Delays, shoddy workmanship and poor service sums up our experience purchasing a new home from Phelps Homes. Although this is for their Renovation division, I find it hard to find a reliable source to post my review on their new construction division so I will post here. People should know what they are getting into when spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a house from this company.
We signed our offer to purchase in January 2017 with a closing date of April which we assumed would be sufficient time, given the foundation had already been poured when we signed. We were delayed twice, pushing our FIRM closing date back to end of June. We ended up selling our house based on our new closing date, then 30 days prior to selling we were called with another delay, then another and then another. In total, we were delayed 5 times for a total of almost 4 months. Tarion warranty covers delayed closing compensation, but this hardly covers the extra costs you incur - we had to pay a moving company twice, 2 months of storage fees, and room-and-board. At the end of the day, we would have been okay with these delays had we moved into a complete and quality built home. Every time we were delayed, one rep or another from Phelps told me it was to ensure our home was built to their top quality standards.
We initially showed up for our PDI inspection as scheduled but when we arrived, the Build Care Manager Chris told us it wasn't going to happen because the house was nowhere near complete - we were scheduled to close the following Tuesday yet they did not even have an electrician scheduled until the following Wednesday to install light fixtures. So we traveled 45 minutes out of our way, found childcare for our daughter just to be told it was a waste of our time.
Upon moving in, the real frustrations began. The day we moved in it was nearly 40 degrees outside with humidity. We had paid for an air conditioner through Phelps but they forgot to wire the unit to the electrical panel so our house was 30+ degrees inside. I had escalated this to several people at Phelps, including the Build Care Manager Chris, his assistant and even the site supervisor. They kept telling us sometime next week it would be repaired - it finally took my wife threatening them with legal action for them to re-allocate their electricians from another site that had not yet closed to finish the job and get us working a/c.
We had submitted about 30 items on our PDI and over the first 30 days of possession we had seen 1 technician for a total of about 6 hours to address concerns in the house. When it came time to submit our 30-day warranty we had well over 100 deficiencies. These deficiencies range from simple paint touch-ups to missing cupboards and glass shower enclosures to closets that they 'forgot' to frame in. Best part of this, is that when I pointed it out to them that our bedroom was missing a closet they offered to buy us an IKEA wardrobe instead! That sounds like a quality builder to me!
As others have mentioned, the house was a mess when we took possession. As technicians come in to make repairs, they will leave their mess for you to clean up - drywall dust everywhere, sawdust all over countertops, etc.
This is by far the most unorganized home builder I have ever experienced. Their customer service is poor, they have no sense of urgency and apparently no one to keep them accountable.
I could go on and on with ranting about Phelps, but if you really want to understand what they are like, simply drive through a community in Smithville and talk to anyone - seems like we've all been through the same thing.
BUYER BEWARE and GOODLUCK if you choose to purchase with Phelps!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $560,000.00