site which provide no contact info for existing customer/home owners. I contacted via Toll Brothers Web site "contact us" but guess what happened? I got email from a recruiting company who claim nothing to do with CamWest or TollBrothers, but I start receiving junk sales email from Toll Brothers! Even I "unsubscribe" all, they are still sending me those sales email about their new development, and it says "you are receiving this because you signed up for our mailing list" WTF? I never did, there was not even a section asking if I wanted to be on their mailing list. What company does that kind of business other than scam artist? We might be talking to lawyer soon. I'll report more as we have any update.... Wish me luck.

BellevueNative · 07-19-2014, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plk93

We have been trying to reach CamWest, and now Toll Brothers, but no luck so far. The CamWest Web site was up there until recently, including 10yr warranty form, but it's all gone now, all the saved links go to Toll Brothers Web site which provide no contact info for existing customer/home owners. I contacted via Toll Brothers Web site "contact us" but guess what happened? I got email from a recruiting company who claim nothing to do with CamWest or TollBrothers, but I start receiving junk sales email from Toll Brothers! Even I "unsubscribe" all, they are still sending me those sales email about their new development, and it says "you are receiving this because you signed up for our mailing list" WTF? I never did, there was not even a section asking if I wanted to be on their mailing list. What company does that kind of business other than scam artist? We might be talking to lawyer soon. I'll report more as we have any update.... Wish me luck.

Reply to one of the emails, telling them that you are reporting them to the FTC for not removing you from their mailing list after you've opted-out. That should work - FTC does NOT mess around with opt-outs.

TollBrothersSeattle · 07-21-2014, 04:44 PM

Plk93,

I am so sorry that you did not receive a response to your submittal on TollBrothers.com. Please contact the Seattle warranty department directly at 425-825-1955 x159 and we will make sure you are taken care of. If you provide your contact information when you call we will also be sure to make sure you are unsubscribed from any marketing emails. I appreciate you providing feedback for how we can improve the web site.

Toll Brothers Seattle