Find Top-Rated Lansing Home Builders

Home Builder reviews in Lansing

• A

  O'Neal's Odds and Ends

  Prices were cheap, but don't let that fool you! These are knowledgeable professionals who went above and beyond for every job we hired then for. From finishing our basement, to cleaning our gutters, to building a privacy fence, O'Neals have been there for us when we needed them! If something wasn't done to our expectations, they always came back out and made it right! I will always call them first.
  - Kaline J.
• F

  Northtown Construction

  On the 8 July 2015, I entered into two contracts with Northtown Construction. One contract was for the tear off and installation of a roof of on my home and garage and the installation of a bathroom vent. The second contract was to replumb the kitchen and install a new sink, garbage disposal, faucet, and countertop. The work on the roof commenced the week of 17 August 2015. After the roof work was completed, but before the bathroom vent was installed, Mr. Young contacted me and asked for an appointment to inspect the roof work and pay the balance of the first contract. I felt comfortable doing this because there was another contract and it made sense that all the work inside the house be done at the same time. At that time Mr. Young told me that it would be approximately four weeks before they could return to do the interior work. The balance of the work for the first contract (the bathroom vent installation) was eventually finished on 8 December 2015. By then, I was so frustrated with my treatment that I no longer wanted to continued doing business with them. They usually did not respond to my phone calls, they could not give me an approximate time when my work would begin, when they could give me a date the notice was short (I worked two job at the time. I needed to give at least a week notice for days off), and on one occasion they did not come when they were expected to (I lost a day of work as a result). At our final meeting on 16 December 2015, they agreed, in writing, to void the second contract and return my deposit to me. Till today they have not returned my deposit despite signing a memo agreeing they would with a date by when I could expect the check. On top of this, my roof is leaking around the chimney. I've called them numerous voicemails and messages with staff to schedule an appointment to have them look (with me present) at it since the roof is under warranty. I told them I have pictures of the problem. I've been ignored. So now, not only do they owe me money, but they will not honor their warranty.
  - C L.
• A

  Wirt's Custom Built Homes Inc

  Wirt's Custom Built did excellent work at a great price, very helpful with suggestions and honest about cost for extra materials if changes were made. They are very personable and professional and got the work done right on schedule. I highly recommend this company, the quality of work is exceptional and attention to detail throughout the whole project was incredible. I have recommended this company to friends and family, and will be using their services again.
  - Kathie O.
• D

  Woodstone Builders

  There are ongoing problems with our house build with Woodstone Builders since our last review submitted May 24, 2016. Therefore, we are sending an update. Our original excellent condition kitchen counter was water damaged because of improper installation. We insisted on a new counter. Mr. Collar and the plumbing company tried to dig out the kitchen cabinet again (knowing it wouldn't work because the damage was done, made a bigger mess and finally ordered a new counter. It came in 2 pieces, was of inferior quality and the wrong shape compared to our original counter. We rejected the counter again. Our builder had us deal directly with the plumbing company on this problem. (The counter looked like something one might see installed in an apartment complex.) We said we wanted to be involved in choosing a new counter according to the counter we originally had and wanted Top Shop in Lansing, MI to do the entire project, tear out and installation,. Mr. Collar finally agreed to that. The week we moved in (the first week in April 2015), the floating wood floor in hallway started to squeak. Instead of looking into the cause of the problem, Woodstone Builders pounded 3 face nails into the floor in hallway. It got much louder throughout the summer throughout every room. We got with the manufacturer of the floor who sent to us a rep. from MI Inspection Service. He did a 20 page report of all that's wrong with the floor installation, including pictures. Mr. Collar wanted to check the floor out for himself, but never followed through on making a specific appointment to do it. We still have our very squeaky floor, even more so in dry weather. We're still questioning where $10-12,000 went. We only got verbal answers that don't add up. We remembered that he did special beam trim at the end of build, which he called at the time, a "gift". Recently, we realized we ended up paying for that instead of him and contacted him. He said that it was an oversight on his part and sent us a check for that. Over a long period of time, there's been no harsh words exchanged with Mr. Collar. He comes across as a congenial guy who you enjoy talking with. But, he has proven time and again not to follow through on details. For example, he was not current on codes. Also, he didn't measure the trusses when they came, so the house was out in the open and unprotected for 2 weeks in the winter while waiting for the right size trusses to arrive. As the project went on, we were under the impression that he had never built a whole house, except maybe his own. I (Burrell) am visually impaired and we hired him to be my eyes, but his "40 years experience" turned out to be for his benefit. None of this is our fault and we're not happy reporting on someone's work, but when you join Angie's List, this is what's required to let the public know your story. He's no longer responding to our requests to take care of the floor. He said he'd never walked away from an unfinished project but he did this one. So far, this project is not being resolved.
  - Burrell K.
• D

  Woodstone Builders

  We sent a letter to Eric Collar, on Jan. 19, 2016 detailing the events of the last few months of the building process. ��Eric had hired 1 worker to do the plumbing, furnace and heat ducting. ��Eric forwarded our letter to the worker's company. ��Issues in this letter included��the following:
  �� �� ��This worker and his helpers always used the front door of our house to get to their work area in the basement. ��They made so many trips with dirty shoes that the stairway was gouged to the point that it could no longer be stained. ��This worker demonstrated he had no respect for our property. ��Eric ignored it.
  �� �� ��We ordered 3 egress windows. ��2 met code and 1 did not. ��We had been looking at a potential 4 bedroom house, but now it's 3. ��Eric said the window that had been cut to meet code had to have wood trim. We called the basement company recently and they said concrete trim could have been used.
  �� �� ��Mr. Collar seemed confused on codes when putting in the stairway. ��Originally, we had planned for 1 door at bottom of stairway. ��Once the stairs were in, there��wasn't enough clearance between the bottom stair and outside wall. Eric realized his mistake and said he had to frame it in. ��We said, "OK" because we really had no other choice at that point.
  �� �� ��The problem��worker gave us a 3" sewer pipe without giving us an option of a 4" pipe. ��He put the main sewer pipe in the wrong place, causing a 6"+ sized hole in basement wall.
  �� �� ��Eric said we would get a Tappan furnace (highly rated), but later the worker installed a Rheem furnace instead. ��We found out later it hadn't been registered and worker hadn't done it himself and didn't mention anything to us to do it, so we lost 5 years of our warranty on the furnace. ��Once he had furnace running, he had to order a part that was missing and let furnace run hard as a space heater for 2 weeks waiting for the part so he could get the heat ducting in, which may have taken years off lifetime of furnace. ��Eric did nothing about this.
  �� �� ��Worker put the register in the wrong place in kitchen after being told several times it needed to be moved. Eric did nothing about this. ��
  �� �� ��The worker's helper (a novice) installed the bathroom vanity, but damaged it in the process. ��The worker never checked his helper's work. ��Eric resurfaced the floor in it to cover up the water damage which we approved, but we still ended up paying for a new vanity.
  �� �� ��The worker's helper installed plumbing in the kitchen which looks like a big pile of spaghetti under the sink and the worker never checked his work and Eric Collar didn't do anything about it. ��The helper didn't use clamps to tighten front of sink which damaged the counter. ��A rep. of the worker's company came later to check the work and said it was done wrong and couldn't be dug out and fixed.
  �� �� ��We said we needed 3/4" spigots on outside of house. ��The worker put in 1/2" spigots, noticed that the pressure was weak, but didn't change the size. ��This is not adequate for our ongoing blueberry "U-Pick" summer business.
  �� �� ��We wanted a water heater with 40000��BTU. ��The worker assured us our water heater would have (his words) "every bit that BTU". ��He put in a 36000 BTU. ��At this point, we let it go, because it was hard enough to get along Eric's worker��and we didn't want to make waves.
  �� �� ��As issues mounted during this project, we didn't even want to deal with the worker. ��We felt increasingly intimidated and didn't trust him. ��Eric Collar increasingly failed to support us in these conflicts. Mr. Collar wouldn't stand behind us. ��He always gave excuses for his workers and wanted us to fight our own battles. ��We don't know if the real problem worker intimidated Eric or Eric just didn't care. Eric did tell us that the worker no longer worked at that company, was let go. ��
  �� �� ��Lastly, we had over $16,000 of parts we already had before the project began��which��included, the well, septic system, kitchen cabinets and counter, 1 Andersen wall door, a bathroom vanity, water heater, light fixtures and mirrors. ��(The well and septic already here was��approved to use on the new house by the county.) ��We didn't know where that money went. ��We saved all paper work. ��We are still waiting for the counter to be replaced with the same counter we had, painting, bathroom door leveled out, and porch boards need to be replaced from last summer. I would advise to use financing through a bank on this type of project and not doing it out of pocket. That was our mistake. A bank would have stopped the project when it started going wrong. Even if you have cash, use a bank anyway.
  
  
  
  - Burrell K.
• F

  Northtown Construction

  I'll start from time Northtown Construction took the awnings from my home.  Subsequent to that time and not having heard anything, I started calling Mr. McKnight in early December.  Each time I called, with the exception of one call, I was told that Mr. Mcknight was out of the office and that he would call me back ... which he never did.  The only time I got ahold of Mr. McKnight was when he answered the phone himself when I called.  At that time, he did not provide me with any explanation as to the delay or what was going on, only that he would get back to me later that day with some answers.  He never called back and I left further requests for a call back which also went unanswered.
  On December 27, 2015, I sent an email to both Messrs. Young and McKnight expressing my frustration and concluding that since they had no intention of completing the contract that they were to immediately return and install the 2 existing awnings they took from my home as well as refund the $3,750 deposit I paid.  The next day, I received a call from Mr. McKnight apologizing for not getting back to me and he provided me with a schedule for the completion of the project.  He stated that the 2 existing awnings would be completed by the end of the week (by 1/1/16) and the new awning would be back from Sunesta in 10 days (by 1/7/16) at which time he would call me to schedule the installation of all 3 awnings.  I asked Mr. McKnight to put that in an email and send it to me, which he did.  In my reply to his email, I asked him to please let me know of any changes in the schedule he outlined.
  Everything went dark again.  I heard nothing from either Mr. Young or Mr. McKnight and in early February I began emailing Mr. McKnight to schedule the installation of the awnings.  After a couple of emails, I received a reply from Mr. McKnight stating that he was recovering from surgery and that he would have Mr. Young contact me.  I immediately contacted Mr. Young via email as well as by phone.  Again, no call back or response to my emails.  In my final email to Mr. Young, I indicated that it was clear to me that he never intended to, or simply could not , complete the job.  Further, that I needed to move on and demanded the immediate return of my awnings and the refund of my money.  As noted above,  since that time I have not received a response from either Mr. Young or Mr. McKnight nor have my awnings been returned or my deposit refunded.
  I want my awnings and money back.  Even if Northtown Construction were to present all 3 awnings ready for installation today, I have absolutely no confidence that the rehab work they said they would do was done or done correctly. Moreover, it is obvious to me that they would never stand behind any of the work they did or would even follow up on any request for warranty repairs (Northtown Construction a/k/a Young Sign and Awning is the only authorized Sunesta Dealer in mid-Michigan).
  
  - brian j.
• B

  Woodstone Builders

  The plumber they hired did not check his helper's work, resulting in the bathroom vanity being damaged and kitchen sink not installed right which damaged the counter top.  (We used the kitchen from our previous house because it was fairly new and in excellent shape.)  The counter top was fixed, but the damage is noticeable and we're already thinking of having a new counter top.  Also, we're not happy with the performance of the kitchen sink.  They should have had a kitchen specialist put the kitchen in, not handymen.  Also, they installed the blinds, but didn't shorten them.  The builder should have communicated choices on materials before they installed them.  Know who your builder uses to complete the work, because that's ultimately a reflection on the quality of the builder's project.  We'd rehire our builder for certain jobs.
  
  (P.S.: We have a few months left on the warranty.)
  - Burrell K.
• A

  Teachout Builders Inc & Teachout Roofing Inc

  I dealt primarily with Tailor Teachout during the build.  He and his workers/subcontractors were all very professional.  Tailor had many good ideas to offer and was able to provide flexible approaches to dealing with unknown issues as they arose (ex:  original post/beams posts under main deck were not dug deep enough and caused heaving over the last 2 winters).  Although the project lasted longer than originally projected, it was not much of an issue (I'd rather have things done correctly vs not taking the time to do so).  Tailor was also very responsive in dealing with minor fixes that were required after the project was mostly completed and he managed subcontractors in a prompt manner throughout the duration.
  My wife and I are very happy with the end result and would not hesitate to use Teachout Builders Inc. again for future projects.
  
  
  - Ronald C.
• A

  Woodstone Builders

  Eric and Stephan met with us initially to examine the project and give us an estimate of cost and time. They were very friendly and professional and it was obvious that they had experience with this type of work. We were able to subtract some money from the original quote by doing some of the work ourselves.ie: removing trim and picking up supplies. They were able to schedule the work within a few weeks. The work took all day, from 10am to 7pm, since installation of french doors is tricky. It involved a lot of shimming and levelling. They did an excellent job and we are so glad that we used Woodstone Builders. We are confident that this door was installed properly. They worked cleanly and efficiently.
  
  - Frances H.
• A

  Miller Building Co LLC

  They're very good. The communication is good. They listen. They advice you. They're very knowledgeable. They're reliable and good. They communicate very well. The quality and responsiveness are very good.
  - connie g.