Oak Tree Homes - Amateurs trying to look like professionals!
Hiring them to build my home was the biggest, most expensive mistake I've ever made! These guys talk a good game but definitely can't deliver. They hire the cheapest unprofessional labor they can find and pay no attention to details. Their finish work is shoddy at best. There is little to no oversight of the work being done. Their motto should be, "maximize profits at any cost including customer satisfaction." These guys don't deserve a 1 star rating but zero stars is not an option. I could write a book about this nightmare but I will try to just hit some of the highlights.
They skimped on all the cabinetry. They tried to eliminate many of the slide out shelves. They left walls bare where cupboards should be. I'm 5'1" tall. They hung the microwave so high I couldn't see the inside. In the master bathroom I asked for a desk drawer under the counter at the makeup area where I sit. Mike ordered the shallowest drawer he could find. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a 1" deep drawer but that's what they gave me.
The hardwood floors were installed in the dead of an Iowa winter so large heaters were running 24/7. On several occasions I found windows open in subzero weather while the heaters were blasting away. Guess who was stuck paying the heating bill? When I brought this to Dan's attention, he put on a big act and promised he would put a stop to it. He did nothing and it continued to happen. I soon learned that Dan is a master manipulator and liar who will say whatever he wants you to hear.
After all the hardwood floors were laid and the walls painted, they continued to use the finished living room as there workshop. The heavy saws and tools left scratches and scrapes on the unprotected floors. The walls, ceiling and inside the window mechanisms were covered with sawdust. In a feeble effort to clean the walls they used a wet rag which left them smeared and streaky. They tried to repaint some walls but there wasn't enough paint so they added water to it. It took over 3 MONTHS for the walls to completely dry. Anything that touched the walls would peel the paint right off down to the bare drywall. They never bothered to vacuum the window gears. They just put the cranks and covers on over the sawdust. You can hear the grit grinding when you turn the cranks.
The laundry closet was too small to fit my normal size W/D. They removed some counter to make more room. They slid the dryer with no feet on it across my hardwood floor leaving big gouges. They filled the gouges with putty and said nothing to me about it. After jamming the dryer in place it was almost 2" lower than the washer because they didn't put the feet on it. The vent pipe was so smashed the airflow was obstructed and it wouldn't work. I had to buy a new smaller W/D and replace the venting.
At the beginning of this project Mike proudly declared, "there will be no batt insulation in any walls of this house!" When I saw batt insulation in the basement I reminded him of what he had told me. He immediately became a third grader and accused me of calling him a liar. Then he pouted and gave me the silent treatment for weeks afterward because he got his feelings hurt. Very immature!
The utility room wall cupboards were hung so high I could stand under the 30" cupboard and it didn't touch my head. They lowered them but the wall damage is still visible.
I marked exactly where I wanted all the TV jacks. They eliminated the TV jack in the family room and the sunroom. After I discovered it, they had to tear up finished walls and drill another hole in my outside wall to correct these omissions. None of the 6 TV jacks had a finished end. They just brought the bare wire to the wall box and covered it with a blank outlet cover. Dan's excuse was, "too many jacks will weaken your signal." The original contract also called for "a light in every closet." They eliminated the light in 3 closets. They did not put in a landline phone jack. Dan tried to tell me, "phone companies prefer to put in their own lines." Yeah, they also charge $100 per jack.
A vanity top had to be replaced after they trashed it with their tools. Three doors do not latch because the door latch doesn't line up with the mortised hole. Two doorknobs fell off in my hand the first time I used them. The garage floor is not sloped properly so all the snowmelt drains off toward the walls and into the corners.
The heated tile in the master bath stops 10" in front of the vanity and they didn't put any heat under the sit down makeup area. The shower head was placed so high I couldn't adjust it standing on tip toes. Dan added an extension and the first time I turned the water on the connection leaked and sprayed all over the room. When I told Dan he said, "it worked fine for me." Turns out the rubber washer was folded over on itself. The house was FILTHY when I moved in! read more
