Started the building process with BRANDAL ANDERSON in April 2008 and it was done at the end of August 2008.
Interior Painting
· At the one year walkthrough we itemized the cracks in the walls and nail pops. The painter/BA did not save enough paint for the touchup or repair of cracks and nail pops. There was about an inch left of the original paint in a 5 gal bucket and the painter threw it out. We did pay extra ($900) to have our color choice for the walls, which deviated from their standard colors. The painter made 3 separate trips for paint, attempting to match our walls, which none worked out and we ended up with several, touched up areas of or home with paint from other batches that did not match up with the original paint job (pictures available). When we voiced our concerns and disappointment about the condition of the walls of our house, with all the touchup spots being so noticeable, BA told us that per the warranty they weren’t required to match the paint, which we thought was really odd when one of the services they provide is to repair walls and touchup walls after one year, but they did not keep enough paint to do this properly. Instead of a nice paint job after 1 year, we have noticeable blotches throughout our house. When we spoke to the “customer service” lady in their front office and talked about the disappointment of having no extra paint, she told us that even if there was paint left over, it wouldn’t match, which we know to be untrue. We also itemized with them a major crack that had happened in the 2-story family room with the 20 ft ceiling in Northeast corner wall (We asked if they could use backers, but the job supervisor told us that they don’t use backers, they use clips when they drywall corners, which didn’t work for the high ceiling in our family room). The painter came and painted over the crack and so we couldn’t see it anymore, until the paint settled into the crack and is now very visible and needs to be properly repaired with at a minimum spackle. Also, the tape job on the ceiling of the kitchen is already visibly coming away and we added to the list the uneven edging job throughout the house and texture jobs done on many of the ceilings, but eventually let those items go as they just could not get it right. We met BA during the Parade of Homes and they advertised that they were a Parade of Homes builder, but they certainly did not do Parade of Home quality work in our home.
Fireplace
· An item on our list at the 1 year walkthrough was the cold drafty fireplace. BA first suggested that we put insulation under the fireplace, which we were not willing to do, because of warranty and possible safety issues. BA sent the installer of the fireplace out to check it out and he turned on our blower and said that everything was fine. During a recent Xcel Energy Audit, the auditor evaluated the efficiency of our fireplace/doghouse area and determined that there was a problem with the doghouse or the vent install. We shared the report findings with BA and they determined that we live in a windy area and that they didn’t even need to look into our complaint any further, after the BA office decided that it, per email from “customer service” lady, we live in a windy area and they are going to go with that. On the day of the audit, it was not windy in our area. We are now left with an energy audit that says we have an inefficient drafty cold fireplace in our 2 year old home. If you claim to be an energy efficient builder, then why can’t you pass an energy efficiency audit?
Garage Door
· During the first year, our garage door buckled in after a spring storm and was damaged beyond repair. We contacted BA via email and phone about the garage door. They told us that our garage door was installed properly and it was a homeowner’s insurance issue. We called the garage door manufacturer and found out that the garage door was not installed properly to the manufacturer’s specifications without the support bracket, which we did not have. We contacted the installer on our own, Allen Anderson, to challenge them on their installation of our garage door without support bracket and they sent someone out immediately and they also determined that the bracket was in fact missing. Once that happened BA and Allen Anderson worked out the details and we got a properly installed garage door without using our homeowners insurance. Had we not moved forward on our own, going through our homeowners, would have cost us a large out of pocket deductible. This is just another example of BA’s “customer service.” It seemed as a company they were always quick to get out of helping us with any issues and defer blame, like on the wind, when issues arose.
Driveway/Sidewalk
· At the closing walkthrough there was already major sinking beyond settling that had occurred in the front sidewalk and the corner of adjacent driveway. The sewage main connection to our home was not properly backfilled and sunk significantly. BA agreed that they both had to be redone. They redid the sidewalk, which ended up cracking right away in September 09 after the repair in August 09, but they deemed it not serious enough, and outside warranty, to repair and is now cracked and crumbling. But, rather than redoing the entire driveway, since we just moved in and it should have been new, they repaired it by making a large cut and filling it in and it has never matched the rest of the driveway. They refused to seal coat it, so we had it done and it still doesn’t hide the huge cut. So we never had a new driveway. When they agreed to redo the driveway and sidewalk during the September 08 walkthrough, with the job supervisor, we agreed that it was too cold to do the work until early next spring 09. When May came, after many calls and emails to inquire about when they would start/finish the work so that we could finish our yard and get our escrow deposit back from the city, they finally finished it in late August and we finally received our escrow check in October 09. Regarding the side walk BA came out to the job unprepared to the job right. They came with no class 5 gravel to backfill the sink in the sidewalk area and instead they planned to use a small pile of sand mixed with dirt from the lot next door to ours that would have been highly insufficient and would have never been enough to repair the major sink that had occurred. Luckily we had a yard of our own class 5 gravel that we were using for our own landscaping projects. The Bobcat driver used our gravel in addition to the sand/dirt mix. The bobcat driver told us that he assumed that our gravel was for the sidewalk job, because the small pile of sand would not have been sufficient. We had to contact BA to replace our gravel. The troubling part to us was that if we had not had the gravel there, they would have been satisfied to use the small pile of old sand in the lot next door, placing a band-aid on the problem. The sidewalk would have sunk again and they likely would have told us that we were outside of our warranty when that happened. When we asked the job supervisor about this, he got frustrated with us and walked away unable to have a reasonable conversation about it. Another example of their unwillingness to back up their customer and their company’s poor “customer service.”
Gutters
When we had someone come out to do the gutters on the back of the house, they let us know that the gutters that BRANDAL ANDERSON installed on the front of our house had no flashing and that our installer indicated that they would never install gutters without flashing. We understand why, as they are now the only ones leaking on our home. When BRANDAL ANDERSON’S installer came out to our house to check on some trim, we asked why they don’t use flashing and he said they do whatever the builder tells them to do, and in this case they were told not to use flashing.
Items that we are overall dissatisfied with about our home. (Parade of Homes and A + rating)
· There is a lack of any sound proofing anywhere in our home. The walls are empty and paper thin. You can hear any toilet flush as well as the water literally flowing down the pipes from anywhere in the home as well as hear the bathroom fans throughout the house. When the garage door opens, it sounds like the motor is right in the two rooms above it. You can hear the kitchen speakers in the ceiling through the floor in the master bedroom right above it, even at low to moderate volumes. If my child jumps off of the bed upstairs, it sounds like she will fall through the ceiling and shakes the entire house. When the mudroom door is closed, all off the walls shake. When the wind blows outside, the walls make noise and sound like they will come down (Yes, we do live in a windy, rural-type area, but maybe BA shouldn’t build homes in windy areas. We were surprised to hear a builder use that as an excuse over and over). Most of our neighbors barely hear the wind. We think they put up the sheetrock and forgot to put anything in between the walls. Quite Infuriating, upsetting and not at all Parade of Home, A+, or even C+ quality! We placed this one first, as this is THE biggest annoyance and disappointment. It is something that you don’t know until you live in your house for a bit, and then you feel taken advantage of because you were not on the site watching the people work every minute while they closed up your walls, most likely filling them with nothing or inferior products. Because of our life/work schedules, we did not have the luxury of hovering over the workers daily, but you shouldn’t have to. The people working on your home shouldn’t do anything that they wouldn’t do on their own homes.
· Ceilings are already showing several areas of the inferior tape/mud job.
· They used Poplar wood in our home, something we had never heard of and has proven to be an inferior wood. We asked for Cherry, but they told us that Poplar was what they used and was just as good. Poplar wood nicks and marks extremely easy and looks to be in very poor shape already. The cabinets are very light weight and hollow sounding, when you shut them. So, in other words a bottom of the line wood used to cut their costs. A nail gun was used to install all of the trim work in our home and then putty was put in every hole, but you can see each and every hole, very well. The trim looks and feels cheap, having sharp, rough edges. The cuts in much of the quarter-round in our kitchen were done wrong and look very unprofessional. The doors have very roughly finished edges and are overly light weight.
· We have had the worst experience with the BA “customer service” at just about every interaction, and it got to be a joke when we brought issues up to them. I compare it to an insurance company that you have paid your money to and they look for an out of every claim that you make. This was very disheartening and frustrating to say the least. It made us regret that we went with them over all the other builders that we could have worked with in our area. We often hear stories from our neighbors about their excellent building experiences and of ongoing great relationships with their builders currently. It seemed as though BA didn’t care how we felt or about “word of mouth” business, as we are not and never have been in a position to say, “Our builder was great!” Typically, that is important to most businesses, except this one, obviously. Their front office "customer service" person is an absolute nightmare of a person and a JOKE to work with. She could have cared less about any thing that we brought to her. To have BA do a horrible job on the craftsmanship of your home AND to have her be the person to deal with, was a double negative. Not sure how they all sleep so well. I have read many really negative complaints about BA for customer service and quaility issues. When looking for a builder walk right passed Brandl!!! You will be happy that you did.
