Drees Homes Reviews

Overall had a positive experience purchasing and building our home with Drees. The process is never smooth and hiccups happen, which they were mostly responsive to. The workmanship is good, not great. Bathroom shower had to be redone due to a issue they found (which I would not have noticed so that is good). The worst experience definitely has been the landscaping they provided - large portion of the sod that was provided was in horrible condition and they were happy to come out and replace those pieces. The placement and installation of trees is terrible. I had 5 trees installed - 3 are crooked and 1 was placed in the middle of the backyard (why?!). They do not fix/move them either after installation so make sure when they do the initial landscaping, you're watching closely. Like with other builders as well, your lawn is just all clay so the quality of the soil is horrendous and you're going to have to do a lot of work after to get it right. ... More

Overall my experience was pretty good.

Responded to problems in a timely manner

Drees has a lot of upgrades available . During meeting with marketing manager , Be sure you ask for all construction and framing related upgrades and get it added before signing off agreement . They didn’t told us in advance so being first time buyer we missed some important upgrades . The quality of material and construction seems to be good and value of money . The Design Centre staff is really good , flexible and will tell you all information upfront.

There is a lack of attention to detail. Many little annoying things that were overooked, not earth stopping, but annoying nonetheless. Drywall mud over outlets, unsanded areas on walls, missed paint, water spigot not working, landscaping poor. Little things but, a little attention to detail makes a difference. Most annoying thing is a design flaw (my opinion) that the hot water heater is installed clear across the house from the kitchen, master bath, bedroom basement and washroom and takes over a minute to get hot water to those destinations.

I had very little communication throughout the build. Had to follow up on outstanding items multiple times. Painting is not the best. Lots of touch up needed. Birds in the external vents. Vents should have been cohesive with the other townhomes. Had to provide my own screening to keep birds out. Overall, I like my home, but having to reach out 3 and 4 times to get small things cared for was frustrating.

As I was told by one of the Drees reps " anyplace where corners can be cut as far as materials, Dees will always take the least costly route". This is evident in the plumbing structure where cheap plastic tubing is used instead of copper pipe, window sills are no longer standard and interior framing, drywall installation and finishing work were sub-standard. I will say that the Project Manager was quick to resolve issues when we pointed tham out to him.

My experience with Drees was ok. I had an extensive issue with the soil being bad which delayed the building of my home by four months. This was quite a shock to me and an inconvenience, while Drees did all that they could to remedy the situation to build the house, they did nothing to remedy the inconvenience it put me in my family in. While the quality of the house is good I believe the price did not match. The layout of the home is very nice however a linen closets and larger walk-in closets would have been nice. The associate were professional but I would probably not buy another Drees home. ... More

I felt customer service took a back seat to Drees desire for additional fees (Profit)

New home is nice to have, but issues have arisen within 90 days of moving in. Questionable HOA which has never been seen or resolved issues around the property. I.e., noisy neighbors, loud parties and frequent garage sales in one home.

Overall the home is as expected. There have been issues with the quality of some materials (windows leaking) and sub work that was completed in home. We are return customers and have had more issues with this home.

Overall the building experience was good with the builder and this was primarily because of the people we worked with at the sales office, Debbie Meyers, the design center, Amanda Keefer, the builder rep, Kris Klein initially and then Anthony Lombardo later. They were all very helpful and made the building process very easy. The main complaint I have with Drees is that corporate market themselves as a "custom builder" and this is very deceptive. I have built two other homes with true custom builders and the reason I disagree with their labeling themselves custom builder is the very limited choices you have and the restricted means of selecting and buying all elements of what goes into the home. They restrict you to use only their suppliers for everything that goes into the home and you have to almost fight with them to let you go outside their supply chain to get what you want if their suppliers don't have what you are looking for. I imagine the main reason for this is that they gain monetarily from you using their suppliers. If you have never built a home before with a custom builder, you would probably not know the difference, but Drees is not a true "custom builder". Overall I am satisfied with the home but allowing more latitude in using some of my own suppliers would have made the experience better. I did go out and get appliances separately because I could not get what I wanted, ie, black stainless finish appliance thru their supplier. The credit I received for this was ridiculous. For all appliances, except for the microwave, they gave me a $1300 credit on all appliances. You can't even buy a refrigerator for this amount of money. Typical greedy corporate practices. ... More

Fast builder in the city

Responsive to issues until the house was paid for - then no response

Overall satisfied with the buying experience, except that Drees should have been considerate with some changes during the construction phase. Was charged 1k for every change. We also got charged extra for the head walls instead of being included in the base price. The homeowners are also expecting tye builder and HOA to add more street lights and provide walkways in the neighborhood.

I bought this home as a Spec home there are few things that I hope that Dress home did better job 1. Painting - Very low quality 2. Internet Ports - There is no Internet ports available in office area. 3. I have been listed this home for rent from 3 months so far not one renter , I am feeling the primary reason because of the way the address is showing wrong in several sites. a. It looks like initially whether it is Drees or Local Post used street 'Trahan Dr' for part of the 'Shrawley Ct' so now google show maps incorrectly and Zillow show it incorrect , Zillow is basically showing that this house is part of North of west field. Drees basically messed up the whole Trahan Dr the physically boards are not matching with the popular sites. 4. There is no way the price of the home justified for Rental income in any means. This is something to consider for your future ventures. At the end of the day people might not make money but everyone wants to balance money I just don't see this happening for this home. ... More

Condition of home exterior could have been better. Noise level of heat pump in the owners bedroom is unacceptable.

Septic was never explained and still can’t get information tons of drywall issues, no move in clean done and still waiting on repairs

excuses for poor workmanship like that's our vendor, is not acceptable. Someone knows how to do it right get that someone with that contractor. if your going to charge for something make sure its right and don't make excuses when its not.

Make sure with this builder that you have everything in writing and even then you're taking a chance! For the amount this builder charges for homes, you'd expect better overall experience with the process

They will change your options without informing you and pretend nothing happened. Then when you ask to have fix or changed is when the story starts getting super uncomfortable.

The work was very satisfactory. Sometimes the worksite could have been better kept.

Sales manager, Debra, was very good, helpful in many ways.

Expect the close later than planned. Design options are good and priced reasonable enough to not consider having things done by contractors later. Updates aren’t always weekly. Transition between work is not always timely. Issue resolution is sometimes quick, but not always the case. Overall not bad.

Constuction manager responsive and communicative. Workmanship, however, lacked attention to details. Painting, drywall, caulking, door alignment, window quality, and flooring installation were all below par, requiring numerous repairs/rework that are still outstanding 90 days later.