I'll spare you the basics. We picked Windsor Homes to build us a home on our lot.
We visited the build site once in a while as at the time we were from out of state. I had noticed that the sump pumps were running an awful lot. About every 1 to 2 minutes. The water was just ejected out on the ground on one side of the house. The sump water was also flooding the area of the septic tank and the drain field. It made quite the mess. See photos.
We were also supposed to have a 10' island in the kitchen. We were notified that the cabinets and countertop would have to be about 6" shorter because the color granite we chose doesn't come in that big of a size. Ha, ha. This isn't my first rodeo. It took me about one minute to find slabs longer in the color we wanted online. They were available in Indianapolis. I told Windsor that but it didn't matter. Making us happy didn't seem to be a priority. I thought they were building us somewhat of a custom home. Apparently not.
One other thing about the cabinets. When it came time to pick cabinet style, etc. we were asked if we wanted soft close hinges. I asked how much more would that cost. We were told somewhere in the range of $1200-$1500. We said no. When the cabinets were installed, we were surprised that they had soft close hinges on them. I told my wife I was going to contact the cabinet maker and see if soft close hinges were standard on their cabinets. The cabinet maker said they were standard. Sure glad we didn't pay $1500 for something we were already going to get.
Moving day is fast approaching. Windsor said they would have a cleaning crew come in to clean everything. I think it was a crew of one. Not sure what was done. The wood floors were dirty, the granite countertop in the kitchen dirty. Windows dirty. You get the idea. We don't know what they did that made anything clean. I suppose we may have been spoiled when we had a home built back in 2013 in another state. When we walked in to that house, everything sparkled.
When we moved in I took some photos around the outside of the house. See photos. It wasn't what I was expecting. I thought that a rough grade is to be done around the house to have dirt slope away from the house to keep water away from the foundation. I asked why it is so rough. Looks like a bunch of mud boulders. Said it rained that day. They should have redone it on a dry day. I asked, but that didn't happen. Certainly can't bring in topsoil over that to plant any grass. All that would have to be fixed first. I asked Windsor about it and their response was that they didn't do a good job of explaining what 'rough grade' is. Gee, thanks. I watched six other homes be built in our area. All of those six were by builders other than Windsor. All of those had a nice 'rough grade' that was smooth enough to just bring in topsoil and seed. I even contacted a couple of those builders to make sure that is just the way they finish their builds and I was assured it was. It was just part of what they do to finish a home. All done with just a 'bobcat'. No physical labor other than driving the bobcat.
Now, back to the sump pumps. I contacted Windsor about the mess with the water going into drain field and now actually going over into the neighbors yard. They did have their contractor come back out.
He did bury the gutter downspouts and buried the sump water right out of the house to drain out the back. The water was just pouring back into the ground right next to the foundation because of the sloppy work of not connecting the pipes together correctly. He came back out again, and once again not done right. I just hired another contractor that I chose. The contractor I hired also found that Windsor's contractor used perforated pipe on the downspout that is closest to the sump pump ejector area. The rain water was coming out right next to the foundation. The contractor I hired fixed the problems at my expense to the tune of $600. Sure, I could have had the Windsor guy come back out on their dime, but sometimes you just know that isn't the best way to go. This was one of those times.
Our home came with a one year warranty. Nearing the end of the year, we contacted Windsor about a couple things. The two newel posts were not plumb and the bedroom door had to be cut at an angle at the bottom otherwise it would not have opened all the way up. It just didn't look good. The door would have stopped opening because of an uneven floor. Windsor sent their young representative out to have a look. He mentioned the newel posts were pretty bad. He wasn't sure about the door that had to be cut at the bottom to close correctly. About 3 weeks went by. Hadn't heard a thing. I sent them a message and the rep told me that they were waiting to hear from contractor and have some information for us the next day. Later the same day we got an email that said those two things are within Windsors standards and they won't be doing anything about it. read more
