Mitchell Homes, Inc.

Use Mitchell Homes only if you want to deal with poor communication, abhorrent craftsmanship, and almost zero oversight or quality control. We signed our initial agreement with Mitchell Homes in December, 2020 and closed on our house in January, 2022. Our experience with them from start to finish was extremely frustrating and we’re posting this review to help others more fully understand potential issues that they should be aware of if they decide to contract with Mitchell Homes, especially if their build site is not in the greater Richmond area. We repeatedly included the CEO on emails and invited him to our property to see the issues for himself. He never responded. We’re including a PDF of photos that we sent to Mitchell Homes as documentation of the issues.

Poor communication:
We fully understood that to maintain the base price for our home, they had to break ground within 150 days of our signing the contract. We provided all floorplan changes within 21 days of signing the initial agreement. We then had to wait over 100 days for Mitchell to come back with initial plans and their pricing for these options for our consideration and then approval.
After the “Colors and Planning Meeting” where we made all final decisions on the house, there was another delay of 38 days before Mitchell Homes submitted the final plans and secured the county-required building permit. During this time, we called the preconstruction manager multiple times regarding the status of the application and the cause of the delays. The answer was consistently that she was waiting for final plans to submit the application.

Due to these delays going over the 150-day limit, our salesperson informed us that they’d be increasing the base price for our home by $17,000 and would be deleting $12,000 worth of promotional discounts from our purchasing upgrades on the house. It took escalating the situation to the VP of Sales and our providing documentation on the delays by Mitchell Homes before we reached a “resolution,” in which we still lost $5,000.

Part of Mitchell Homes’ argument was that we had too many changes to the floorplan and that was causing the delay. Keep in mind that their definition of changes includes something as small as adding an outlet or a rough-in for a ceiling fan; or selecting one of the options listed on the floorplans like moving the laundry area. They should stop promoting themselves as a custom builder with customizable floorplans since they can’t adequately and efficiently handle any number of changes. In our case, we gave them all of the changes to the floorplans within 3 weeks of signing the initial agreement.

Another example of poor communication is related to the number of concrete block used in our foundation. During our Pre-Drywall Walkthrough, we balked at the number of extra blocks claimed to have been used. Our construction supervisor told us that an explanation of how the extra block was calculated would be provided at a later date. It never was provided. We again brought up the issue of the excess block count to our construction supervisor at our final walk-through. We pointed out that we could not come up with the count of an additional 571 concrete blocks (which we were charged for). We have photos of the foundation before the walls were constructed and can document 336 extra blocks. In addition, a pile of approximately 150 concrete blocks was left on our property. These blocks were piled up in front of where our well was to be drilled. We had to pay our excavator to move these left-over blocks to allow the drilling trucks access to the well site.
Our construction supervisor directed us to the VP of Customer Service regarding the issue. When we raised the issue with her, she directed us back to the construction supervisor. It wasn’t until 18 months after we had settled on the house that someone at Mitchell Homes even attempted to discuss the issue with us. Their Director of Construction (who had been hired only 6 months prior) reviewed paperwork from the construction supervisor. We shared the documentation of photos and counts with him. He couldn’t explain the difference and guessed that they had used 2 levels of block below ground instead of 1 level. Mitchell Homes has all clients sign an agreement that explains how they charge for extra block. That agreement stipulates that 1 level of block is beneath ground. We also shared that with the Director of Construction. In the end, we did not come to any sort of resolution. We still feel that we were overcharged by approximately $1,100 for the extra block and still have a large pile of unused blocks on our property that we had to pay $200 to move so that they weren’t blocking access to the well site.

Abhorrent craftsmanship:

We strongly believe that a contributing factor to the horrible workmanship done at our house was that the tradespeople had to travel 2+ hours to get here. Early on in the process, we asked if our location would be an issue, and our salesperson assured us that they support builds in our county without any trouble. During the warranty period when we got to see first-hand how the tradespeople worked, we saw many of them arrive late morning to mid-day, rush through their work, and then leave by 3 or 4PM. If Mitchell Homes can’t contract with competent tradespeople relatively close to the build sites, they should reduce their advertised “service territory.” The following are a handful of examples of the workmanship.
The siding was installed incorrectly in many areas and some of it was replaced during the warranty period; but we still had a piece that fell off our house 20 months after we closed. That piece was the third time that siding has fallen off of our house since we moved in. Since this occurred after the warranty period, we contacted the Director of Construction who sent over a technician. But the technician didn’t have a ladder tall enough to reach the location. Eventually, Mitchell Homes sent the sub-contractor back to fix it; but in the meantime, we had a portion of the house exposed to the elements.

Almost every piece of trim inside the house had some issues with it and the paint job was horrendous. Mostly the issues were caused by not properly prepping the trim work. There were grooves in the trim that were not smooth, staples not removed, brads not fully nailed in, and drywall dust that was simply just painted over. When we pointed out this subpar work to our construction supervisor during the final walkthrough, his response was “I didn’t pick the painting company, corporate did.” The blue tape that we used to mark paint- and trim-related issues during the final walkthrough was simply removed rather than being addressed as part of the final “punch list.” We had to wait a year before Mitchell Homes would address it as part of the warranty process. During that process, we provided numerous photos to Mitchell Homes and invited the owner of the paint company to see the shoddy work himself.
Another item that we had to wait over a year to be corrected was that all three exterior doors had air leaks. On the front and side doors, you could see light from the outside through the bottom of the door where it meets the sill. When we pointed out the air leaks to our construction supervisor, he said he would get foam wedges and install them in the doors, which never happened. Although the visible gaps were eventually fixed, the front door still has a crack next to the door handle.
Another issue where the blue tape from the final walkthrough was simply removed is related to the electric outlets. Many are askew when they were installed, and this view is exacerbated when the cover plates were installed. Most of the plates do not fully cover the socket, i.e., they were not installed so they extend in the usual manner from the drywall. Some are on angles and others have gaps behind the plates after those have been installed. We pointed this out to our construction supervisor in our walkthrough and blue taped some as examples. Even the most egregious one was blue-taped and then still not resolved after the 30-day post-closing cleanup. Later we had additional electrical work done by our own contractor, and they showed us how the outlets had not been properly installed or corrected.

Lack of Oversight / Quality Assurance:
Our construction supervisor lived over 2 hours away from our property and had multiple projects all over the state. During both the pre-dry wall walkthrough and the final walkthrough, we were more thorough in our inspection than he was. In fact, for the final walkthrough he had to leave for a personal appointment and commented that it was taking longer than he planned. He asked us to email the list of items we found. Given the distance he had to drive to the job site and the abhorrent craftmanship examples described previously, we consider him more of a scheduler than a supervisor.
Another example of a lack of oversight is related to the Energy Efficiency package that we purchased for over $6,000. We talked to our construction supervisor repeatedly about this item as the house build progressed and it was not addressed until the warranty period. During the pre-drywall walkthrough, we told him that the attic did not have R49 insulation and asked him if the rest of house had R49 insulation. We pointed this out because the wings of the house are not accessible via the attic. Their ceiling access was only available before the drywall was installed in the playroom and storage room. We brought this issue up with him repeatedly as we progressed towards the end of the build and he said he would get an attestation from the insulation contractor. We never received it. During the warranty repairs, one of the walls in the storage room had to be reframed due to excessive bowing, so we took a picture of the insulation after the drywall was removed. Sure enough, it was not R49. We sent the photo to Mitchell Homes who then required that three more holes be cut out of the walls to “prove” that there wasn’t R49 insulation. And then we had to live with 4 holes in our walls until they could schedule the insulation company and the drywall company to make the repairs.
During our final walkthrough, Mitchell Homes’ own Q/C inspector was also there. One of the items she indicated with blue tape was that the wall next to the shower was not installed with a 90-degree angle. This issue was not resolved during the 30-day clean-up period. In fact, it wasn’t addressed until 18 months later when the warranty technician reinstalled the trim work with caulking behind it so that the trim work (but not the wall) was at a 90-degree angle. This was their solution after the framing tradesperson looked at the wall and refused to fix it.
As described above, many of the issues we ran into were not addressed until the warranty period which occurred over a year after we closed on the house. As part of that process, a technician is assigned to oversee the trades people who were scheduled by the Mitchell Homes’ Warranty Claims & Construction Coordinator. At first, that is how the process worked. However, after about 3 months, tradespeople started calling us directly to schedule repairs. And much of the time, the assigned technician wasn’t there to oversee their work, nor were they fully briefed on the issue. The entire process took more than 6 months because of additional issues that were uncovered during the repairs or because the repairs themselves resulted in more issues that then had to be fixed.

Believe it or not, this review doesn’t include other significant issues we ran into with Mitchell Homes. Given our experience with them since December 2020, we’re wondering when the next issue will crop up because of the abhorrent craftsmanship, and how much it will cost us. Mitchell Homes seems to be more of a production line business, in our opinion. Their goal seems to be to get to closing in any way they can, and then deal with quality issues during the warranty period, if at all.

We moved into a new home that we built with Mitchell Homes in January 2023. Everyone at Mitchell Homes stated our superintendent was one of their best! HAHAHAHAH If Aaron is their best, I'm really sorry to everyone who had less than him.
We were expected to be okay with:
chipped tiles,
flooring that doesn't match,
stairs that have paint can circular stains on them along with uneven staining.
A water filtration and tankless water heater system installation that looks as if a Kindergartener did the installation ~ they literally took wood out of our driveway junk pile to use as backing boards.
Our deck and porch has more knots than actual wood. Boards are already splitting. Siding that was cracked
Chip holes in our foundation
Doors that don't shut or lock
uneven installed faucets
It was stated at our walk through that this would be fixed by 30 days, we are almost into our 90 day walkthrough and still not fixed. Contracts mean nothing.
The vice president of construction finally came out and stated this must have been Aaron's home that everything went wrong because this was not his quality of work. HAHAHAHAHA The vice president of construction stated that the workmanship was crap. I told Devin that I would fire Aaron if he worked for me and he stated he couldn't do that because these days they don't have enough people that actually come to work. That statement speaks volumes in itself.
Custom homes NOT more like menu homes. You can have what's on the menu.
Don't expect to be able to put in the hvac brand that you desire. Don't expect to use trades that your comfortable with. They have a group that comes from Richmond, so 2 hours to get to a house. They arrive around 11, set up, take a 2 hour lunch work an hour or so then close down so they can get back to the shop by closing at 5. The flooring we ordered was discontinued by time ordering came around instead of letting us come pick out a new floor, They just picked out our flooring, we were not aware until it was installed. It's horrid and less than a month buckling.
I could go on and on. Please don't spend your money with this company. The only decent one with Mitchell Homes is Jamie their warranty repair guy.
I invite Scott Sleeme to contact me. I have left multiple messages for him to contact me and everyone at Mitchell tells me that he does not deal with the customers. Devin, Vice President has yet to return a call to me since he left my house at the beginning of February with multiple messages left.

Is there a minus stars rating?

It's been 14 months since the closing and our walk-through list is still not completed. There is nothing Christian about this company. My neighbors and I have found the Company and its employees to be way less than honest. They have a team of employees who leave positive posts online and a team of internet scrubbers who remove bad reviews as soon as they are posted. DON’T BE FOOLED!
Absolutely the worst home decision my husband and I have ever made! And we have owned close to 12 homes over the years- both brand-new and older homes. This home is the WORST built home we have ever had.
Our neighborhood problems have included:
• Plumbing that fell apart- flooded bathrooms, and closets.
• Patios that slope the water into the house
• Electrical- they only use 14-gauge wire- had they told any of us that we all would not have closed on our homes. Very substandard for today’s market and appliance needs.
• Garage doors that fall off the tracks, don’t close, and sound terrible.
• Roofs, and driveways that need to be replaced.
• Drainage- Homes built too low according to their own engineering plan. Homes that are sinking due to water around the foundations. Homes that have water coming up into the home through the carpet.
Those are just a highlight of what we all have been going through. And in doing more research- all their neighborhoods have similar problems.
DO NOT PUT YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY INTO THIS COMPANY! YOU WILL DEEPLY REGRET IT!

We bought a lot in a subdivision then had to wait for it to be built and it took about March till September, I would say the building materials were good the workmanship is pitiful and when you aren't happy and ask for it to be done right YOU become the problem, they just offered to void the contract rather than do it right, knowing the market price has gone up $20,000 in the last 4 months while waiting for it to get finished, this is their tactic to get away with poor workmanship.

Mitchell homes does not pay attention to anything once you have signed the contract. Our home was started in March and not completed until September. We would often visit the site and find no progress made for weeks at a time. The super I charge of the build may have been on location only for inspection as the sub contractors when present were not managed. The electric did not follow the plans now we have items missing that it will cost quite a bit of money and time to get right. When we did advise of issues we were fought. The floor plan you pay for is not what you will receive and they do not care to make it right only to wait you out in hopes you will give up. We had to reach out to the county as our basement walls are only connected by spray foam and it has been over 90 days and still no scheduled date for this to be fixed. I fell on the front porch and found the safety railing was not properly anchored to secure it to the post. The quarter round all over the house is two different sizes, in the same room and hallway you have two different sizes which was done to cover up gaps from the floor in the laziest manner possible.
They advise you are getting sherwin Williams paint but fail to mention it’s flat contractor paint and cannot be wiped so get ready to paint but hey if you do that when you have your one year inspection to fix the countless mail pops they won’t paint
They call them selves a custom builder, this is blatant false advertising as they customize the standard floor plans and for a significant fee. Do your self a favor and go with a good builder one that listens and communicates with you. Oh and females you may as well not exist, every single man at mitchell homes will talk down, over or ignore you.

Building a home is not for the faint of heart, and the Mitchell Home team adds to the challenge. They sell a fairly hands off approach but do not let them fool you. You must watch them more. Make sure before you sign their contract to have a lawyer review it. We have a house that corners were cut during the framing and foundation process. We have no trust that the rest of the house was built properly but Mitchell Homes does not care. They do not want to hear about how the sausage was made only provide quick fixes to solve the visible defects. Mitchell homes does not have a way to track your build, not even a basic spreadsheet to track progression and this will cause steps to be done out of order. We had our front porch constructed with steps and the backfill had not been completed. This is just one example of their short comings. Don’t fall for their sleazy sales tactics. Also their floor plans are not an accurate depiction of their houses. Lastly females take notice they will talk down to you or not speak to you at all. The Vice President of construction came out and talked over me but when my husband made the same point he was met with nothing but open ears. Disgraceful! For a company that has been building houses for almost 30 years they do not know what they are doing and you will pay in the long run.

Review: I entered into a contract to build a house with Mitchell Homes. They have made several misrepresentations on what type of services they provide. My house has taken 7 months to build and still in progress. They only came out on weekends for the first 3 months. So far I have problems with the siding (wrong typed installed and visible plywood evident), beam that is in the living room has a hole in it and stained wrong color. I asked that it would be replaced and I would purchase the stain at my expense and have thus been ignored. The non-primed wood mantel I was promised is actual white particle board. When I reached out to my sales man, he directs me to someone else. He should handle it because he answered my questions at the time of selection. When I ask why my fireplace is up so high or my raised hearth so narrow and tall I cannot get a response. My salesman sold me this house and showed me options but thus far when problems or questions arise I am pushed off to someone else. He is the person that typed in the entries not someone else. He is the person that sold me on the House and these options that don’t look like the model. They do not keep account of their subcontractors. They leave front door open, window open, with heat on. Lights left on. All the while I am responsible for the electric bill. It appears they cannot keep account of their subcontractors or answer questions. When this began they ran into issues with foundation and I asked several times what this would cost and I was assured it would be within my foundation budge. Then I receive a change order for additional charges. I asked on site and via email. Aaron my project manager stated additional gravel maybe but that should be my budget. Mitchell Homes shows me they do not care about their customer and the product that is produced. How can this be my dream home when it has been a nightmare thus far. I cannot get accountability from no one and answer or resolution to the problems or questionsDesired Settlement: I want clear prompt communication with Mitchells Homes and my concerns addressed. The beam replaced, the fireplace, mantel and hearth fixed are removed from my bill so that I can get a contractor to handle it. Or they can fix it correctly themselves. I want accountability form their subcontractors disrespect of the property. I want an accounting of extra charges for foundation that I was promised would be within my "Foundation Budget"

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted] – I received notification yesterday from the Revdex.com that you had filed a complaint against our company. I must say, I was very disappointed and dismayed. We do everything within our power to prevent complaints and have never in 25 years received a complaint through the Revdex.com while the house was still under construction. We offer the best customer service and warranty available and we stand behind our work. If there is something not done correctly or something that is in fact incorrect per the contract addendums, we fix it. There is however a process for this and sometimes it doesn’t happen overnight. I want you to know that we are reputable and we do not walk away from issues. We always hold our subcontractors accountable and we try very hard to maintain professional and quality subcontractors. This is not an easy task, but is one we are dedicated to always pursuing. In reviewing your contract alongside your complaint I have noticed the following things: 1. You purchased a cathedral ceiling with a beam “Stained as closely as possible to match the Kitchen Cabinets”. Yet in your complaint to Revdex.com, you indicate that it “has a hole in it and stained wrong color”. I understand the workmanship was bad on the beam and we had already been in contact with and had the trim carpenter scheduled to fix this on 3/2/2016. You indicated in your complaint to Revdex.com that your request to replace it had “been ignored”. Can you please confirm with me so that I may respond accurately with the following information: a. What color was the beam stained? Was it not a “close” match to your kitchen cabinets? b. Was your request in fact ignored and if so, by whom? 2. You indicated in your complaint to Revdex.com that “I have problems with the siding (wrong typed installed and visible plywood evident)”. My understanding is that the siding supplier shipped a straight lap and not a Dutch lap and that when advised that it would be sent back and corrected, you said you wanted to keep it. a. Have I received inaccurate information regarding this issue? Did you not in fact say that you preferred to keep the siding that was delivered? Did we misunderstand what you said? 3. You indicate in your complaint that “The non-primed wood mantel I was promised is actual white particle board.” The Addendum that you signed indicates clearly that you purchased the “Stratford Prefab Mantel” and that it’s to be “primed only.” a. These descriptions in no way represent a wood mantel that in non-primed. I am confused and need more information so I can understand better what was incorrect. Per your signed addendum, we provided exactly what was purchased. We have since agreed to get you a wood mantel that is unfinished at no cost. We are paying for this and not charging you even though you bought a different mantel. Can you explain further why you are complaining about this? 4. Your complaint indicates that “My house has taken 7 months to build and still in progress.” According to the records we keep and the actual job schedule, the home was started 5 months ago on 9/30/15. When you home was originally started, we encountered a subsurface stone so massive in the Earth that the location you selected had to be moved because the rock could not be removed. We have had some very heavy snows along with one of the wettest years on record and your site conditions have been less than ideal from the beginning as was even acknowledged by your local building official. We have done the absolute best we can do to complete your home as quickly as possible given the circumstances. Is your site work complete according to the customer responsibilities section of the construction contract? If so, then we can get you finished very soon. We have been waiting on yoru responsibilities to be completed so that the plumbing cab be trimmed and the home completed. We are at a standstill waiting on you at this point. 5. Your Revdex.com complaint indicates that you’ve notified us of these complaints as follows: a. Talked to Company: 10/1/2015 Talked to Company (2nd): 2/19/2016 Talked to Company (3rd): 11/2/2015 b. The above timeline doesn’t make sense. We began construction on 9/30/15, so your first attempt on 10/1 would be the day after construction commenced. Then the 2nd attempt on 2/19/16 is 3 months AFTER the 3rd attempt indicated as 11/2/15. Can you explain this timeline so that I can understand better? 6. In your regard to additional foundation required due to site conditions over and above the standard (4) courses that are included in your contract, your Revdex.com complaint indicates “I asked several times what this would cost and I was assured it would be within my foundation budge. Then I receive a change order for additional charges. I asked on site and via email. Aaron my project manager stated additional gravel maybe but that should be my budget.” Your loan allowance for foundation was $6,000, and even with your extraordinary site conditions, we were able to limit your additional charges to $6,136. We sent this change order to you on 11/4/15, which was only a few weeks after the foundation as completed. We worked very hard to keep your charges to a minimum and feel strongly that we did our best considering the site conditions present to limit these charges to you. You were not charged for everything that we were charged and we in fact took a loss on this due to the large subsurface stone, need to relocate, and other conditions present. 7. In addition to the above, we assert the following: a. You had obtained your original septic bid and the contractor wanted a $14,000 down payment and you were going to have to pay $6,000 out of her pocket due to the cost being more than could be financed. Even though we weren’t contracted to do your septic, we researched it for you and found you a septic proposal for considerably less with no down payment required, which allowed you to roll it all into your financing. Have I missed anything that needs to be addressed? We want to understand fully your issues so we may improve moving forward. We try hard to make everyone happy and we are very sorry that you feel that you have not been treated fairly. I look forward to your reply. Sincerely, Scott [redacted] SCOTT SLEEME | PRESIDENT | MITCHELL HOMES

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: [redacted].

Regards,