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Mainvue Homes Review
Mainvue Homes is a newer builder in the Seattle area. My fiance' and I were drawn to their homes due to their unique home designs; we wanted something just a little different. When we decided that Mainvue homes was what we wanted, we were able to go to their main homesite center, called the Bridges, and choose from 11 different pre-built home designs which was nice. We picked out a home model and a color scheme as well as a small development that they were building homes on. That's probably about where the positive part of our experience ends. If I had known what the process would be like buying a home from Mainvue, I would definately look elsewhere. My two biggest issues with Mainvue homes is the extremely poor communication between our main contacts during the actual home building (the sales center), the person supervising the construction and us. The sales center never had accurate information with regards to where our home construction was which we simply checked by going to the home itself. They were often short and often had incorrect information. The main issue of my disatisfaction with Mainview homes would be their construction quality. They tell you that they build with attention to detail and keeping their customers happy. We just performed our final walk through inspection and I was expecting minor cosmetic issues, but I wasn't expecting the majority of walls to be out of square (to the point where they agreed they needed to fix them). Their actual initial response to our complaint of crooked walls and ceilings was "that's normal". Normal.... Normal.... I know quite a few people who are either in construction or deal with it on some level and they either laughed their ass off at that comment or said "That's B-SHIT!", which I agree with. Cabinets not true or hung square or flush. Exterior roof boards so dramatically warped their response when I pointed it out was "Oh, we have to just replace that. There's no way we can fix that board". DUH. Deck posts that had a twist to them, probably 20'. I asked "is that because lower grade wood is used for decking?" The response was "no, it's actually supposed to be good quality/grade lumbar". I told him I'd hate to see what poor quality lumbar looked like. replace it. The list goes on. Between extreme lack of caring for doing a job with any level of pride by the sub-contractors and piss-poor communication I would give Mainvue homes a 1 out of 6 stars, simply due to the designs....
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Well, Charlie B, that is just awful. Stick to your guns and make them fix everything to your satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's pretty bad, I hope you can get all that taken care of without anymore hassle than you've already went through.
ReplyDeleteGood luck.
Any update on the house issues since this post? I've checked them out and the houses seem nice, so I'd really like to hear more from an actual buyer. My only question is if you had an agent or did this on your own?
ReplyDeleteCould you post a update on your Mainvue home. We thinking about buying a home with them.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Not that it matters but I'm curious which of their communities you bought in. I'm having an almost identical experience with them at their Stonewater Creek community.
DeleteWe purchased in the Carrington Point development. I'd like to hear what issues you had. (Sorry about the late reply!)
DeleteHello, thought i'd post a follow up on our home purchase through Main View. As I stated in the main post, we had several issues with our home- the biggest issue to me is lack of quality control, in addition to the process that Main View employs during the home construction process. One of the items that really struck me as odd was that they have home buyers sign off on the home before the home is 'complete' i.e. before they fix all of the items on your final walk-through list. Meaning, you have to sign their paperwork if you want the home, even if there are still major repairs to be done. "oh don't worry, any problems will get fixed".
ReplyDeleteOn our final walk through we found quite a few items that were wrong. As I said the minor cosmetic things I expected but again the lack of attention throughout the house... I just don't get it.
-toilet paper hangers crooked or loose
-incorrect gutter install
-incorrect master tub install with a botch grout patch
-horribly warped board on roof line
-crooked walls. I mean.. CROOKED
-paint lines that were crooked at the wall-celing line
-carpet pad is not same quality as model home, and in the -middle of master bedroom there's a patch of missing pad under the carpet
-poor quality lumbar on deck
-discrepancy between Main View and us on exposed wood at roof line-below shingles-by gutters. inspetor we hired said it should have metal flashing. Main view said- No, we don't do that. It's not necessary. nothing we can do.
-During our final walk through inspection every item we pointed out was met by "I don't know what we can do about that?" I mean every item. It was even said by Main View rep when I pointed out the crooked paint line. I looked at the guy and said "seriously?! give me a paint brush and by hand I can get it straighter than this (pointing at the crooked paint line). He said, "well, I'll point it out to my painter but...I don't know". I watched direclty after our inspection was over and he spoke with his painter and the painter said "oh yeah, that's easy no problem I can fix that". The Main View inspection rep wasn't some idiot either. He has been in home construction for many years, with Bennet homes.
Bottom line is that I just want to let people know ahead of time- don't expect high quality, don't expect organization, expect average across the board, unlike their marketing brochures, websites, etc...
postscript... we are allowed to schedule return visits with Main View for the following year to fix items- cracked walls, nail pops (both normal, I agree with them on that), items breaking, etc... so I will provide follow-up emails on that process.
ReplyDeleteBesides all the issues you had, how is the house going now that you've settled in?
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at Mainvue's website and the quality and style of the houses look very nice compared to a lot of other builders in the area. After reading your review I'm not so sure though.
Besides all the issues you had, how is the house going now that you've settled in?
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at Mainvue's website and the quality and style of the houses look very nice compared to a lot of other builders in the area. After reading your review I'm not so sure though.
My input on this..hmmm Well, the homes always look impressive. We were sold on the designs... Of course, you have to pick out the home you want and then IT has to be built. They are like all the other builders- they are going to try to save money where they can and with our home build they obviously saved money in the construction of it. Thank God we had the ability to periodically check the home while it was being built. If we hadn't I am POSITIVE> PPOOSSIITTIIVVEE < some issues would not have been found and we would have had to bear the burden a few years down the road. I had a Quadrant home built from the sticks (I know, Quadrant?!) and it was constructed much better than this one. Just beware I guess...
DeleteShould we purchase a new MainHue home?
ReplyDeleteHello Henry,
DeleteShould you purchase a ManVue home? Well... For me it comes down to the details. I guess it depends on how detail oriented you are and what is acceptable to you on a personal level. If I had it all over to do again knowing what I know, I most likely would not be in this home... I would have continued to shop around. Knowing what I know now, I would have researched quality of construction and made a decision based on that.
MainVue Homes: more blogging to report! Part 1
ReplyDeleteHello, I thought I would follow up on our MainVue Home purchase- or rather some more (grrrr!!!) issues we've had recently. It all started about a month and a half ago when I noticed some funny brown circular spots growing on the sheetrock walls in the garage....
Brown Spots??? Luckily I DID happen to notice these funny spots. The spots ran up and down the length of the garage wall from ceiling to the cement floor- a wall/corner adjacent to the pantry- by our garage door to the house. My wife emailed and called in to MainVue Homes about these funny spots. They sent a customer service rep out to check out the spots. We were concerned that it could be mold! The rep met us one afternoon at our home. Her initial reason for the now confirmed mold was that our whole house fan in our upstairs laundry room's automatic fan was not functioning. (WTF??!!!). "oh yeah, if the timer isn't turning that fan on 4 times a day, moisture can accumulate in the garage and cause surface mold growth". I explained I'd never heard of that before, I've owned several homes without these fans/timers and no issues- additionally we don't even park our cars (adding moisture in the winter) in the garage. She said we could simply wash the walls with bleach (these are unpainted sheetrock walls, mind you). I wasn't satisfied with that resolution so she said she would agree to have the affected sheetrock replaced, and in-house fan timer switched replaced. In my mind I knew that when this work would be done we would be able to see in the walls and most likely where/why the mold was growing. I pointed out my first thought of the culprit- the roof directly above the affected wall creates a valley and potential water collection or access for water to penetrate the walls. She almost assuredly said this was not the issue here. "but if it would make you feel better, I will have our roofer come out and take a look at the roof". Uh, yeah, ya think??!! Of course, when the sheetrockers came to remove/replace the moldy sheetrock (I'll add that MainVue will only schedule repairs Mon-Fri, 8-5) we were instantly able to see once the sheetrock was removed that yes indeed, there was water intrusion inside the wall, coming from the ceiling/roof. On the day MainVue scheduled the sheetrockers, they also scheduled Bob's Heating & Air Conditioning company to look at the water heater which was directly next to the wall to make sure it had been installed correctly, and MainVue's roofing subcontractor. Bob's rep was on time, as well as the sheetrockers (8am). The roofer finally showed up at 6:30 pm! only 10.5 hours late is all. He added some flashing to fix the roof leak, and had said he would have the rain gutter installers come out to do some re-routing of a portion of the second story gutter that was draining directly at the water leak location. I'll add that this was only done after I point out that with the current design of the gutters, and the amount of water flow that was coming out that particular gutter (all water from front half of second floor roof) it would be a matter of time before that water flow would eventually wear down the roof shingles and create more water damage. I'll discuss the gutter work later.
....end of part 1
Hi! Sorry to hear about your troubles with the qc at Mainvue! My sister and parents are looking to purchase in the Mainvue Parkhaven community and I'm surprised to find this...is there anything else I should be telling them to watch out for? They've already delayed completion by saying that they're backed up on "permits"...thanks for any advice!
ReplyDeleteHi Andy,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your problems, we had the same when issue with permits too. In addition, we had a problem with getting them to finish our home. It was supposed to finish the beginning of October, but they wanted a "buffer" of two weeks "in case they ran into unexpected delays". Well, they took all of those two weeks two. This was a huge issue for us because we had to have the house closed before we got married, which was the 21st of October- we were getting married in Kuaui and were leaving a few days before that. So we did end up closing but had one weekend instead of two weeks to move in. Again, there communication was horrible between sales, construction, etc... No one would tell us the same thing with regards to progress or when we could expect the home to be finished... If you read the rest of my blog, you will read things to watch out for. I guess it depends on what kind of quality you expect out of a home this price. I believe that people should do their best no matter what the price but I'm afraid I am old fashioned in that respect. I pay attention to details, and from what I saw in our home- their construction guys do not. Period. Can't say that enough... Good luck if it's Mainvue or someone else!!!
...PART 2- AND TO CONTINUE OUR WATER DAMAGE ISSUE WITH MAINVUE HOMES:
ReplyDeleteLong Story Short. The fix of our water intrusion/mold issue is coming to an end, albeit with plenty of aggravation. Here is the list of things that had to be done:
1. sheetrock in the garage replaced
2. fix of roof where water was coming into walls
3. sheetrock replaced inside the house, in the pantry (wall adjacent to affected garage wall). This required removal/re-installation of installed shelves in pantry.
4. the sheetrock work required our water heater to be removed and replaced (twice) so the sheetrockers could do their work
5. spray for mold. MainVue rep 'assured' us (another assurance!) that the mold was contained, the spray is all that was needed.
6. in-house fan timer switch replaced. **MainVue Homes customer service rep said that Bob's Heating & Air Conditioning company fixes that- they install all the HVAC for MainVue. Spoiler alert- WRONG! Only a licensed electrician can replace switches like that!
7. gutter work done.
All told this work will take 6-7 days. Again, all work sheduled by MainVue will only take place mon-fri, 8-5. I bring this up again because every day this work takes place, one of us (my wife or I) has to be in the home while the work takes place. Every day that my wife is home for the repairs is time without pay from work. Every day I am here is vacation time used up. This upsets- no, it realllly pisses me of- because I use my vacation time when my kids visit me in the summer- so this is days taken away from me with my kids. So even though this is warranty work and MainView Homes "agreed" that it is warranty work and will repair it, our new home is costing us in time from work well over $1000. That is even with family members staying home for some of the work for us.
Broken Promise?? When the MainVue rep initially came to see the moldy garage walls, she assured us they would do everything they could to arrange the necessary work to impact our work schedules as as little as possible. When the scope and scheduling of all the work actually took place, MainVue Homes then said that absolutely not they would not schedule work evening or on weekends. Hunh? But the rep said? But we? Dammit! Issues we've had with MainVue sub-contractors? Going to the incorrect house. At least 2 or 3 times work has been scheduled, the MainVue subs went to the wrong house, had been "knocking on our door, ringing the doorbell for over an hour". Meanwhile, one of us had been home the whole time, waiting for them to arrive. This has caused quite a few hours of phone calls back and forth between my wife and I, MainVue customer service rep, and the subs. The wrong house??? We have a street address, and a street. Simple. WTF are people really that ignorant? We had to finally tell the MainVue rep to MAKE SURE to tell the subs to MAKE SURE AND GO THE THE CORRECT ADDRESS AND STREET. There is a 301st Ct and Street. They were going to the wrong one. We've had to do the follow up on a lot of this work and scheduling. Other than that issue, just some crappy workmanship, nothing big. (?)
(END OF PART 2)
PART 3 (sorry, I have to enter this in sections due to length)
ReplyDelete"The Contract Says..." This is MainVue's response when we asked for work to be scheduled evenings/weekends. The 'contract says' work will take place mon-fri, 8-5. Well....I understand the added cost of having subs work off-hours. I realized purchasing a new home that issues would arise- known issues with settling of a new home and what-not. I didn't mind a few days spread throughout our first year that we would have to take days off for these pre-known potential problems. But I really thought MainVue's sticking hardfast to this rule, albeit maybe within their legal rights, was pretty shitty when it comes to customer care. At my job, when we have a customer who isn't pleased- or even before that happens- we go beyond what we are only 'required' to do. Must be old fashion or something. MainVue Homes current owners or potential/future purchasers beware; ALL work that MainVue may have to do to your home after you purchase it will take place during normal business hours. Any outside costs associated with any repair work (lost wages for time off of work)- F you homeowner, eat it! Just be happy we're fixing our shitty workmanship!
Extrapolate. OK, Mark, it's only a few days of lost wages and the problem is getting fixed, quit your bitchin, right? OK, yeah, I see that point...to a point. What happens if our water damage occured on the second floor of our house, and we hadn't discovered it as early as we did? Two floors of walls to be redone, carpet, cabinets, etc.... How many days would that take? How many days of work would we have had to miss due to MainVue Home's hardline stance of "work will only be done Mon-Fri, 8-5". How much would that cost us? HOW MUCH WOULD THAT COST YOU!
The Work's Almost Done. So, our water and MainVue Home's mold issue will hopefully be completed in two days from the date of this blog. What I have really started doing now is noticing ALLLL of the work still to come to the house- the typical things that need fixing during the first year of a new home build- cracks in walls from settling, grout cracking, caulking coming off, etc... And oh boy, do we have our fair share of that coming! Why not schedule that now at the same time? Well, you want as much time during that first year to pass before getting the common issues like this fixed. We have plenty of wall and grout cracks. And chrome coming off and door handles. And caulking coming off in the shower. If we get some of it fixed now, there will definately be more to come so later, so you wait until hopefully all of the deficiencies will be showing and have it all worked on at the same time, closer to the one year purchase anniversary; instead of fix this crack. then fix this crack. then fix this caulking. then fix this grout. (actually the caulking is something I will have addressed sooner as I don't want MORE mold and water damage occurring).
Take Them Up On Their Offer! MainVue Homes did say that they would give to us the estimated cost of repairs, and then we could go find our own contractors who work work on our time schedule. Sounds wonderful! :-) Sorry, but at this point... I'm just a little too MainVue Homes saavy. What happens in six months post repairs, if we have more water damage/mold in the same area? Who's gonna fix it then? MainVue Homes? The contractors we used? Uh, yeah...I foresee a lotta finger pointing and you know who stuck in the middle and eventually paying for everything on that one!
END OF PART 3
....AND, PART 4
ReplyDeleteBob's Replaces Switches? And That Gutter Work! So..yeah, the MainVue Homes rep scheduled Bob's Heating & Air Conditioning to replace the in-house fan timer switch. The unfairly accused reason for the mold. A Bob's HVAC rep shows up, not sure exactly what the true problem with the system is- in fact was told the fan wasn't working, and I tell him that no, in fact it's the switch. He says, oh, no, I can't replace that, I'm not a licensed electrician! I'd lose my job!!! OOOHHH, I'm sorry about that! You see, I would have I guess foolishly assumed MainVue Homes, who constructs these homes, would have known that! Silly me! Oh, so, yeah, another appt needed to be made to have a licensed electrician come out and swap out the fan switch. Thanks again for the confusion and extra lost time, MainVue Homes! You guys are sooo precious!!!! Now to the gutter work. The gutter re-routing gets done. I take a look at the work after it was completed (gutter guy was gone or I would have spoken to him). I'm like (Suprise!) WTF?? Who installed that crap on my roof!!! It looked like Joe Home Owner went to Home Depot, bought himself some stuff that looked like gutter, and screwed it to the existing gutter. It looks like it will help the problem, but ever the foreshadower in me, I think to the future... What happens when I go to sell my home... If I saw that and was looking to purchase a home, I'd say 1) that looks like SHIT! and 2) why is that hunk of SHIT attached to that gutter? What, were there leaks in the roof? What else is wrong with this MainVue Home POS?
Alright, I'll Just Stop There. phew! I'm tire of typing! Well to be perfectly honest I'm just effing tired of typing about my MainVue Homes problems! If you are reading this and have any questions at all about ANY of this, please don't hesitate to add a question/response. If further info you would like, we could probably arrange a phone conversation if you want more information on our delightful MainVue Homes home purchase!
p.s. We do like our home, it's design. I mean, we picked the design, the homesite, watched it being built from dirt to a fully finished (?) home. It's truly unfortunate that instead of blogging oN the problem's we've encountered I could have instead be blogging about some wonderful things about our home and the process.
Just an fyi it seems like there was some concerns with your home for sure but I can tell you first hand it sounds like they are at least addressing your concerns and fixing these items. I sued my last builder and still nothing accomplished. I would take that MainVue home with the concerns over the countless builders around here that truly don't give a crap. they have a customer svs team that actually cares it seems from your comments...Good luck
ReplyDeleteI second all of this! I bought a house in December in Oakleigh. So many things wrong with it. Completely shotty paint job from top to bottom. Foggy windows. DO NOT PURCHASE THE $495 SURROUND SOUND PREWIRE! We did this both upstairs and downstairs. They stapled the wires back and forth along the ceiling boards over a dozen times (no smurf tubes) and then covered that in insulation. After hours of trying to clear installation, pull loose the wiring, cutting our heads on the nails sticking out of the tresses--we finally gave up and started a wire install from scratch. Our biggest problem is we have repeatedly contacted the seller to fix things and there is NO REPLY. And the guy's blog is accurate--when there is a walk-through or some reply, it is "that's normal." They completely skimp wherever they can and take advantage of inexperienced new build buyers like myself. My lawn was laid down in freezing temperatures so the yard was never flattened down and is filled with ankle breaking holes. When the ground thawed, the entire place turned into a gigantic lake with standing water for days. I don't regret this purchase, but I often wonder if it was worth the half million I paid. Gorgeous floorplans! Spectacular windows! Nice fireplace. But they will SKIMP EVERYWHERE ELSE THEY CAN. And then be non-responsive. Speaking of, I better call them again to give them my list (like above, we have a list that easily fills an entire page) of major issues. I would still recommend the homes--just know what you are getting into and lower your expectations. (Another weird thing... They attach the fences directly to your house--nail it directly into the siding. Horrible idea for Washington State. Yet another thing, that I the buyer, now has to fix on my own dime because "that's normal". No, no it's not. Maybe the customer service team care, but certainly not the people that are meant to come fix the stuff that should've been built right in the first place. They guy who stained our fence completely missed the TOP of the fence. Stuff like that. It's like you need to be there 24/7 as they are working on things.)
ReplyDeleteI just submitted a list of 18 items for mainvue to repair under our warranty. I am anxious to find out how it will be handled. Stay tuned.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone. I have owned MainVue home for 3 months now. I start to experience the defects around the house. Floor squeaky, doors make noise when close and one of the doors we don't have to turn the knob and we can open it. The gutter on the outdoor room still has water in it after 3 sunny days. When take warm shower, moister build up on the fan and dropping onto the bathroom floor. We had Bob's Heating & Air Conditioning coming to fix it, but the guy found nothing wrong and moister continues to drop whenever i take warm shower. There are many of small things around the house which I think they should have done it better especially for house at $400K. And customer service is not good either. Whenever I ask for services, they treat like you buy stuff from Walmart.
ReplyDeleteAttractive blueprint, but poor quality built and bad customer service, i hope they get screw like they screw me.
Any recent purchases in mainvue any more feedback, we were looking at their house in Bellevue , but this thread scares me .. not sure if I should look at this as a one off or if this is a trend any pointers?
ReplyDeleteOk, so we moved into our Mainvue home at Parkhaven in Bothell. Worst decision of our lives! The quality of these homes...err...lack of quality in these homes is undeniable! What's funny is they get you with all the fancy finishes and keep you mesmerized by the idea of carefree "outdoor" living. Our home has so many problems, from appliances, to flooring issues that squeak throughout the home, walls off center, fixtures grossly off center and annoying neighbors we originally thought were decent people. Our plans are to move very soon. For anyone looking for a quality home, run, RUN FAST away from Mainvue!
ReplyDeleteAnybody purchases a MainVue Home in Bothell? What/How is your experience so far? How are they handling your concerns after you moved in? Anything i should be concerned about?
ReplyDeleteWe finished our contract and after seeing the comments in the blog, we are very concerned.
We got a pre sale home, which is yet to be built. Is there anything i can do during the construction process to make sure some of the problems do not arise?
Thank You in advance.
HI Kirthi: how is the MainVue experience?….Thanks/
DeleteDid you move into your new Mainvue home?. Are you also one of the dissatisfied owner?.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I toured the Mainvue homes in Bothell today. We were blown away by the design (as it seems many are), and decided to spend the last few hours reading reviews about Mainvue homes.
ReplyDeleteThis blog has been very informative and also supports the comments that several other Mainvue home owners have mentioned on other sites, such as poor quality, horrible customer service, and constant battles with the warranty department.
I am beginning to question the whole new construction purchase... :\
OMG…to come across a string like this AFTER I have signed a contract….uh oh! Getting queasy…better get the pink liquid.
ReplyDeleteOk, breathe. As with anything, …grain of salt. Posts for negative experiences far outweigh the positives, as it is the folks with negative experiences who are vocal, as opposed to satisfied customers who have to have their opinions solicited with a very low ratio of respondents. I see 28 comments on this string, and MainVue has sold over 1000 homes. So, indirectly, a 99.7%+ satisfaction rate.
From the poorest of us, to rich reality show stars, there will never be a shortage of complaints about experiences with homebuilders.
MainVue is the product of Australian homebuilder Henley, and Japanese financier Sumitomo, after buying local Seattle builder Bennett Homes, and a ~50 home sites in The Bridges community in Kent in early 2011 for ~$100k/lot (foreclosures from other builders having gone under after the bubble burst).
Moving from San Diego on a single income, homes close to the Seattle downtown area were either way out of our range, or old and too ‘lived in’, requiring too much updating and remodeling for us to want to wait for, much less afford, and a lot of eyesores to boot.
I came across MainVue having expanded my search criteria further from my work destination, and ended up making an offer on a MoveIn Ready home in the Vista Pointe community. Will move in soon, will see what happens, and certainly provide a followup post.
I must admit, I intentionally stayed with only move in ready homes, so I didn’t have to go thru the construction, delay, etc pain that others on this string obviously have, and feel fortunate. Our blue tape process only netted one serious defect in my opinion; that being a 6-7” joint crack in the master bath which led to a 5 minute back and forth with the inspector on what was “normal”. The explanation was that the sheet rock wasn’t actually connected to the frame in key places, so to allow the frame to expand and contract normally (because it inevitably does) without causing cracks. My comment was, well if that is so, why am I looking at a crack a month after construction was finished?
Interestingly, many of the items I see being the basis of negative comments (gutters not draining, standing water, moisture buildup, etc) were called out by the inspector when I asked openly what buyers’ negative experiences consisted of. His explanation was that many of the issues were concentrated to a single sub-C used early in the expansion process in the communities in north Seattle.
Bottom line, I love that I don’t have to worry about the previous owners’ cat having pee’d in a certain corner, or whatever, and that the home next to mine isn’t falling apart dragging down property values, because it is a new home. I am comfortable in my 10 year warranty, with “45 day and 11 month lists” of items that they will come out and fix for things not covered under the warranty. I pray that my customer service experience is not what I see talked about in this string, and that my view of Mt Rainier never gets blocked.
Experience - Amberton - Bellevue:
ReplyDeleteWe begun the process of acquiring the house in April 2014, attracted by the novel floorplan and the spectable of the model homes in ParkHeaven.
The sale agreement is not contigent upon home inspection before moving it, that is proably the single biggest mistake we made.
After the initial signatures, the process was a collection of mismanagement and mistakes.
Our `remodeling fee` check was initially lost, and then found a few days later (but, it had been cashed out immediately).
The meeting with a Mainvue representative to finalize floor-plant detail and color scheme went by like it never happened.
We have been inspecting the construction site every week-ned, and, in July, we found that the fireplace was placed in the wrong corner.
Upon complaining, we found that all the contract addendums that were signed earlier were lost, and, the representative was not to be found.
They had us to meet with thir representative to go over each missing addendums that we had that they did not have.
Along the way of the constuction, the outside framing of the windows on the south side was incomplete. Notheless, the house was fully painted, with a wall missig the siding.
They had to send somebody to finish frame and touch paint that wall later, leaving a poorly done siding, with barelin hanging panels.
In the kitchen, the tiles of the countertop went on of the wrong color, despite them being in one of the addendums.
In a cycle of mistake and correction, they were fixed.
Before moving in, we had the `home orientation` meeting, that I considered as a `homeowner driven inspection`.
We found 9 items, mostly missing paint, and have them written down.
Upon moving in, in Jan 2015, the house had a non functional garage door, and, 2 of the items in the list were not addressed.
Paint on the deck and fence was not done because of bad weather. Sorry, but, I did not choose the cloing date, and, if hte builder cannot finish, it should postpone.
The garage door is a saga of its own. The warranty department allows one claim withing 45 days with all the items, then, you are done.
The garage door technician that first came said that it was wiring, and, trimmed existing wires.
That did not work, and, a second technician came to re-wire the sensor to the engine.
But, the wire were stapled to the garage, and, not hidden behind the drywall as a new construction should have had.
Overall:
The company has been very umprofessional through the entire process.
Checks are not to be lost, and, contract addendums are not to be lost either.
Do not choose a closing date that works for your business schedule, if the construction schedule cannot keep up.
It is unacceptable that new homes are closed with open items, and, they are punted to the warranty department, that refused to do a `as new` work to fix them.
Is it worth buy new ?
Proably no. The savings on the realtor can only be used with a select pool of vendors for additional additions, not real savings.
The new construction is not contingent upon home inspection. Meaning, once you sign, you have no way out, and you have to pay penalty upo to 15% of the agreed sale price.
Having a builder build your house is no different than having contractors at your current place. They must be followed daily or weekly, since they have plenty of opportunity to do a mediocre work
I used to work for Mainvue homes. If you are looking for an alternative to getting your home issues addressed then I can help. I can inspect issues with your home and be a liason between you and the builder. I have years of experiance with building and customer service and can help you get these items or issues with your home completed in a timely manner.
ReplyDeletePlease feel free to contact me at dgut74@comcast.net.
I hate to read the negative reviews for Mainvue. Husband and I will soon be moving in to our home at the end of April in the Auburn, Edgeview area. I notice most of the complaints are in the northern areas. So far we have none. We go to our site nearly every weekend. The sales rep and other contacts for Mainvue have always followed through and we havent have any issues with misplacing checks etc and we've sent 3 checks to them and were a pain in their asses with always changing our change orders. They were always patient with us. Even with our multiple changes everything so far is complete with no issues. Before making the decision to go with Mainvue (because we saw complaints online) we asked random ppl in the neighborhood---no one had complaints. Some did say some fixes were needed but the warranty/customer service dept followed through. So i dont if the ppl they have up north need to be replaced but so far things are going good in the south area. Once we have our final walk through, I'll provide an update. There are some minor things we notice when we visit on the weekends (cosmetic) and we are making notes just in case its not fixed by time we have our final walk through. Just an FYI-I did hear when Mainvue first started about 4 years ago they did have a lot of issues because they couldnt keep up with the demand--i think for people starting construction mid 2014 and on are having better luck.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the north end it is the south end too. We have had many many problems. The list goes on and on. Sorry, good luck getting your items fixed, it's a life changing experience. Save all your vacation time as you will have to accommodate their schedule which is usually right during your work hours.
DeleteJust bought a mainvue home in bothell...we had our own hired inspector come take a look. He actually said it was one of the better builds he's seen in the Puget sound area. There were just several cosmetic issues such as sloppy paint jobs at the junction lines, areas missing caulking, and some doorknob issues. Perhaps mainvue admin is trying to do better? Granted, we did not have our house built from ground-up. We bought one that was already built, and important reason so that we could have an inspector check it out. I love the floor-plans, but don't really like how close we are to the neighbors. But that seems to be the case when you are buying new homes in new communities now -- houses built close to each other.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see you guys mention The sale agreement is not contingent upon home inspection before moving it, I believed that the BANK will not want to give the money for closing if their own inspection folks did not review everything to make sure the deal is good and the value is true to what you are borrowing against. What about city permits and inspections, is Seattle area that bad for inspections. Mainvue is in the Dallas-TX area now, particularly in Frisco where inspections are the worst nightmare for contractors, the city is great on making sure quality and policies are followed for safety the most, quality as standards are high. Can you comment on the inspection the bank requires and also the city inspections quality in your area ? I really want to buy this house here in Dallas for the Modern Design that you do not find anywhere. But at 700K it better be high quality. This blog is scary to say the least about Mainvue and I truly THANK YOU for taking the time to write so much about it for us readers/potential buyers.
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