Designs by Farah

I’m giving this review because I am extremely disappointed and underwhelmed with the work provided by Home Builders Generation Corp. We trusted the company with the buildout of our new home in Laguna Beach and it was a total disaster.

The company is run by a couple, Farah and Saeed. They lure you in with all sorts of convincing false promises but fail to deliver. We are sharing our experience, so others aren’t left feeling swindled as we do now after our experience with them. We fell for the deceptive promises and signed a contract with Home Builders Generation to build our home from the bottom up after they had assured us that they had the experience, knowledge, and manpower to get the job done in a timely fashion. However, we quickly realized Home Builders Generation Corp is a company that overpromises and under delivers. They sent 3 men to build our home – anyone who knows the very basics of construction know that building a large home on tough terrain takes more than 3 men -particularly if the job is to be done in a timely fashion. To make matter worse, once the construction had begun, they began to upcharge us for everything. They took advantage of our situation because they knew time was a priority for us and to find new contractors would be timely. Using this to their advantage they bullied us and overcharged us for absolutely everything – they were relentless!

Frustrated with the business and their ethics (or lack thereof), I did some additional recon on the company and discovered that the couple’s two business “Home Builders Generation Corp“ and “Design Built by Farah“ often get their licenses revoked for poor business practices – This comes as of no surprise to me now – just wished I knew earlier!

I would highly recommend NOT using either of these two companies.

I have to say that my experience with Saeed and his crew's work in my home was highly satisfactory. They are capable, meticulous, respectful, and clean!

My wife and I decided to redo the entire downstairs of our 1960's house. The design was pretty antiquated in that all the rooms were separate little boxes, the kitchen in a box, the living-dining room in a box, the office in a box, etc. Our idea was to remove the walls between the dining room and the kitchen, and the dining room and the office, so that we'd end up with a more open floor plan. Based on this, we knew we'd have to install a beam across our dining room ceiling in order to support the house's second story. The initial design was to simply put a new beam under the existing beam which was already in the ceiling, but which did not span the whole distance, and call it good. When we brought this idea to Saeed he suggested that instead we should install a new recessed beam in place of the existing beam. We took the idea to the structural engineer, and with a design and a permit in hand we tore up the ceiling, and promptly discovered that the wall we were taking out between the dining room and kitchen was load bearing. Without missing a beat, Saeed went back to the engineer got a new design that replaced the load-bearing wall with a second beam connected to the first, and got the whole thing permited in 48 hours! We got going with the project, and we didn't look back. Any time a problem came up, and when dealing with old homes where one has no blueprints, problems WILL come up, Saeed and his guys had elegant and quick solutions. As a retired Aerospace Engineer, I was very happy with the breadth of knowledge and building skills that Saeed and his team demonstrated; no cut corners, everything level and square, and neat finishes that impressed even the building inspectors. Anytime something unforseen came up, Saeed would breif me up on it, and we would agree as to how we should proceed, so I was never "surprised". In addition, if I or my wife saw something that needed attention, or which needed to be changed, Saeed and his guys were very accomodating.
Saeed's team of workers, are well-versed in all the skills necessary for construction. From framing, to concrete, to electrical, to plumbing, to finishing work, they do it all. Saeed keeps the same crew of guys on a project from start to finish, so you always see the same people working on your house, and things get done quickly, because you never have to wait for the "right" person to show up to do something, because the guys that are already there can get it done.
Finally, I also want to touch on the cleanliness aspect of the work. My wife and I, and later my two college boys, lived in the house while it was under construction. Even though we had the benefit of an attached Mother-In-Law room with a kitchenette and a bathroom downstairs, and our bedrooms upstairs, we weren't sure about staying in the house while things were being taken down to studs in the downstairs of the house. Ultimately, we were able to live through the contruction in relative comfort, because Saeed's guys set up series of curtains around the project, each with a zippered "door", that would allow us to move within the house, and still keep the majority of the dust cotained in the work areas. In addition, Saeed's guys were very good about vaccuming during the work day (anytime there was sanding or cutting, one guy would be doing the work, and the other would be vaccuming the dust and debris), and completely tidying up at the end of the day. So, even though there was some work dust, it was not overwhelming.
In summary, the work done was of the highest quality, and it was done with minimum inconvenience to us. We are very happy with Saeed and his crews, and would gladly take them on again on another project.