Bad experience with Manley Homes, LLC - looking elsewhere

21,453 Views | 61 Replies | Last: 2 mo ago by Red Pear Luke (BCS)
txcajun
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AG
I hate writing bad reviews, but it's deserving. This builder was recommended to me by someone off TexAgs, which is disappointing. My wife and I had hired him to build us a custom home in Hidden Oaks, just outside of Bryan. The initial process went well. However, after we had signed the contract is when things went sour. Communication was a big issue. We'd call 3 or more times a day, leave a voicemail, and not hear back from him for 4 days. He never visited the actual job site, but had a recent college graduate overseeing the work. The builder asked us to find a house we liked, and he'd order the same materials used for the build. My wife and I drove around Indian Lakes looking for a home, found one, and gave him the address. The next week we discovered that he had used the wrong brick, stone, and roof colors on the home. He never bothered to get the materials list, but instead made a guess based off the picture we provided of the home, even though we provided the address, too. I called him out on it, but he lied and told us the home was built 4 years ago, and stuff fades, but I looked up the tax records for the home we provided, and it was built last year (2016), so he lied to us. The last straw was when we visited the home and saw they had put all the dark bricks in one spot, the house looked like a checker board. We had family and friends come out to see the property, too, and they agreed, looked horrible. I called the builder to discuss the issue, and he yelled at me over the phone, and told me, "I'll rip the bricks out and you can come lay them yourself!". That was it, I was done, so we called our lawyer, and the contract was terminated, but we lost our earnest money. STAY AWAY from this nightmare!

Here's a picture of the front... Look at this mess:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sp7xw5i1zegii5j/IMG_20170518_180630.jpg?dl=0

we're back on the hunt for a builder...

Update: Real estate agent called an apologized for everything after hearing about this review, appreciated that.
mamagutz
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A friend owns Southwest Homes and they do beautiful work.

https://www.facebook.com/SouthwestHomesBCS/?pnref=lhc
MisterShipWreck
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Sorry to hear about your problems.
DigDogDoo
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Man, I will never know what it's like to own a home.
nought
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AG
Even ignoring the block of solid color all in one place, that's a horrible masonry job! The runs of brick don't look like they maintained level as they go across, and what they did with the stone on the left part of the stonework is bad too.

I think you probably made a very smart decision in severing ties with the builder.
LunitadelNox
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Wow... That brick looks terrible.

I'm so sorry.
AggiePlaya
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AG
Looks like I'm playing Tetris
07Texag
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AG
Call Doug Smith with Top Line Custom Homes. (979) 571-9088. He will get you taken care of.
csnole
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Consider yourself lucky you got out of a Builders contract - we did not and it was hell. My advice is to speak with current clients of the builder- the ones that they are building for right now. If they are satisfied with the experience than I would consider the builder but if there are any red flags than keep looking. Good Luck!!
justalocal
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My eyes don't even focus on the brick, they go straight to that stone wreckage. Good luck. Pitman built our home. I'd buy another one from him.
AggieAces06
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AG
I hope you are able to get that fixed! I would have been out the second he didn't actually go with me to select brick colors. You lasted a lot longer than I would have!

We are going to be starting the building process soon and will be working with Raven Homes. You might give Tom a call and see if he can help you get this mess fixed. We have been impressed with him so far, and all we have done is the planing stage. (We have been through several of his builds though, and all are extremely well done)

Bucketrunner
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Tom is finishing our new home. He is so great to work with.
Rex Racer
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AG
Raven is awesome and they do top quality work.
Texladyhowdygal
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Hello! I just saw your review on Manley Homes. Yours is the only review I could find on him. Would love to chat with you about your experience. Would you be willing to do that?
legalbird
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Link not working, and I really want to see.
Vinewood_03
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Ridgewood Custom Homes
Reece Homes.

Both good builders; better people.
MiMi
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S
Quote:

Link not working, and I really want to see.
Probably because the thread was started over 4 years ago.
75AG
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AG
Vinewood_03 said:

Ridgewood Custom Homes
Reece Homes.

Both good builders; better people.
Thomas at Ridgewood is a nice guy. But, not that great on communication. He built our house 4 years ago and there are some serious concrete issues. Hopefully, he has better subs now. But if you hire him you'll need to stay on top of him and the project.
exalted512
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AG
Vinewood_03 said:

Ridgewood Custom Homes
Reece Homes.

Both good builders; better people.


We tried to go with Reece and had a pretty bad experience. Terrible communication and never had anything done when they said they were going to be done. This was just to work on plans. After months of delays we got tired of it and went elsewhere. The next builder told us exactly what we needed in literally 5 minutes. Reece didn't have a solution in over 2 months. They were also going to charge us the equivalent of a totally new set of plans, whereas the new builder said just to ask the original architect to make the changes. The original architect did make those changes for free.

Since we left, I've heard several more bad experiences about them.
lawless89
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Have friends currently in a newly built Reece home that are dealing with a ton of issues. Also know a subcontractor framer who framed a house for him and did not get paid the 2nd half of his bill to frame. I'd stay away from Reece.

Highly recommend:
Fossil Builders
Bluestone
RafterAg223
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lawless89 said:

Have friends currently in a newly built Reece home that are dealing with a ton of issues. Also know a subcontractor framer who framed a house for him and did not get paid the 2nd half of his bill to frame. I'd stay away from Reece.


Highly recommend:
Fossil Builders
Bluestone


RNL Homes runs circles around Reece every day of the week and twice on Sunday in that segment of the market. After seeing multiples of both through all phases of construction, it's laughable that Reece even considers themselves to be an equal competitor.
Broncos
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75AG said:

Vinewood_03 said:

Ridgewood Custom Homes
Reece Homes.

Both good builders; better people.
Thomas at Ridgewood is a nice guy. But, not that great on communication. He built our house 4 years ago and there are some serious concrete issues. Hopefully, he has better subs now. But if you hire him you'll need to stay on top of him and the project.


We went with Ridgewood about a year ago. Cody is usually on top of things and good at responding.

Thomas is a great guy and builds a great product.
Orlando Ayala Cant Read
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AG
I know several people that have used Blue Stone and they swear by em. I met w them but chose another builder (too long a story to share here why) . I also walked 2 of their houses and the work is impeccable . Caleb and Brad are both great guys and will shoot you straight.

Only thing is they have a 4-6 mth wait currently so you'd need to be patient before they even start.
legalbird
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Sign of being super cheap ...sheetrock in the shower stall.
EliteElectric
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We work with Bluestone and Keys and Walsh on the commercial side of construction, I would recommend either firm for a homebuilder, they are both full of good people.
exalted512
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AG
lawless89 said:

Have friends currently in a newly built Reece home that are dealing with a ton of issues. Also know a subcontractor framer who framed a house for him and did not get paid the 2nd half of his bill to frame. I'd stay away from Reece.

Highly recommend:
Fossil Builders
Bluestone
It's a shame. Owner is an Aggie. But he also previously worked for a builder that scammed a lot of people. The sales guy he had previously worked at Stylecraft, which is not my definition of quality. I didn't initially hold that against them (as we had planned to go with them), but it was of concern.

For me, it all worked out in the end. We didn't give them a dime, stopped work short of signing a contract, and since have found a builder that didn't up-charge everything and actually gets things done when he says he'll get things done.

I will say, their delay saved us a ton of money. We found another builder that was able to source better deals, therefore lower prices. And also, lumber tanked. So I do have Reece to thank for that.
2007fightintexasaggie
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Exalted - which builder did y'all end up going with?
Texladyhowdygal
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All I know is that Manley Homes, LLC is a crook. I am serious!! Stay clear!!!!!!
MW13
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AG
Is there more to this?
Mustang1
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They still seem to b building homes in the area.
scd88
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Mustang1 said:

They still seem to b building homes in the area.


I must say, this is an interesting thread bump.
Mustang1
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scd88 said:

Mustang1 said:

They still seem to b building homes in the area.


I must say, this is an interesting thread bump.
Thanks
Aggiegirl416
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Hi can you private message me about your dealings with this individual? I'd like to know what happened as we are considering using them.
Red Pear Luke (BCS)
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Sponsor
AG
exalted512 said:

lawless89 said:

Have friends currently in a newly built Reece home that are dealing with a ton of issues. Also know a subcontractor framer who framed a house for him and did not get paid the 2nd half of his bill to frame. I'd stay away from Reece.

Highly recommend:
Fossil Builders
Bluestone
It's a shame. Owner is an Aggie. But he also previously worked for a builder that scammed a lot of people. The sales guy he had previously worked at Stylecraft, which is not my definition of quality. I didn't initially hold that against them (as we had planned to go with them), but it was of concern.

For me, it all worked out in the end. We didn't give them a dime, stopped work short of signing a contract, and since have found a builder that didn't up-charge everything and actually gets things done when he says he'll get things done.

I will say, their delay saved us a ton of money. We found another builder that was able to source better deals, therefore lower prices. And also, lumber tanked. So I do have Reece to thank for that.


Speaking of framing - one of my best friends and his wife moved into a Reece home not too long ago.

A portion of their house was an entire foot lower ceilings then the plans and other side of the house was. My friends noticed it and brought it up multiple times but was told "it'll get fixed" or "it's being fixed". They got a few weeks out from closing and still wasn't fixed. But they both knew fixing it would require essentially reframing the entire house which the builder didn't want to pay. So they gave a little bit money off the price at closing.

That would be a non-starter for me.
Belton Ag
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AG
Red Pear BCS Luke said:

exalted512 said:

lawless89 said:

Have friends currently in a newly built Reece home that are dealing with a ton of issues. Also know a subcontractor framer who framed a house for him and did not get paid the 2nd half of his bill to frame. I'd stay away from Reece.

Highly recommend:
Fossil Builders
Bluestone
It's a shame. Owner is an Aggie. But he also previously worked for a builder that scammed a lot of people. The sales guy he had previously worked at Stylecraft, which is not my definition of quality. I didn't initially hold that against them (as we had planned to go with them), but it was of concern.

For me, it all worked out in the end. We didn't give them a dime, stopped work short of signing a contract, and since have found a builder that didn't up-charge everything and actually gets things done when he says he'll get things done.

I will say, their delay saved us a ton of money. We found another builder that was able to source better deals, therefore lower prices. And also, lumber tanked. So I do have Reece to thank for that.


Speaking of framing - one of my best friends and his wife moved into a Reece home not too long ago.

A portion of their house was an entire foot lower ceilings then the plans and other side of the house was. My friends noticed it and brought it up multiple times but was told "it'll get fixed" or "it's being fixed". They got a few weeks out from closing and still wasn't fixed. But they both knew fixing it would require essentially reframing the entire house which the builder didn't want to pay. So they gave a little bit money off the price at closing.

That would be a non-starter for me.
If that's true that's an abject failure on the part of Reece's superintendent.
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