First Choice Home Builders

When it comes to just how poor the customer service has been with First Choice Home Builders, this is a singular experience -- we have never been treated like this by any home building company in a dozen homes purchases. For example, the communication from the First Choice Home Builders Rep ranged from nonexistent (ignored questions/emails) to very delayed.. Other communications, on the other hand, was simply rude and disrespectful. Despite their claims to the contrary, their customer service was wholly inconsistent with First Choice Home Builders core value to "Treat All Others with Respect and Consideration." Additionally, over the months, we received positive confirmation that a request we made was acceptable only later to be told that the First Choice Home Builders will not do the work that was previously agreed to -- again, inconsistent with First Choice's stated vision of "Conducting Oneself with Integrity and Honesty."

Even more concerning was the fact that major damage and an extended delay to home completion occurred to the property without an update or any form of communication from First Choice Home Builders -- we learned about the major damage to the house through word of mouth. Damage to a property is one thing, but a month or longer delay in home completion and closing is something the buyer should be made aware of immediately. When questioned, the builder’s rep was clearly caught off guard when he was reminded on 2 August 2022 of the contractually agreed upon date of completion for the home -- 31 Aug 2022. Only then did he stipulate that the home would not be ready at the end of August, but instead it might be ready by the end of September or later. At this point, the treatment we experienced from First Choice Home Builders eroded our trust in their willingness and ability to act in good faith to complete the build in a professional manner.

Apart from the inconvenience of living out of our suitcases for a few months, there were financial reasons why the delay in completion constituted a significant hardship for my family. First, interest rates have skyrocketed this year -- getting a new rate at this point adds 1.5% or more to our interest rate. This would result in a significant increase in our mortgage payment. To stay at our current rate, however, we would have paid our lender nearly $5,000 for a 30-day extension. Additionally, we had to extend our stay in AirBnB for at least a month which would be an exorbitant expense.

I realize that the housing market is currently quite favorable to builders, so perhaps customer service is not as important as it once was. However, no family, let alone military families who are experiencing a great deal of stress after moving to the local area from overseas locations, deserves the kind of treatment we received from First Choice Hone Builders!!!