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Chesmar Homes review: Purchase of a new home that wasn't complete 17

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6:39 pm EST
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My husband and, I purchased a new home from Chesmar Homes in 11/28/2007.In this process we have had the worst nightmares possible in doing so.We have recently had a new finding that shows the negligance on the builders behalf in building our new home. The new finding was a man size hole connected to the roof and a wall unit of the front room where there was no siding or any evidence of material was ever there. The error was founded by a company who was doing work on the home.This hole actually was missed by the builders inspector as well as our inspector Pilar to Post who we paid to inspect our new home before moving in.This hole has been open to the outdoor elements as well as the hurricane Ike.We have also found in this two year exposure that we could possibly have mold in our new home so, we paid out of our pockets for a mold speacialist.Due to me always getting and currently sick.The mold company did find mold in the air samplings and, due to that we were asked to keep the ac unit off and keep the doors closed to that room.In the meantime we have had to hire an attorney (which we may have conflicting interest )as well as other professional .We will not allow them to use their people to fix the issues which they have offered but, due to the huge mistake that was left for us to clean up we aren't convinced that they would due the job right the second time around.We will hire our own construction people as well as any other professional that we may need to do the work to get the job done correctly.This is just the icing on the cake for a better of liked words we've had ongoing issues with this company since the day of closing on the house.These issues were brought to their attention but, it wasn't a great big deal to them .I have even spoken with the president of the company Don Klein which my comcerns were apprarently not his.Nothing gets done or, even remotely satisfatory completed.Now we are dealing with the time factor that this immediated issue; filing a complaint and, or hiring the right people to get the job done before time does run out.In the meantime I am suffering with the mold that was found in my home due to the negligence from the builder who broke the contract by delivering me a supposively new home and apparently it was never completed.I have complained to the Attorneys General Office and, The BBB as well as other consumer agencies with they're final outcome of the issue.My husband and, as new home buyers just want what was promised to us by the builder.

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17 comments
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JenShrRorJoyKenTer
, US
Jun 17, 2020 12:05 am EDT

It is time to push back on these so called upscale builders who utilize low cost options on materiel, and then hire sub contractors as a way to push off responsibilities of qualified home builders. It's a shame migrants will pay the price, but these builders pushed all the quality and properly educated builders in their employ out in search for cheap labor. Also, they are very good at hiding (masking) over mistakes. Now, though, they are really pushing to the extreme in search of profit, when homes rise over the year or so of a 7 month build, they seek cheezy ways out of their contracts to resell at a higher rate. Essentially, they are using the earnest money and upgrade money to help finance your builder, fire you, give you back your money without interest, and then sell to a pre-planned buyer. Hear me Chesmar! You are disgusting and should be forced into bankruptcy!

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Jbec
, US
Dec 13, 2019 11:44 pm EST

Just moved into a Chesmar home this week. I recommend you get a top notch inspector. I have been without hot water off and on for the first week I moved in. I moved in on Monday and no plumber was sent until Thursday. Basically he said the house was too big when I told him we have to run water for 15 to 20 minutes before hot water comes out and sometimes not even then will it come. My inspector did not catch many things. I noticed my back door is defective. The right side casing that holds glass in is missing in some areas, and if you want to pull blinds up you cannot without making the situation worse. I should have know this would happen as several things had to be corrected during the building stage. it’s winter but I think I will run the air conditioner just to find out if that is working. JUST GET A GREAT INSPECTOR!

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alex233
, US
Nov 05, 2019 12:13 pm EST

They lied to us.

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The trutht
, US
Feb 14, 2017 3:03 am EST

Chesmar is a big scam they hire people that are ilegal they use fake socials all the people in the office are aware of these thats why they do a miserable job they are getting pay real cheap the owner of chesmar knows that hes employees are not legal to work in the USA Seth tobey knows Vincent rufino knows all of them know

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Mb san antonio
, US
Jan 15, 2016 4:11 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Horrible customer service and communication to the point I terminated my contract because of it.

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Really Chesmar?
, US
Jan 16, 2016 9:56 am EST

We were very excited about building our home with Chesmar. There were some disappointments during the options/contract period to what we were getting to what we actually received at closing; however, we can let those go with a bad taste in our mouth. The real problem has to do with the landscape irrigation quality. I live in a large master planned community with many of the large production builders, and the Chesmar homes in my development have all experienced the problems. When we complained about the issue, the Construction Manager told us he would not do anything about the pooling and drainage issues and said every house is unique with their experiences. Everyone in our cul-de-sac has had the problem so it's obviously a systemic issue.

I had a pool built in my backyard after we moved in, but the irrigation issue was on the opposite side of the access area the pool builder used to gain access to the backyard. That didn't stop Chesmar from blaming them on the problem. Then they blamed my neighbor who extended their fence out a little bit on their problem side, which was done after we complained. We have proof in the form of pictures, with dates, that show the problem was happening before these events happened so there's no way the drainage issue is related to them.

Also, the Construction Manager has explained to me that it costs him $2500 to install French Drains.. BS because we have had bids by several contractors and they are not higher than $900. He told us he wouldn't spend the money because it will come out of his bonus.

We spent $300K on this house and we deserve to have this issue corrected, properly. I'm very disappointed with Chesmar regarding their unwillingness to help.

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Clarke12345
, US
Sep 29, 2015 8:21 pm EDT

I'm going through the same thing. They tell one thing and two weeks later they tell us something else. You know not to throw the word out but I have felt belittled and at times treated as if I can't afford the home. Almost as if they look at me and think this guy can't afford and we are going to make it hard for them to buy a home.

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Iftekhar Ahmed
Houston, US
May 08, 2014 12:54 pm EDT

Now have read the ratings and all the serious complaints. This is very disappointing, This is why I am reading these postings. Reason, I am planning to buy a nice home in Upscale location in Town Lake in Houston, Hwy 290. I already saw several homes. The most unacceptable and not in common with all other Builders, if compare, no option in Floor Plan are being offered or available. Whatever the plan is available that's all it is. If I want with different option, it needs to be done with my own. That is exactly my Sales Person told me (Mandy). I have gone thru with different builders, every one has options available for buyers, but there at Town Lake?! Now with the QUALITY, I re-thinking, not to buy from Cheshmar Homes. Will go with other Builders. All the buyers are buying and it is their hard working Money. Cheating with Home Buyers and making huge money put in their pocket should not be tolerated. They need to put themselves in the same situation and find out how they like it? Thanks to all the reviewers making everyone alert.

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LoriP
Kingwood, US
Apr 12, 2014 4:04 pm EDT

I am having a lake view home built by Chesmar now, with an extra patio for additional enjoyment. Wait, make that FORMERLY a lake view home. The poor planning of the row of homes, all of which should have a lake view, resulted in loss of my view. Any planner knows that a lake view is a desired feature. Who would deliberately block one of their client's views? Chesmar. Instead of telling me that a longer home was going to block all views (even from the added on patio) they just threw them up quickly. When I got in town, so happy that my new home was going up, and went to take a look, the back of my home is recessed between the bricks of the houses on each side of me. No view. I am crushed since this was to be my dream home. It would have been nice to have been notified that I could have requested my home to be placed farther back on the lot since this big home was going in. I just now was told that I could have done that but that it is not something Chesmar "offers." Then why would anyone buy a higher priced lake view lot? Builders, planners, does anyone find this unusual? Poor customer service. No thought about customer satisfaction and this is early in the construction phase. They have taken the most important feature of the home from me. I am devastated, have cried for several days, and don't know how much worse this could get.

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M Tullos
, US
Feb 03, 2017 1:23 pm EST
Replying to comment of LoriP

Never ask how bad it could get.
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We have a problem that started out very much like this. We knew what was on either side of use and would have a lovely hill view just south of Lake Travis out a 2 story wall of windows. But then this wouldn't work b/c "the driveway would come too close to the retaining wall and the builder is a afraid when your kids start driving they might back into it" so to build on that cul de sac lot they would have to flip the floor plan. Our view would turn into a 2 story view of a retaining wall, hillside, fence, and our neighbor's bathroom window.
This was not at all what we signed up for, and they would not move the house back the 3 feet they could according to the easement lines to give "enough" clearance. They did offer to move us to another lot in a less developed section of the same neighborhood (or we could pay huge lot premiums to get one of the few open lots left in that area to avoid excess construction around us after we'd moved in...) But we had to pick this site sight unseen because we live thousands of miles away and can't just jet down to take a peak.
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So since we'd already been over the pre-construction meeting and this change came up after they'd cleared the lot, over a month since we'd signed the contract, we were concerned about if the home would be ready in the 6 1/2 months we had left before we HAD to move. Every assurance was made that barring weather delays there would be no problems on the new lot, they would be able to start within the month and we should still be ready weeks before we would be moving barring weather delays.
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That was in November. They botched the a paperwork and ignored our corrections for over 10 days. They were out of office (I understand holidays, but had they gotten the info to me on the day they promised instead of waiting until 3 days later when I called asking where the heck is it? that wouldn't have been an issue.) They told us, "You have to sign the paper work by this date so we can get it started in 2016!" then they drug their feet getting everything approved. They took over a month to file permit requests, and it got delayed due to the holidays. We hadn't heard ANYTHING so in January we asked (3 times before we got a reply) what the state of things was and if it'd be in a decent state to see when we came by in March. THAT had originally been when they were going to start putting in finishes and we were supposed to do an inspection before the drywalling. We were told it be finished in June, but we should be able to see something by mid March.
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Now it's February and our realtor had to tell us after we asked him to check on things because we were getting NO RESPONSE that they've pushed back our start date for the THIRD time that we know of, to the point that the house will not be ready until over a month after we have to be out of our old home and in Texas. The EARLIEST we might make is the end of JULY?!
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There have been no weather issues, the weather has been gorgeous, the manager mentioned on one of her calls that the design lady was taking her kids to the pool. This is all on Chesmar, either by bitting off more than they can chew, or just being plain old flaky. Lack of lot fit should have been caught in prep for the pre-construction meeting. Not responding to e-mails and inquires for information for days and even weeks is no way to do business. The paperwork re-do ending up garbled as all heck was nothing but them not being able to type/enter it correctly in their own system. Government back up on permits is NO excuse when you don't file them in a timely fashion.
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Never ask how bad it could get, with Chesmar it seems it can only be worse.

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Kristen99
RIchmond, US
Mar 14, 2014 11:58 am EDT

I think the important thing to note here is that they offered to repair the mistake and you refused to allow them. Mistakes happen with any home builder and at any price range, having purchased a number of new homes in my lifetime, I know this to be true. If you don't give a company (or person) the chance to correct a mistake, then the problem lies with you. This is why I'm sure the AG office as well as the BBB weren't able to help you; legally you must follow the proper channels. I just checked the BBB rating for Chesmar Homes and noticed they have an A+ rating and all cases were resolved to their satisfaction.

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M Tullos
, US
Feb 03, 2017 1:28 pm EST
Replying to comment of Kristen99

First off, disclaimer right on the BBB website "BBB ratings are not a guarantee of a business’s reliability or performance. " Second off, they have an A+ rating with the BBB because they PAID for it. They also have a 78% negative rating on that very same BBB page.

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MAGV
Helotes, US
Feb 27, 2014 3:15 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We too have had nothing but problems with Chesmar! For new home owners this has surely been a nightmare! We are having to have everything - literally almost everything- redone in our home! We haven't even been in it a year and the amount of problems we've had is unreal! I would never in a million years build with this company again! All I want to do is sell this house!

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Tracey73
New Braunfels, US
Nov 12, 2013 8:34 pm EST

I have been living in my brand new Chesmar home for 3 months and absolutely love it. I'm in New Braunfels, TX. As a first time home buyer I was told of the stress I was about to endure watching a home built from the ground up. I can honestly say this was totally opposite of my experience. Martha the sales woman was up front. I spent 4 hours picking out bricks, grout, tile, carpets. It was so much fun. I had requested a/c to be placed elsewhere, sockets, gate for the fence to go to the other side of std location.I was given the project managers number Ken and he is just as wonderful. My only issue i had was a/c unit was installed not where I requested. After one phone call to them it was moved to the other side of the house When moving in I was told how to maintain the.dffcfc house, things I would of never considered. I printed out list and have past onto friends.

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goldendeal
Houston, US
Mar 21, 2013 2:56 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Chesmar Homes consist of conceded individuals as well as the company as a whole. Was considering purchasing a home in Cinco Ranch area, made an offer only a couple thousand dollars less than what were asking since it had less upgrades (most upgrades I wanted are not upgrades with other builders) ...They declined my offer and to add insult to injury they added 1000 dollar premium on the lot I was considering because it supposedly is 4 feet wider than the others... My experience with Chesmar Homes is they will nickel and dime you to death...offer absolutely no incentives and could care less if you, the customer are happy. I went with another builder and they bent over backwards for me. Going above and beyond what is expected. It was a total 360 turn around from what I experienced with Chesmar. I do not recommend Chesmar, unless you want to feel insulted and frustrated during the whole home buying process. Glad my money went to another builder that appreciates my business instead of Chesmare who seemed they couldn’t care less.

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chdoc
Houston, US
Jan 02, 2012 3:47 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

This reply is on behalf of Chesmar Homes. This complaint is identical to a posting dated 8/12/10 on another site. We have made all the repairs requested by the homeowner and are unaware of any additional concerns. We regret any time one of our homeowners has a concern and we work to resolve any issue in a timely fashion.

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retardsGalore
Detroit, US
Dec 02, 2011 8:23 pm EST

you purchased a POS in 2007 - they were building crap then and didn't care what materials were used or how the blueprints were laid out - most of the homes built during that period used 2x4s for supporting wall structures - ha -
I purchased a 102yo victorian and the neighbors house is already falling apart - his was built in 2009, same crappy construction
you need to file lawsuits - that's the ONLY solution

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