Meritage Homes Reviews

Windows placed without proper sealing, windows said to have UV protection but do not, electrical wiring below spec, electrical panel with extremely cheap breakers, HVAC unit that took two years to correct (via legal action), water heater failed after two years, materials buried in backyard, paint jobs are beyond terrible, exterior bricks cracking, garage door framing not built/sealed properly, tried to charge for "upgrades" that were actually required by building code (very deceptive)... I could go on and on. The materials have not stood up to time. Trying to get Meritage to stand behind their product/warranty became so futile that I just fixed things on my own. Which is exactly what they want and how their business model works. Strongly recommend you look elsewhere if you're building new.

Then in 2016 the air conditioning and heating system went out again, once again covered under warranty and was replaced in several weeks at a time. Then this summer of 2018, the heating and air conditioning system went out again. This time We were told it was our problem. Meritage Homes just blew us off. I had a licensed contractor and well known company to install a new heating and air conditioning system. I contacted Meritage Homes and informed them that the ceiling in the hallway had to be taken out, just to get the new Air conditioning and heating system installed. I was told by Meritage homes that the ceiling was nothing but cosmetic and not part of the 10 year builder's warranty, including the heating and air conditioning system, that was our problem. We had the new system installed and is working fine but it cost us over $8,000.00 to get this work done.

Here we are a few days from Christmas, we discovered a major water leak in the exterior wall of our home. I called in a plumber, and he would not do the work for fear of voiding our Builder's Warranty. Once again I contacted Meritage Homes, I advised them that the siding on the house had to be removed to get to the leak. The response from Meritage Homes was that the exterior siding was cosmetic and not covered by the Builder's warranty, issued by Meritage Homes. I asked for a letter from Meritage Homes so that we could proceed with the repairs and removal of the siding of our home. All I got from Meritage Homes was an E-mail to proceed with the repairs. We did proceed and discovered major water damage to the structure and the insulation, the water did damage in our kitchen area behind our cabinets.

We also found some exposed electrical wiring in the exterior wall that was not in conduit as required by the National Electrical Code and the International Building Code, so that will be repaired. We got the leak repaired, now we have learned that water supply lines are part of a major lawsuit (NIBCO PEX) as being defective. Damage to the exterior wall and damage in our kitchen ceiling and interior. I also have a big machine in my kitchen trying to dry out the water damaged areas. Most of our dishes from our cabinets are in boxes. So I have tried several times to contact Meritage Homes. Well they are all closed for the Holidays and will not be back until January 2. A recording said if you need warranty work, send an e-mail and Meritage Homes will get back to you sometime in 2019. So far, my wife and I have spent over $10,000 for repairs to a home that was built in 2012/2013. So go buy a Meritage Home and good luck.

2) Communication is very bad and inhuman.

The company does not deal properly when a person says they are thinking of getting out of contract. It is one thing to take the entire deposit but how they talk and treat people is completely inhuman. I would not even deal with these people even if they give me home for a lot less price.

Our biggest grievance is with the electrical work. We did not want to cheap Goodman air conditioner units so we paid for the lineset and pre-wire so that better quality units could be added later. It took six years to put together the money and when our HVAC team went to turn on the units we found that there were no circuit breakers installed and that there was not enough room in the panel to accommodate the required breakers. A little more poking around in the breaker box and we discovered that the A/C wires had been tucked in among the breakers, but left loose and not hooked up to anything. The electrician had tucked the wires away behind the cover panel so that it was not obvious they were present. It cost us an additional $1,000 to have a new sub-panel wired in so that the A/C could be wired up to the 2012 building code our house fell under.

Meritage would not discuss the problem over e-mail and were never around when I would call back. So we lodged a complaint with the BBB. The final response was that we were out of warranty and a larger electrical panel was not required because we had an unfinished basement. If the statute of limitations was not exceeded by about six months at the time we would have sued Meritage for fraud. Charging us $1,200 for a line-set and prewire strikes me as fraudulent when the prewire is not actually connected to any breakers and therefore unable to be energized.

The one positive is that in our case the bones of the house have been solid. Perhaps that is the most important detail. Perhaps. We have put more than $20,000 into fixing the various items Meritage skimped on and it would be a lot more expensive if I did not do much of the work myself. The aforementioned electrical work for the A/C is a prime example: the larger breaker box would have cost $75 retail and then four breakers need to be installed so Meritage cheaped out on maybe $150 worth of expenses so we could be hit with a surprise bill for $1,000 down the road. I would not buy another Meritage home and I suspect that we were luckier than most and got one of their better built homes.

The previous work on tears were not fixed until I pushed them to. When I was pointing out those issues, Meritage was saying I was bringing up lots of issues as if I should ignore them. Then they started pressuring me to close without getting other after construction issues resolved. They said they will fix all those after closing - that now seems like a big lie. Issues which I have being pointing out for more than a month after closing have not yet been resolved. Word of advice - with Meritage do not close until all issues are fixed. Yard is very bumpy such that kids cannot run around without tripping.

Dryer needed repairs (changing drum and side panel) after very first run - Meritage said they will not replace dryer but ask Whirlpool to repair it - so I paid price for new dryer but getting to use a repaired dryer - more like Meritage sold me "refurbished" for price of new - and I am still waiting for the repairs after more than a month after closing. Word of advice - run a full load before closing to confirm if you are getting a bad appliance or not. Shower enclosure leaks from corners. Underground water valves outside are covered in thick layer of dirt, due to neighboring home construction, such that one has to dig through thick dirt to get to the valves. As I have been asking for all these issues to be resolved, I want to meet with Meritage to discuss them, but they try to avoid meeting with me and not respond to emails.

Meritage claims to be the best builder but they do not pay close attention to detail. With the price of our home and neighborhood one would think they would ensure proper drainage of every home and common area in a brand new neighborhood where they are the only builder. What you can expect is substandard construction and every excuse possible to prevent doing the necessary work. We made a poor decision when choosing them as a builder. I am now waiting for a return call from the Corporate Office and will continuing calling them until I can talk with someone.

Now, there are few things the homeowner can overlook, the crown molding gaps not being filled, the doorknobs not working, the drainage outside being buried in the mud, etc., but a warped front entry door, come on? Right is RIGHT and wrong is WRONG, and THAT IS WRONG! IS MERITAGE Homes only "Acceptable"? Is that what you want to be known as, that You build "acceptable" homes? I think you would prefer "exceptional", wouldn't you? Along with Exceptional Homeowner Customer Service? I would love to hear back from someone regarding this and not just be ignored please.

We purchased their top of the line wood cabinets and did not expect to see any scratches or joist tearing apart. She insisted that this is normal. We contacted the cabinet manufacturer and scheduled an inspection. The manufacturer confirmed that after installation, they inspected the cabinets and no damages were on any of the cabinets. The inspector indicated that he informed Heather that installing the floor and backsplash after installation of cabinets would be an issue and could cause damages. The inspection did confirm several damages to the cabinets and pending resolution from Meritage Homes. Our second concern is how the quartz countertops were handled. During our site visit, we noticed that the countertop was being used by their contractor for tools, boxes, etc. We noted in our walk through that the countertop has several stains in it. Heather indicated that it will be cleaned prior to our closing.

We closed on our home and the countertops were still stained and dirty. Heather sent a countertop guy to clean the surface within a week. The cleaning person removed some of the stain, but the countertop is now lacking shine or luster and has blotchy spots. Again, we notified Heather, we provided her a photo of the countertop during construction which shows that it was used by her contractors. She insisted that no damage was done to the countertop and blamed us for inspecting the property during construction and bringing meals to the crew. We have requested to have the manufacturer inspect the countertops, this is pending resolution as well. In addition, weigh your options with financing based on their closing costs contributions and interest rate, which is considerably higher than the market rate. Overall, the company lacks customer service and detail to quality. Staff were unprofessional and shows no care for customers. It has been a disappointing experienced and we hoped that no one else suffers through this type of treatment.

The BBB stated, they have answered the complaint and was not resolved (this is how they are listing it on their website). As with most warranty issues we have had they have refused to repair the problem and with the majority of issues we were told by their customer representatives, "This is not a warranty issue." So predictable and with each warranty issue we always expected that answer. We became well aware their employees are trained in this manner. Sadly to say, when you do come across a customer representative that recognizes that there is problem and attempts to do the right thing they fire them. I asked the Better Business Bureau how they can even give this company an A+ rating. I got no response. Please! Please, do yourself a favor and choose another builder!

So here I am with the same issue beginning, I closed on my home 4/17, and they refuse to do what they should honor. Even after several other homes in my neighborhood and other Meritage homes have had the same issue with their columns and have had them replaced including the rusty nails they refused to replace on my structural beam. If this wasn’t enough, I have had a moldy smell in my garage for many months that I can’t seem to find the source, other than it is getting in through the cinder block or the poor grading that a structural engineer, industrial hygienist and the Dept of Health pointed out was done incorrectly.

I know that if I don’t remove every ounce of paper type item they will blame it on those things rather that the real issue. So after last night having my garage door bar that goes from motor to door fall off the wall, I go put this am to see how to fix it, and notice I have a puddle of water sitting in the corner of my garage after a rain last night. Let’s see how they can put blame on me for this one too and once again not honor their warranty!

They are the worst company to deal with. I understand that things will be built wrong and things happen but when a company refuses to accept responsibility for poor construction and continually blames the homeowner they are nothing but shady crooks. Do not give this company your hard earned money! Because like 70% of my neighborhood is experiencing, you will be dealing with poor construction, long delays and refusal to do what’s right from Meritage!

Original Review: I built a Meritage Home; signed contract 9/2016; construction began in January 2017 and completed April 2017. I moved in May 2017 and within two months noticed odd odors. I have spent $3,000 in testing and am told by the specialists I hired that I need to spend another $1500-$2000 to ensure the health of my family. The odors by December absorbed into everything we owned; clothes, lunch bags, back packs, mattresses, stuffed animals, hair, cats fur and even into our food in-pantry and freezer! I asked for assistance with this odor July-Sept with my project manager with no luck; became a warranty item in October 2017. It took me forcing things to get anything done from Meritage.

In March 2018 it was determined by Meritage that the trim on my 2nd floor was not caulked. This caused water intrusion behind the siding on 2nd floor, water was found between the tar paper and the Tyvek behind the siding. It also caused 3 of the 4 columns to become wet and moldy. My house became filled with excessive VOC's from the OSB/sheathing and wet concrete odors from the wet siding. From testing it was determined that the siding had mold embedded in it and that my home was 1215% above max allowed VOC limit on first floor and 2000% above on 2nd floor. Chemicals such as acrolein, hexaldehyde, crotenaldehyde, decanal, acetaldehyde, valeraldehyde, benzene, acetic acid, proprionaldehyde... there were days that you could visually see the air and feel it as it passed out an open window.

My son and I suffered from red eyes, dizziness, asthma type symptoms, tics, headaches, congestion. My cats puked bile daily. We traveled out of the state and took the odor with us in our luggage. There days that you couldn't stay in the home. Guests and Meritage Warranty team had asthma attacks, dizziness and left smelling of my home. I have had the FL Dept of Health and a private industrial hygienist test my home and provide reports that were given to Meritage. Meritage brought their own air quality tester in who did a 5 minute VOC meter test and mold test. I paid for a 24 hour VOC test - a much more thorough test.

My 2nd floor has been without siding since April and has been under plastic. My columns were dismantled in July and have had new OSB laced around the columns; two of which were still wet - proven by Dept of Health's moisture meter. The metal straps and the screws in 3 of the 4 columns that were wet and moldy are rusty. Dept of Health told me those needed to be replaced as well as the structural beams that were wet. The hygienist recommended the OSB on face of house be replaced and in the least pulled from my home to make sure there was no future moisture that would continue the off-gassing to occur. She also recommended hydroxyl generators be in my home to eliminate the toxic VOC's from the interior.

Since April I have had windows open whenever possible to dilute the air and since June I have had my fresh air system open 100% and running at 100% with my AC at a very low temperature to keep the fresh air running - recommended by the hygienist and an air quality HVAC company I hired. Luckily for me the Dept of Health did not detect any VOC's at their visit which was 3 months after I had my initial air testing done by the hygienist and windows and fresh air were opened.

I have requested Meritage to replace the OSB and columns and for hydroxyl generators to be provided. They denied this request. I asked for Meritage to provide me with their test results and any reports from their specialists that state my home is acceptable as is. They denied this request. I then asked them to have their engineer on record to recertify my building materials that have been wet and moldy or exposed to the elements since for this past year+ before proceeding with siding install and column completion. They have refused this request as well.

Meritage has picked from their test results and disclosed only the items that removed liability from them. They made decisions to not replace building materials that have been exposed for over a year to the weather. They blamed everything of mine for the VOC's (from furnishings to wallpaper and flooring - even baseboards they thought that I replaced but are the original baseboards). They have lied about air quality test results. They have lied about what removing OSB from my home would do to my framing. I took their words to a structural engineer who laughed and said the claims were ridiculous and that the boards should be replaced. They have refused to follow anything that was written by any of the specialists I hired to test my home; including the FL DOH.

I am the one left with a house that could have issues in the future; that may give me problems selling in the future if I can't prove the repairs were done correctly. I would lose financially. If I have the building materials replaced myself, not only am I taking an additional costs where I shouldn't have to, I will void the structural warranty of my home. It is unacceptable how they have treated my family and my home for a construction defect that caused much more than a little water intrusion.

They let you walk in the houses before you buy them and you don't pay for anything unless it passes your approval. So slow down and look at the house even if it takes 10 times to look at the house. Make sure everything looks good and is functional. They read these reviews and take notes. Some guy said they were using a bad AC unit company. Now in 2018 they are using top of the line Trane's. You also have to look at the area and the neighborhood if there is 300 houses in the community then most likely the houses were rushed and all you have to do is look and say what needs to be fixed. One last thing people complain about is their customer support and they might be right but yelling at them won't help the situation. I hope my review helped some of you guys look at Meritage Homes and say, "Wow what a nice house."

In several areas throughout the house there are heavy amounts of plaster in the corners people forgot to sand JUST SLOPPY!!!! Pen marks on shower. Cuts and scrapes on my sink countertops. Walls coming apart. No seal around doors. Paint on my tile floor and wall. Underneath kitchen island - unfinished/ texture coming apart. Crooked walls. DO NOT BUY Meritage homes!!! I was told I had a 20 day walkthrough which has not happened. I have blue tape throughout my entire house of Meritage work that needs to be done correctly. My entire house still needs to be repainted and keep in mind I've already moved in. I would like for Meritage corporation to start hiring quality workers!!! RIDICULOUS!

The roads are not draining properly when it rains, the landscape is not being kept up with. They haven’t mulched the common areas behind the houses in over 2 years. Also this now nonresort style clubhouse doesn’t even come air-conditioned. I would definitely recommend not buying in this community. They will do nothing but tell you lies to get you here and please do not buy from Meritage. At least in the Bradenton Lakewood Ranch area.

This means all the rainwater from the back side of the neighborhood basically runs into Grand River Lane or overflows from the storm drain into Grand River. The design of the drainage system is not correct and cannot handle the rain storms. The water got over halfway up my driveway and about 15 foot from our porch. My neighbor's house flooded into the house and the garage. Every room on the 1st floor flooded. This is the second time their house has flooded due to poor drainage design. Several of us that live in the flooding area are planning on contacting an attorney. I have video footage of the flooding from 8/9/18 and will attempt to upload. I also have several photos.

Needless to say we get a ton of water here in SC. Their solution was to run a ditch in the front yard. When it rained, we had an obvious creek running through. That did not work so they put in a trough (not even a catch basin) with a 4 inch pipe and piped it half way to the side of yard. That system could not keep up with the rain either. I had enough and paid over $5000.00 to fix the issue. This is just 1 of a ton of issues we have had with our house. Decent house at a decent price point. If you expect any help after you move you, you're gonna be greatly disappointed. I have never written a review to slam a company but my hope is to save others the misery my family has been through for the past 3 yrs. DO NOT CONSIDER BUILDING WITH THIS COMPANY!!!

For customer service: salespeople nice but cannot help, building manager Mike. Slow response, forgets, makes things up, can be disrespectful. He is never in a rush to help. Basically he could care less. His workers also could care less, if they show up they are clueless, unprepared for an repair. American Door is awful, rude disrespectful, hard to get them out and do an awful job. Garbage is left to blow around the neighborhood by the construction crew. Their personal trash and construction trash. Mike their manager just blows it off. Say, "What you going to do. They are cheap labor," and he said he can’t control that. He can - he is the site manager! He does not manage. The construction crew is sketchy and stare at the women and children.

So ask questions about people’s homes. Meritage has an online work order submission. It will only allow 1 work order at a time. If they do respond to fix it they leave the ticket open and you cannot submit another till they close it. They create stories and place blame to get out of repairs. It is almost impossible to find an email, phone number or address to try to talk to someone when you need help. This company is difficult. For the price you pay you expect a move in ready new home. Not cheapest materials, poor workmanship and unfinished home.

Most all of this neighborhood moved into unfinished homes due to lazy workers, we are spending our first year trying to get our homes finished or repaired. It has been a disappointing expensive construction zone inside and outside the home. Pretty houses but not the quality or helpfulness they advertise. Especially for the half a million dollar homes they sell. I do not recommend Meritage at all. It is turning into a legal battle for repairs. If anyone who has made the mistake we have by going with Meritage and has and emails or phone numbers or addresses. PLEASE post them. Meritage sucks.

In April 2018, the HVAC Tech (company I pay a monthly maintenance fee to) advised me that I had leaks in the compressor, but were fixed, In May 2018 I was told my system was done for, I had major problems including a major fire/health hazard from leaking oil and other major issues. I have to pay out $8,000 to replace my HVAC system due to the Meritage Homes and manufacturer both will not honor any more warranty work. The existing HVAC unit is a lemon, so buyer be aware. I have learned that this HVAC system is an older model, but our home was built in 2013.

Once she finally came back, she stated that there was nothing they could give us for a better deal and they wasn't going to give us our money back after only one day. I said, "Oh no worries. Check was cancelled so goodbye scam artist! Haha!" Then the nerve, they tried to email us to sign saying we owe them that money. Do we look like fools. Got them before they got us!

As soon as we saw the fence and only a week after they cashed our deposit, we asked for a refund of our deposit and to be released from contract. The builder refused so Ray Turner offered to call upper management in Meritage Homes on our behalf. We were told by his employee that she witnessed his call to Meritage requesting a refund and release from contract. He stated they denied his request as well. Meritage is denying to our attorney that we ever requested a refund or release from contract. Our realtor, Ray Turner's employee, wrote a letter on our behalf confirming the call Mr. Turner made in her presence.

Mr. Turner refused to write a letter or sign his name to her letter. When the builder's attorney contacted Ray Turner to validate his employee's claim, he told the attorney that he had no recollection of the call and even lied about other events. His employee told because he was just branching out in his own business, Turner Real Estate Network in Bradenton, FL, he didn't want to get involved or hurt any relationship he had with Meritage Homes since he has sold many homes for them and made a lot of money working with them. He either lied to us or lied to the attorneys. Either way, he is in breach of duty and openly deceived us for his own profits. We will be reporting him and Meritage Homes representatives to the appropriate licensing boards. I hope to inform others so they can protect themselves from these deceptive realtors and builders.

In fact, other homeowners had already contacted them via a lawyer after finding out about the fence, but Meritage still failed to inform us about it or release us from our contract. And now they are lying by denying we ever asked to be released. The fraudulent, disgusting way in which they purposely mislead us as well as other homeowners/buyers and continue to openly lie about it in order to protect themselves and their profits is simply vile. We plan to report them and contact the media - a lawyer has already been hired. We hope to protect future buyers from going through what we and many others in our development are going through. I continue to be shocked at the lengths this company will go to in order to sell a home. Tampa Bay, Bradenton, Sarasota areas - Stay away. Do not purchase a new home through Meritage Homes.

We immediately called Best Buy Installers and they looked at it and said the leak was underneath the concrete and it didn't happen due to their installation. We immediately called Builder Agent, and he came and looked at it and has ordered repairs but when we informed that the dishwasher was just installed then he immediately put the blame on the Best Buy Installers and cancelled repairs and said it is the fault from Best Buy installers who handled the water pipe wrong. After builder left, we got a plumber and he digged thru the concrete and noticed the leak was under the concrete. Best Buy didn't dig the concrete to install the dishwasher. They just connected dishwasher water pipe to the hot water pipe that leaked under the concrete.

We also contacted Best Buy that the leak was noticed after the installation and no leak before that. Best Buy claim that it is a coincidence. So, just for holding to connect hot water pipe to dishwasher pipe if the hot water pipe break in the concrete. Meritage should know the quality of their contractor work done for home just less than 2 years ago. The pipe before removing by plumber - we have taken the pictures and how depth they dig to identify the leak was also videotaped and several pictures taken from the start. I have submitted all to Builder and also Best Buy. The plumber report suggested, the damaged pipe underneath the concrete (pex cuts) may be from construction

Based on the plumber report, Best Buy denied the claim. Meritage verbally denied the claim that it is the fault from Best Buy installers and there was no leak before installation. I have asked for written confirmation as we need to submit that for lawsuit on all related parties. The plumber's impression and his report about the damages was related to defective pipes used during the construction but Builder claims that it passed all codes and it is only caused by the way the way the Best Buy Installer handled the pipe.

Again, Best Buy representative opined the leak is under the concrete and looks like it might have got discovered when Best Buy installed the dishwasher. The report from restoration company did identify Mold near the leak and not sure for how long that has been forming. Before approaching court, I thought of asking for help here as Meritage Homes who are playing blame game and escaping from the responsibility of the damages caused to our home in our 2 year warranty period. Earlier also there are also some blueprint items missing in the construction of this home and Meritage Homes simply ignored for reasons they change all the time and not valid at all.

The wood floors were not installed correctly, there are gaps at the baseboards and they have tried to fill that space with caulking as their fix for this. All of the interior trim and paintwork is horrible. I have not seen anything in this home that I can say was completed by a qualified contractor. None of the workers in this home care about the quality of the work that they do. I do not want to own this home. I am going to take my concerns and my photos to the CEO, Steve Hilton. I do not intend to spend 320k for a home as poorly constructed as this.

I have construction experience and I could have built this house myself and done a much better job than any of these contractors. Something else I have noticed is most of the trades that are working on these homes do not show up with a logo on their truck. I don't know where they find these people but it is obvious they are interested in building a quality home. I am looking to cancel my contract on this home and get my deposit back so I don't have to suffer through years of problems as most of those that have posted their own horrific experiences.

The circular hole was cut for the builder grade fixture. However when the holes did not line up the Meritage contractor drilled the backplate into the drywall, you would never know unless you wanted to make a change. We purchased a new chandler for the foyer, when the contractor came to install (which is high up so scaffolding was required) the ceiling mount was not designed or installed to handle anything over 5 pounds. The stucco accents between the first and second story were poorly installed and after 2 years allow water into the home. We hired a stucco repairman who stated, this will happen again because the paper, backing and flashing were not installed correctly. After Hurricane Irma in the garage was running down the walls exposed to the outside, meaning we could see because the concrete block is exposed. Around most windows there we leaks of various proportions.

The bottoms of our kitchen cabinets have now expanded and show bubbling/blistering from water that came in. We file a claim with our homeowners. Their report stated mainly water damage appears to be from "poor workmanship, defects or wear and tear near windows and home openings." I have lived in plenty of homes that do not have this type of wear and tear at a handful of years. When we spoke to other homeowners in our community oddly enough the stories are the same, leaky entryways, windows, kitchens and garages. We built a new home so we could live in it comfortably knowing what was behind the walls. Last thing, the open core energy efficient insulation sprayed in the block and attic holds water like a sponge, we expect mold. Meritage does not care and their candid response is "please review your warranty manual for coverage... we are not responsible."

After you close and within the first year they have minimal exposure then they have zero. We certainly did not believe we would be hiring engineers and contractors to make our home a place the entire family feels healthy. You might say hire a lawyer, we spoke with several and finding a smoking gun from water damage and pulling samples from stucco gets expensive quickly, they suggested we were better off to spend the money repairing. Imagine making a large purchase that you believe will last for a lifetime with major upkeep needed at year 5 to be spending that money at year 2. It certainly was not in our game plan to have major restoration/renovation bills atop the mortgage. Please heed the warnings here made by myself and others, should you choose Meritage Homes.

I had patches in my walls for over a year before I finally just fixed them myself because of them not coming out. I've had problems with my floors, paint, water leaks, windows, doors, cabinets, masonry, sod, fencing, hardware fixtures. They used the wrong color mortar that I paid extra for and instead of fixing it they just covered it with the right color and of course it is falling off exposing the old color. They put siding up that is not even painted. Talking with warranty department they just say, "Oh well it is past a year so it's not our problem." Of course during closing they said everything you wanted to hear. If it was for us not having a place to stay I would have not closed before this was taken care of like they promised they would when we moved in.

Meritage is all about themselves and getting it closed to screw over someone else. They are suppose to come back out before the year is over and of course that was not done. Just about every neighbor I talk to has the same experience. As soon as I can sell for a profit I will if possible to get out and get with a quality builder. As a first time home buyer Meritage has made this experience the worst ever. I hope others will buy elsewhere and stay away from Meritage Homes as they are one of the worst builders ever. Same can be said for their customer service. PLEASE CHOOSE WISELY AND BEWARE OF BUILDERS LIKE MERITAGE!!!

We had to redo some of the walls which was not painted evenly with the stucco style. The windows had to be resealed because the sealor the builder used was cheap and was not sealed properly. As a result, windows leaked and caused mold which had to be repaired and corrected. One of the vanity sinks have to be replaced due to scratches in the sink. We've been trying to replace it but have not been successful yet. Also the large mirrors have to be replaced due to gas escaping from the bottom which left the bottom of the mirrors black. Our house was built in 2006. There should not be all of these repairs to be done to the house. My husband and I would not buy another home from Meritage Homes. The houses appear beautiful but the quality is not up to par. We would not recommend them to our family, friends or associates. Considering the price we paid for our home, you would expect better quality. We are very disappointed!

I tried to walk down to their sales office and one of the sales person ask me to "get out" or will call cops as she did not want me on in the office discussing this issue while selling to new customer making them scapegoats. 2nd issue: While under construction, we felt the drive way was too steep compared to any other drive way around in our community and when asked the construction manager, he simply said this is how you would get as is the land. Later I learned that they want to get around the work. They could have leveled the land properly and build the drive way in the right way but they choose to do it in what ever they felt like. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND BUYING HOME WITH MERITAGE EVER.

Their goal is pop up home, they will tell you warranty dept. will step in hahhh. It’s taken over 2 month get solar still not running. 2 month to get a lawn issue fixed still. Doors don’t close. They will not come in to shave, everything is a hassle. You will need to schedule your, I think they cheat on the quality and service to build a home that looks good but has poor quality or craftsmanship. Best part they are illegals building these homes. No safety harness. Work hard but Meritage hires them all... Do you think the money goes back to America or out? FYI the game is to get you to sign so the employee gets credit and his bonus. Be wise, inspect. Take time to look at what is being signed, don’t be bullied to close. I didn’t get a 250 a day fine.

Meritage Homes design Center prices are very high when compared to Highland Homes Builders (Pomona Community in Manvel, Texas). Highland Home Builders gave me 90% of the design center option prices even before signing the contract. But Meritage doesn't give any prices or will give wrong prices for few and later say prices are revised.

Salesperson will give a price for a product and Design center will give a higher price for the same product. (Since we already signed the contract with the earnest money, there's nothing we can do now except to pay whatever they say.) If you like something in model Home or Inventory Homes, Then Salesperson will say that's not standard, design center will add you later after signing contract. Now design center sometimes says we just stopped using that product and we will be compelled to opt something out of very very few options.

I bought House in Massey Lakes Estates, Pearland, Texas. Sales Manager (Daniel) doesn't care for the customer concerns or issues. He simply says, "Do whatever you can. We will do whatever we want to. That's not your home, it's Meritage Homes and it will be yours after closing so till then we will build it the way we want to. I am not worried that you paid earnest money and that's your dream home or first home." Also he blames us for not asking information about theirs interior restrictions.

They will behave nice until you sign the contract. After that they are worried about their profits only not even try to discuss options for your dream home or first home. So, beware of Meriatge Homes. From My personal experience Highland Homes is better in terms of Quality, Prices, Services, behavior and Freedom to pick things for our home. Highland believes and feel they are building our home but from Sales manager Daniel's words Meritage Builds homes which is easier & profitable to them and least bothered about the Real owner.

My 9 year old son in his bedroom upstairs and had closed his door. His door handle failed and it locked him in the room. My daughter says, "Mom he really is locked in." I'm like okay, really I will fix this. I go up and OMG! His door was unlocked, yet when you try to open the door wouldn't budge. He literally was locked in his room! We take a deep breath so we try not to completely panic with our son locked in his room and start taking off the door handle. We get the handle off and then hit another road block! The screws are on the inside handle not outside!! So now we are passing tools under the door to our son and coaching him on what to do. He finally gets it off and yup the locking mechanism failed in the lock position. It was nothing shy of taking a hammer to it just to get it out of the locked position.

My poor baby was locked in his room about 2 hours. Are we one of the million who got a defective door lock, probably. However it goes to show you the cheap ** they put in the house. But we didn't pay a cheap price for the house and I am just furious! I did my homework before buying Meritage and ALL the big builder have bad reviews. They really do. We love our new home because there are 4 contents in the home that make it complete... my family. NOT because we got a quality built home.

A whole list of work orders to be fixed and I am hopeful they will, but tonight with my son being locked in his room just makes me furious! What if he was younger and couldn't comprehend taking the door handle off!! Just stay on top of them daily to fix what you need fixed before the warranty expires and don't let your super take the survey for you. Yah... He said, "Forward the email to me and I will complete it for you..." Are You Kidding!!!

I had logged a complaint with Meritage Home service support on February 28th 2017 and it's June 02nd 2017 today and none of the issues are yet resolved- neither anyone from Meritage Home is even bothered to follow-up. I have been sending reminders and trying to call the warranty manager and he does not respond to the calls.

Secondly the design center has a team who has no clue what they are offering to the buyer based on the architecture. My sales person during the initial contract signing period mentioned the house had a small patio and made us to sign the contract without any measurements of the patio. When the house was complete the patio was not even 2 feet.

Also after signing the contract when I went to the design center- they offered me for a fan connection on the patio. I agreed to the connection with the fact that patio will be a standard one. The design center team had no professional expertise and knowledge who offered for fan connection on the patio not realizing the blades of the fan will hit the side walls if I fix a fan. To cover up this issue- they fixed a light in that area. I have attached pictures- which can tell- how crazy it was to offer a fan connection- when a fan cannot even fix in that location.

Any professional design team would have advised the customer- that the patio is very small and you can't fix a fan. Also, the sales team should have advised that this is not a standard patio- it's just a 2 feet concrete area outside the house. My personal experience- Meritage Homes is not the right choice to buy your dream house- they have made us totally unhappy with purchase of first dream home.

Our stamped concrete patio was not pitched properly and directs water against our foundation. Naturally we did not discover that until we moved in. Meritage wanted to fix it by filling the voids, re-leveling the surface, and then re-coating the entire stamped concrete patio we had paid for with a cheap coating that looks like crap. Now our screened porch has stamped concrete and the patio outside is crap. When you read the Meritage warranty, the quality and method of any required remediation is entirely at Meritage's discretion. When you sign your purchase contract with them, you are explicitly accepting all of the terms of the substandard warranty you will not see until closing. I suggest looking for another builder.

Our house came with standard tray ceilings that they had forgotten to do. We had to remind them. We paid for upgrades that they failed to do so until we pointed them out. We paid $9,500 for upgraded stairs, that they had to come back and fix because they didn't installed them right before we moved in. The kitchen cabinets are all scratched, they look used instead of new. A wall in our kitchen is crooked. The foundation started cracking before we even moved in, according to them this is normal. The painters are a joke, two months after we have moved in and they still haven't finished painting the house. Two months after we moved in and we still can't use our master shower because it leaks water into the floor. Still waiting for them to come and fix it.

Our second story floor is uneven. The builder said they can't fix it now until the 11 month. So for the next 9 months we are gonna be walking on a uneven floor. So much for a new house. The fresh air unit started making loud humming noise weeks after we moved in. I notified the builder, 26 days later, still waiting for them to come and fix it. Less than 3 months after we moved in, the kitchen floor started cracking. On our second shower, they ran out of the original grout so they used a different color. Yes they left our shower with two different grout colors. Can't make this stuff up. You will be rushed to close. They will say that they'll take care of anything that has been completed by the time you move in. But you will be at their mercy, you will have to take time off from work to be there with the contractors. I would never buy another house from Meritage Homes.

Can you imagine any other builder could be unreasonable and even behave like a criminal to push a buyer to close within one week after the house completion? Where is our customer's right??!! Horrible, horrible, horrible builder and sales people. I could not reach anyone to help. So I even contacted their customer service online to help me to reach the sales' manager to contact me, but the manager never contacted me either!!! What a bunch of gangsters. All they care was to take customers' money and our customers' right are totally ** to them.

I am still waiting for any response from Meritage to let me close in a normal pace instead of just one week. After knowing they would charge me $250 per day, I even dare not spend $600 to order a home inspection anymore. What a nightmare!!! I still don't know what to do now because nobody in Meritage responded to give me time to close. My mortgage lender only locked my interest till May 15th. Meritage is such a big company. Can't believe they can behave this way. Horrible, horrible!

A little over a year later in November of 2016, Meritage told us they would need to remove most of our furniture to properly do the drywall and painting. So, they loaded up our furniture and stored it in two pods that were placed in our driveway. It was estimated it would take 7-10 days to complete the work. Clearly we were concerned about having a team or workers in our home for that period of time. We asked Meritage for assurances that this would be ok and safe. Meritage assured us with confidence these were professionals and it would be ok, they were fully insured/bonded. They even went on to say the vetting process was extensive and time consuming to be accepted on their vendor list. Meritage subcontracted the work out to Villarreal, a Texas based sheet rocking company.

The second day they were in our home my wife's engagement and wedding ring were stolen. This was a serious economic loss and a irreplaceable loss of memories attached to the rings of 20 years. We met with a figure head from Villarreal and a area manager from Meritage. Amazingly, Villarreal could not produce the last names of the workers. He said they had been busy and confirmed they commonly utilize day workers. One of these workers told my wife directly he had been recently released from prison and that they were not being paid enough for the work they perform. Villarreal's representative confirmed that might be the case or he might have just been bragging, but he did not know for sure since he didn't have their last names.

After the rings were stolen, we filed a report with the Katy police. They could only find 2 of the 3 workers from Villarreal after months of investigation. We found Villarreal very uncooperative and accusatory regarding our lost jewelry. The two workers they were able to find finally told the investigator they didn't do it, and that was the end of the investigation. After months of consideration, the official position of Meritage Homes is as follows: it is not our fault this is the responsibility of Villarreal, we are sorry, but it is our loss.

I lived right smack dab in between three other homes being built following mine as I was the first on the block here. I suffered so much dirt and dust in my home and on the exterior of the home. It looked like I live in a war zone. All my screens and doors were covered in dirt. It was tracked in my house. I had to put plastic over my carpets and furniture to avoid damage and really didn't move everything in to avoid damaging my furniture, rugs, etc. There were areas on the exterior of the home that were unfinished, missing screens, and damaged screens. I paid $1700 to pave my patio and $600 to add some artificial foliage that was damaged. My entire home needed to be washed down. I have had issues with the fixtures in my master bath and they had to go through a wall in my bedroom that was repaired so badly and still sits unfinished. This was over a month ago.

I have had issues with the bathroom mirrors not being properly mounted and the fixtures in my children's rooms not being properly installed. I currently have several rooms that have nails coming out of the ceiling and are progressively getting worse everyday. Last week, the windows, which I opened for the first time ever, in my sons room are not staying open. They are defective. I am literally in tears at this point when I think of every single time the builders send these incompetent workers to my home, take my time away from work and my family, and still leave the job incomplete or leave a huge disgusting mess behind for me to clean up. I am a single mom and I am extremely busy and NEVER have enough time!!! I have reached my threshold!!! I will be seeking out legal advice at this point as I AM MISERABLE HERE!!! The sooner I can get out of this community, the better off I will be.

We had numerous issues along the way of building of our new home (one includes a misunderstanding on the "design center", the construction manager was unwilling to fix the mistake (which was on their end) and was very unprofessional responding back to our questions of what had happened. After coming to an "agreement" things were finally "settled", we have been in our new home for 5 1/2 months and we keep finding more and more problems. Carpet has already buckled, kitchen cabinets are all hung incorrectly, and this is only the beginning of the rushed job and laziness this company has provided for us.

One issue that we are running into this time around is the amount of tires on our vehicles that have popped due to the lack of cleaning the streets. We are on our third tire purchase in less than 6 months. They have refused to help reimburse any payments of any sort as it's a "construction zone" and they have people "who walk around and look for stuff in the road"!!! The trash from the workers that is in our lawn continuously being blown daily is unbelievable. My husband and I completely understand that things happen, but the lack of customer service after you get into your home and they get your money leads me to write this review of disappointment.

Wisenbaker has zero respect for customer's time; time you've taken off work and/or rearranged your schedule to accommodate their workers. After finding out my appointment on (3/9/17) was cancelled internally I was in communication with (Jamila) supervisor whose department was responsible for canceling my appointment. She offered to reschedule at my convenience, but I requested to speak to a manager. I then contacted (Andrew) whom I was told is the district mgr advising my frustrations with his company; who wanted to figure out what he could do. I had to rescheduled and confirmed a Saturday appointment (3/19/17) at 9:00 am with Andrew who ensured he was personally handling and there would be no issues. I, NOT Andrew, Jamila or even a representative called to confirm my appointment for Saturday. I contacted Jamila after NO show at 10 am.

The contractors finally arrived over 3 hours later and left my laundry room a mess. I left several messages with Jamila and Andrew with no return call. I finally heard from Andrew on Tuesday (3/21/17) who advised he was on vacation and empty apologies. He also said he "wants to make it right". To say the least which is what he offered was completely insulting. The work was finally complete on 3/23/17. A job that was and should have been completed in 1 day, 4 hrs took weeks which includes NO shows and reschedules. This group is not well versed in what excellent customer service is let alone what good customer service looks like. Accountability starts at the top and Wisenbaker lacks it. If you're in the market for a home, or remodeling stay away from Meritage Homes and any of its affiliated vendors like Wisenbaker and others!

Sun Edison owns all parts that could fix this system not Meritage. They are responsible for choosing this company and not having any rights to the materials that were used on their homes they built. All parts need to be taken out of homes and rerouted to make home up to code without the system. Meritage by email stated that they would honor the warranty and fix problem. I put in my warranty claim 8/31/16. So far nothing has been fixed and all we have received is a letter stating they are trying to figure out what to do. Meanwhile our warranty gets closer to expiring. Looking for company to do a Class Action Suit!

One of the worst construction outfits I have ever had to deal with. When you purchase a $500,000 home you expect excellent craftsmanship and you would expect that your issues would be addressed within a timely matter. So unfortunately for Meritage anybody that asked me I told them do not buy from them. They have poor craftsmanship. They build with low grade products and verbatim we were told "that's not how we repair things" in reference to a wall that was off by 3 inches. Their fix was to use mud to build the wall up so that it no longer looked crooked. Had they addressed her concerns from the beginning regarding worked 2 x 4's. Cracked 2 x 4's walls that were not even and mitered corners that were off by a quarter inch on every corner of my house. Had they done it correctly to start with we wouldn't of had to worry about the comment that's not how we repair things.

Basically when you purchase from Meritage homes you are lied to. You are informed that their way is the only way. You have people working in your home that don't speak English nor do they understand the simple phrase clean up after yourself, please do it correctly. After several phone calls, several emails, our home is still not finished to our satisfaction nor do I believe it ever will be. We were told when we signed that all of these issues would be addressed and taken care of within 30 days. We are going on seven months and I still cannot decorate my home because of all of the blue marking tape. If you are purchasing a home look elsewhere. Do not purchase a Meritage home.

So at the end of April 2013, still within the warranty limit, I emailed the Meritage Homes-DFW Warranty Department. I told them the floor was moving up. I also told them I was concerned about the water leaking as the reason. Meritage Homes did respond to me immediately. Some people came to my house. I showed the people where the hardwood floor was moving up. The people, without using any tools, just by visual observation, said that there was no leaking. They said that if there was any leaking, the drywall near the problematic hardwood floor area would turn to black.

Since Meritage Homes determined there was no leaking, there was not much I could ask them to fix. We just kept being very careful about using water in the kitchen. I even sealed the line where the countertop and the backsplash join. However our hardwood floor just gets worse with more boards moving up. I cannot see any water, on the floor or under the kitchen sink.

Yesterday morning, I decided to remove one baseboard near the problematic hardwood floor. As soon as I remove the baseboard, I saw water coming out. Yesterday morning, I emailed Meritage Homes-DFW Warranty Department immediately after using the same email chain when I first reported the floor moving up issue to them in April 2013. I have not got any email response back from them. Yesterday morning, I also called Meritage Homes-DFW Warranty Department (972-580-6338) and left a voice message. I have not received any call back from them.

This morning, I called Meritage Homes-DFW Warranty Department manager Tom (**) and left a message for him. Tom called me back not long after. Tom asked me to text him my home address and some photos, and said he would send someone over to take a look. I texted everything he asked for to him. However, I have not received any calls from him since noon. I called Tom again this afternoon and left him another voice message.

It has been two whole days without having anyone from Meritage Homes to come out to take a look of the leaking. Because it is leaking, we have stopped using the kitchen water. Now we have to wash dishes and prepare food in our tiny laundry room. Life becomes very miserable. We just hope Meritage Homes can come out, take a look, and help to fix the leaking issue. I am writing this up to look for help. For any of you out there, if you have any ideas how we can get help, please let me know. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

He maintained this stance until we recorded a person laying tile in the neighborhood looking at it, stating that there would be problems later if a membrane were not put down first and that it was not standard in this neighborhood for a membrane to be laid. Then the construction manager advised that they would be doing a membrane. This should've been the response from the start. If it had been, our concerns would've been laid to rest immediately instead of making us question the quality of the home and the construction manager's competence.

When we noted that the shower stall in the master bath had been framed several inches smaller than what was in the model (and knowing this wasn't something listed as an option), the construction manager advised that what was done was wrong and would be even smaller after it was corrected to match the plans for the house. A difference of six inches smaller. When we questioned why it was different from the model we were shown, we were told 'the plans changed', that they could not match the model because it would 'compromise the integrity of the slab'.

When asked why it would affect the integrity of the slab in our home but not the model, we were advised "... the model was poured that way with the slab just like yours. However the difference is that we would have to chip and cut out the additional six inches on your slab which will negatively affect the slab..." Then the construction manager advised they could cut it out and re-do that section but the window would be off center and the slab would no longer be monolithic in that area and to let them know if we wanted to proceed. After consulting other professionals in the building industry who advised that it just needed to be anchored and inspected properly, we advised that we were okay with this change and to proceed with it.

The construction manager then advised that they 'were not going to honor the request' and the "size of the shower is not an error and is according to plan and we are not going to change it to match the model". We were never provided plans with dimensions for the spec home and had no reason to believe it would differ from the model in ways that have nothing to do with options. Really can't help but wonder what other surprises are in store for us over the next months.

I have not been able to have a normal life cause of construction crew in and out of my house for the past one year. I had to take time off my work to meet these people for which I have lost time, wages, and been in hardship due to slow progress over a year now. My life has been miserable and under lot of stress caused by this developer. After trying to get resolution for almost one year, last week I met with their representative at my house during which I highlighted few of my major concerns and wanted to resolve the issues. I just got their response in which they totally declined to do anything further. At the time of purchase Meritage Homes must have known that that they will be building a new housing in my backyard and a Public School but that was not disclosed to me. Had I known that I would have NEVER bought this house.

Then they shorted me 1250 square footage of my lot as they had community wall there of which I did not know and found out later during design selection it was too late then. When I complained about it they tried to compensate a small amount and on the total house price. I was not happy with it and they got me in a fix and I could not do anything about it. I kept asking them for one year and they finally replied and declined to compensate any further. This developer has taken advantage of my situation and left me helpless.

Secondly, I wanted privacy, so purchased a corner lot. I had to pay extra $15k for it. Four months later the developer started to build another community right in my backyard. There used to be nice tall nature trees and now they are gone and it is a flat ground. My privacy is gone. The next community can see right in my living room. The privacy wall which is there does not give privacy and it is not tall enough.

The worst of all, the entrance to this community is right in front of my living room. That means all the traffic going in and out will look inside my house and especially at night time the lights will beam in my living room. This has caused a tremendous stress on me. I have lost the privacy, safety, and enjoyment of the house. I have asked the developer to raise the wall by few feet to provide me that peace and he has flatly refused it. The developer is more concerned about making money and taking advantage of the people providing cramped houses on top of each other. Taking away the joy of house from me.

Contractor hired by Meritage Homes founder of company. Shows up & disconnects the system costing homeowner, useless cannot be repaired. No parts stated needs to be replaced. Contractor provided work order on what needed to be done to replace system.. Lots of phone calls & e-mails between all this. Agreed to replace hot water tank & several other items. Refuses to replace the tree roof hot water panels. Like the hot water heater the whole system was paid to Meritage Homes who gladly took the money.

Final today customer service manager Meritage Homes will not replace three panels & will require a complete signed release form releasing them from all responsibility of the home solar system. Meritage Homes agreed to pay out of pocket cost of the warranty work which is a long warranty. But now after all these months they want a signed release before they will perform any work! Do other homeowners have? Or concerns over the solar hot water heating system.

Updated on 10/13/2017: Meritage Homes sold homeowners a PVT 2.5 kw Photovoltaic (electric) panels - per homeowners contract. Homeowner has found out through a Goodyear inspector that the system is ONLY a 1.4 kw SYSTEM... MERITAGE HOMES ACKNOWLEDGES that the system is only 1.4 kw photoelectric.

Now we finally moved into our Barrett plan and not disappointed. We love it. And we love location, school, neighbors and access to everything that might be needed by family with kids. It is awesome place and we do not have any issue with contraction, with closing process, with financing and escrow money. I mention all this because year ago it was my main concern when I found scary reviews about Meritage Homes. None of those issues been met in Winter Garden Florida in Watermark community.

I want to tell big thank to all those people involved in making our dream come true. Guys to all you (and sorry if someone won't be mentioned) our family saying thank you and all blessings: Shawn **, Tim, loan officer, closing agent, plumbers, roofers, flooring firms, painting contractors, lawn workers, cleaning company, windows and doors installers, electricians and everyone else who been involved. I live now here and see how hard your job is and how you trying to do your best and on time. Thousand thanks to all of you. Shawn ** was the first person we met in sales office and the person who made us trust Meritage Homes. Shawn, thanks for your patience and help.

Home owners beware. This looks like a shady operation. I am disappointed in the city of Lafayette that with the little amount of new construction in this area, in the Boulder Valley School District, that they would not do business with a more reputable business. I will be letting the city of Lafayette know. They better be prepared for lots of complaints about this project.

I searched for complaints about Meritage and found these horror stories about purchasing from them and the quality of the homes. Thanks to everyone who has commented here. My experience attempting to reach someone for information on the development along with these experiences have helped me avoid a HUGE mistake in trying to purchase/build a new home with them.

They asked for $5K of earnest money, so you can't do anything. When I asked in what case I can get my money back. They said only if I lost job or my loan don't get approved. Later after 2 months now they said "Changed your bricks but we will not compensate you anything." Such a poor and bad service. Never recommended to buy house from Meritage Builder.

There is not one thing on the internet about these apartments in Sierra Ridge Parker Colorado that ALL 240 UNITS ARE LOW INCOME, you had to go down to public records in Douglas County to get this information. The only reason we found out about this someone told us at a downtown Parker restaurant WHERE WE WERE HAVING LUNCH or we would of never FOUND OUT and moved in. We also wrote a letter to the CEO of Meritage who lives in Scottsdale Arizona STEVE HILTON, NO RESPONSE and the letter was sent certified and signed by Arlene **. I ask Mr. Crandall who makes the final decision in getting our 24,000 dollars earnest money and he said me.

Please, if you are considering buying a new home, use a realtor to represent you. There is typically no cost to the buyer to have an agent in a purchase if the home is listed for sale by a builder or real estate company. Also, make sure to monitor the build process at least weekly. Take photos. When the build is completed definitely hire a home inspector to make sure everything is installed and works safely. Follow along below.

My client, who I will refer to as ABC, signed a Meritage Homes sale agreement in August 2015. This nightmare lasted a full year and ABC was finally released and refunded in August 2016. Meritage built a defective structure and attempted to close on this, but our inspections prevented ABC from becoming the owner of an unsafe, defect-riddled property. But, to get to this point ABC spent thousands of dollars in inspection fees, a structural engineer, and an attorney. ABC was partially restored financially, but the emotional scars will last a long time. After the foundation was poured and the framing was up, the site superintendent performed the pre-drywall walk with the buyer and myself. At that time, we found damage done to the fiberglass bathtubs in the hall bath and the upstairs bath.

Holes were punched through the new fiberglass by framing members behind the tubs. The damage was subsequently patched (not replaced) and refinished on site. As the build continued we began photographing other defects and calling them out to the superintendent and sales agent. Their response was always the same; “it’s a process”, “you’ll love it when it’s done”. The build continued and many of these items remained unaddressed. We discovered the build “process” has allowed the builder to "cover up" underlying defects without correcting them. We generated a 55 item punch list and submitted that to the builder. Here are just some of the items discovered before they were “covered up”, not fixed:

The stairs leading to the second level were found to be over 1/2" out of level, side-to-side. The top stair was improperly supported and deflected under load. All the decorative crown and wainscot moldings were poorly set. Mitered joints were rough and crudely cut with no sanding or smoothing of any kind. Many moldings were not level or square. A 3-foot square hole was cut into the concrete basement floor to patch a broken drain pipe. The PVC pipe was spliced with rubber hose and clamps. The hole was later backfilled without moisture barrier, and not leveled with the adjacent floor. Carpet was then installed over these defects to hide them. The dip in the floor could still be felt under the carpet.

Also, all of the finished hardwood flooring, tile and carpet were not covered or protected in any way. Construction crews were observed using drywall mud, sanding walls and painting in the house over the floors and getting dust, mud and paint on these "new" materials. The granite countertop in the kitchen was installed improperly. The countertop was intended to rest partially on a knee wall and mostly on kitchen island base cabinets. The knee wall was built too tall so the countertop did not get any support on the base cabinets except for a stack of shims on the front edge of the cabinets. A 1/2" gap existed between the cabinets and countertop. No intermediate supports were provided at all. The superintendent said they would fix that, but they only nailed a piece of molding over the gap to hide the defect.

Our concerns mounted as the build continued, but none of the problems were being addressed, just covered up. We had several meetings on site with the agent and superintendent. Meritage had scheduled a closing for May 10th, 2016. On April 27th, I had a conference call with the superintendent and sales agent to point out the many issues (including finding an empty beer bottle in the house) prior to closing. They all apologized and assured me everything would be fixed. Two weeks later, they still were not. Consequently, the closing was postponed by the builder until May 27th, 2016. We scheduled a home inspection initially for May 6th. This too had to be rescheduled to May 20th, 2016, due to more builder delays. They assured us the home would be complete and ready to inspect on that date. It was not.

On May 12th I met with my client, and the superintendent at the house. We walked the rooms and pointed out the numerous defects. The superintendent marked many of the items with blue tape and promised to fix it all for us. It was at this time we picked up the beer bottle and handed it to the superintendent for removal. It was right after this meeting that the superintendent either quit or was fired. We couldn’t get a straight answer. A new superintendent was later assigned. On May 18th I again visited the home to spot-check progress for my client. On that date cleaning crews were working. Upon opening a kitchen island base cabinet door, I found another empty beer bottle. All of the flooring remained unprotected, so dust, paint and wet drywall mud had been dropped into the carpeting and on the hardwood flooring.

We had emailed the sales agent and area manager to insist they put some protection on the flooring, but there had been no action to do so. On May 20th we finally did perform the general home inspection. Our general home inspection revealed numerous functional defects and a significant structural defect in the sloping floor and sagging rear wall of the house over the walk-out basement. At that time this drop measured over 2" in eight feet. This prompted us to do an additional inspection. My buyer later brought in a structural engineer at her own cost to investigate further. Despite promises by the builder the home would be ready to inspect, they could not get a satisfactory pressure test on the gas line from the utility company, so the gas meter was not installed. Consequently, it was impossible to have gas appliances inspected by our inspector as planned.

We learned that the City on May 17th, 2016 also inspected the house in the builder's attempt to get a certificate of occupancy. That inspection also failed and the city's own report notes; "The home was not ready for final inspection." On May 23rd ABC, and I attended a "Customer Orientation" walk with the new site superintendent. During that walk through we discovered water in the basement. The superintendent indicated that the pressure-washer cleaning crew was there earlier and during washing the front porch, water leaked into the basement and damaged the insulation. The lack of proper flashing and water proofing on the front porch was one of the items on our deviations list and was also documented by the home inspector. It still had not been addressed. Worse, the builder added decorative columns and hand railings to the porch, which prevents opening the wall and siding to install the correct waterproofing.

During the May 23rd meeting, we pointed out the sloping floor defect to the new superintendent. He pulled up a copy of the original builder's plan and that is when we discovered the onsite construction personnel omitted a 2’ x 3’ concrete footing, two smaller footings and four 6x6 columns under the back wall of the house. So, the next day I went directly to the City planning department. I met with inspectors to discuss the permits for this house and the structural problems had we just discovered. They said they were unaware of the defect and would meet with the builder to find out what happened. They did say the superintendent was just there talking to them about another home with similar problems.

The City later informed me the remedy to fix the structural defect would be considered a modification to the existing plans since the structure was not built as designed. As such, they would not issue a certificate of occupancy until they certify the construction was done correctly. As of June 8th, 2016 the structure was not safe to occupy. If we had closed earlier on this build without proper inspections my client would certainly be in harm's way. We contend this demonstrates negligence and gross incompetence on the part of Meritage Homes. Worse, if my client had bought the property it would be her obligation to disclose the defects when she sold it. This would have destroyed her ability to preserve its value.

On May 27th, 2016 my client’s structural inspection was performed, which was incidentally, on the date of the second, missed closing date. The structural report revealed fundamental defects in floor supports and roof trusses which partly attributed to the warped ceiling and sloping floor. Also, the rear deck (over 12 feet high) was improperly attached to the house without bolts as the building code specified. That omission could have seriously injured many people if it the deck pulled away and collapsed during a family gathering. On June 1st, 2016 the onsite sales agent sent out an email advising ABC and myself that the new (third) closing was scheduled for June 17th, 2016. She stated that her Area Manager assured her he would definitely have the house ready to close on that date.

To complicate the matter, my client’s rate-lock on financing expired due to builder delays. If this deal was to go forward the financing would have had to be revised at additional cost to my client. As of June 8th, 2016, still nothing had been done to address the many issues that required correction at this address. It is abundantly clear that this builder is unresponsive, and either unwilling or unable to build homes competently. We assert they simply don’t care. As a result, my client had lost any confidence in this builder and wished to cancel any plan to purchase this property. An attorney was retained. The inspection reports, a mutual release and letter indicating my client intended to cancel her purchase were sent to the builder directly from the attorney.

Clearly, Meritage did not intend to cooperate and dragged out this process. It took over two months for my client to receive a signed release, a refund of deposit and options money. My client did not receive any money to cover inspections or attorney fees, however. Without an attorney on the case, we believe we still would not have a resolution to this flawed transaction. This home was recently listed by the builder for sale in our local MLS. No disclosures will be provided by the builder because it is considered a “New Home” and as such they are not required to disclose problems since no one has ever occupied the property, even though the builder is well aware of all the defects we discovered as documented through inspections. They were provided copies of all inspection reports. Many of the defects still exist and are simply covered up.

There is a significant ethical problem here. If you want a brand-new home, don’t get caught up in the rush. Ask for a copy of the sales agreement. Study it. Have an attorney study it. If the agreement is over 50 pages long and gives the buyer no protections, like the one Meritage uses, someone is going to get hurt. Ask an existing homeowner in the neighborhood how they we treated in their purchase. Be very careful! Don’t wade into this swamp without abundant caution. Far better if you don’t do it at all! Buyers beware!

My insurance company sent a portion of the Nibco plumbing for testing with an independent 3rd party who concluded the plumbing was faulty. Even after this Nibco and Meritage declined to make this right. I am in the middle of my 4th water leak right now and am out of pocket thousands of dollars including my deductible. Meritage should do what is right and replace my plumbing and they have refused to even make repairs where the loss occurred. No quality plumbing should spring leaks 4 different times in 4 different places within 24 months. I have had the water pressure checked and all is fine.

I don't have an extra $5K to give to anyone and I don't like to follow up behind those who claim to be professionals. It sounds like this company is a train wreck and continually pocketing people's hard earned money, giving false hope, doing substandard work, not taking responsibility for their product and avoiding their customers when their product defects. Why have a warranty if no one will answer the phone to honor it. Thank you again and I will pursue my search elsewhere and with a reputable company.

Original Review: June 1, 2016

Bought a home from Meritage Homes in Oct 2013. Water penetrates through bath tiles and grouts. Opened one tile and also the opposite drywall. OMG. Horrible job. There is NO moisture barrier. Regular sheetrock is used instead of cement backerboard.

I even got a letter from Meritage Vice Presidents to call them directly for non-resolved issues. They did not pick up their phones and did not call me back even after I left them voicemails. Even the construction manager did not bother to call me back until I requested to cancel the deal. Their sales associate is a big liar since he kept me coming back and forth and kept delaying the home repairs to force me to close and lied about keeping the earnest money deposit.

When I asked him "provide me something in writing on who decided to keep the earnest money", he did not do so which seems that he individually decided to keep the earnest money. The construction guy mentioned that he would get everything fixed before closing, but it did not happen. When I went to the sales office to work the issues, the same guy who is the construction supervisor was sleeping in the office and his boots were laid outside the room he was sleeping in with a closed door. What a cheap treatment to home buyers. I hated the home afterwards. They suck with every piece of detail from buying to fixing and preparing the house to warranty across the board. I am glad that I did not buy this Meritage home.

After signing the contract, we discovered a health-related emergency and contacted Meritage if it's possible to return our earnest money so that we could focus on the treatment and not worry about the construction. This was on 25th day after signing the contract. We weren't even explicitly made aware of the earnest period while signing the contract. They straight away said NO. After much discussions with the VP, director, etc., it was proved that they don't care. So we asked them to continue the construction and then they said we need to pay $5K more earnest money to be on the contract, to which we didn't agree. And last week we received an email saying our contract is VOIDED. How could this happen without our consent?

If you look at the contract they have a section where Meritage can ‘unilaterally terminate’ the contract and keep your portion of the ‘options earnest money’. That means they cancel the contract and keep some of your money, the amount you have in ‘options earnest money’ and you have no say in it. I recommend that you use an experienced professional real estate agent when dealing with Meritage. It will not change the price you pay for the house. Put into our budget at your expense to do all of these before you close: 1. Engineering report from a licensed structural engineer pre insulation for framing, truss, fireplace and foundation. 2. Survey before you close, check the lot size and setbacks from the property line. 3. Home inspection in great detail and do not back off the smallest issue issues.

If you think the building inspectors will catch very much you are mistaken. They spend very little time on a job site from foundation being poured to the final CO. They will miss health, safety and, structural issues. I have proven that. The sales staff do not always know the details of their product. Changes from the head office either do not get to sales staff or they do not look at them. Therefore about 10% of what they tell you will be incorrect when you sign the contract. I will stress that every single detail you write down in the contract in very great detail. The building staff do not always communicate with the sales staff. So what you get in contract may not always make it to the building staff. The building staff goal is to build fast and as cheap as possible. To the credit of the building staff they will sometimes be flexible and help you with minor changes.

The job site supervisor may have multiple subdivisions to oversee and they do have a lot meetings and training. Assume very little actual supervision of your house being built. The work is really managed by the cheapest sub contractors they can find. If you go to the area job site supervisor their job is to gloss over the issues and try to make you feel good but then not really deliver. Sort of like a professional politician. I would strongly encourage you to go by the job site at least twice a week to see what is actually being built. Take lots of pictures for documentation, email several times a week questions and concerns, keep the emails. This is critical to an acceptable house when it is being framed, trusses installed and OSB being put up. Once the house insulated (especially with spray foam insulation) a lot of mistakes can be covered up. Once the sheet rock goes up even more mistakes can be covered up.

Meritage can do a good finish job for the ‘eye candy’ on the house but it may have ‘bad bones’ underneath. Details of our experience: Concrete foundation not poured correctly resulting in 3 cuts, of 14, 11 and 2 feet long. This was in a floor plan that was the most common one in the neighborhood. Vapor barrier from concrete to framing missing on about 25% of the exterior walls. The straps set into the concrete foundation that hold the framing to the foundation were often not nailed, covered over by framing, and when nailed not done so correctly. Our engineer had to point this out. The correction was installing concrete anchor bolts to the concrete and that was done. I had to ask them twice to tighten the nuts as many were loose. Basically they would build a house that is not properly attached to the foundation. It vigorously defended by the management as a good job.

Framing 2x4, 2x6 very poor quality. Ours was way below average quality comparing it to other houses under construction by Meritage in the same subdivision. Wood was moldy, split, rotten, holes and bark areas exceeding ½ the board width, about 25% of the wood was bad. Roof trusses were 2x4’s (as cheap as you can get by with). They were not all properly cross braced. Trusses had holes in them that you could put your thumb through, numerous trusses were split and broken. Numerous metal plates that are stamped on the truss joints were busted loose. Roof decking was missing H clips, hurricane straps were missing, OSB siding had holes the holes of over 2 feet wide, lots of nails missed into wall studs. Wall studs were not always on 16inch centers anywhere for 14 to 20 inch centers. Often the studs were not plumb.

When I asked for additional 2x4 to reinforce the piece on any exterior or interior wall to firm up the walls. I had to push very hard for every single 2x4. It was a battle. Some of the interior 2x4 studs I could twist and easily remove with my weak hand, one nail top and bottom. Trim fascia boards had gaps exceeding ½ inch between the boards they were going to caulk. Same fascia boards were not straight. Gaps in concrete siding were often greater than ¼ of an inch. Most light switches and plugs were crooked which is a result of bad lumber and studs not straight. Meritage building management called this a well-built home and was planning on putting up spray foam to cover the trusses and framing. We had the structural engineer in first. A lot of bad wood, safety issues and workmanship would have been covered up.

I was wise on our part to bring in a structural engineer. The engineer pointed out that the fire box for the fireplace was too close to the wood framing per the manufacture requirement in bold print on the fire box. The improper installation of the fire box was fire hazard and noted in the engineering report. Meritage refused to correct it. It was a very challenging time getting Meritage to fix anything at all even when we presented them with a report from a structural engineer with pictures and documentation. Much of the framing and truss issues could have been resolved with a couple of competent carpenters and good lumber.

Some but not even half of these issues were resolved after weeks of heated discussion and us following up repeatedly. We did seek to get our earnest money back and it will take you over a month to get any of it back. They were very uncooperative and had numerous delays. I would not recommend Meritage to build a house to anyone. If Meritage says you get your money back in two weeks count on a month with you constantly pushing them for your money back. This occurred in Georgia, just north of Atlanta…

Original Review: March 28, 2016

My wife and I were really excited about buying a home in Waters Edge and we chose the Greenbrier. We went out and took out about $5000 from our retirement to get into our dream home. The market has become very difficult to sell our home and buy this new one. I was under the assumption we were in a contingency that would protect our 5k. We were really banking on taking the profit and getting into this nice one. We have called and asked about our deposit and they stated that there is no way to get back any earnest money at this point. My wife was in tears about losing the money this was money that her father left her before he passed and now it's been taken horribly by Meritage with no hope of return. I would never recommend this builder to anyone. I also had a friend that lives in one now and he is having a hard time getting things fixed. Has only lived in it 2 months.

We have so many gaps in our counters, floors, trim that it's ridiculous. We paid a pretty penny to have the counters, floors etc, upgraded but its looks like a 'bad Harry homeowner' did it - not a professional. If you buy a house from Meritage be prepared to go over your house with a fine tooth comb - then have to accept their sub-par work. That is the Meritage way.

I had my house built 1995 by (Ray Ellison) KB homes and NEVER had this problem. She grew up in this home where we flushed these same products... WITH NO PROBLEMS!!! This is a faulty plumbing problem that needs to be fixed!!! It's a shame her first home has to be a nightmare. But you can bet this builder/owner's children's houses don't have this PROBLEM!!! Society wants to know why the young folks are so angry. No matter how they try to do good, there is always companies out here like this short changing them. SHAME ON YOU!!!

I responded with requesting a formal letter stating that these cracks are cosmetic and normal in nature since we are planning to sell our house in the near future and do not want to be informed by an independent inspector that we do indeed have foundation issues which would diminish the value of our property. This is how he responded: "Per the inspection of the house we found that the cracking is not considered structural and is well within our tolerances. If you would like to get another opinion you are more than welcome to hire a licensed engineer to come out and evaluate this for you."

I didn't mention anything about getting a second opinion, I just requested a letter stating their findings. This requests kept going back and forth for the last three weeks. It went to the Area Construction Manager, who also refused to send us a letter stating their findings, signed by Meritage Homes. Finally, I received another email: "As discussed, we don't have a process for that. You're welcome to keep my email as a reference if you need that for any purpose. Thank you."

Meritage Homes refuses to put their findings in writing because they know they are wrong and there are actually foundation issues in our house that warrant repair. If they would send a letter stating the contrary, they could be liable even after their "warranty" expires. We have had issues with Meritage Homes from the beginning, however, we let it go because we deemed these issues not worth it. However, foundation issues are serious. I do NOT recommend this builder and will never use them again.

I declined the offer and now after scheduling a meeting with the warranty manager Tom ** who did not show nor call to say he could not make it, not a single member of the Meritage Corporate management team will contact us. Our home has a warranty. So we are now left with filing with our insurance and having them to take things from that point. First Texas Homes is building in my subdivision and they use rebar/wire mesh in the driveways; I took pictures to show them to Meritage on their Twitter but they decided to block my pictures of my issues since they will not respond. My opinion is if you are truly looking to build a home re-evaluate Meritage and try another builder, even ask someone who has issues with them how Meritage has handled/mishandled everything from the building of to the complaint for a warranty repair.

Of course no one returned to finish our roof, and more rain was scheduled for 11-21-15. I promptly called our warranty manager to notify him that nobody had returned to finish our roof, and I was concerned as rain was in the forecast. He informed me he would try and contact the roofers and get back to me. As of today, I have not heard from the construction/warranty manager or the roofers AND it poured down rain this past Saturday. There is not telling if more damage has been caused due to them not completing the work prior to the last round of rain.

The roof issues are also requiring removal and repair of drywall on our ceiling where the water came in. Because my roof has not been finished I had to cancel the drywall company that was scheduled to repair the ceiling on 11-20-15. The only communication I receive from a Meritage representative is at my initiation, and there is zero level of concern about our roofing issue. The best part is that there are NUMEROUS Meritage homeowners in my neighborhood who are experiencing roof issues (as reported on our neighborhood social media page).

I wonder why so many new Meritage homes that are in our neighborhood posted as available are not selling? Perhaps consumers are reading about the lack of customer and warranty service current home homeowners are receiving. Considering we have spent a month waiting for warranty repairs, received horrible communication, and customer service we have resolved ourselves that the work is not going to be completed under warranty. We are going to contract the work independently and pay for it because the amount of stress and frustration this WARRANTY work has caused is ridiculous. I have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

The sad part here is that I am currently in a Meritage Home. It was a great home buying experience. We constantly spoke highly of our experience and made sure that we gave our Sales/Construction team high marks on their reviews. They were deserved based on their honesty and integrity to the process. That is what made us come back to you for this new home. This experience has ruined for us any future dealings with your company. As a Veteran, I will now recommend to other Vets to be wary of any dealings with your company. Shady tactics, being pushy during a review of what is in the home, "bait and switch", saying "I sent emails" when there is no record, lack of honesty and integrity. I know my not purchasing a home is not going to ruin your company. I am sure there are quality people in your organization, but as the saying goes "The ONE Awe' Crap wipes out the 10 Atta' Boys" applies in this situation. ‪#‎PowerOfSocialMedia‬

Last winter we had a sheet of ice covering the sidewalk for about 6 feet. He explained to me initially last winter it was because the landscaping was not finished. So in the spring when the landscaping was finished we still had the same problem. Now he explained it was because we are overwatering. It is coming to another winter and they still have not fixed the problem. The last thing he said was that the landscaping designed it to flow over the sidewalks like that so it wasn't his problem. I explained to him, "Just because you designed it that way doesn't make it right."

The other problem is we finished our landscaping in our backyard last fall and around Feb of last year we discovered that the metal in our window wells are rusting. This seems to be a common problem with all my neighbors. We sent in a warranty request and it was ignored. We started sending in the same request for about 2 months before I was finally contacted and told that they would replace the window well but I was responsible for the damage for the deck and patio. He explained to me that I should not have built the deck so close to the back of the house. I asked him, "How would you build a deck of the patio doors then?" and he hung up on me. I have tried to contact them to date 17 times as to the status of the repair and they simply ignore the request. I have had to hire an attorney and we are preparing for arbitration to settle the matter.

It took 86-days to get the building permit from the City of Frisco. Meritage indicated, the elevation I selected had previous issues with the City. Meritage failed to disclose any prior issues they had with the City of Frisco. Once the City of Frisco issued the permit, Meritage took another 63-days just to get the T-Pole and PD Meter installed properly and approved by the City. During the 63-days I spent waiting for red tag issues to be resolved, 23 other homes were issued building permits and Meritage began the building process on their homes. Of the 23 homes that were issued building permits AFTER my lot, all homes have surpassed my home in the building process. Essentially, Meritage has systematically moved my home to the bottom of the list, when my home should be at the top of the list. (There are currently 24 homes on the list, with more being added regularly).

Meritage has offer to return my earnest deposit in full, however with home prices increasing over the 7-months Meritage has held my earnest deposit, I am unable to find a comparable home in my price point. Meritage is intentionally and systematically delaying the building of my home. I believe they are bias against me due to my race and/or the composition of my family unit. Litigation is being pursued. If anyone else out there experienced the same issues with Meritage, I encourage you to report to the Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity (HUD), you are not alone.

Next item to quit working was our air conditioner earlier this year. After submitting a work request, we had to wait 4 days for someone to finally show. Of course, being in south Texas it was already hot! The first thing the repairman asked me when he arrived was when did we buy the house. Told him it wasn't even 18 months. He's like, alright you're still covered. Now the latest issue is I now have roof shingles coming up. My wife submitted a work request. We were told there is only a one-year warranty on the roof! So now I have to go out and spend who knows how much money to fix the roof!

We had three serious car accident at my driveway. One time the car was fallen in the ditch, two times the car stuck between the ditch and driveway. It took the wrecker company 2 hours to bring it back. Right now The common law states that the building work had to be carried out safely using reasonable skill and care. Further, the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 states that any goods supplied as part of the contract and any materials used must be of satisfactory quality and safety. We opened the warranty request 7/31, and asked the builder Meritage Homes to fix it to add some block, like they did in the left side of driveway. Their customer care manager Wilson stopped by, but he refused to fix this issue. He stated that the house has been closed, and the driveway passed the building code. Nothing he can do it.

I consulted the building code information from the Department of Insurance NC Building and code department by phone and described my situation to them. I was told no building code for the driveway. If the accident happened due to design by builder, the builder has responsibility to fix it. I tried to escalate the issue to Meritage director via email a few times, no response back, and the last email was returned back due to my email blocked by them. We felt very dangerous. When Department of Insurance Building and code department we back our car and scared to fall in the ditch up every day. I request to fix this dangerous driveway ASAP to prevent any accident happened to my family.

My husband and father were enticed by this and knowing what they had heard about solar, figured this was a good way to go. So we bought the solar and had it installed while they were building the home. Fast forward to June when we moved here and closed on the house with solar intact. We noticed all the gadgets and water heaters in the garage so the manager for our site and the head guy from Sonray came out to explain to us what it all was and how it worked. Sonray rep couldn't express enough how much money we were going to save with solar and how little our bills would be. And here comes the issues. The first few months our utility bills were extremely high around $350 a month. People think for a two story home this size that's cheap. Well not when you ask the neighbors who have the same type of home with kids (we don't have small children that live in the home) and they are paying the same price as us.

We had two fans in the attic which one was for an all circulation fan and the other was an addition for the solar. I noticed that they were both running constantly and for two months kept trying to convince them that one of the reasons why our bills were high was both fans running 24/7. We finally convinced them we were right and they disconnected one. Next our bills started to drop a little but at the end of June we received our true up bill (which this was never explained to us) and much to our horror it was over $1200.00. The electric company explained to us that this was energy we used and didn't pay for and at the end of the year they take what we use, subtract any credits we have and then send us the balance to pay or they pay us the credit they owe us. So after that bill we didn't want to do that again and started paying an extra $50 a month on top of the small bill we would get.

The following year the bill was about 400 dollars cheaper. But we couldn't for the life of us figure why no matter what we did, we weren't ever seeing small bills especially at the end of the year. And all everyone kept telling us was we must be using a lot of electricity to have high bills. Fast forward to 2015 when our true up bill was $1500.00 I went in to Best Buy and there were two gentlemen there selling solar. I told them I already had solar on my home and it really to me wasn't worth the expense. Because from all I understood about Solar I thought the saving would be half of what we were spending. But because we had purchased it with the home it was tied in to our mortgage.

They looked up the system we had on Google Earth and said, "We can tell you exactly why you aren't saving more money. Despite all your efforts, the system they have on your home is not equipped for a two story home. It's only designed for a one. You almost have to have 16 to 18 panels on your home and you have 9". He said, "Check the homes in your neighborhood and see who has solar, what size, and how many panels." So we finally found the culprit. They sold us a system that wasn't equipped to give us the most for our money or save us energy. Kinda like trying to pour 2 cups of water into a 1 cup and make it all fit.

I contacted Sonray and told them this and they said for $9000 more they can install extra panels. I wrote Meritage a letter explaining this and telling them that I think they pushed a product on the customers without anyone explaining what you need for what size house and it was more for both companies to benefit of each other instead of the customer homebuyer truly benefiting of the product. I have yet to hear from anyone from Meritage except for a generic email, "We will get back to you." That was two weeks ago.

The design center is a freaking joke we spent another 50k to get the house to look nice. We spent $7000 on the home entertainment center/media. We have passed plumbing inspection but still no slab. The area manager said he can't get the contractor to come out because they are too busy with other jobs. What happened to customer care? I am about to hire a lawyer to request my money back for breach of contract. We have potential buyers on our home that we live in but we don't want to move into an apartment either. We especially don't want to move twice. The sale representative is great. She has done everything to help us with this nightmare. Sales person has even offered to move us into a spec home but it is nothing like the 4300 sq foot home we picked. We just celebrated one year of marriage and this was suppose to be a fun time in our marriage, (building this dream home).

We live 35 miles away and the drive across town is far with traffic. I am so fed up. If I could I change today I would have gone with my first selection of building with a true custom builder and not Meritage. They are horrible. How can a person purchase a $500,000.00 home and cannot get it built. We have pipes sticking out of the ground. I say Meritage Homes just give us our hard earned money back and we will gladly move to a better builder who stands behind their product. I will never refer my friends to this builder. Buyer beware.

Updated on 09/26/2015: It's been 7 months and still no slab. We have a race issue going on with Meritage Homes. We believe that our house is not being built because on our race. We have been told that they did not pass inspection with the city of Frisco for the third time. On our lot they put down forms and plumbing in April 2015. The concrete company quit. When the inspector came in it failed for leaking pipes. Meritage hired two other companies and inspection failed again Sept 17th 2015. Now we are told that they have to remove all the pipes and start over on the plumbing because they can't find the leaks. So we were told it would be this week, well it's Saturday a week later and no movement on the lot. I have spoke to the sales agent, the sales agent's manager, the two builders and the construction area manager and they have all played CYA. We get another empty promise that some day our home will be built.

At this point we will build it but we will not move into it. We will close some day . My husband and I have decided to build with another builder in the area. The price is so much more right now because of the new market for the same house. We currently own 5 other homes in other cities that are paid in full. Our plan was to give those homes to our children and grandchildren. One son already has moved into one of them. We still have another one to sale but we refuse to sale and have to move to an apt and rent because Meritage won't build our house. They lie and make promises, I get so tired of the lies.

We have decided to read the fine print of our contract and we know we will find a flaw in the contract. We will contact the proper housing authority. If this is what the owner of this company promotes, stay away. This is bad business folks. I work in customer service and my company is the largest bank in the world, they would have walked these people out the door weeks ago. Buyers look out. The sales staff did say they may consider looking into trying to get our money back (15,000.00). They don't get it folks, it not about the money.

It wasn’t until the construction started that things really got out of control. My wife went to the frame walk with the Superintendent, everything was ok building wise but our frame walk was delayed when the superintendent went on vacation for 2 weeks and the construction team was delayed without instructions. We let it slide since we know things get delayed from time to time. When it came time to doing the final walk through, the sales office called last minute to try to change the date. Keep in mind the final walk through was scheduled about 2-3 weeks prior (written notice to us from builder).

We moved our schedule around to accommodate the date and time of the walk through and were excited it was nearing the end. Our walk through was scheduled for a Wednesday May 13th and ** called Tuesday to try to move the date. Again, we had to move our schedule around to accommodate a change. My wife called her and told her it was frustrating to keep changing our schedules and that we would meet on the revised date to get it done but would not extend anymore. ** response was very rude: “I don’t think you guys are being very accommodating.”

Is this something you tell someone? You are supposed to be professional! This comment set my wife over the edge. We have been MORE THAN ACCOMMODATING, considering we bought dirt in November, was told our home would be done in March, having numerous delays and paperwork errors, and then being told the home would not be completed until MAY! She told us we also would not be able to close on the time given from builder since the meters PG&E were supposed to install were not installed.

At this point we didn’t believe her, as they were just trying to buy more time. My wife called PG&E and requested to get the information on the meter installation. Funny how it was installed on that day, but she lied and said it wasn’t to try to push out the move in by a week! The last irritating thing Meritage did was right before closing. They made everyone sign an addendum that would cost all buyers an additional tax from FATCO (I think it’s an additional $900 or so). Ridiculous! We can go on and on about everything else that happened, but wed be here all day!

Design Center: ** was very helpful. She was patient working with us in picking out the options for our home. The downside and major setback is the fact that they only let you choose from small sample sizes and not a lot to choose from. It was extremely hard to pick out the entire house based off of the small sample boards. They also charge a fortune for their upgrades! Hardwood Floors-$17000, carpet in bedrooms and stairs-$13000, subway tile backsplash $6000 (these are super cheap $1.84/sq.ft at HD), additional $4000+- for cabinets and reconfiguring of cabinets if you choose an upgraded appliance package another couple thousand.

Our upgrades were $50,000! What they DON'T TELL YOU until the end of the 8 hour appointment is that you cannot pay separate for the upgrades, that they MUST be financed with the home. Another surprise that they do not tell you until the end is that your selections are FINAL. If you wish to make a change you have to submit $500 (non-refundable) to get approval from the builder. They may or may not approve and you still lose the money. Preferred Lenders (MTH Mortage): MTH mortgage (AKA-iMortgage, Loandepot.com).

We originally started the pre-approval through MTH since they were the preferred lender. We also were getting a comparison through Wells Fargo. Since MTH only offers a 3045 rate lock, we leaned towards Wells Fargo with a 90 day rate lock (in case of additional delays as we figured there would be). We requested that a GFE (good faith estimate) be sent to us. They refused to send until we locked the rate with them. They provided an estimated statement for comparison with Wells Fargo.

The rates were good with MTH (better than Wells Fargo), so we locked. After reviewing the GFE and estimated sheets, we noticed that the origination charge for MTH was almost $12,000! Wells Fargo and other banks are around $1100. MTH, since they are the preferred lender, offered a $15,000 credit which really doesn’t end up being $15,000 since they charge a lot more in fees and any unused portion is lost. You cannot apply it anywhere else! Everything was smooth until the week of closing.

There were errors in our paperwork and we couldn’t reach anyone to get approval on making a change until it was too late. We were not able to close on the date scheduled because of the lack of communication and funding on their end. We had to pay the extra taxes for the extension for the 4 days until they were able to fund and close. Very frustrating! Almost all of our neighbors have had the same negative experience with MTH and only went with them because of the rate and the credit offered.

The home itself: The home is beautiful and the area is awesome. The options look great and the home is very nice so far. Only a few items to mention: Concrete in front yard is cracked in 2 areas, landscaping looks dead and sloppy, our fan in the master keeps running, the cable tech installed our cat5 wrong and the downstairs cable was punctured. **, the construction manager is great. He responds quickly and sent someone to fix the door handles, paint and fan. We are still finding little things here and there, but assume they will continue to get resolved.

Overall, this has caused so much stress and hassle dealing with Meritage and everyone involved. Buying a home should be a pleasant experience, not cause buyers to worry or fight for the right information when it is their job to provide CORRECT information and assist buyers! I'm sure you will be hearing several more complaints from unhappy home buyers!

I had never question about the "whole house" thing that she was saying also (silly me) and I realized that later. At some point, I think she was in a hurry to finish (mind you this is a whole day thing) and she must have thought that since I told her I had a budget, we did not go through some options and I got the "standard" thing like the 6x6 tiles in the bathroom. Anyways, to cut the story short, as soon as we left and I read the paperwork that we had signed and realized that there were some things on there that I needed to change (did I say that that this was stressful and overwhelming) and I was told it was too late and we had sign on the dotted line. We are talking Saturday 4pm.

We went to see our salesperson and he was busy, so after hanging around for 20 mins, we gave up. I tried calling on Monday again and was told the design lady and the sales person that it was too late. I think this is unfair and we should been given at least 24 hours to think about this. A whole house "stuff" in a few hours. There is nothing but dirt on our lot and most of the surrounding lots and the house is not going to be ready for another 6 months.

My kitchen sink underneath leaked and apparently had issues as well because the floor boards were messed up - I did not know until after purchasing. They came to fix it and claimed it was fixed. I believe it too is a defect. I had to pay a plumber to fix it and replace the faucet. The tile they put here is bulked. I also believe that all my windows leak. The outside foundation is bad which Texas Windstorm said probably caused the windows to leak.

One of my air condition unit just went out (downstairs unit). I only been in this house 7 years. The home warranty supposed to be 10 years. The Trane company says I don't exist and there is no coverage. I am so upset. I have never ever been so unhappy and hate that I ever purchased a Meritage Home. I supposed to have wood blinds in the house - I did not get that either. Please please add me to the lawsuit. They switched my finance company to Chase after purchasing the home which raised my note $400. I told them I could not afford a house note over $1200 a month. I am going to try a sale my house. I have email over and over and no one will respond. Texas Windstorm told me they supposed to fix whatever issues because I am covered by Meritage for 10 years. They told me to not give up. Please help!!! Please add me to the lawsuit against this builder.

I had 3 different people we dealt with, and they all asked for the same documents; no one knows what the other one is doing over there. Now, they have our earnest money since October of 2014, and it is now the last day of March 2015 and we still have not received our money. Our Sales consultant swears she never receives our signed signature for the cancellation, and I know that is not true because I always ask for a read receipt and save that in a folder as well. I call to ask for someone in Corporate and they said, "Work with our Sales Consultant." which we did, and still nothing. Do NOT trust them.... They do not stick by their words, and no one knows what the other person is doing.

I do not understand why they use dangerously cheap construction methods. Why would a sparingly used ceiling fan fall down just after 7 years of use? Naturally, I grew suspicious of other hanging fixtures in my house. When asked if they could schedule an inspection for the remaining fixtures, they just will not respond. I am sick and tired of their practices. I was lucky that my kid's life was saved. This is my advise to those people who are looking to buy one of their homes - Go ahead and buy if you plan to sell it in 7 years. Because during my 7th year, the fan almost killed my daughter.

I received email at 10:23 pm advising my quote for closing was 2300.00 off. And if I did not bring it they would delay my closing by 72 hours. I was closing the next day and my bank is located 75 miles away. Carefree title is a joke and has awful customer service. At closing I was directed to remove my hat because she could not tell if it was really me on the driver’s license?? She was really difficult and then demanded I fill out survey before I left. I advised her I would not and she walked out and left me for 30 minutes. I had to track her down to get my keys. But not all is lost. My foreman ** was great, too bad Meritage treats their employees worse than its customers. And both he and ** have moved on to better things.

The only way to get these guys to do anything Is to stay on top of them. I came by every day and held them accountable. They finally got tired of me calling and stopping by and they did what they should have done in the first place - build my house right and on time. My warranty issues have been resolved so far but my one year is up and I have cracked tiles. I would not recommend Meritage. They are nice until they get your money and then its downhill and they never make a mistake. You will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. Good luck, pack a lunch and a sedative if you buy from Meritage.

Meritage Homes scheduled a closing date for the property I am purchasing on December 31, 2014 without informing me of the closing date. It was mere coincidence I found out about the closing date by calling the sales agent to ask for a status update. I later found out they have been sending information (closing, initial disclosures, and my SSN) to a wrong email address.

First walk through was scheduled on the December 30th, only one day ahead of closing. Upon visiting the property for the walk through, I discovered the property was not ready for closing: carpet was not fully installed, missing grout, unpainted door frames, paint/grout on splatter tiles and wood, etc. They could not deliver the home on the closing date they had set. This cost me one week of work and travel expenses. Meritage homes offered no compensation, not even an apology.

Almost one month later, Meritage Homes scheduled a closing date on January 28, 2015 and gave me a one week notice. Due to work, I was not able to arrange time off and make travel arrangements for the new closing date. It was again brought up to Meritage Homes that I am an out of town buyer, and requested for a closing date the week after. I was denied that request. I made an effort to have the issue escalated many times to plead my case. We received no response by email and no return calls from the regional manager or the director of finance. I managed to close on the home a few days later with a penalty fee of $1250. I'm being penalized for 4 business days, even asking for leniency so many times. They should penalize themselves for delivering my home a month later than promised.

I have made attempts to email and made phone calls to regional manager/director. I've only been able to leave voicemails. I called and asked the staff if he was in office. Their staff confirmed he's in office, but refused to transfer me to his line. They did not even give me the chance to plead my case. I called corporate and received the same treatment. All of my inquiries and escalation falls on deaf ears. Dealing with Meritage Homes have left me frustrated at the results in multiple occasions. Go with another builder.

After moving in I noticed that tile floors were loud when dog walked on them. Discovered that mastic did not adhere to tiles because it was dry when the tiles were laid. I entered a warranty ticket and this is when the fun started. After several calls and emails, I was told that they couldn't find the tile. I was told that there were tile in the attic, we couldn't find it. The exact color of the tile was relocatable, so I had to have 11 tiles installed in a color close to what was there. Of course I wasn't happy about that because they were in the main area of the house.

Inside wall in 1/2 bath was wavy, I entered a warranty ticket, after calling several times, this was fixed the correct way. It was an inconvenience, that's all. Roofing nails on back side of the house were popping up, I entered a warranty ticket. This was fixed right away after I told them rain was on the way and if water got in my house I was going to sue them. Kitchen countertop was buckling, entered a warranty ticket, was told this was due to a defect in the design. Meritage was told by an engineer that this was a defect, but they submitted the plans anyway, why it was approved by the city I don't know. The problem was corrected by shoring up the countertop, adding additional braces and the bend in the countertop was sanded level. The vanity in master warped, Meritage was aware that the product warped but used it anyway. One of their managers told me he was trying to get Meritage to stop using these because he had to replace too many of them.

This was to be my forever home. After the recent passing of my husband I am trying to sell my home so I can return to my home state. I am running into problems because buyers do not want to deal with Meritage and their lack of attention to details and customer service. I wish I could sue them and make them buy back this house. I know these are minor issues and others have had major issues with their home. I should not have had any of these with a brand new home. In the event that I build again, I will not use MERITAGE. This is not to say that I would have better luck with another builder, but I can always hope.

How about you let the buyers know that it is standard to put carpet in the dining room. We even had a double sink in one of our bathroom and we did not sign for that either. We upgraded our countertop in the the kitchen as well, but somehow we ended up with the cheap ugly standard countertop. The worst thing is, she even remembered that we wanted the more expensive one. After back and forth of calling and long discussions about the carpet and countertop, they basically told us we have to hire somebody and do it ourselves. The customer service is terrible. After you get the keys and something is wrong, you're on your own. I wouldn't buy another house from them again. They will cover for each other and give you lame excuses. Military beware! They claim to work with the VA but can't answer one question that's presented to them.

We met with your rep Chuck on September 18, 2014. Once again Chuck gave us countless excuses as to why he feels we are being picky and that we would have to discuss many of our items with the original superintendent for the job site. He also stated that we did not buy a "Pulte or Shea Home". What does the 2 builders have to do with Meritage, they should have the same Customer Service right?? Again we were left wondering if someone was ever going to get back to us. Over a month from our initial visit with Chuck, I decided to send another email, I received a call from Roy, I went ahead and scheduled another walk thru for November 18th, it has been 48 days and we have not heard back from anyone from Meritage or your Customer Service Department.

As buyers we continue to be disappointed with the lack of communication, responsibility and dependability from your staff. I purchased a new home, a home your sales team informed me and my family we would be happy with. In turn we have lived in our house for over a year questioning our decision to purchase a Meritage Home. Since our purchase, there has been staff turn over from Rob, to Kevin ** and now Chuck. I no longer want to communicate with your Customer Service Staff, I'd like upper Management to work with me moving forward and to oversee my repairs or work with me and my family so we can hire someone to take care of the repairs at Meritage's cost.

If I see no action I think we are buyer should unite and come together and protest in front of their sales office! We all have similar experiences and should make our voices heard, they had no problem taking our money from us!!

Their "customer service manager" told me to get a report from a certified company, which I did to the tune of $600.00. I was told he would go to bat for me and get the floors replaced. There are 2 code violations. Well, here I am 18 months later STILL waiting for them to do the right thing. I have asked them to reimburse me for the upgraded amount. I believe that is MORE than fair considering my family can't walk barefoot on the floors without getting splinters in their feet! If they don't comply then I will be forced to take them to court.

There are good things about the house, it is a nice floor plan and is energy efficient but the bad makes it hard to focus on. When you pay $400,000.00 for a home you expect good workmanship. Needless to say, BUYER BEWARE!!!

This is where the fun starts. We made our appointment at the design center and the choices were limited. When it came to floors anything we liked that they showed was no longer offered. On top of that the entire area was covered in dust. We were allowed 2 hours to choose all the upgrades for our new home which we were spending nearly half a million dollars on.

After over a month ground was broken on our home and we were given an estimate of late September as a completion date. We were going to put our house on the market just prior to closing because my wife was pregnant and due around the time to close. We were told in June that we now had to sell our home prior to closing on the new home. This I found out was common but it was unknown to me.

To make a long story short we were never given a completion date so we decided to put our home on the market near the end of August. September came and we were then told mid October. October came and we were told mid November or early December.

There were so many issues with the build. We were beginning to regret our choice in going with Meritage. At the top of the stairs, the floor sloped down. We were told this was a design flaw and nothing could be done. I'm not even going to get into the other flaws with the home. Suffice it to say, my wife did a walk through in early December and the painting was mismatched because they apparently ran out of one color.

In the end we are still trying to sell our home. We missed the busy summer months due to their failure to communicate to us their requirements for loan approval in a timely manner. They have notified us that they are now putting the home on the market and will not be refunding our deposit. Keep in mind we were never approved or disapproved for the loan. We were given requirements that would lead to an approval, one being the sale of our home and we still have never been given a completion date although the house is finished to their standards.

We are now hiring a lawyer to recoup our deposit. The sales people are very impersonal and rude.

15) Carpet in front of the stairs is discolored.

Boy, I haven't gotten into my family's problems yet. Our family is about two months behind moving into our new home. That part is not really a big deal for us luckily. I will just say this, THANK GOD FOR THE NEW REPLACEMENT SUPERINTENDENT (MIKE). He is the only customer service, and the magician fixing all the madness! Thanks Mike for having a sensitivity chip and Major Help!

The real nightmare happened a few weeks before closing. They had a contractor cut a power line and took 3 weeks to get it taken care of. This delayed our appraisal and final inspection and caused fees, too. They should have pushed closing back and compensated us for the charges to extend our loan lock, but they assured us everything would be fine.

We did our walk through the week before closing, and there were major issues. It was very evident that the trim and paint crews did not take pride in their work. It was just MESSY. We expected more for a $360k house, but it looked like my dog did the trim. We marked places that needed repair. And the PM assured us they would be taken care of. We also learned that the Project Manager had 16 other properties he was solely in charge of. This explained a lot. The day before closing, we did another walk through. The issues were not fixed. We did not have an option to move closing. Our hands were tied. So we made a list and had the PM sign and commit to the list. We gave them an extra day AFTER closing to make the needed repairs.

When I walked in to our new home with the keys, I literally got tears in my eyes. They had not cleaned. The floors, counters, and sidewalks were filthy. The marking we left was removed, but the items marked were not repaired. There was paint dripped everywhere. There were visible scratches in the wood floor. There was a large dent in the front door of the built in double oven. And, the huge dumpster was still in our front yard. We contacted the builder, and got NO REPLY. We have called and emailed for 6 days, and have not heard back from the builder.

Besides the crappy cement work and cracked/chipped tile, you'll get missing caulk just about everywhere, scratched appliances, broken heating/air units, really bad interior/exterior paint, heaters & air conditioners that don't work, electrical problems, water leaks inside and out. The landscaping is awful; poorly placed cheap plants, not to mention the drainage issues on many of the lots. Whatever you do, don't pay for expensive upgrades with this builder. Have quality contractors come in after the fact to complete your floors and backsplashes/shower. Take the standard interior paint and have your house repainted later. Not worth what they charge, as their paint is very sloppy and cheap! Why pay Meritage to do sub-par work for exorbitant prices! Also, you will be paying property taxes on all those upgrades for the next 30 years. Meritage loves to spout that they're the top ten builder, well, the QUANTITY of homes built does not equal QUALITY and they're no doubt number 10 on that list. Buyer beware!

I have followed their protocol for filing a claim to begin the process. I was told that the field rep would be in contact with me in 1-2 business days. Well, after a week, I decided to send another email (documenting everything) and I was told they would reach out to the field rep and have him call me, which he did. He set up the appointment with me on 10/1/14. The first thing he said was, "you need to review your warranty paperwork (totally unsympathetic). You need to read what it states and you will see that we are not covering this."

I asked him for his Operations Manager's name and he could not tell me his full name. He could only give me his immediate supervisor's name. Later that day after my email into the office requesting to speak to the Ops Manager. I was contacted by none other than guess who, his immediate supervisor. Well, that phone conversation went NOWHERE! They all have the same script when dealing with customers. It's like they all go to a class to learn how NOT to deal with customers. I told him that wanted him to meet with me at my home to see the poor construction of my falling steps and planters.

I told him that I had 2 engineers tell me that Meritage didn't use the proper support when building this. They told that they used a compaction sand vs crushed concrete as a base and it has all washed away which has caused the cratering. They also stated that the rock planters are not anchored into the ground and that for the amount of dirt that is in them, the rock walls should have been made wider to support it.

The supervisor was very rude, and short with me. I asked him who his boss was? He gave me the VP name and said she would be calling me, BUT, she's gonna push it back to him and he's not gonna help me fix it. I explained to him that my neighbor (which has also filed a claim) has the same problems with his Monterey home. I'm not looking for a freebee, handout, or to take advantage of any business. I get it. I'm looking for someone to take some responsibility in this. Even if they met me half way on the repairs, I just need it fixed! Unfortunately, I could not get this far into the conversation with them as they cut me off. Buyers beware!!!

Leaky basements, plumbing, uneven floors mentioned in the other reviews are very true for majority of the houses. I have seen the construction a to z. They barely meet the city codes; they ensure that they meet the codes right around closing. A good house is much more than simply meeting the codes. Once you start living, you will notice the changes as mentioned by other reviewers. The water heater, appliance, basement issues, all will start popping one by one. And then you will invoke warranty. They will drag their feet till the warranty is about to be over. In 20-30% of the cases they will attempt fixing. By then you are angry.

This is nothing, only the beginning. You may want to go to the court but can't, courtesy, the waivers you signed in the contract (I think there is a class action lawsuit pending in California court). You will hire a good attorney and he will figure out what supersedes: the waiver or a law. If your attorney is really good, you will manage to win. Then too, Meritage can still profit and you lose monetarily because they have the waiver to buy your house back at sell price + upgrades you put in. Bottom line, still much less than the current market price.

If you invoke issues during inspection walk-throughs, they will say they will meet the code. Read between the lines; they will not fix it. If you show attitude, then they will simply ask you to walk off because there are more buyers ready to buy the property because their layout plans are attractive and models are impressive. If you have already committed the same mistake as me, that is, signing the contract, then the only way out without losing sleep or money is to sell the property asap. I was warned but didn't pay heed because thought that a minority of people will always complain. I was able to sell mine the same week as the litigation ended for no gain, may be a little loss because of the litigation cost. I lived there for 1.5 years, so will call it even from the monetary perspective, but you will never get back the emotional peace or time back. I managed it but it can have a cascading effect on career, family, etc.

After 4 months we had to have stucco repaired, paint fixed, floor fixed; all three toilet seats broke and had to be replaced; the rain monitor on the sprinkler system was broke. Soon after our toilet started to leak and flooded our bathroom. Had to have a new toilet put in and the floor replaced again. Cabinets started peeling, had to have a door replaced. A water pipe just started banging in the attic. The air conditioner was not hooked up right in the attic. Electrical was shorting out in the kitchen... Just awful craftsmanship... We wanted this to be our forever home but are terrified what the next year or two might hold after the warranty is up. We regret this purchase so much. We would never recommend Meritage to anyone, EVER!

1 of the 2 water heater was broken. The builder simply turned it off. We did not realize it was broken until 3 months later, because it took 15 minutes for the water to get warm, and we are constantly running out of hot water. We submitted a warranty request, and it took over 2 months to finally get it fixed. First time the technician showed up and did not have the part to repair it. Even though we sent them a photo showing the cracked control. Next scheduled appointment was missed, because the technician did not show up, and I wasted a vacation day for it. After the missed appointment, I waited 4 weeks with no one calling me back from the builder or plumbing company.

Finally, I had to submit another repair ticket to get them to come back again. Calls to our "warranty manager" went straight to voicemail, without any replies. Third time the technician brought the part, only to find something else was broken. After he told me it was fix, I asked him why the garage smelled like gas. He then brought out some soap water to test the connections, and found there was a leak. He even joked that I had good sense of smell. The level of negligence was shocking. If he left the valve leaking and I did not smell gas, the whole house could be destroyed. For that simple repair alone, I wasted 4 vacation days, and made over a dozen phone calls, sent at least as many emails.

Another example of shabby construction quality was the case of card board filler. One day, I notice there was a wide gap between my garage door frame and the brick wall. Between the crack was what looked like brown card board box, filled in with silicon calk. The gap was about 4 inches wide. Upon close inspection, it looks like a part of a card board box. Someone broke the box a a part, and stuck it in the crack, because the brick wall was crooked, and they could not align the frame properly. Last I checked, card board is not qualified as an external facing construction material, especially when not painted. That particular warranty request took 3 tries for them to get it looking reasonable. I still have a 4 inch gap, but now it is filled with silicon instead of card board. See the attached photo if you do not believe me.

The latest problem I have is the lack of usable electrical outlets outside the house. The builder decided to put both garage door openers and all of the garage outlets, as well as all the front, back and side outlets on a single 15 amp circuit. There are 12 dual receptacles on that single GFCI circuit. I could not use anything more than 5 AMP on those outlets without tripping the circuit. The builder's response was that it was common practice for them. They also claimed that because I bought a spec house, they are not responsible for it. They then tried to get me to pay for the same low quality electrical company to come out and add additional circuits. Right now I have a 5300 square foot house that could not even power outside Christmas lights.

Their tactic is to make the warranty repair process so painful, that people would just give up and not call them. If you are in the market for a new house in Texas, do yourself a favor and avoid Meritage Homes.

Shortly after that, the construction manager quit and the sales office was removed from the neighborhood. Just like that we were left with no help that was close by. We had to submit our documentation for our "1-year warranty repairs" online and were assigned a Trey ** as our warranty coordinator. Part of our submission was a report from a third party inspector documenting issues with pictures and citing code violations where applicable (oh yes, my brand new home was NOT up to code!). One of the main issues was an engineered roof brace that the contractors cut because they could not make it fit, apparently.

The initial visit with Trey was supposed to be where he inspected everything so that he could get the correct contractors out there to make the repairs. All he kept saying however, was that they are not responsible for that, this is the homeowner's responsibility to maintain, etc, etc. After an unreal amount of angry phone calls and emails, most of the items on my list were completed 3-4 months later. The one thing they would not do is give me dirt in my garden. I had a bed of sand which was a haven for weeds and had to be addressed on my dime! I also told them that I was having drainage issues on one side of my house and requested they put in drains like they had already done on the other side of my house. They sent the worst possible landscaper out to handle that and he completely butchered my lawn. It took a month for them to come back out and fix it and it actually looks worse than when they first installed the drains.

This Trey character has since been moved to another community and our new guy is named Keith. I now have an upstairs window that is somehow allowing bugs to get in, and I believe it was improperly installed and possibly has shifted in the high winds we are known to have here. Keith has requested that I send pictures and I did. I now have left 3 texts and 1 voice mail; none of which have been returned. My experience after closing was nothing short of horrific! Do not buy a home from here.

The entire time through this process, we were making sure that, if there was anything that happened with the lending process and we weren't approved, we would get our deposit back. The Rep was VERY clear that, other than our backing out entirely from the contract, we would get the deposit back no matter what. We, and our agent, were satisfied with this as it is also stated in the contract that, should the lender not approved us, we would get our deposit back, etc. The only time we would not be able to get the deposit back, according to this contract, states (and in poorly written legal jargon) that there is a 10 or 14 day window from the date of signing to formally cancel the contract without reason and have the deposit returned. After such time, only lender denial would allow the deposit to be refunded. So, we gave the Rep all of the documents that he said the lender would require at the time of signing the contract.

When the lender asked for additional documentation, we immediately sent over those documents. However, after two months, we still don't know whether or not we are "approved" with their lender (MTH Mortgage), and after several emails and phone calls, they were still unable to say yes or no. They just keep asking for more documentation. At this point, we're wondering what's going on. We call up the Meritage Rep at the sales office and he's saying everything is good and not to worry, we're going to close on time, etc., etc. However, next thing we know, the Rep is calling us to ask if they can send our docs to another lender who can try and "make the numbers work." Side note: These guys assume we don't work for a living and call in the middle of the day when we're in Board Meetings, etc. So, although we can step out to answer, the problem is, they want us to make HUGE decisions on the spot without much detail.

Anyway, we're confused since we hadn't known we weren't getting approved with their preferred lender, but we don't want to lose our deposit by saying "no," so we ok it and the second lender comes back, almost immediately, with a no. (FYI, if you're ever denied a loan with MTH, expect them to be extremely unprofessional and rude to you... and in email format...) You can imagine after so many months, we're kind of tired of the run around and just want the craziness to stop. So, our agent calls the Rep to draw up cancellation papers since we were denied and the Rep REFUSED!!!

Now, we have problems. Even our agent can't understand why they're refusing this since, according to their contract, we were in compliance and then denied the loan. They actually told her (us) that because we didn't cancel within that 2 week window, we lose the deposit and he won't be having us sign any cancellation papers. So, after several months of calling and emailing and texting, we finally get a hold of Rebecca ** of Meritage in Vacaville, who we're told is the person who can authorize a refund of our deposit.

After several phone calls with her yelling at us and basically, telling us we can't read and are stupid, and then hanging up on us several times, we were, finally, on February 26th of 2014 able to get her to stop yelling long enough to tell her that we were bringing in our attorney, but would prefer to not have to go into such a hassle filled deboggle over one couple’s deposit. Perhaps it scared her... I don't know, but she finally said she "doesn't normally do this, but she'll authorize it this one time" and that we should expect to receive it within 4 to 6 weeks, and then hung up on us, again. Our mistake was we actually believed her. It's the end of April and still no refund check. Oh, and surprise! Nobody is answering our phone calls or emails. Now, we have to get our attorney involved. I would not recommend this company or their lender to anyone looking for a home.

* House sat for 8 weeks untouched after framing and trades waiting to be dry walled and bricked even though the dry wall and brick had been here the whole 8 weeks.

*Framing of upstairs was done incorrectly and they didn't put walls in on the second floor. We caught the mistake and brought it to their attention. We were told they would fix it later. 1 week before closing it was fixed. If you have ever seen a patch job with drywall and spray texture, well that's what the second floor of our house looks like. Looks horrible!

*Every door knob in the house fell off and continues to do so.

*Upstairs sink has to be unused and we have to keep the drain shut at all times. It makes this horribly loud suction noise. Had it fixed once and still didn't solve the issue.

*Attic door installed backwards. We brought this up during closing and were told it had to be that way. They said code said it must stay that way. So code says that us not being able to access our attic is correct? The door just hits the wall! After walking through every model like ours, taking photos and fighting they are finally going to fix it to the correct way.

*We were told we needed to sign a new contract a few days before closing. I thought that was very strange and was told that they needed it back the next day. After reviewing it I realized they added on $3000 in fees and when I confronted them about it I was told that we needed to pay it. YOU NEVER HAVE TO SIGN A NEW CONTRACT! They were hoping we would not realize, but we did. Sneaky! Our agent threw a fit when she found out!

*Our house was used as a dumpster! Before our granite was installed on the island they used the inside of the island as a trash can. We were so scared that they were going to put the granite on before we could clean it, so we had to come every day. We pulled out water bottles, cans of beer, chicken bones, fast food bags and more. Imagine how that would smell a year later!

* Watch out when doing yard work! I have found cans, bottles, tons of nails, wood, and other construction material.

*All of our siding and brick is pulling away from each other allowing water in. This will be great down the road for mold!

As much as I am complaining at least we do not have the issues that all of our neighbors have! Flooding, sewer leakage in the homes, and mold. Advise, make sure you are on top of them! You should be contacted weekly about the progress of your home as per the contract.

Also the second story bath drain line was pierced during construction and was finished and was just found three weeks ago from this date of March 26, 2014 and we are still waiting on them to finish it. And we are having numerous electrical issues. And last they do not clean the constructions area so when they lay sod they lay it with brick wood and several items of building material under it. So from my experience look elsewhere because they are VERY SHADY.