Our experience with the builder (MJC Companies) was subpar at best...the design process is OK but…read moreif you are a first time builder (like we were), it can be confusing at times. The people managing that process were helpful and mostly responsive, but can get overwhelmed with what I believe is a broken process, which is not their fault.
The build process is a chore, and we found ourselves having to keep going back to the site to catch and report errors made during the build process MANY times. At the end of the day, the quality of the home, in our opinion, was not commensurate with the price. Craftsmanship was shoddy in some areas, particularly the electrical, who were the worst of all the contractors. Sconces were hung, and light switches were placed, without any regard for where we wanted them or where they should go. By the way, they will make you use Lafata cabinets because they provide the best quality (meh), but you will have to work with Colleen. She is awful. Rude, unresponsive and will not listen to customer input on the project. We wanted it designed a specific way. It took MONTHS for her to figure it out, all the while making us feel like we were the problem (we asked for nothing crazy, just an island centered on the cooktop hood!) and then when the cabinets went in...wasn't centered. Terrible interface with Lafata and MJC needs to train someone else there to deal with MJC sites.
The worst part of the experience was the orientation (walk-through) and the post-sale customer service. There are a number of items the builder should have caught before closing, and we're still dealing with them now. Most notably...stains caused by one of their contractors on the patio floor (which they are now refusing to fix), crooked door handles, our island is clearly crooked, dripped glue on the driveway we cant get off, sconces installed practically touching the ceiling, stained bead board in the front entryway and loggia, loose fixture handles, etc, etc, etc. The customer service superintendent is responsive but has struggled to follow through on fixing the majority of issues we had and his first answer to almost everything is "oh, that will resolve itself." The customer service director is just awful. Every email is responded to with an obligatory, knee-jerk "no" rather than using common sense and actually investigating the situation.
MJC constantly tells their clients "We want to deliver you a beautiful home." In several respects, it is beautiful, but not so for the amount of money we've spent. MJC will make mistakes and then try to get you to accept it. Our dog wash was a perfect example. Wasn't even close to the measurements we wanted, not only in height but width (which then created a change in cabinet size), and when we told them, they first told us WE were wrong (I guess they figured I couldn't read a tape measure?) then admitted they did it incorrectly and spent the next week trying to convince how much work it would be to fix. At the end of the day, we just accepted it but what could we do? We had this experience several times through the process.
Many people from the neighborhood have told us they had the same experiences but that "You'll love your home." Honestly, I'm struggling to see when the love will come, especially based on their customer service, which has really let us down. I would not recommend MJC, especially first-time home builders, and if I had to do it all over again, for the money, I would have probably gone with Cranbrook. They cost about the same for a fully customized home.