Smith Custom Home Corporation

Smith Custom Homes delivered quality service throughout our project. Ron and Marcus are the real deal and they make you feel like you are their only client with attention to detail and ensuring our satisfaction. As an added bonus, they are a Christian family with the mindset of always doing the right thing for us.

PLEASE READ. DO NOT USE SMITH CUSTOM HOMES! WE TERMINATED CONTRACT & SHARE OUR STORY SO NO OTHER FAMILY HAS SAME EXPERIENCE. SCH used bait & switch tactics & misrepresentation to sell what they couldn't deliver. We signed in 7/22, and as of 8/23, still hadn't broken ground. SCH made promises & was unable to meet any of them, to the point that our loan was 2 months from being pulled due to NO evidence of construction. We expect SCH may respond w/ excuses & attempt to refute our claims, but we have texts, & email that defend our position. Since contracting, they're are other posts w/ same experiences. READ ON before making a decision w/ this builder: 1. We looked forward to working w/ SCH following their "Pathway to Your Dream Home" orientation session. SCH promised to quote use great attention to quality, value, & customer satisfaction. However, within 3mths of contracting, we saw red flags. SCH promoted a team of a designer, concierge, & project manager who would support every step of the way. A month in, our concierge left & we would cycle through 6 others within 10mths, all of whom SCH explained as having poor communication skills or poor follow-up w/ clients. We began to question SCH's ability to hire quality employees. THEN suddenly, the admin assistant & project manager were gone, and by the end, SCH was acting as concierge , designer, and project manager. 2. It took 9mths to get stamped plans, w/ SCH repeatedly saying it was the architect's fault & giving excuses for the delays. 3. We were given a checklist of items that had to be completed (select countertops, cabinets, garage/front doors, etc.). To our dismay, we experienced that SCH had no established vendors who would work with them. We spent many hours w/ vendors making window, door, and interior selections, only to realize that quotes would never be returned and SCH would have us trying multiple other vendors. Once again, SCH made excuses as to why we had to change or why the process was delayed. In our frustration, we sought out vendor ourselves, just to keep the process moving. 4. Most troubling, as the financial aspect were haunting. When we contracted, we were told we would have an accounting of expenses and assumed our deposit (in excess of $100k) would be used to pay for materials in our home. After 13mths in this agonizing relationship, the only thing we have to show for our time are completed plans that we cannot own & a permitting process that was 95% complete, which ironically seemed to move faster after we notified SCH that the lender was threatening to pull our loan due to no evidence of construction. 5. After seeing there was no ability to deliver in a reasonable and a timely manner, we requested to end our relationship amicably. Recognizing that SCH incurred cost, we wanted to be fair and only requested 1/2 our deposit, given there was NO construction or deliverables other than home plans, and no accounting of monies spent. We tried to negotiate terms that would lead both parties on the best path forward. Had SCH been willing to return 1/2 of our deposit, he could have redeemed himself by doing the right thing. And said, he kept our entire deposit and took an innocent intention of us wanting amicable separation and twisted it into something as ugly as accusing us of extortion after we said we would share our experience so this couldn't happen to others. Given that we gave SCH over $100K of our life savings and received NOTHING of value, we're shocked at how we could be accused of extortion. 6. SCH purports to be a CHRISTIAN company and SCH includes a bible verse in his signature line. Do not let this fool you. In working with him, we felt he was too emotional and simply not professional. As a previous posting mentioned, consider yourself warned. Review multiple sites including posting by prior employees. Research count...

WE ABSOLUTLY LOVE THIS BUILDER! GAVE THEM 5 STARS! We interviewed 3 Builders before picking one and we made the right choice! Everything went smoothly during construction although it did take longer to get the Building Permit than we expected. That was the fault of the County, NOT the Builder. The Construction Coordinator was very helpful and the Construction Manager (Wayne) answered all of our questions and concerns. This Builder has a reputation for building beautiful homes with high quality. We are very pleased and recommend this Builder highly!

In our opinion, SCH is the most unprofessional building company we have ever encountered. They consistently blamed covid and the building industry for their failures, but the majority of our difficulties came from their poor management of the process. From the beginning of 2/2020, they submitted a plan based on incorrect flood zone data. Our plans had to be redrawn/resubmitted, leading to a several-month delay. After construction started, their permit had to be revised multiple times leading to more delays because they failed to include things like our extended deck, our propane gas tank, and our home generator. Some county inspections, like for electrical, failed multiple times because they did not have the right paperwork on-site or on file with the county. The Smiths plans included a culvert for our driveway when not one house on our street has one. When we pointed this out verbally and in writing before they installed it, they proceeded anyway. The county inspectors then advised the culvert had to be removed, and the Smiths charged us a change order fee to remove it. The subs hired by the Smiths were inconsistent. The quality was often questionable, and some things (like electrical wiring) had to be redone by newly acquired subs. The overall condition of the job site was horrible. We found beer cans, food trash, brand-new appliances sitting out unwrapped before our floors were even installed, etc. We found warranty papers/manuals lying out in the open, amongst construction debris. Their response was with all due respect your expectations that we would know every little detail about what each contractor is doing is not reasonable. Communications were poor. They use a web-based system to track construction progress and the costs of our job. The system was not maintained, and the progress dates were often wrong/missing. It would show the completion of tasks that had not even been started. The Smiths changed construction managers after our foundation was going in, and did not meet with us to introduce themselves. Emails and calls were often delayed days or longer without responses. When we voiced our concerns, we were made to feel like we were the bad guys with comments like do we have a problem? or I need to be frank with you that it concerns me that you are so easily angered by this process. Their contract does not guarantee any specific completion date, but we were given estimates along the way that we relied on to make life plans. They failed to meet their anticipated completion dates of 10/15/21, 12/18/21, and 12/29/21. With our previous home now sold, we ended up living out of 3 different Air BNBs and moved 4 times total because the Smiths could not get us an accurate completion date. At the end (4/14/22, over 2 years later), we authorized our bank to process the final construction draw. One of their supply contractors had filed a construction lien on our home for failure to be paid by the Smiths (resolved before closing). At closing, the Smiths gave us a signed and notarized lien affidavit stating all of their subs had been paid. After closing, we got a new construction lien filed on our home from their grading contractor for non-payment. Also at closing, we intentionally withheld our final payment due to a long list of unfinished work on the final punch list and an unauthorized grading charge. The Smiths then filed their lien on our home, on top of the grading contractor. We had to hire an attorney to resolve these matters. We successfully fought the grading charge, had the two liens cleared, negotiated a greatly reduced settlement, and dissolved our relationship with the Smiths. In summary, we simply do not recommend this company.

DO NOT HIRE THIS BUILDER! Maybe they used to be good, but most certainly are not any longer. They cannot build a house in a timely fashion. If you comp, sin, they want to tell you it is all your fault. The quality of materials used is poor, and the quality of workmanship is even worse. Run, do not walk away from these people. I contracted with them to build my house- they started off well and had promised completion by 6 August 2020. When the house I owned while he was doing construction got listed and sold quickly, I had flexibility in my closing date, so my realtor and I contacted him to ensure he was still on track to finish on that date and he confirmed he was. We set the closing based on his assertion. When I closed, thinking he was almost done, he mentioned there might be a delay of a few weeks 22 August instead. No problem- I moved to a hotel for what I thought would be a couple of weeks. Instead of pressing forward, they simply ceased work for several weeks. Then they said maybe mid-September. In mid-October, I asked for an update and he said there was no way by thanksgiving because of the availability of appliances. He said they would do everything that needed to be done so they could just put the appliances in and be done. But they did not. In fact, they had not even put in place the paperwork to get electricity to the house through TECO. They improperly submitted the request, and even though TECO explained what the problem was they refused to correct the paperwork for over 15 days! It took them over 2 months from the time they submitted the request until they had power and performed requisite checks. I had implored them, practically begged them to find a way to be finished by Christmas so that I, a disabled veteran could be in my new home for Christmas, but they simp,y could not find a way to get it done. Let me tell you if I could not shame him into getting a disabled veteran into his new home for Christmas, there is nothing you will be able to do to shame him into working. In December, he said maybe January. In January, they said maybe February. It is now the middle of March- 8 months after he told me he would be finished, and he still cannot come up with a plan to get to the end. I have been lied to over and over by this company. They will tell you what you want to hear just to shut you up and then they do whatever they want. They cannot make or keep a schedule. They do not have the pull with any subcontractors to get them there when needed. They only come when they want. The quality of work is terrible. In the end, you will feel like you have been ripped off and you will be ashamed of any association with this company. And if you complain, it gets worse. They will slow down even more and tell you everything is all your fault, and the quality of work continues to go down, down, down. . In the beginning, they come across as good Christian men, but by the end, you realize they are neither caring, compassionate, or competent. I had scheduled surgery for a medical issue in January and had to cancel because they could not finish. I rescheduled for April thinking they would surely be finished by then, but I have had to cancel that as well. You see, since August, they have been only a couple of weeks from completion. I have tried everything with these guys and nothing works. I have been nice, funny, mean, you name it. I am shocked at their unwillingness to work. I have pictures and documentation of every single allegation I have made here in case they try to deny it. I cannot say anything about any other builders I only know about this one, and what I have said is my experience with him. I would strongly encourage you to look at any builder other than this one!

As a first time home builder Ron Smith and his team made building a home a pleasurable one! We couldn't be more happy with the outcome of our brand new home.

They communicate very well. The finishes were excellent. We love it.