Century Communities Colorado Springs Division

We closed on a new home build with CENTURY COMMUNITIES in Meridian Ranch (Falcon, CO) on June 30, 2014. This has been the single most stressful and disappointing experience of our lifetime and we’d feel remiss if we didn’t forewarn all potential CENUTRY COMMUNITIES consumers of their business practices. We want to set the stage that the following issues have existed for weeks and in many cases months; more than long enough for the builder to address and close out these concerns regardless of weather conditions, staffing issues, and availability of materials during any given week. Due to the enormous level of frustration we have reached, we feel our only way out is to share publicly our extremely negative experience with this company.

1) Spring 2014 we sign a contract with CENTURY COMMUNITIES to build our house; communication issues, absent and very rude sales personnel, extremely delayed responses, and misinformation on what was standard vs upgrade were all ‘normal’ during that early phase.

2) Completion date was a moving target but our paperwork projected for a Sept 2014 closing. We let them know that sooner was better but quality was of paramount importance. CENTURY COMMUNITIES shocked us when at the start of June, they set June 30 as the closing date. At that time our home was still pre-drywall. From the start to the end of June, the construction speed was so expedited that mistakes and poor workmanship were rampant throughout the house. We cancelled family vacations and work related travel for the month of June when we realized we’d have to check the home daily for issues. On the day of closing, we had no Certificate of Occupancy, no appraisal, the home was a full blown construction zone with machinery, workers, unsafe living conditions, port-a-potty on the property, etc. The house was a week to two from being ready to close on. We insisted that we were not willing to close but CENTURY COMMUNITIES somehow managed to get CO, then bullied us late into the evening to close. They made all sorts of verbal promises as to an extremely prompt completion of all remaining items. Why they pushed us so hard that day to close, we can only lend to the fact that it had to do with CENTURY COMMUNITIES just going public on the NYSE that very month. Although closing is usually a joyful time, we were angry, emotional, and distressed at closing, scared to not close because we didn’t know if there were legal implications to not closing, but also fearing that we were signing up for many empty promises on a very expensive investment.

3) We closed 30 June with a laundry list of unfinished/damaged items (30+ items on a punch list written up and agreed to). The first of the two most significant items being a custom deck that created a major safety hazard for our children while it was still being built and upon completion. Once it was completed days after closing, it was so unstable and poorly constructed with railing that was not even connected to the structure at certain locations, the staircase that swung from side to side, and boards pulled up when you walked on them. We forced CENTURY COMMUNITIES to pull it down and rebuild it. They later bragged that no other builder would have done that…the problem with their statement is that no other builder would have let a deck like that be built of their homes…we were ready to sue if it wasn’t resolved. The second significant item is that at five weeks since closing, we continue to have electrical issues, losing power and circuit breakers tripping all around the house on a daily/several days per week basis. And finally, we still have a list of incomplete items. We email the Superintendent, field manager, VP of Sales, sales office, etc on a very regular basis, often daily, to push for completion of these concerns. Progress is at a snail’s pace and usually doesn’t happen until we get really angry and fed up – which unfortunately happens weekly with CENTURY COMMUNITIES.

4) As we come closer to what we hope is the end of this whole process we’re left wondering…
a. Certificate of Occupancy was granted very late on that 30 June closing day. Why was that granted when our house was still a major construction zone? Did the Regional Building Dept act in compliance with residential occupancy requirements when they granted that at the 11th hour of closing or did CENTURY COMMUNITIES persuade them to bend those rules?
b. To our knowledge, final appraisal was never completed on the closing day. How was our loan given final approval without final appraisal? (Mind you purchase price was over $400k). Did CENTURY COMMUNITIES persuade the bank to proceed without it?
c. If the tables were turned and they were the buyer, no one working for CENTURY COMMUNITIES would have accepted the condition of our home at closing, as we were forced accept. Yet, five weeks later we’re still fighting to get our punch list completed and we’re still fighting to keep the lights on because of electrical issues. Why is it okay for CENTURY COMMUNITIES to maintain such poor customer service?
d. Transparency is a problem as we’ve asked numerous times for other senior level management contact information. No one at CENTURY COMMUNITIES will give that to us and the VP we have been emailing/calling has invested a minimal interest in our concerns as evident by his lack of response to dozens of emails and phone calls. The one time he called us was on the night of closing when he heard we were not planning to close.
e. Lastly, is it the fact that CENTURY COMMUNITIES just went public the reason that forcing buyers to close weeks/months ahead of schedule when a home is far from complete?

In closing, aside from CENTURY COMMUNITIES resolving every open issue we have left, there’s nothing they can do to repair our utter disappointment we have with this company or to repair the emotional distress we’ve endured. At the largest most significant investment of our lives, we’re not in a partnership with them; rather we’re in a seemingly endless battle to ensure we’re not screwed over and left with an unfinished, nearly half a million dollar home. We will never buy another CENTURY COMMUNITIES home again, and we will never recommend them to another buyer. CENTURY COMMUNITIES’ questionable business practices, horrific customer service, and profit driven schedule should have no place in the state of Colorado.