Charlotte Home Builders

"The only thing I would say is that the hardwood they put throughout the house is probably the softest hardwood I have ever had. I paid the builder extra to put this in the house but it is very vulnerable to dents and scratches. If I had known it was going to be so soft, I would have had them take carpet throughout the house and done the hardwood myself ...more as time and money permitted. I had some big disappointments from their subcontractors, especially the furnace guy. Also, a piece of flashing was missed so there was a leak in the roof. I would probably use them again because I've seen them building good houses for 20 or 30 years in Canada. They have a good reputation and they are building houses down here like they like to build in Canada."

"I was very pleased. The workers were very friendly and highly skilled. They worked over a period of two days to perform an extensive amount of work (as noted above). The price was phenomenal compared to other quotes we received. They did a good job cleaning up after themselves and in assuring the quality of the work. We would definitely use them again."

"Experience has been very good (still going). All pricing was presented in advance. Workers are focused, jobs are completed on-time and the jobsite remains very organized. It is a great help to have experienced opinions and creative concepts from people who understand what is involved. This is my second major rennovation and the key is finding a ...more team like

that takes whatever time is needed to plan the end result."

"To put a long story short, we ended up with a beautiful new home with 11 piers missing from the foundation, pages of code violations, hundreds of unsightly nail pops, and floors that are significantly unlevel. We ended up in litigation against the contractor, won an award, and they have refused to pay. They have set up different companies and are ...more still building and selling homes now. The Code Enforcement Manager for Mecklenburg County has documented all the structural issues and code violations and it?s a matter of public record. We hired

in Apr 08 to build our dream home. We had begun working with them in

. 07 to confirm the property we were looking at was feasible. We decided to take down the existing house and reuse what we could.

, the General Contractor,

up plans for a new home based on our input and we were very happy with the plans for the new house. We signed a contract with them to build the house in Apr 08 and then closed on the property later that month. The build began in mid-May 08 and we were told it would take 6-7 months to complete, so Nov-

08 was our expectation. At the contract signing the date on the contract was Feb 15, 2009 and when asked about this date,

told me that they had that date listed only if there were acts of god that were beyond their control, but that it would still be 6-7 months. Within 3 weeks of the start of the project we received an email from

saying that they had accidentally found the septic tank when digging the footers, as well as more damage to the band sills than they expected, so we owed them an additional $4.5k. We felt strongly that since they designed the house, had recommended we move to city water, that they should have looked for the septic tank before they started digging as part of their due diligence, and that they should have planned on this. They walked off the project and we ended up signing a settlement agreement where we shared the cost (they took the majority) and they started work again after a three week work stoppage. Things continued to get worse. Their customer service was poor, almost treating us as if it was their home and how dare we meddle. We argued over the reuse of the existing hardwoods, which had been planned, but when they took the walls down they were too damaged to reuse. We ended up signing a change order for new hardwoods and then found out their wood sub had already advised them the existing hardwoods could not be reused. We also had arguments over fans (too noisy or didn?t cover enough capacity) and finishes (tile and paint) done during freezing weather with no heat provided for in the house. (We had a cold spell where it got down to 18F that Fall and many of these finishes require a minimum temperature of 45-55F.) As a result we received many emails from

, the partner who managed the business side of things, berating us personally when we questioned their practices. Needless to say, they branded us as difficult customers and whenever we made a request they didn?t like their subs conveniently left our house empty for days at a time. I had never met two people so arrogant in my life, as if who were we to question them? I mean, this was the biggest investment we?d hope to make in our lives and we wanted it done right. In the Fall it became apparent the house would not be finished in November. When I discussed this with

he rebuffed my questions by saying of course it?s Feb. (What about the 6-7 months we had originally been advised?) We felt they were holding our home hostage and punishing us for being difficult customers. Note, another slightly larger new house in our neighborhood was built with a start date around the same as ours and the family moved in to the house in early December. We terminated our contract with DVDG in March 09 when the house was still not finished and they refused to give us a project plan or commit to finish the house. We hired another contractor to finish the house and moved in to the house in late March. Within weeks, our foyer started sloping downward and we suspected there were structural issues. We contacted the Engineer of Record, who refused to come out to the house. We hired another structural engineer who looked at the localized area and identified a few piers missing. We had the house jacked up, and three piers placed where they should have been per the plans left onsite. Our case went to arbitration and during his testimony,

testified among other things that: - he wasn?t aware of any piers missing and if they were missing we would have found it during the punch list walkthrough. - he wasn?t required to make the first floor level because it was built on an existing house but he ?made the second floor level? (when measured there was a two inch drop on the second floor over approximately 25 feet, which far exceeds the industry standard allowance for levelness) - he explained he left out a second double joist under our kitchen floor because we decided to not put in the kitchen island at the time. He did however, stand with me with my cabinet design in hand (which included the future island) to measure where the lights above where our non-standard-configuration future kitchen island would be, and then had his electrician install the lights above the ?island where he didn?t know where it would be?. We didn?t know the full extent of the missing pier situation (a total of 11) until after our arbitration case was over and the county came out to do a full inspection of the house. It turns out, the plans our house were built to were not those that were approved by the county. In addition, structural components that were shown on the plans as ?existing? from the old house and that had been planned to be reused, were not there. For instance, the plan called for using the existing 2x10?s, and they didn?t exist. They were existing 2x8?s, which leaves us with very bouncy floors. Overall, our experience with DVDG was horrible and we have lost a lot of money. They are very charming and can talk their way around anything. Previous clients who also had bad experiences never documented their issues because they wanted DVDG to fulfill their warranty obligations. We have always relied heavily on recommendations and would like to prevent someone else from having a similar experience to ours."

"Mr. was very patient with me during the estimate time period, as I was trying to decide how much work I wanted/needed them to do for me. Their communication was absolutely terrific throughout the entire process. Never did I ever wait for a return phone call. They were always easy to discuss possibilities and methods to ensure ...more I was happy with what the plan was going to be. The estimate was professionally prepared, and they walked my through it line by line. They had a dumpster and a

dropped off for the duration of the project. Every time something was to happen they called to let me know and to make sure I was ready. Their day began at 7:30 am sharp each day, and they were there, got to work right away. They cleaned up the site daily before quiting for the day. I was impressed with the group's carpentry skills and workmanship, I had usually 2-3 adept workers at all times.

and

mostly. If they ran into anything unexpected that needed a decision made we discussed immediately. They were all very polite, did not smoke, and hardly took breaks. They made the most of their working hours. Everything went very smoothly. Had to wait on the windows, manufacturer was slower than anticipated. Mr.

and his supervisor

were good at taking care of the tick off list at the end, making sure I was completely satisfied. Which I was. We also used their recommended painter and was very impressed with them Overall Rich

has a very experienced crew as well as a great overall customer understanding. No surprises in the final cost of the project. I would not hesitate to use them in the future and would recommend them to all."

"He is unbiassed he is a man of his word he exemplary with his job. Haven't met a person like that does his work with pride and professionalism and gets straight to the core of things, pinpointing the smallest details so that people can make a good decision without worries. Thank you You are the best. ...more /NYC/NC"

" Manducy is the man we dealt with. They are incredible builders. This is an amazing house with quality construction. The only problems we've had were really with the audiovisual. We specified some things that they didn't quite get. We have to retrofit some things that we shouldn't have had to. Everything has been real quality. ...more They are extremely neat. They do very good work and they are pretty prompt. It took longer than it was supposed it. I would highly recommend him and he is a real craftsman. He only takes on a few projects at a time. He takes incredible pride and ownership of it. He kept coming back to make sure that things were right and he got them right. As a result of working with him, they had to do some grading. He put us in touch with the landscaper he uses when he builds houses. We closed on the house in August and the work wasn't completed until October. He was very professional and we would absolutely use him in the future."

" is down to earth and delivers everything he promises. His quote for our project was substantially less than everyone else's (we interviewed a half dozen builders at least). His references were excellent and we went ahead with our project with as our builder. We were a little unnerved at first because ...more

doesn't put every detail in writing and we'd heard horror stories of cost overruns with home additions/remodelling usually due to

expenses. It turns out, if

says he'll take care of it, he will - and he doesn't nickle and dime you for it. We acutally would have have come in under budget had we not changed our minds and used stone instead of brick on the new porch. The crews he uses are mostly very good. Some punctuality issues with a few of them. Overall, they were courteous and did very good work. We finished in the time frame he promised and couldn't be more satisfied with the results. My only complaint is clean-up. At the end of each day, there was usually quite a mess. As each phase of construction ended, the mess would get cleaned up, but it would have been nicer had the crews cleaned up more frequently. That said, if you're looking for a contracter who does outstanding work, is personable, reliable and honest (not to mention fairly priced) then you can't go wrong with

."