We sold our custom built home in Georgia in 2020 and were looking for a custom home builder in the Attica, Indiana area. Mr. Schrader came highly recommended by a former custom home builder in that area. Upon reviewing the Steve Schrader website I was very pleased to see he was a Christian businessman. That "sealed the deal" for us.
We brought the home plan idea with us and Mr. Schrader had it tweaked by his architect. Two items we stressed at the first meeting were that we wanted a home without any steps, meaning coming into the home. We also stressed that we wanted a whole house generator as the one we had in Georgia was a partial home generator. We also questioned him about the pricing, his reply was that he had great suppliers who would honor the prices they had quoted him. Wrong - several thousands of dollars in overages were presented to us for payment.
The problems were just beginning. If I listed each and every item we brought to Mr. Schrader's attention it would be an extremely long review. Suffice it to say that there were 42, of which there was at least one that would be considered to be against code. That being - the brick extended over the brick ledge. Two other major concerns were approximately six (6) feet of hvac duct was not hooked up and that several feet of spray foam insulation was missing in that same area. When we had brought to the attention of Mr. Schrader how cold that room was, he did his usual, made excuses. His explanation was that we weren't used to the cold Indiana weather yet and that the room did extend past the main section of the home! Another serious issue was that the "whole house" generator was definitely not that. Mr. Schrader's excuse for that one was that we hadn't told him we wanted a whole house one. We had to pay to have a professional generator installation team come out and rewire the unit. During a rain storm, we heard banging outside our master bedroom. The cause, Hardy board siding which had not been nailed to the home!
Each and every time we brought something to Mr. Schrader's attention, there was either an excuse or we were told that was the way it was supposed to be. He kept stressing that he only hired the best people. Well even the best people need to be supervised. His agreement had been that he would the the onsite general contractor. When he did make his infrequent visits, all he did was make a quick walk around, never saying anything to his subs.
And as for the site being cleaned each evening by his son, never happened. My husband and I were the ones cleaning the area, picking up a ton of wasted material out of the dumpster.
Oh, and guess how many steps you have to climb no matter which entrance to the home you use - 3. He took it upon himself (didn't discuss it with us) to raise the house because he thought it would look better with the house to our west!
If you're wondering how many issues we had when we built our custom home in Georgia, the number was 5 and that home was almost twice as large as the one built by Mr. Schrader.
I hate to put out a bad review for anyone, but after the experience we had, I felt obligated to future home owners to caution them. read more
