The Drees Company
Reviews and Complaints

I went to get some information about the homes at Liberty Hall Estates by Drees about two weeks ago on a Saturday and the Michele P was the most disrespectful women with an attitude with every question I asked. She answered my questions as if I was dumb. I was very polite despite her attitude towards me. She seemed rushed as if she didn't have time for questions. As much as I like Drees homes, I will not buy from them due Michele P attitude. I'm sure if this a race thing or not but I certainly felt unwelcome. This is very sad for Drees to have representation such as this. I hope Michele wasn't discriminating against me because of my race. It's sad we live in a world like this today in 2020.

We really wanted to love Drees but they have severe issues with communication and love to over promise and under deliver on their Bring Your Own Lot program. Their marketing manager drastically under priced the cost in the beginning and negligently disregarded community CCRs to set the hook on us and get us to sign a purchase contract. He stated numerous times "I don't even read the CCRs because the ARB will just tell me what to do anyway." Needless to say, with less than 3 weeks until lot closing, the ARB identified key CCR items that needed to be addressed, which would put us nearly $80k over budget. They claimed the ARB was very difficult and the requirements were a surprise, but it was all identified in the CCRs that Drees acknowledged up front on the contract That they had received. Don't be deceived by friendly smiles and fast talking, the NC Bring Your Lot program is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

I had to cancel a home contract with Drees as my broker left me hanging - had no help, and my wife freaked out on the price with Drees. I canceled it because of this and also stopped payment on the check. I was working with the Regional Sales Manager in ***, Austin TX, he seems ok with the whole thing. After this, I was working on my own with no help from a broker, so i reached out to the developer at *** in Austin TX - they informed me of upcoming lots open with Drees, I also reached out to two other Drees regional managers where I can potentially build my Lynmar II. I quickly received an angry email from the regional manager in Rough Hallow with Drees, to NOT ask about lots, that the one he wanted to sell me was the ONLY one available. I then also received an email from the developer, telling me that she ha to disconnect herself from the conversation with me on potential lots to build on. Nice right? customer can't due their due diligence? Eventually, I got a good broker to help me - I did find the home I wanted to build, but the lot was not long enough to have a big enough back yard; as it was advertised as 150f long, it turned out it was 130f of useable land ( i found this out two days before signing the contract). During all this second time, the Regional Manager was not as professional to work with, he claimed in an email I would 30 feet of back yard with a 4 car garage, when in fact this was not true - I would have 20 feet of backyard with a 4 car garage. He told me that the regional VP would only accept a 10% wire deposit to secure the property. When my broker called the regional VP, the VP said OK to a 50% deposit then 50% cash later - which I found odd. Two days before signing the contract, the Regional Manager canceled my contract signing meeting without any reason. When I asked my broker what happened, he said that the regional manager said they didn't want to do business with me any longer, as the VP found out I was the same guy that canceled the same contract the first time and that "i would be difficult to build with." Not very nice or good customer service. For the above reasons - I am happy that I will not be working with Drees, and will take my business and money to a builder that deserves it.

We purchased a new home on June 9. Since moving in, we have noticed our front yard will often smell of raw sewage. We've attempted to contact Drees Homes over 20 times to fix this issue, but their response has been "it is what it is" and "the smell should be expected since our septic is located in our front yard." Both responses are unacceptable. No customer should have to deal with the smell of raw sewage coming from their front yard. We have also submitted a claim with *** County Health Department to investigate the issue.

We closed on and moved into a house built by Drees in January. Today, 9/20, we found out when applying for a fence permit that the city of *** never issued a certificate of occupancy for our house. The pre-pour inspection for our patio, the final building inspection, and final engineering inspection were never completed. These were all the responsibility of Drees to complete before closing on the house. We want Drees to do the necessary to complete these inspections immediately. Our contact at the city of *** who brought this to light is ***, assistant building commissioner. His number is .

We originally filed a complaint in October for the smell of raw sewage in our front yard. Drees attempted to fix the issue by adding additional piping to our roofline. This has not worked and the smell is still there. We have attempted to reach out to Drees representative Rusty *** to tell him the issue of smelling raw sewage still remains. We have yet to hear back from Mr.. We understand when building a house there will be little things that pop up, but owners should not have to smell raw sewage when walking out their front door. We also plan to call *** County Health and *** County permitting on Monday to further discuss this issue.

Builder: DREES Homes Purchase Date: Jun 2019 Warranty: 1-Year Warranty Unresolved Deficieciencies Complaint: Many of 60-day walk-thru deficiencies were resolved however, many remain. Initial Warranty representative reconciled most of the issues but not all. He was replaced and our 1-year walk-thru was postponed in Apr 20 due to Covid-19. We did not hear from DREES or receive a response from the new representative until Jan 2021; only as a result of us contacting corporate on two occasions. Work was finally performed in Feb 20 with a promise to revisit remaining items 2 weeks later. Our Due Diligence: we have since sent DREES two emails and called twice but without confirmation of any scheduled work.

I had my one year follow up with Drees to fix nail pops and other touch up issues. After the painters were done I could tell that the paint was not the same shade as my original paint. I called and advised the warranty department and also went to my local PPG store who advised me that the shade of paint that my house was painted is no longer available. Drees came out and blamed it on "One year fading" of the paint. This fading claim is unacceptable due to the fact that my paint shade is no longer available. Today I received an email stating that they will not do any more further repairs to the paint. Now I am stuck with painted walls that do not match. I will also add that Heath *** has not been helpful at all with his unprofessionalism in person, attitude, and unwillingness to help.

We recently discovered that the entire back of our house is wood rotted, some places into the interior drywall. Drees told us it was our fault for not caulking and keeping the trim painted. The house is brick and vinyl-sided. They never looked at the house, they just fabricated their statement. The cause of the wood rot is 1) No house wrap per manufacturers recommendations 2) Missing j channel or drip edges with the vinyl siding 3) No house wrap tape over the window nailer strips 4) No caulking used during the initial build. Drees warranty dept said the house is out of warranty and the warranty would not apply to us as the second owner. This is not a warranty issue. This is SHODDY CONSTRUCTION! People beware, several other homeowner neighbors have experienced the exact same SHODDY CONSTRUCTION resulting in the same wood rot damage in their homes.

New home construction issue, home was built with an outside entertainment area consisting of a deck with stoned fireplace. During construction we brought to the builders attention that the main support was undersized for the deck load capacity. The builder did not address the concern or provide an engineering study to support their position of not upgrading the main support. The main support was also compromised during the deck construction as it was notched to allow for deck side boards, the support has also developed a bow due to the weight of the fireplace. The deck is attached to the south west side of the home and would do substantial damage to the house if main support failed. The latest communication with the builder is my third communication on this particular situation, pictures of the situation have also been provided. The home has other construction issues that have been identified and we are monitoring for completion at this time.

Complaint - Brick and Stone sloppy install. Electrical Issues in finished basement Details: I contracted to build a new semi-custom home with Drees. The home was completed in May . The home comes with 1 year warranty follow-up. The 60 day follow-up went well, but there were a few items Drees stated they would correct at the 1 year follow-up. One of the open items was the cleanup and repair of the brick and stone facing on the house. The brick and stone has multiple areas of " mortar overspray", joints that are cracked and areas of the front that are light and dark. Ryan O says he would schedule an appointment for acid washing, but has not gotten back to me. My second issue is electrical issues in the finished basement. Drees installed 11 outlets in the basement and only 3 can be used simultaneously. Over 3 and the breaker trips. Jarod C and Ryan O stated it was not covered under warranty. Other electrical was covered. Lee M was contacted, no response.

We built a house from Drees Builders in Northern KY 2 1/2 years ago. We have a huge leak in family room from the walkout area. We currently have had to pull the carpet and padding back because it is of the leak. We have contacted Drees to assist with this issue and they refuse to even assist on evaluating why it is leaking. We are now left with a whole floor that is not usable. As I mentioned, I do not know the cause and I am calling in different companies to figure it out. It may be that the land wasn't excavated properly and is not draining properly. Unfortunately, Drees only cares about the customer until they have the money in the bank. Even at the 60 day and 1 year review, they try to convince you that the things you are complaining about are not real issues and it happens to all the homes. I am beyond disappointed on how Drees handles a customer that has spend the money we have on this home. NEVER will we buy a Drees home again. Customer Service is non existent! You can tell they train their folks to push you to the side. To not even show any compassion or assistance on a home that they built. Truly shameful.

June I bought a custom home from Drees Homes in *** Florida. Early Feb 2020 our neighors where bringing us shingles that slid off the roof. I emailed Anita *** from Drees home starting on Mar 17th 2020 asking for assistance (Approx 5 shingles slid off the roof) Issues transpired between Mar/2020 and Apr/2020. In Sep 20 multiple shingles from the roof slid off from various sides and front of the house. I contacted Anita once again and she called *** Roofing, Mr. came out and did the repairs and told me that he thought the shingles where faulty because they weren't sticking like they should. I contacted Drees Home/Anita and asked what I should do and she instructed me to file a warranty claim with *** for faulty shingles. I contacted *** and the promptly sent me a warranty kit where I had to have a roofing company come by and remove 2 shingles and take numerous pictures at different angles. I promptly submitted my warranty kit to *** and they came back 2 weeks later with a letter stating the shingles where installed correctly and that is why they are sliding off the roof. The wrapping package on the shingle bundle says "NO NOT NAIL ABOVE OR ON THE WHITE LINE". The shingles sent to *** and other shingles on my roof are clearly nailed ABOVE THE WHITE LINE AND OR ON THE WHITE LINE, causing the shingles not to adhere to each other. I contacted Anita once again and supplied the letter to Drees and on Nov 18 2020 she replied and said she forwarded this information to her Boss and Mr.. As of 2/11 I have not heard anything from Drees Homes. As of 2/11, I now have 6 shingles missing off my roof. This just occurred 2 days ago.

I recently had an extremely upsetting and very costly experience with the construction of my new Drees home. When Drees had the engineering plans done for my new home, the plans came back with an egress window near the basement walk-up. When I questioned it, I was told by the Drees salesperson the window is required by code. My wife and I questioned it again when construction began and were referred by the Drees construction manager back to the salesperson. After closing on the home in late November , I had contractors come in to do quotes for some work at the house. Three of the four contractors asked why was there an egress window next to a walk up, stating the window is not required by code. Based on this I reached out to my county building department and found out from the building inspector that the egress was not required. I went back to my Drees salesperson, who directed me to his manager, Brian M Sales Manager, *** and *** of *** Division. On January 17th, I met with Brian, discussed the issue with the egress and asked for it to be removed and the window area filled in. The egress sits in the patio area off of my Sunroom in front of where the door to exit the sunroom is located. Brian indicated that the egress window should not have been installed and was not part of my contract for the home. He checked with the Drees construction team and came back a week later to me stating Drees is not willing to warranty the remove of the egress window, and filling in the foundation. The concern was it leaking later on. I asked what other solutions Drees had but, instead Brain asked me to come up with a solution to cover/hide the egress in order to make us whole. Even though I thought Drees is a quality builder surely they can present a solution, I took my time and did my research. I presented Brian the option of a deck to cover the window on the outside and placing a remodel frame (wall) over the window in the basement. In speaking to the Stafford County building department a deck can be built over the egress, the deck should be totally enclosed to prevent access to the well. On February 12th, I have sent Brian estimates from several Class A deck builders that can work with County for permit approval. The estimates include building the deck and doing a whole wrap of the sides to prevent access to underneath the deck and well. Brian indicated he would speak to his boss in regard to what Drees is able to do to compensate on the project. Several days later Brain came back and stated his manager indicated Drees couldn't contribute anything toward a deck to cover up the egress that was put in by mistake. At this point I asked Brian what solutions Drees has to resolve the issue. He indicated it would take him a few days to present options. It has now been a month and we have not heard anything from Brian. It was clear Drees had no other viable options and no intent to make me whole.

Since 2010, we have been having issues with our house which was built in 2008. August - Shower door randomly shattered one afternoon. That was a guest bathroom that we barely used. We contacted Drees multiple times and no one responded. By April, there was still no response from Drees Warranty manager (Mike ***). We finally got a response from him in May and he said that they would not be covering the repair. Shortly after, the door to our upstairs balcony shattered on its own. Again Drees denied any responsibility for the replacement. Due to the 2 incidents of random shattering of glass doors and also random cracks all over our house, I told Drees to check our foundation multiple times but they did nothing. At this point, we had already spent money replacing the shower door, balcony door and installing a soaker hose around the house to attempt fixing the issue. After the soaker hose installation, cracks around our house did not stop forming. October - Drees finally sent someone to physically inspect our home for foundation problems. Note: this is FOUR YEARS after we notified them of issues. They did identify the issue and hired Advanced foundation to do the work. Advanced foundation finished their work in February. Due to the foundation repair, multiple items (windows, doors, yard, *** driveway, etc.) had to be repaired or replaced. One of the main items was the *** driveway to the sidewalk. Right after they reinstalled our *** driveway, we noticed a slight bump outside of our garage but we did not think much of it. Recently, the bump has become significant (4inches). We contacted Advanced Foundation and they told us that this happens often because the *** driveway was installed incorrectly after the foundation repair. I reached back out to Larry *** from Drees and also *** that installed our driveway. Of course, they both denied what Advanced Foundation told us. *** told me that everything was inspected properly after work was done and that it was approved by the city but they have yet to show me any paperwork on that inspection. I also requested *** to show me any information or documentation they have on that installation but it has been months and they have been unresponsive. I already had multiple contractors come and look at our driveway and they said it was due to incorrect installation. I shared this information with Larry *** at Drees. Again, Drees is denying responsibility for this issue. I have been working with Larry *** on this and hoped that we could come to a resolution about this. Instead of sharing information about the initial inspection report, he has been denying all responsibility and saying he does not have any inspection done on the ***. Larry *** is also making it seem like they did us a "courtesy" after the foundation repair to replace our driveway when in fact it was only damaged due to the foundation repair of the house itself. The driveway had to be repaired at that time due to cracks from the foundation movement/repair. Around October , I requested to speak to Larry's supervisor, David ***. He called me in October and we discussed the issue. At that time, he promised to reach out to his management and talk to the foundation company and follow up with me about a solution. Since that call I have been unable to reach Larry, David or anyone at Drees. I have emailed and called David but no response. At this time, I am running out of options but coming to ComplaintsBoard.com to see if you are able to help us resolve the issue. When we initially bought the house with Drees, we thought that a company this big would have good customer service. However, since we bought the house, dealing with Drees Warranty has been a nightmare. The warranty managers continuously avoid responding to an issue and deny all responsibility.