The sales manager said all of our kitchen cabinets are 42", but we got intermingled with 36" cabinets. Also, the size of each room is specified in the contract. We were supposed to get hardwood floor for kitchen and breakfast area, which is adjacent to family room. We have carpet in the family room and now, the builder wants to save money by installing a carpet in the family room from 12'6"x 21'6" extending to 18"x21'6". That took away 6'x21'6" of hardware from the kitchen area. The builder refused to honor what was specified in the contract.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
I purchased a Brookfield home in April of 2008. The first day we moved in, I was doing a load of laundry. The laundry room is on the second floor and the water begin to pour from my ceiling, as a result of the washer not being hooked up. On the second year, my sink became completely unsealed from the granite counter top. So far, on our third year, my air conditioner leaked, resulting in complete damage to my carpeting in my finished basement. This was a result of not having had a drip pan or emergency shut off switch added to the A/C, which was supposed to come standard.
Then, a bird flew into our fireplace because the outside screen was never installed. The worst, and the most expensive issue, is the fact that my porch is falling apart. The porch is separating from my home. The stairs and rails are visibly shifting, my roof is slanting and the columns are splitting. The warranty company has rejected my claim, stating that the porch defects are not related to the structure. I am not sure how the columns, stairs and rails are just happening to be shifting in the same direction that the wood on the porch is shifting, if it is not structural.
In addition to this, the outside of my bay window is starting to gap in the seams of the woodwork and the nails are starting to come out of the frame. These major complaints make all the other issues of my home seem trivial: the woodwork that was dented and banged up before we moved in; a sliding glass bathroom door that was missing a wheel and almost fell off and landed on me as a result of this; and the front door handle that has been replaced once and is difficult to open. We also have a piece of siding that comes off when the wind is strong. I absolutely hate my home. I am the first homeowner in this development, and my home is a scary testimony as to what the other homes may look like one day.
In October my wife, son and I started feeling sick when in our home. Our new born son was not responding to us when we were in our home. Overtime things got worse and in December my wife and I got checked out thinking we had a lingering cold. The doctors reaction was you need to get in an ambulance and go to the ER right away. Our white blood cell count had reached 20000+ which is cancerous levels.
We thought maybe it had to do with the house so we went away for a few weeks and got better, even our white blood cell count was back to the norm. Sure enough when we came back to the home everything went down hill. Now it has been 4 months and we have not been able to live in our home. We have contacted Brookfield numerious times and they said we only had 1 year to report any issue. We are waiting for a response back from the bay area news media to get a spot on the prime time news to see if we can get some help from Brookfield.
We get sick, high white blood cell count, headache, feeling like a basball is in our chest when breathing more than a small amount.
First, we signed a contract to purchase a house. Well, it actually took three attempts at signing the contract. The first time, their representative actually walked out of the office to show another house while we were in the middle of it.
Later, we were having second thoughts about going through, when we mentioned that we were thinking about backing out, we were threatened that if we backed out of the contract, they were actively pursuing anyone who tried.
The lot was presented to us in one way, and what we got was completely different. There wasn't supposed to be a sidewalk, we have a sidewalk. We were supposed to get 20 feet of trees and bushes as a buffer to block the view of the ugly building behind us. What we got was a few bushes and trees with a large area of mulch. We were told we'd have plenty of room for a deck, and would be able to fence in our yard. What we got looks doubtful for either.
We also inquired about the utility bills for the house. We were not familiar with the county/town we were building the house, and we were inquiring about how much the utility bills would be. We were blown off twice. After moving into the house, the utility bills were so high that we cannot afford to live in the house. We have been paying $200 a month for water and $400 a month for gas heating. We were not expecting our bills to be that high.
What we were promised was high-effiency gas furnace (on print in the website and brochures) and what we got was not even an energy star.
We have serious issues with our HVAC system. Now they have decided not to do any more work on the house. They even told Masters (the contractor) not to come. We have been trying for SIX MONTHS to get them to fix the A/C unit.
The last thing they told us was to get an attorney and have our attorneys meet.
We have received high utility bills. We have received the run-around from Brookfield and Masters and the HVAC system is not in good working order. Our A/C has not worked since the first day we moved in. The house is six months old.
We purchased a new townhouse built by Brookfield Homes in 2004. Sometime after the purchase, we noticed that there was a leak in the master bath. It turned out to be that the shower was not installed properly and that the improper wallboard was not properly utilized behind the shower wall thus causing water leaks and mold under the shower, on the wall and through to the floor. Brookfield did pay to replace that and to repair the leak in the roof in the master bedroom and to fix the mold in the ceiling and wall and to replace the flooring in there...They did not pay to replace the clostet package that we had to replace that was in mold in the master bedroom closet...they refused..that room got ripped apart due to mold.
When my contractor began to start working on the rebuilding of the bathroom, he ripped out the bathtub as I was replacing it. When he took it out, we found that the mold had traveled to the oposite end of the bathroom wall and it was worse. We did not use that bathroom for more than 6 months..therefore no water from our bathroom caused this...WHERE WAS THIS LEAK Comming from?????
We also changed all the baseboards throughout the house and put in crown molding.When the baseboards were changed out, we found many other leaks throughout the house in addition to the windows in the loft leaking and two walls in the kitchen that are not installed level or crooked. There are other issues but not as large as this.
After two years of fighting with Brookfield homes, like them using unskilled workers, not gettin permits to work inthe city I live in, walking out on the job and asking us to sign our rights away in order to fix the house, or no deal and or telling us that they will tell us when the house is fixed not us...We have not gotten our house fixed and have not been able to use the master bedroom, bath or closet. This is off the wall horrible!
We also do not know if the bathrooms upstairs showers are installed properly.
In addition, when this house was being built, there was 8 to 9 pages of problems that are documented in the building part that the inspectors note. The county said this was more problems than they had ever saw!!
The PResident of Brookfield Homes is not a nice Person, he lies about fixing our house. Everyone says they will fix it and here it is over 2 years and it is still not fixed.
We recently filed a huge complaint at the contractor's board. The Builder said if I drop this complaint, they might fix my house...I will not drop this complaint.
I am warning anyone who will listen not to buy a Brookfield Home as they are not a very good builder but what you buy is what you get BROKEN and defective homes!
Our home has not been fixed for more than two years..it will cost at least $80-$100,000 to fix by the builder. Because it is not fixed, we have not been able to use the Master Bedroom, Bath, and closet, we are living out of boxes, carts, etc...This house is not an inexpensive home and this is ridiclous.
Because of this not fixing our house, we are not able to refinance it, sell it or even enjoy it...
Along with all this...the mold that was found in the master area was a danger to your health mold that the Builder downplays.
Mr. H ... I’m writing this letter to you the President of Brookfield Homes because we are not satisfied with the response and efforts of your representatives. Mr. H, we purchased our new home on December 23, 2003 and I’m sure that you are familiar with us and our experiences with Brookfield Homes that I like to refer to as the nightmare from Hell. We have had and are still having an abundant list of issues with the hard wood floor among several other items in this home. I’m writing to you about our dissatisfaction with the hard wood flooring since this is the only item that I’m being told is complete and to Brookfield’s specification.
We had noticed the flooring had large gaps in it before settlement, along with damaged planks. I was told by Charlie, your site Foreman at the time that the floors would be fixed. The flooring company (Floors Inc.) has come out several times, an independent inspector as well as representatives from Brookfield to inspect the condition of the floors. Floors Inc. and the independent inspector both agreed that the problem is with the sub flooring (the period our home was constructed was one of the wettest on record that we believe damaged the sub flooring). Brookfield has stated the flooring is within their tolerances and nothing else would be done. The flooring company has replaced some of the damaged boards, but the new boards do not match the wood floor originally installed and several of the large gaps that didn’t close over the summer months and were filled with putty which is now coming out of those gaps, leaving large open gaps in the flooring. There are numerous split pieces of boards that with time will cause splinters in our feet.
This house is less than one year old and if I were to place it on the market today, no purchaser would be satisfied with the floors and would be asking us to fix or replace the hardwood throughout the house before they purchased. I should not have to bare the expense of replacing the flooring in a house that is less than a year old and whose responsibility lies clearly with the builder. We have made every concession to allow these discrepancies to be corrected. We have been more than patient and are now at our wit’s end.
You have no idea how frustrating this experience has been for me and my family. To have a company initially tell you that they will take care of a defect or poor workmanship and now that we have settled with your company and you have your money no one wants to correct these problems. I’m not sure that you are aware of our situation but I can’t believe that you yourself would treat a customer in this way. Being a business owner myself, I know that ones reputation and that customer satisfaction are of utmost importance to your company success and that this is no way to treat a customer.
