How well did VM stick to their 4 month schedule?

So our hole is dug and we are supposed to have a foundation by the end of the week. They're saying we'll have a house before September.

Of course we've heard all kinds of horror stories about schedule delays etc. I haven't actually talked with anyone in VM Broadlands, particulary in the Trillium section. I'm curious to hear how they did!

Any good/bad experiences to share? Perhaps there are other folks out there that have not moved in yet that could benefit from your stories.

Thanks!

 

We closed last November and our home was on schedule the whole time.

 

Ditto. In general, our experience with VM during the building process was great.

 

Same here. They broke ground mid-April and we closed the third week of July.

 

Not so lucky here, they broke ground in Mid June, didn't move in until November.

 

We went to settlement 4 months to the day after they broke ground.

 

We broke ground June 1, 2003 and settled September 29, 2003. Shorter than 4 months by 2 days.

While the timeframe for delivery was superb, there are a few things they rushed through and took care of at the 90 day.

 

We were scheduled to settle in September 2003, but due to some issues in Section 1 they finished our house early and we settled on July 27, 2003.

Only minor issues with our house.

VM is great at the 90 day.

But the 6 month and one year - terrible!!!!

MAKE SURE YOU PUT EVERYTHING IN WRITING or THEY DO NOT FIX IT! Do not let them tell you that they don't need to put it on the list and that they will come back and fix it on the side.

 

Amazing, I guess they finally hit their stride. When they were building 1998/1999, signed the papers in November '98, did not move in until August '99, still had them fixing things a year later (leaky front door, no house wrap installed).



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

It's when they look you in the eye and lie to you, knowing that you know they're lying, and have even called them on it -- that's what burns me.

 

You guys must be the lucky ones. VM didn't even stick to the timeframe post-drywall for us. They said 30-60 days after drywall went up so we put our old house on the market. Were lucky enough to rent back an extra month when it slipped past 90 days and closed 3 hours before we were forced out of our old place and would have lost our interest rate lock. Given that we had a lock on the record low rate last June, that was a HUGE deal to us - that and that we were homeless at midnight.

The whole thing, ground break to settlement was roughly 158 days. I'm familiar enough with the process (construction is what my family does) to know that for no good reason they dragged thier feet on our home. I think they sold and committed to way too many homes at that time and simply didn't have the manpower. I have a couple of neighbors who have similar stories - maybe it was our street last summer.

Don't ask me about the quality of our home. We moved in last August and have since had leaks, mold and other damage that took months to get resolved and 4 rooms had to be ripped apart (flooring, drywall, ceilings, etc.) The customer service is non-existent and I am dreading our 1 year walk after the headaches we had at 60 days. We still have things not done. I can promise you we won't buy from VM again and steer our friends away. It's a shame since it is such a nice neighborhood.

 

Well, not to be a cheerleader for VM, but our home inspector (pre-closing) was pretty impressed with the overall quality of construction of our home. He came up with about 4 pages of discrepancies, but, in his words, they were smaller in number and in seriousness compared to what he sees from a lot of the other builders in the area.

I will agree that it takes a long time to get action from customer service, however. Sometimes it seems like you need to scream at them to get them to move -- I'm lucky I have a bulldog for a wife to make those call for me!

 

There were ahead of schedule on mine and it was a winter build.

 

We will be a few weeks longer than 4 months, if they stick to the June 3 date they are still giving us. I'm not sure if the delay was due to the snow this winter (we started Jan 20) or the three weeks where they seemed to be doing nothing.

We've been less than impressed by Van Metre's communication, especially after we were told we'd be getting weekly email updates.

I'm still a little confused about why we had to work through the sales staff during construction...

 

I am guessing we were fortunate. Our inspector only found minor things in the final walk-through, and we have had only minor issues that we have had resolved within a week. Except for a faulty outlet, that took a couple of visits. Our 60 day list was done in 2 days and have no complaints about customer service.

 

OK - so should we be freaking out? Our foundation has been sitting since the last week in April, and they still have not started framing. The lumber just arrived a week and half ago -- and now that's just sitting there. It seems like an awful lot of time to pass with no apparent sign of progress. We were able to find out that our original construction supervisor (the only who told us we'd settle before the end of August, yeah right!) ditched VM, so I'm not sure if something got lost in the shuffle.

I feel sort of powerless -- does it do any good to complain and yell? I know this is probably just the way the home-building process goes, but...it stinks!!

 

Merlin,

Wondering what model/where you're building. We have purchased a Courtyards II Juniper model. Met with construction super today and he advised they will pour foundation in the next week or so, but to expect framing to begin in about 6-8 weeks. He advised "when the wood arrives, it should only be a few days before it's up". Have a house to sell - so concerned that they keep to schedule so I can plan accordingly.

 

We are building a Classics Sinclair II in Southern Walk. I'm really not sure what took so long for our wood to arrive. It was definitely more than 8 weeks after the foundation was poured. And we are now pushing 2+ weeks since the lumber arrived and last weekend it was still sitting. Keeping fingers crossed for this weekend. We understand your pain with regards to selling your place. We wanted to catch the summer market, so we actually got a contract on our place at the end of June. We settle end of August and can rent back as long as we need to. We got really lucky in finding a flexible buyer.....

 

Merlin CALL AND COMPLAIN TILL YOU ARE BLUE IN THE FACE. Ask for free things and threaten action if you don't see any action in the near near future.

 

Happy to report that in the last week and half, we got a framed house, the windows/doors arrived, they're putting that 'home wrap' up, the stairs were put in, and they look like they are going to start roofing. It looks like we're well on our way now...thank goodness!