North Star Home Builders

Unfortunately just like the other review on here our family has had MULTIPLE ISSUES with our home built by North Star Homebuilders. Much like the other review I read we have had several of the same issues with heating problems and also asked the same questions about why there is only 1 vent in the wall and it is 12 feet high and this is the only vent to heat/cool the main living room (that is an open floor plan with 2 story ceilings). We also had the same complaint about air blowing in through all electrical outlets that are on an outside wall, as well as blowing in from the fireplace. Again we were told the same thing...heat rises and this is just what you have to deal with when you have an open floor plan with 2 story ceilings. (Which never answered the question of why is air coming in at the outlets & fireplace) We also had to have (after MULTIPLE calls and MULTIPLE times of the a/c guy not showing) the a/c units worked on multiple times, and then found out they were installed backwards. The control panel downstairs was operating the upstairs unit and visa verse. We also had problems with our flooring both hard wood and carpet that we were told was installed improperly. We had to have many issues resolved on our own because of the lack of response from North Star or even when they did finally respond the situation was simply never fixed. Spending money to fix different things is extremely frustrating because when you are purchasing a house that is brand new you don't expect to have so many issues. All of that said we would not and have not recommended North Star to anyone who is searching for their next home.

Where to start, first they forgot to seal our roof so the first night in our home was waking up to a huge puddle of water in our master bedroom. Next I asked the site supervisor who was responsible for the entire building our home why our MBR was so hot, his answer was cause we had windows in our MBR that the sun heating the room. The actual reason that I had to find out on my own was after I opened up the drywall on the area above and adjacent to our first floor MBR was the fact that they forgot to install insulation in over half of our home. These couple of examples are just the start to numerous other problems that we had to deal with. Below is a copy of my current BBB complaint to the builder summarizing our other unresolved issues.
So the first issue we had been going through with Kevin the site supervisor is about the downstairs heating. He came over once and twice now he has told us that the next day the ac repair guy (1/22/14) would be over to check the system out and both times no one ever showed up. Yesterday(1/27/14) he and the ac guy we're suppose to show up and when I called him at noon he said he was in a meeting and would call back as soon as he was out. Never called back. Sunday when I called him about the island water and the heating and fireplace he at first agreed with me when I was repeating what he has been saying to us about heat rising. Then when I asked him the why is there only one register and it is 10 feet off the ground in our living room his demeanor completely changed. I then also was telling him about our fireplace continuously having a breeze come through the front vent when the unit is turned off. We have also been dealing with the improper installation controls of the AC system, presumable because of the location of the thermostats there are wide varying temperatures in the rooms vs hallway. We also have a small breeze that comes through the electrical outlets on southern side of the house where a water line froze. He then quickly made an excuse and hung up on me to then never call us back. So the big point probably would be that we have raised the issue of the heating to Kevin numerous times over the last couple of months (Nov/Dec) and his answer has always been heat rises. But each day that it is cold out the temps down stairs will drop to 62 while the thermostat is set to 72 and the unit will try its hardest buy continuously displaying stage 1 & 2 running and then when I push the energy button it will display a use of either 23 1/4 or 24 hours of use for the last 24 hours. I thinking this can't be good for an ac/heating unit to be running both stages nonstop like that for as long as we have been doing it. This has also been very difficult for my wife to properly take care of our newborn child. There is also the issue of false advertising because when we purchased the home it was advertised as an Earth Cents certified home, I have also asked numerous times to Kevin and Joel about the certification and each time their answer has been oh, well I will get that to you later and now we are nearing our one year mark from purchase. Another issue that I have noticed is that all around in our kitchen paint edges on the cabinetry is flaking off be itself, making us have to daily hunt for paint chips that may have fallen on to the ground so that our child does not become exposed to that hazard. When we purchased the home the first night we had major water leakage inside our master bedroom because of an improperly installed pipe inlet/outlet on our roof, the builder repaired the leak on the roof but has never repaired the continually expanding roof drywall cracking that continues till today. We have had to deal with poor communication and workmanship from a builder that was suppose to be one of the best in this area. We have also noticed unfinished ledges under all of the windows in our home, no caulking just exposed gaps that will allow pests and improper insulation to allow drafts into our home. And one of the ledges was installed with a cracked board that is completely evident to everyone and when I pointed this out to Kevin he said all well some times we get boards or ledges that are cracked and it's still usable so that's what you got. There has also been noticeable gaping in our external siding, but I am not sure if that is an actual issue.