ALPERT CUSTOM HOMES

We purchased a new home from Alpert Custom Homes in June of 2012 and we had an absolutely terrible experience with the last 90 days of construction and the closing. In an effort to maintain fairness and establish validity in our review we refrained from posting our opinions immediately ? we were very upset and didn't think it was the best time to rant about our experience. Also, there is a one year warranty period promised by Alpert Custom Homes and we thought this may be an opportunity to mend the relationship and sway our opinion. It is now over a year since our move-in and the opinions have only gotten worse. I will attempt to be brief in describing the experience as there is so much to speak to, but I imagine this will turn out quite long. If you don't have time for the messy detail the last paragraph summarizes our feelings. To begin, we had several issues leading up to the closing. The Alpert Homes representative failed to articulate to us that a drainage grate would be on our property and that our back yard would be nearly uninhabitable in that it is sloped to drain the community?s water through our yard to that grate. The representative also promised us that a fence was included in the cost of landscaping which we came to find it was not ? we had to pay extra have one installed. Despite several complaints we were simply put off and/or ignored by Alpert and no effort was made to compensate us for the issue with the grate. Leading up to closing there were delays on the part of the company setting up the mortgage (a company that was recommended by and works in partnership with Alpert Custom Homes). Alpert threatened to take the house away from us and list it for sale to another buyer despite this delay not being our fault. Understandably the builder does not want to incur costs to 'float' the house but it is essential to note that this is a matter of two weeks of delay in which we received this threat - when we started the home buying process the estimated completion was August, not June. We were moving in 2 and 1/2 months ahead of our schedule and planned finances at Alpert?s behest, but he could not wait two weeks before threatening us. As illustrated by the situation to this point there were many tense feelings in the room at the closing but there was no need to have things escalate any further. With this in mind it was striking when Mr. Alpert arrived at the closing in a t-shirt and shorts and proceeded to pick his nose, burp, and sigh repeatedly through the length of the process. I wish that was some sort of comedic exaggeration but that is actually what happened ? we were hoping for some degree of professionalism especially considering the circumstances so far. After the closing was complete and we had the keys Mr. Alpert decided that we need to ?clear the air? about what happened and proceeded to blame us for all of the difficulty. The sale was complete, there was no need to rehash the hard feelings and even less to try and make the customer (us) feel as though the hardship was our fault. This directly contradicts presenting yourself as a customer satisfaction oriented business. There is no value to be gained from blaming your customer after the sale is complete. This was the point I referred to above where we elected not to write our review because the anger we felt would unfairly bias the opinion. Now we've given them a year to stand by their warranty promises and perhaps show us that they really are a customer satisfaction driven company. Unfortunately this too has proven to be an utter mess. We have had a list of about 10 items to fix since the first follow up at day 30. As of today exactly 1 of them has been addressed (so the items were ignored through the 30 day, 6 month, and 1 year warranty check-ins). Alpert Homes has repaired 2 other things but these were things that their workers broke after move-in to begin with. Our yard that we complained about in the beginning has turned out to be a bigger mess than ever expected. It seems that by ?drainage? they meant a river would be flowing through our yard with the slightest amount precipitation. We have a huge mosquito problem and our pets have gotten ill from the standing water that results from our poorly formed yard. We've made repeated complaints over the course of the year only to be brushed aside again and again. It seems this will be another cost that we will have to cover depending on what action the HOA suggests. Please, to anyone who is reading this and considering buying a home, think long and hard before choosing Alpert Custom Homes. He will promise you that the customer (and by proxy their reputation) is their first priority but this is not the case. The first priority of Alpert Homes is your money. Expect no concession on any problems with your home or any issues that delay their payday. We've come to suspect (and subsequently verify) that they've treated us differently since the argument at closing. Our neighbor has had his 30 day warranty requests completed immediately as opposed to our warranty items that have been outstanding for over a year. So, not only do they not care about their customers but they?ll also harbor a grudge if you disagree with them. We endured an extra cost to pay for Alpert Homes being a ?custom? builder with a 'great' reputation for customer service, but don?t be fooled - they?re just another money driven builder. Whatever goodwill and respect Mr. Alpert Sr. may have built during his career as a builder is now being destroyed by the next generation.