Avoid Berks at all costs!
I would rate Berks work with less than 1 star if I could. After a year living in the house, I think my opinion and impressions will be more credible and convincing.
This was our first new house and we didn't know what the process with a building company directly is. It's been a nightmare, time and nerves wasted, long lasting battle with everything. I spent the whole year scheduling, waiting for contractors to come and repair the damages and the poor work.
I can write a book explaining the traumatizing experience dealing with Berks.
Showroom-Selection works two Saturdays a month. The personnel of 2 part-time employees is overloaded, can't pay attention to everyone, you don't know where to go and what to look and they don't have any variety to offer you. You don't have time to realize what the best choice for you will be, surrounded by many people, voices, children, distracted, listening someone else's questions. Poor choice - low quality!
The problems started when I was allowed to enter the house after all damages were done. The kitchen cabinets didn't have anything to do with the cabinets we ordered. Completely different kitchen - old, rustic, ugly, leftover in some warehouse. Nobody made the effort to notify me that they don't have the cabinets we ordered and put whatever they decided - quietly, meanly. After stressful negotiations they reimbursed us a little, but just for re-facing the ugly cabinets, we had to pay double price from our pocket.
Different kitchen sink from what we ordered. There is no coordination between the departments, no one works professionally, no one pays attention and somebody overlooked the sink, too. Berks had to change the sink later. After the sink they had to come and measure a new countertop to match the shape of the originally ordered sink. All repairs with us living in the house and continued the whole year.
The stairs of the entrance door and in the garage are in terrible condition - rough surface, with big holes, uneven. The holes keep the water after rain longer, make it difficult to dry. The person from the company came and admitted that it was a lousy job, but it is unrepairable.
All doors have up to 2 inches space underneath. The answer was that these are standard doors. No, they are not. We became crazy looking for thresholds to fill the gap, but nothing on the market matches the Berks' door standard.
When we chose the house, Berks didn't have a sample to show us. The architect who designed so uncomfortable house doesn't have a basic knowledge of designing residential houses. Nothing is on the place where it should be. Uncomfortable.
The paint on the walls is the lowest quality possible. Nobody gave me a choice of any other paint more expensive and higher quality. The paint is rough, easy to damage and to leave marks and scratches that are difficult to cover. We always try to walk far from the walls.
We requested a sink in the garage that was put in the middle of the wall, which wall became unusable. Because of the sink they told us the whole garage must be isolated and we paid for that. This winter the water in the faucet froze despite the "insulation" and we had to leave the faucet running for weeks to avoid freezing the pipes.
The thermostat is in the middle of the ONLY wall in the living room. Forget about all plans to position Entertainment center which is supposed to be in the living room. The whole wall is almost unusable because an incapable, incompetent Berks contractor put the thermostat in the middle of the wall.
We noticed by chance, months after we settled in the house, that the gas installation going to the kitchen range is missing completely. If we didn't notice they wouldn't know that they didn't install the gas pipes for which we paid.
The floor started cracking and squeaking loudly on the whole second floor. There was no explanation. The floor company came to inspect and the blame was on the weather. Berks build houses that have this noise most of the year and the explanation is the humidity! The humidity is never more than 32% and Berks houses are good ONLY for 55% humidity!
The workers, who took off the carpet to check the floor, damaged the marble threshold of the bathroom. Nobody can repair that ever!
The first walk of the ready house was supposed to give us time to see it everywhere, to ask questions. The supervisor Sam was running in the house, talking fast, we were running after him not being able to see anything or to notice all imperfections and defects. They knew in what condition the house is and the fast walk was intentional.
I am stunned that Berks is still in business.
I am limited here but I can go on and on - STAY AWAY FROM BERKS! read more
