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• By Michael S.

  May 26, 2021

  Before you consider hiring Greg Calfee LLC, of Cleveland, TN, as your builder, please review my recent experience with him.

  I signed a purchase agreement on a $295,000 new construction townhome with a 5/29/21 closing date that was contingent on the sale of my home. Approximately three weeks from the 5/29/21 closing, I was told by Calfee that he would “work with me” if I was my home was under contract before 5/29/21. I understood that to mean that he would extend the closing date past 5/29/21. On 5/21/21, I accepted an offer on my home, however, it would require the closing date to be moved to 6/30/21. Only one more month longer than the original closing date.

  1. Prior to closing on the townhome, I gave Calfee over $7,000 for interior upgrades. $3,600 of that was for a bamboo floor. On 5/20/21, I inspected the completed floor and noted that a large area had been puttied to cover a large gap in the bamboo planks. It was obvious it was a result of substandard installation. I pointed this out to Calfee and his response was “you won’t see it when your furniture is in.” I told him it had to be correctly installed, not hidden by my furniture.

  2. The townhome has two flights of stairs to the second level. The wood steps were stained a dark brown (the same color of the wood floor that was standard), which was significantly darker than the lighter brown upgraded bamboo floor. So obvious, but no oversight to avoid this.

  3. In addition, there were no floor shluter trim installed to bridge the wood floor to tile floor and tile floor to carpet. As a result, it left a quarter inch gap that was incredibly obvious and overtly unprofessional. Again, I stated to Calfee that this was unacceptable.

  4. I upgraded the standard black doorknobs to brushed metal levers. They were installed, but they failed to install brushed metal hinges on every door to match them. Instead, they installed black hinges that were designed specifically for the black doorknobs. I am sure the reader can visualize how absurd that looked. Again, no crosscheck or oversight.

  On 5/22/21, I asked Calfee if he was going to “work with me” and extend my closing one more month. Instead of agreeing to the one-month extension. He declined to “work with me.” Without an explanation. That meant he would be entitled to keep the $7,000 I paid him previously for upgrades after 5/29/21, which I believe was his intention all along.

  Calfee knew I would require him to make costly repairs to multiple areas that were significantly subpar before I would sign off. Those repairs would minimally include stripping and staining the wood stairs, relacing the door hinges with brushed metal, and ripping up parts of the wood and tile floors to install the correct shluter trim.

  By declining to extend my purchase agreement one month, Calfee had an opportunity to keep the $7,000 I gave him for upgrades. In doing so, he would have additional money to correct the related issues for the next buyer. Equally transparent is the “new” selling price on 5/26/21, $314,900 or $20,000 more than I was under contract for. Another words, he raised the price of the townhome because of the upgrades I have already paid him for; essentially collecting on both ends.

  A new buyers purchase, and eventual closing will certainly be beyond the one-month extension. His "I will work with you" was insincere at best.
  
  This factual review may help the reader draw your own conclusions on Greg Calfee’s character, customer service and business ethics.

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