MK Homes

In response to the complaint filed by Mr& Mrs***, MK
Homes would like to start out by saying we have been building quality custom
homes since 1995. MK Homes is an A+
accredited company with the Revdex.com. We have
never had a complaint filed against us for the products or services
we provide,
this would be a first. To begin with and contrary to the Owner's assertion, we have
completed 100% of this owners punch list provided. Recently the home owners have asked us to
address an HVAC concern to balance air flow in their Master bathroom. This is a simple fix, the service call with
the HVAC supplier and the owners is scheduled for 9/8/based on owners
schedule. We have provided the home owner with a beautiful custom
built home. They have openly admitted
that they received a very well built home.
The problem we are having is they feel the project took longer to build
than what they had hoped for along with communication, and cost overruns. There are many objections on our part as far
as that complaint goes. Construction
time did take much longer than what we had hoped for, but there were factors
that affected the construction time some of which were out of our control. For Starters we experienced a record year in
for rain fall. Keep in mind this
home was built on a acre tract of land that is almost feet of the paved
road with a dirt path to the house during construction. We had many delays due to this, not to
mention many vehicles getting stuck trying to get in and out. Also, the Owners brought us their own plan
which had many issues. One thing that
caused a delay and extra costs was the window sizes. Their architect drew non standard window openings. We had to reframe all the windows to save
thousands in what it would have cost to buy special sized windows. This was a set back in time. We also had many situations where we had to
wait on decisions from the owners. Some
of the time delays were caused because of special meeting times after hours to
meet with the superintendants so they could make decisions to proceed onto the
next step. There were also some special
order materials we had to wait on for example some of the tile had long lead
times. These are just a few items to
help defend our case on why time frames exceeded some of the owners
expectations. While we would have liked to
have delivered the project sooner, under the contract that both parties agreed
to, there was no hard completion date, simply an estimated completion dateThe allegation that cost overruns was MK Homes fault is an
inaccurate statement. This contract was
a cost plus builders fee contract. Under
such a contract, the builder provides an estimate to the owner as a guide, but
the builder is not bound by the estimate.
If the cost of construction is less than estimated, the owner receives
the benefits. However, if the cost of
construction exceeds the estimate, the owner is responsible for the additional
costs. Under such contract, the builder
is not obligated to a budget. MK Homes
saved the Owners thousands of dollars in the cost of construction, however they
failed to mention this. What happened is
the Owners in many cases exceeded their budget by upgrades and are trying to
blame the builder for their overage. In
a cost-plus contract, this can happen if the Owner, as here, fails to account
for his selections One circumstance
that increased the cost of construction was the well as such cost increase was
outside the control of the builder. While
an amount was estimated for the well, the cost of the well was higher because
the well had to be dug to a depth much deeper than anticipated. The Owners added many things above and beyond
the original scope. In order to save
them thousands in hauling in dirt to build their pad site we dug a pond for
them for a fraction of the cost that it would have been to haul in dirt. When we started the project we did not have
any budget for dirt since this was an unknown, so the cost of the pond appears
to be an overrun but it is not at all.
They enlarged the drive way substantially, they added special electrical
provisions for a whole house generator.
There are many more examples above and beyond these examples, but we
just want to paint a better picture of why there were overruns. It is also noted that the Owners had several opportunities
to object to the amount or funding of a draw request with their own bank if
they thought the work was not properly performed or they did not agree with the
amount of charges The Owners approved
every draw request and did not tender a single objection. The loan was with their own bank and their
draw officer had to clear draws with them regardless. Had they objected timely, their concerns
could have been addressed at that time.
Now here we are at completion and it appears the Owners have buyer's
remorse and are looking for someone else to be responsible for their
selections. Again, this home came out absolutely beautiful. MK Homes did many items out of its own pocket
to make this customer happy. We paid for
their brick front porch at no charge to them, but they are pointing out the
fact that we missed it on the original budget.
Again, we paid for it out of our pocket to make it right so not sure why
they are so upset over it. If we would
have included in the original budget they would have had to pay well over
$5,to get this option. While MK Homes has reviewed your complaint, we deny the
Owners request to refund any sum to the Owners, including the Builders Fee. To end we would like to express our sadness in having an
unhappy home owner. We started this
company based on our reputation and continue to build homes with integrity and customer
satisfaction. We have never told a
customer no, we have repeat home owners and tons of letters expressing how
happy they are with their MK Homes experience

Revdex.com:
On July 6,
2016 we filed a complaint against MK Homes through the Revdex.com. It’s
unfortunate that it took MK Homes almost two months to respond. Over 30-day
responses, I do not believe is in accordance to the Revdex.com complaint process to
maintain an A+ rating. In our complaint, we carefully numbered 16 areas of
concern. It is a shame that MK Homes did not address those concerns in their
response to the Revdex.com. It is also a shame that he wrote that he had never had a
complaint filed with the Revdex.com until our complaint. I know that to be a blatant
falsehood being that when I filed the complaint there was already one posted on
the website in regards to MK Homes not responding to a client in a timely
manner with a quote. The complaint evidently has been appealed or removed but
just because it’s not there on the website doesn’t mean it did not exist. So
without a doubt, as Revdex.com can confirm, MK Homes response started with
inaccuracies.
In regards
to the owners punch list. Yes, we had to create a punch list of things that
needed to be fixed or completed on the house to keep track of the numerous
items. We routinely updated the list and shared it with the builder in hopes
they would address the issues. So in short we were doing their job by keeping
track of what needed to be done and trying to keep them accountable to finish
or fix projects. The builder wrote us in a text last week asking if the last
thing on the punch list to be completed was the air conditioning. I responded
yes because the AC unit had not worked correctly since we’ve moved in. The
master bath and the laundry room areas are often hot and not cooling down. The
AC installer came out this morning. To fix the ac flow in the master bathroom,
he is going to add a larger duct. In the laundry room there is not a “simple”
fix as the builder put it. There is an electrical issue to the extent that the
ac unit is shutting off or “browning” out as the ac installer put it because of
the high voltage that is going into the unit. So again, the builder spoke to soon
with a falsehood because it’s not going to be a “simple” fix or something the
ac installer can do, it is going to be more involved. So this issue is still
ongoing.
The owner
went in-depth about our concerns about the length of time it took him to build
the home. This was not one of the 16 bullet heads we had asked him to respond
to but since he mentioned it we will address. It did take the builder an exorbitant
amount of time to finish the house. Yes, we had a few rain delays that maybe
put them back days or a couple of weeks but not months. The builder leads the
reader to believe that our home was in the country and difficult to access
which is not true. We do live in Justin in a rural area but it is in a
subdivision and in fact our home is located at the end of a cul-de-sac, approximately
150-200 feet from the road edge so location or weather delays would have been
no more than any other home in a subdivision. In fact, a competitor builder was
able to build an even larger home on our street from January 2016 to May 2016 less
than half the time it took MK Homes to build our home, so MK Home excuses are
mute in our opinion on this topic. Our main concern with the length of time to
build the home was with poor scheduling, builder delays (it took them weeks to
inspect to have the framing walk through with us) and redoing of work/errors
that extended the build time. To give you just a couple of examples. The
builder failed by scheduling the security company to wire the house before the
foam insulation was installed. So the security installer had too ripe out foam
so he could get his wires ran to windows. The builder then had to call out the
foam installer a second time to refoam what had been ripped out. This was all
the fault of poor scheduling of the builder. Of course, the security charged
more because of the labor of removing the foam and the insulation company
charged more because they had to refoam. Of course, where did those costs get
passed to? Us the home owner because of failure and poor scheduling of the
builder…all of which added days to the build because it held up dry walling. We
had to deal with rework and errors repeatedly from framing, wiring, insulation,
drywall, bricking redo’s, concrete pours of porch, tile work repairs, cabinets
being ripped out and replaced, lighting not working, electric not working just
to name a few. So weather delays were nothing we would ever complain about but
redo or shoddy work, absolutely. It took them 3 weeks alone to rip out the
wrong size cabinets and replace them with the right size so our appliance would
fit. That is just one example of a multitude of delays because of errors or
shoddy work.
In addition,
the builder stated he had paid out of pocket for things. No doubt he did on a
few items but the out of pocket was no for frills for the homeowner. He was
paying to fix things his contractors screwed up on or things his
superintendents failed to properly supervise. The owner also stated that he had
saved us thousands of dollars building the home. I sure would love to see those
figures!? Yes, there were things that came under his “estimated” budget as he
called it but the savings did in no way cover the multitude of things he went
over budget on or things he failed to even budget for that should have been in
a reasonable new home bid according to the drawings/plans. For example, columns
to hold porches up or shutters per the drawing are just these two examples the
builder forgot to put in the estimate we were charged over $10,000 and never
notified of until they were ordered or installed. The builder in his response
led you to believe that all of the upcharges we had concerns about were
upgrades we had asked for which is another falsehood. Not once have we tried to
get out of paying for something we wanted to upgrade (i.e. adding wiring for a
future generator or creation of a pond so they could use the dirt for the
foundation instead of having it hauled in which would have been even more costly).
Our concern is and has always been being charged for things that went over
budget without having prior knowledge to possibly make changes or chose a
cheaper product.
The builder
also mentioned our home plans/drawings and how there were problems with them.
He did not have a problem giving us a quote from the drawings. If there were
problems with the drawings, we would have been more than glad to go back to the
draftsman or even had them redrawn with another draftsman to ensure the home
would have been built to the specifications. Not once did we receive a call or
question about something on the drawings so to have him bring this up now is
totally absurd. He also mentioned the cost of reframing for windows because of
the drawings. I’m glad he mentioned this because this is another area that was
never mentioned to us until he tried to draw the monies for them out of our construction
loan. By that time, they’d already bought and installed the windows and
expected us to pay for them without even giving us a call or notifying us there
were issues with framing or windows sizes. We would have loved to be involved
with the decisions especially since we were going to be paying for the outcome
of those decisions.
In addition,
the builder wrote, “It is also noted that the Owners had several opportunities
to object to the amount or funding of a draw request with their own bank if
they thought the work was not properly performed or they did not agree with the
amount of charges. “Again this is inaccurate and untrue. We were contesting and
in the process of asking for a retainer of approximately $15,000 for things the
builder had put into the house without our approval yet tried to charge to us
on our construction loan. Unfortunately, due to a clerical error from our
lender, the builder was given, in error, the full amount of money without the $15,000
retainage. So we did NOT sign or “approved every draw request” as the builder
stated and we DID tender an objection. We had many objections and valid
concerns that he would get his money and not finish things. The fact is our
fear turned into reality because he was paid in the spring, and despite filing
the Revdex.com complaint in the summer we are now entering fall and we have yet to
have everything fixed or working properly because it’s not a “simple fix” as he
put. So we have gone our first summer in the new home with 1 of 3 ac units not
working properly. Another fact is that the builder signed a form stating that
the house was completed and sent it to our lender when in fact the home was not
finished. In fact, this was during this time we were still trying to get him to
do something about the tile/grout that his contractors had trashed which
eventually had to be stained to cover up the mess!
The builder
stated we were having the buyer’s remorse. That is not correct. We do not have buyer’s
remorse we have builder remorse. We regret we chose MK Homes to build our home.
Yes, it is a beautiful home but I cannot give MK Homes the credit because if we
had not voiced frequent concerns, had contractor redo errors or sloppy work it
would not be a quality built home. The fact is the home design and decorating
make the home aesthetically pleasing which has nothing to do with the builder.
We did have a home inspector inspect the home and yes, it is now a well-built
home after all we have had to go through with rework to get it to that point.
In closing the
builder wrote in his response, “While MK Homes has reviewed your complaint, we deny the
Owners request to refund any sum to the Owners, including the Builders Fee.”
The fact is in the complaint we never requested a refund of any sum. We
questioned many charges and asked why we were up charged for things or wanted
an explanation why he felt why he deserved his full builders fee with all of
the problems and poor customer service we had received from MK Homes. Yet not
once in the complaint did we ask for a sum of money. It’s obvious the owner of
MK Homes is more concerned about money than fixing the issues with the home and
standing by his warranty which is what we were requesting and is clearly
documented when we submitted the complaint.
Lastly, I will
mention that our last contact with the builder was via text on 8/31/16. I asked
him about responding to the Revdex.com complaint because he had yet to respond
although it had been submitted on 7/6/16. He wrote back and accused us of
having a “vendetta” against him and further told us it was, “just not real
Christian like” that we had filed a complaint against him. He also accused us
of “sabotaging” his “name unjustly” and stated that once the ac is repaired he
is “done” with us. So I’d like to say we have no vendetta against our builder
nor have we sabotaged him, he has sabotaged himself by not ensuring quality
work or responding fully to the complaint in a timely manner. We just wanted
the builder who had been paid months ago to finish the job and warranty his work
per the contract. We also would have been appreciative if he’d taken the time
to address our 16 items which yes included concerns of thousands of dollars of
upcharges we were never told about until the items were put in the house and
the charges passed on to our loan. In addition, to even bring up our religious
affiliation or having the gall of scolding us or telling us we are not acting
Christian like is extremely offensive and inappropriate on his part. We’ve had
to deal with him and his superintendents not responding to us, ignoring us, or
even being smart alecks and disrespectful to us repeatedly but to bring our
Christianity into play as if he is the model Christian who has authority over
what is or is not Christian-like is definitely over the top. So yes without a
doubt we have builder remorse. We will accept this inaccurate and incomplete
response from the builder. We see now that even going through Revdex.com it has not
been effective on having him address our concerns (yes including upcharges),
finish things in a timely manner or ensuring he will stand by his warranty.
Instead his response was accusatory and not fact based. Thus this complaint can
be closed as unresolved in our opinion because MK Homes failed to respond to
the dispute and make a good faith effort to address and resolve our 16 areas of
concern.
Regards,
[redacted]