If you're looking to build a home in the Port Saint Lucie area don't use Grande Construction.
I started the home-building process in November 2021, with a 12-month completion date. Throughout the construction process, my weekly communication was with Amy Scott by phone, text, email, or in person via air travel due to making the move from living in Fayetteville, GA. My concerns began when Amy Scott communicated items in the home were completed and my colleagues looking over the process in my absence, indicated that they were not. I decided at that point to set an appointment with Amy to fly down and see for myself. I was told by Amy that she was not available to let me into my own home because she was at another of their home build sites waiting for the rafters to be delivered. This triggered me to be more hands on and physically present in the home building process. Consequently, communication from Amy stopped and things went downhill quickly. At this point as of May 2023, 19 months later, 7 months past due, the house still wasn't completed yet, by contract of the construction loan I had to claim possession of the home which was handed over to me with nothing but problems or risk losing all of my investment in the property and be forced to requalify at a higher interest rate. You may be thinking, "why did I accept the property under these conditions?" The answer is because my time to close on the property within the contract of my construction loan with Weststar Bank (Grande Construction's preferred bank with closing incentives), was running out and the bank was pushing for the closing even though all the construction draws were paid as requested by the bank.
After several attempts by phone, text and email the Owner Greg Oldakowski never returned any of my correspondence throughout the duration of the build. The first time I met or spoke to Greg was during the walk-through before turning over the keys. Greg wouldn't allow a post-construction independent inspection before the turnover of the keys to the house and I quickly found out why.
The inside of the house still had construction dirt and debris throughout.
The upgraded refrigerator has rust across the handles and front of the appliance.
All of the handles on the kitchen cabinets were all rusted and crusted over.
No gas tank was ever installed. Which left the home with a gas stove top and an outdoor kitchen, without any way to operate. To make matters worse, the builders never even installed the gas line to the home even though it was an upgrade that was signed for and under contract. Therefore, even if the gas tank had been installed there would have been no means of connecting it to the appliances it was installed for.
-The outside vent hood did not work.
-All of the floors were covered with paint and grime and the grout was never cleaned.
-There were several cracked, broken, and chipped tiles.
-The grout in the master suite was among those cracked.
-The dishwasher, although, pushed into its opening was never installed properly nor plugged in.
-The guest bathroom shower had no door
-The glass front doors were installed nor present even though agreed upon also agreed in the contents of the signed contract.
-There were several broken windows.
-The electrical work was not completed.
-Several electrical fixtures that the builder was supposed to install per the signed contract were also not installed.
-The driveway was cracked.
-There was no outlet for the gas stove top igniter.
-There was no cover for the doorbell.
-The hot water tank was sitting directly on the concrete floor in the garage.
-The list goes on!
The list above is just what I found on my initial walkthrough and the independent inspector found even more.
Grande Construction's response was for me either to sign a hold harmless agreement before they would replace, and fix the issue or call all the vendors who did the work to come do their own respective repairs. I opted to call the vendors. Some came right out but, many with an additional charge to me. Some still have yet to show up nor return any of my correspondence to this day.
In an attempt to complete the unfinished work, I have had to spend an additional 20K and the work still isn't complete to the standards agreed in the signed contract. It is needless to say I wouldn't recommend this builder for your dream home. read more
