SEKAS HOMES LTD

**BEWARE** - **DISHONEST, ARROGANT, UNPROFESSIONAL COMPANY** - We signed a contract with Sekas Homes, the contract was actually signed with a shell corporation they use called Apex Developers which is run by the owners son who has minimal home building experience. It wasn't disclosed at the time of purchasing this house, that the son would be building our house, and not the father who has the 40 years of experience. We signed the contract in February 2021 at the Sekas Homes office in Vienna VA. The house was completed 2 months later in late April 2021. Our experience is best summed up by another Google Reviewer of Sekas Homes, "untrustworthy and unprofessional ... company that is more akin to a frat house". That was our entire experience summed up in a few words soon after we signed the contract. Within the first two months of owning the house, we discovered the following issues that were never disclosed to us: 3 different major electrical wiring issues, two of which that were deemed extremely serious, structural issues with the wood framing of the house, the gutters were undersized and downspouts missing, the installation process voided the 10 year warranty of the RevWood floors they installed because they glued them down a floating floor, the back yard flooding and ponding, lumps in the flooring throughout the house due to careless truss framing, sticky paint throughout the house, treating the contract selection list as optional, by not using the paint, stain, or siding that was listed in the contract, the garage man doors not hung to the fire code, and 163 other issues that we found prior to our post-closing 60-day walk through. There is well over $100,000 of work and damage to the property caused my careless workmanship, and we haven't even started talking about the warranty items yet, which there are many more that weren't discovered prior to the 60-day walk-through. Since we closed on the house they have fixed the easy issues, however the other ones they claim are _done_ are half done, half assed, or made worse. The last one is most evident by **the hole drilled in the side of my house straight through the exterior siding** by one of their contractors during the 60-day work. When you ask them to address these issues your pleas go unanswered or you get back an arrogant response blaming everything but their own poor planning. The latest excuse is COVID is causing a material shortage and forced them to hire unqualified people, however in the time between our 60-day walkthrough and now, they were able to build 2 other full houses, so I know that materials and labor wasn't an issue in completing the outstanding work on our property. I understand people make mistakes, and I don't judge them for making mistakes. I judge them for how they respond to the mistakes they made. With Sekas Homes you will get arrogant responses, no timeline for fixing issues, and a careless attitude that tries to bully you into giving up. For example when we explained the sticky paint issue to one of their representatives, his response was "that happens in my house". In a way that somehow justifies poor quality of everything they do. We have no timeline for fixing our house at this point, and they won't let us speak to the contractors that will be working on **OUR** house to make sure they understand what needs to be completed. Many of you won't take my advise, and it is easy to brush this off as just another negative review. I brushed off the negative reviews in February, and I wish I didn't. My best advise to those who see this posting is to proceed with extreme caution; anything you talk about, you need to demand in writing, and be prepared to babysit the entire house building project with multiple trips per week to the house to make sure no corners are being cut. If you decide not to run for the hills, like my family should have, spend the money on an extremely through construction inspector. Contact me for more details [email protected], more photos at: [*** Link removed ***]

Sekas Homes was the first company we met with and during our initial meeting with Bryan Deege, he provided us with a very detailed package with all the floor plan / layout options, base prices, and even provided a list and price of common upgrades, options that first-time home builders would generally be most interested in adding to the house. We really appreciated this price transparency as it made it easier for us to determine how much we could potentially spend on top of the base price. We must have met with at least another six or seven major builders in the area after our initial meeting with Sekas. It was pretty obvious from the very beginning that we would be working with good, honest people if we decided to sign a contract with Sekas Homes.
There were a few builders who we just didn’t feel quite comfortable with and ruled out very quickly. There was one builder in
particular who didn’t even seem to care enough about getting our business, as it took multiple phone calls to schedule appointments. There were two large companies who were very “sales-y” and did not answer our questions fully regarding construction materials, past problems/issues, or pricing for options.
Yes, there are builders who appear cheaper than Sekas Homes; however, as we learned more about the new home construction process, we found that lower pricing generally meant significantly poor materials or subcontractor work. There were also builders who seemed to cost more than Sekas Homes, but weren’t even on the same level for delivering a quality construction product. To give you another perspective, we hired a home inspector who actually writes the annual home inspector exam for Virginia. At the end of our inspection, he declared that our house was probably one of the best that he’s ever seen in 30 years of working in his field. At the end of the day, you REALLY get what you paid for, so do yourself a favor and go with Sekas Homes.
Even though Sekas Homes works like a machine during the build process, we never felt like they were just “throwing up” a house and trying to super rush and compromise construction just to get something built and move on to the next house. One of the wonderful things about working with Sekas Homes that DOES NOT seem to happen for most builders in the area is that they have extremely strong, long-term relationships with their subcontractors. This is KEY to ensuring the quality, structural integrity and design of your home. I cannot emphasize this point enough! I think that the contractors always wanted to do a good job to ensure that Sekas Homes would continue to hire them through the years and for future construction. Even after we went to settlement, several of the contractors who stopped by afterwards for minor follow-up work would also say positive things about the overall workmanship of Sekas Homes. For instance, the HVAC guys mentioned that John Sekas (the owner) pays extra and requires an amount of attic insulation that’s above and beyond what the county code requires, but it’s because John wants to make sure homeowners get a quality house at the end of the day. We probably have John Sekas to thank for our low utility bills every month as well! When we moved in, we had no idea that our insulation was better than most folks in the area!
Overall, if we build again, we would absolutely work with Sekas Homes again. Everyone on their team really took care of us from beginning to end, and we were probably one of the most high maintenance, meticulous, and demanding clients that they have had to deal with. Trained as an engineer and accountant, we have super-A-type personalities and probably not the most fun to deal with. All the Sekas Homes representatives were extremely professional and responsive. Bryan Deege even took on the cost of fixing a problem that was actually our fault. We had accidentally made the wrong selection for the fireplace mantel. After we saw the finished fireplace, we nearly screamed because it was our fault and we thought it looked awful. Most builders would have charged an arm and a leg to rectify the problem, especially since we were at fault. However, without prompting, Bryan offered to pay half of the cost so we were only charged $800 or so, instead of the full amount. This is DEFINITELY not something most builders would have done. We worked with Betsy on the majority of the selection process, and this individual has the patience of a saint! We’ve recently reviewed old emails sent to her, and were horrified to see how crazy we’d gotten with two to three page novels on things we were concerned about or changes we wanted to make on our selection process at the last minute and so forth! Holy moly!!! We still have no idea how she tolerated us for so long! Please remember that the build process REALLY is a relationship, and that you have to take care not to abuse this! Yes – You have paid the builder an immense amount of money to build your house. However, please remember that they are doing the best that they can to help you out, and as far as Sekas Homes is concerned? Well, in our books, they pretty much bent over backward on so many things, we can’t even begin to list them all. A home construction project is
a huge project, and there will be issues that crop up now and then. And yes, everything won't be all roses all the time, and there will be moments when you do get really frustrated with the builder. These things WILL HAPPEN. However, you WANT to work with Sekas Homes because they will never abandon you and they will make things right at the end of the day.
Sekas also has a few other amazing people on staff - John Davis manages the day-to-day site work and will do everything he can to educate you on the build process and also deal with the zillion change orders and subcontractor issues that may come up. He also has great patience and tolerance, and is extremely professional every step of the way. David and Miguel will take care of any little things that come up and really go above and beyond for you as well and just do great, great work. We have heard that there are some crazy homeowners who have called David at 10 PM at night to deal with extremely minor issues… and he will drive an hour out to meet them at their home. Luckily, we were not one of those couples, but this is just a testament to their commitment to making you happy and fixing anything that needs to be done.
Lastly, Sekas Homes warrants their work for a year and will send their vendors / subcontractors to your home to fix minor things that may pop up (very normal in the house build process). The great thing about working with them is that even if their schedule gets a bit busy, they WILL NOT abandon you. We cannot emphasize this point enough. We have heard several horror stories from others who have had to really fight and push their builder after the settlement date to get minor things taken care of at their house. At the end of the day, I think it really also goes back to vendor/builder relationships. Despite the one year time limit, we still had the granite/marble company, plumber, tile, and HVAC guys come out to our house for no charge even a year to a year and a half AFTER our initial settlement date with Sekas Homes. We’ve really gotten to know many of the subcontractors, and just like the folks who work at Sekas Homes, they’re all just good people who are doing the best that they can to build you that quality, forever home that you will live in for a long time. You can trust that you will have no regrets and a peace of mind if you work with Sekas Homes.

We wanted a pool to be built in conjunction with the home. I have read many horror stories about pools and pool companies and we wanted Sekas to take on that risk. We were willing to pay him the extra money so that he would ensure it was done right. Result: Our pool is beautiful - we couldn't be happier - and the Sekas staff ensure every aspect of the project (deck, patio, coping, tile, fence, electrical and pluming) met county code requirements and was finished on time and in a quality manner.
The most important reason I believe this company produces such a good product is its people. I call tell John Sekas invests a good amount of time and energy into ensuring everyone on his team (from the plumber to his design specialist) deliver consistent quality. The 6-month process of building a home is truly a relationship. And like any other relationship, you see the best and worst in people over that time. The Sekas team certainly had to deal with the worst of myself and my wife on numerous occasions. I could tell they were used to dealing with Type-A personalities and actually took pride in delivering exactly what we wanted.
The selection process is daunting. My biggest recommendation is to do as much homework as possible before signing the contract. Once it's signed, they are off to the races and the construction process progresses VERY quickly. We were still researching the type of bathtubs we wanted when the plumber was ready for his final county inspection. Regardless, Sekas worked with us and everything worked out fine even when we were late (they were never late). Their designer, Betsy, is an amazing person. She has a LOT on her plate yet somehow keeps it all straight and has the patience of an angel.
One aspect of the company I really appreciated was their willingness to make changes without nickel and dimeing us on everything. We completing changed the layout of the basement. No charge. We completely changed the layout of the master bath and walk-in closets. No charge. We made late changes to appliances, garage doors, brick, and tile - again no charge. They came close to charging us a few times (when it looked like they had already ordered the product we originally requested) but they worked things out with their distributors and we got lucky.
Regarding the warranty period - I have had to make several minor warranty calls already. The contractors seemed to go out of their way to give me priority and take care of my issue - I think they value working with Sekas and don't want him upset with their service. Additionally, the Sekas team have made it clear that I could simply call them if I need any warranty work. I choose to call the contractors directly so I can set up a date and time that is best for me (instead of working though the middle man back and forth). The bottom line is I am convinced John Sekas stands behind his product and will do everything reasonable to ensure the customer is happy. I agree with the other reviewer in that (for the money) I wish these issues had been caught prior to settlement. However, all in all, these were little things and my wife and I are very happy.
The reason we went with Sekas was the quality of his product. By looking at his 10-15 year old homes I could tell they were built to last. Now that I have a new one of my own (and watched it being built from the ground up) I can honestly say I feel ever stronger about that belief. Everyone who has visited our home has been blown away with their attention to detail, design, and the home's superb features. We certainly got our money's worth.
I highly recommend Sekas Homes. I love my new house!

Sekas is a very well respected builder out of Vienna and they have a strong reputation for quality and speed. They did live up to their reputation as we have been happy in our home and it was completed about twice as quickly as what we had been expecting based on interviews with other builders. It is hard to confirm in a review whether Sekas is and quot;superiorand quot; to other builders because I have never done this before but overall we had a positive experience. Below are strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:
Strong reputation for quality. Sekas offers standard features that comport with what you would expect in a $1M+ home and they were able to advise us on a number of important considerations. Building a home is harder than it looks and there is a lot to consider. Sekas offered a lot of strong advice about what was a good idea and what was not. I am no expert but in general there did not appear to be any areas where Sekas and quot;cheaped outand quot; or cut corners. It seems like and quot;behind the wallsand quot; Sekas makes sure the house is built to last and to handle the demands of luxury living. They offered standard features like Andersen windows and a whole house humidifier that other builders did not offer or even mention. They also tend to use/recommend materials like hardiplank and PVC that minimize long-term maintenance costs.

Great Follow Up. Sekas will not abandon you after closing. They have a great standard follow up process and dealt with all major issues that arose post-build. While there were some minor cosmetic items that were never made 100% right, important things were taken care of quickly and Sekas kept on top of those issues until they were fixed. For example, we had a recurring plumbing issue on one of our toilets and Sekas subcontractors returned multiple times until it was resolved. They also handled an issue with our grading well after close.

Speedy construction process. Our home was built very quickly (under 6 months) and all issues with permits and neighbors were handled professionally and expeditiously. Sekas was communicative about timelines so we did not feel rushed in our selections. Their subcontractors are also professioanl and pleasant to deal with. The downside to the speedy Sekas process is that there did seem to be some goofs along the way associated with moving too fast or doing things in the wrong order. Again, Sekas followed up to fix the goofs but it was annoying to deal with that (see below). We also got caught off guard on a couple of our choices but it was too late to make a change. However, in the end, we got in our home in time for the kids to start school which was huge. Some builders will take over a year or longer if anything goes wrong.

Sekas does everything. Some builders leave things like permits and site work (demoltion, grading, silt fence, landscaping, etc) in the hands of the owner which can delay things and be a challenge to handle without help. Sekas does everything and at a reasonable expense (some builders charged ridiculous prices for site work). They also have the experience to handle unforeseen site or permit problems which makes them a lower risk than builders that rely on the homeowner to deal with those items. There was a problem with one of our neighbors during construction due to some work mandated by the county for drainage and Sekas dealt with it without delays or problems. This was even more important when we moved in because any conflict that emerged during construction was between Sekas, the county, and the neighbor so we did not move into an uncomfortable situation.

Weaknesses:
Pricing was on the high side. I am a beleiver that you get what you pay for in this world. Sekas is not a rip-off but there are other builders in Northern VA that can build a decent house for less. They are more expensive than the other large builders in our area (i.e. ANV, NDI, Stanley Martin). You might just have more leg-work on your hands before and after construction, and you might have higher maintenance/upkeep costs down the road. Also, Sekas offers many things standard that others did not and they were faster and very professional throughout (including post-close). They are also more reasonable when it comes to site cost management. The follow up experience was much better than what I have heard about some less expensive builders and we did not have to do anything except make selections/decisions during construction.

Attention to detail. There were a lot of little things that were not right at first during construction. To Sekas credit, they fixed/replaced 95% of what was off in their follow-up but it was annoying that things were not more on target from the get-go. Some of these issues seemed to be a trade-off with their fast-paced construction process. Things get missed or messed up a long the way and you have to pay attention. Also, during our selection process, Sekas would sometimes misplace or misrecord changes. In their defense, we made a lot of custom tweaks but I was a little disappointed that they did not keep up with it better. We caught a lot of mistakes for them. I think they might be better suited to buyers who like standard/uniform styles, or are more likely to stick with the pre-existing layouts of their models. Sekas seemed less equipped to handle clients that change things significantly from their usual layouts and features. This was an issue both with little things like a tile color to more significant things like door/window or layout changes. You need to be organized about your selections and double check their work.

Sekas Homes did a first class job from start to finish on the construction of our new home. We have worked with 3 builders over the past 20 years to build 3 new homes and our experience with Sekas Homes was by far the easiest and most pleasant. Starting with the professional and friendly salesperson at the model home, to the organized and knowledgeable designer and office staff, every step of the process was streamlined and efficient. The workmanship and attention to detail throughout our home is top quality. Everything was finished on schedule (or early). Sekas Homes has over 20 years of experience building luxury homes and they definitely have it down to a science! We absolutely LOVE our beautiful new home!!!