If mind-numbing, hair pulling AGGRAVATION is your goal, build a home with Elite (aka Arbor & Clayton Homes). The homes are pretty but they make committments they have no intention of honoring. Our mortgage broker repeatedly warned us NOT to build with Elite because he knew their reputation. We bought a spec home thinking we were side-stepping the aggravation of building with Elite but we were wrong. As the primary HOA manager while a community is being built, Elite collects the community funds but does not use them on proper maintenance of the community then turns over the community to the residents in horrible shape. Your HOA will be facing an immediate increase of rates when the community is turned over from management by Elite. People will continue to buy this product because it is pretty but you have been warned. Seek out Mason Homes or Orthober or a builder in that league. Yes, they are more expensive, but you get what you pay for. read more

I want to start by saying how grateful I am that our building process is finally behind us. After two long weeks post-closing, we're beginning to enjoy parts of our new home. That said, this journey has been far from easy. Over the past year, I've been let down time and again by issues I never expected, and in hindsight, I wish I had asked more questions along the way. For most people, a home is the single largest investment they'll ever make. After 13 years in our $139k starter home, my husband John and I were beyond excited to build our dream home and chose Elite based on its reputation for quality and customer care. Unfortunately, our experience didn't reflect that standard. As a project manager and an engineer, we pay close attention to detail and value craftsmanship. While the design process started strong and the early stages of construction were exciting, the quality of workmanship and oversight quickly became disappointing. Here are just a few examples of our experience: Appliances: Our "premium kitchen" includes luxury pieces paired with low-end, undersized items like the microwave--something we'll now have to replace. Front Doors: My dream double walnut doors were mistakenly painted black. The "fix" involved painting over them with brown paint, leaving a cheap finish. We eventually hired another company to refinish them correctly. Selections vs. Reality: Several items installed didn't match what we selected--garage doors, windows, and finishes. Doors were painted instead of ordered in the correct finish, and the difference is noticeable. Painting: The overall paint job throughout the home is sloppy and rushed, not at all reflective of a home in this price range. Master Bathroom: The tile floor has been torn out and redone twice already due to poor workmanship. I could name many more examples--delays, inconsistencies, and careless work--but the bottom line is that the process fell far short of expectations. What should have been a joyful milestone has instead left us feeling disappointed and hesitant to show off our new home. To be fair, I want to acknowledge that our project manager, is doing his best. But one person cannot effectively manage an entire neighborhood of builds. The subcontractors, in particular, need to be held to much higher standards. The few bright spots were the plumbing, cabinetry, and flooring crews, who did great work. In the end, I wanted to love this process and proudly recommend Elite. Instead, my honest review is 2 out of 5 stars. I'm ready to move forward and put this chapter behind me, but I hope my feedback helps improve the experience for future homeowners. read more

Elite homes took full Advantage of my elderly parents. Selling three story home they did not need. Built on a slope that in turn caused a cracked foundation.. $9000 of which they said they are not responsible as they sold rights to another company. 3 houses on the street with similar issues. Buyer beware. read more

Beware! After research and other reviews it was certainly not the level of customer service I expected based on their local reputation. Closed on my Elite home December 2021 following many delays, unanswered emails and just a genuine feeling that buyer perceptions and questions interfere with their process for completing more important work all because I stayed involved. An imperfect foundation (2 cracks to date), driveway crack, stair crack, deck/patio errors, window/screen issues, cabinet flaws...just the short list. With so many homes under construction Elite fails to truly manage the build. read more

Elite does good quality work, but it's not perfect. They fall down after you close on your house and they have your money. Those little things that aren't to your satisfaction? Figure on fixing them yourself. We have paint on our back door that didn't adhere. They came out to investigate, peeled off huge chunks, and had someone come out and peel the rest of it off and prime the door. Several weeks later, our door is still waiting for a finish coat of paint. The grading of our lot created a runoff onto the neighbor's patio that puts mud on their patio with every rain. They've been out to look at this twice, put some river rock down, but the problem persists. Lately, they've sold off the remaining lots in the neighborhood and are scrambling to build these houses. The workers are blocking the streets with their cars coupled with the delivery trucks. They don't seem to understand that people who are already established in the neighborhood may need to get to work, and don't have time to chase down every worker who may be blocking the street. If you have Elite build a home for you, hold some of the money until they complete the neighborhood. read more

The service I received from Elite homes was excellent. They were reliable and knowledgeable, keeping me updated every step of the way. My house sold for above the asking price, which I believe was due to the recommendations Elite made and the professional way they managed the sale process. I would highly recommend Elite Homes and definitely use them in the future. read more

Our experience with Elite has been in a word, horrible. ZERO communication, ZERO willingness to discuss changes during design even though they offer them, the irrigation has worked maybe 4 weeks out of the 16 weeks we've been in the house. The designers recorded a design feature wrong in their paper work, and after we had the price agreed to they said "hey, it was a mistake, but you have to give us another $3,000". Luckily we talked legal to them and they decoded to negotiate with us. Instead of a 30-day walk through they came in 90-ish days and said "we've had some folks on vacation". Instead of a 6 month build it was an 11 month built. No justification, no updates on schedule. During construction WE found issues (such as a broken window, splash tile installed wrong) and had to alert the superintendent Bill, who sat on them until it was an emergency THEN fixed them wrong, after which WE had to have them fixed. Our superintendent, Bill, straight up lied to our face at least 3 times about repairs, which we told him, and yet he stood firm. I am convinced Bill never walked through or around this house unless we had a meeting there. Instead of wipeable wall paint, like they said, its NOT wipeable. Their builders leave trash an food scraps EVERYWHERE, so our neighborhood looks like crap. I could go on and on. I cant wait until they are done building out our street so I don't have to see them anymore. read more

My wife and I moved into an Elite Home in the Signature Point subdivision a little less than 4 months ago. Writing a review for them is not an easy thing. On one hand, the house is absolutely terrific. I feel it is well built, the finishes are top notch, and it looks great. On the house alone, they provide a fantastic product. Unfortunately, it's everything else that goes into the process that makes it hard to deal with them. I almost wish we could've just bought an Elite Home from someone else, instead of the company themselves. At basically every step of the way we found some sort of mistake. Items were being double billed in the contract, items were being charged at a rate higher than what the sales rep told us, the floor plans had errors, our floor plan was constantly being mixed up with a neighboring house being built, a light fixture was installed inside of a screened porch instead of outside of it, Elite did not inform the closing agent of checks we submitted for change orders causing the closing paperwork to be redone leading up to the closing. All of these mistakes were items I caught, not someone from Elite. The frustrating thing was as I pointed out these mistakes Elite reacted like I was difficult to deal with instead of being apologetic. All things added up I would imagine the mistakes and corrections I discovered saved us over $10,000. We closed with several items not completed. There was no irrigation installed, the fencing had not been completed, the blinds were not up because the project manager forgot to order them and then sent the blind company to the wrong house to measure when we reminded him, we had wrong pocket doors installed, our gate on our front porch was missing, there were no screens in the windows. These items were acknowledged as missing at the closing, but getting them corrected after closing became like pulling teeth. Again when we brought up our concerns we were met with reactions like we were being a bother. I also would warn people about doing anything extra. We designed our house to have a theater room in it. Since they were building the house I figured they could do it easier, I expected to pay a premium and was fine with that. They said they could do it for $9,000. I then asked for a list of what was to be installed because I am geeky that way, they reacted like they had never heard that request and it would be a big deal. When I finally got the list it was a joke. A remote control to control everything was $900. The projector being installed was an older model. I took the list to Best Buy and they laughed because they didn't even carry the items due to age, the guy was floored at how much they were charging, they offered to do the job for half with newer equipment. I ended up doing everything myself using newer models and more speakers for 1/3 the cost. Just a shocking markup. I read the other reviews online about how easy Elite was to work with and how they go out of their way to solve problems and am completely jealous. I don't know if we are just in the wrong subdivision or what because we seem to constantly be met with unanswered emails, unreturned phone calls, and just a genuine feeling that we are stopping them from completing more important work all because we stayed involved and wanted to hold them responsible for promises made. It certainly was not the level of customer service I anticipated based on their local reputation. Again, as far the house goes, we love it, but after dealing with Elite for almost a year from the time we signed the contract on the plot of land, I am not sure we would recommend friends and family use them. Edit: I met with a representative from Elite after writing this review, but the subject was not this review, after meeting with him I do realize where some of the communication issues have come from. There have definitely been trying moments, but I do feel better about things. For that reason I am bumping them up from 2 * to 3 *. read more

Unless you'd like a wading pool in your finished basement, choose a different company to build your home. Elite does NOT stand behind the homes they build. They also don't know how to irrigate properly. Once they get your money, they're done with you. read more