Detail Design Builders Customer Review

BELOW IS FIRST HAND DETAILS ABOUT OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE COMPANY. 

Bottom line- We will never again do business with Detail Design Builders (DDB) and we do not recommend them. 

 It has been a stressful two years since we signed the contract in January 2017 to build the house.

 Some of the highlights are written below.

 *  The foundation was already completed when we signed the contract. We were promised a complete house originally in April 2017 and then it was delayed to June which was acceptable to us but the house was not actually ready to move in until the end of Oct 2017. 

 *  We were flexible about it but the broken promises and lack of communication caused us headaches. Some examples include 1) I had given up my apartment lease in June and had to find temporary housing. The Builder helped and paid for it but I had to move my stuff into storage for months until house was ready and had to pay for the multiple moves. 2) The rest of my family was moving from out of state. They had already shipped their stuff that had to be stored causing inconvenience, added expense and unnecessary stress. 3) The house not being ready prevented us from settling down and unpacking. More than once we had to move our stuff around to accommodate the workers, had our stuff covered with white powder, paint and dust resulting in us paying cleaners extra for a detailed cleaning.

 *  It is March 2019 and the house is still not finished.

 *  There is an outstanding list that includes items from when we moved in that has not been completed to date.

 *  DDB prides themselves on custom and quality work but the house is, in our opinion, not up to par. Some examples are: 1) Electric issues - Multiple breaker issues were fixed along the way but we still have breakers tripping every time we vacuum 2) Shoddy kitchen cabinets (bad staining) 3) Paint job on custom shelves does not even have straight lines 4) Furnace return fell off within weeks of us moving in. To date it is still not repaired. There were no screws or clamps or tape holding it up to begin with 5) Guest bathroom already needs caulking 6) We live on a hill. Every time it rains, the water creates grooves and puddles in the yard. DDB had dirt dropped off back in June 2018 to fix the landscaping that was damaged before we moved in to the house in Oct 2017. That pile is still sitting in our backyard with no further work done 

 *  What made the experience more painful was the attitude of the builder. E.g. 1) when we sent pictures of the fallen furnace, he said, “someone must have knocked it down”. It’s in a utility room out of the way where it was not possible for someone to just knock it down. 2) With the breaker tripping, his first reaction was “buy a new vacuum” even though the vacuum works everywhere else in the house 3) The endless calling the builder to schedule work was one of the most time consuming and tedious tasks we had to endure since promises were made but rarely kept. 4) The builder took one of the kitchen cabinets as sample to be redone because he admitted they needed to be fixed but no progress was made for months and it was returned in the same unacceptable state. 

 *  The house had immense cracks in the walls and ceilings within months of us moving in. We were told this was natural. DDB paid to get these fixed. But there was lack of communication again and we had to argue about it first. He sent two sets of painters but that did not fix the cracks and the quality was, in our opinion, pitiful. So he ended up sending the plasterers to fix the cracks and there was so much work to do that they were at the house for four days. Afterwards, the painters came to finish painting. We never had an issue with any of the subcontractors that came to the house. The builder verbalized that he was not happy about it but still did it. 

 *  The builder gave us a good deal on high quality wooden floors but there are a lot of gaps between the boards. We were again told this is a New England weather issue and is natural. We don’t know if that is true or not. 

 Please note, we finally cut our losses with the company this month and plan to get the work completed on our own. The builder has not reached out to us since to make up for anything that has happened. 

 When we entered into this contract, we did it on good faith and thought the builder had as well. We can even say we felt we had formed a friendship with him. Over time, the reality is far from that. 

Attached are pictures showing details  of the quality of work done.

Please make your own judgements before making a life changing decision that you will have to live with. 

Update 3/14/19: We scheduled an appointment with the same electrician who fixed prior issues. They fixed  the breaker tripping and they said they would bill DDB. We received a text from the builder on the same day incorrectly stating that "he sent the electrician even though we had parted ways and if there was anything else he could do."  We did not respond.