Complain about a product or service

Meritage Homes

Lupe of Oakdale, CA January 28, 2010

We purchased a brand new home from Meritage Homes in 2007. The house was pre-plumbed for a water softener. In May of 2009 we installed a water softener. In September 2009 we started noticing water damage in our laundry room and kitchen walls. Due to the house still being under waranty, we contacted Meritage Homes. They came out to view the damage. At that time they cut out a piece of dry wall to find where the leak was coming from. Once the dry wall was removed the over flow pipe behind the dry wall had a clean cut across the pipe. Meritage's plumber informed us that we had caused the damage to the pipe when we installed our water softener.

We felt that it was impossible for us to cause the damage as they stated. We contacted an independent plumber who stated the only way this pipe could have been broken in such a way was by using a pipe cutting tool. Therefore it would have been impossible for us to do this, due to the fact that the pipe was behind the dry wall. We have since foward our report to Meritage Homes and they continue to give us the run around.

Carolyn of Frisco, TX January 25, 2010

Count me in as though unhappy with their Meritage Home. I also have the tile problem. I have to rip up all the tile floors in my house (over 800 sq. ft). I ripped the hallway up already and was told they used cheap thinset, and a lot of cheap thinset does not make it stronger. It is going to cost me thousands of dollars to replace all the tile in my house. I would have rathered they put down vinyl floors or carpeting then doing a bad tile job. Nothing I can do since the warranty is expired.

They also switched my hot and cold water lines. How hard is it to tell which is hot and cold. Installed lights in my bathroom without junction boxes. Talk about a fire hazard. My cheap 115,000 first house was better built than this one. Never will I build a new house again.

R. of Conroe, TX December 31, 2009

What did not happen is more like it.

I had my house built while I was in Afghanistan and my wife did the walk through. Right off the bat there were issues my wife failed to catch. Cabinets installed with busted backs. Off center lighting. Busted Hardi plank etc. I think my wife was just star struck by a nice new house and they took advantage.

I had to hook up the drain pan for the hot water heater to the drain line since the builder failed to do that too. Most stuff I fixed myself since after they had a guy come to fix the Hardi he screwed it up worse. The supervisor obviously thinks I am an idiot with no construction experience. He told me a couple face nailed shingles are no big deal. So I told him to get off his butt and gave him some roofing compound to cover them.

Well one year later the builder put a trailer through the garage. Had to threaten them with legal action along with the insurance company threatening them to get it fixed. Next some of their workers dropped some mortar on my truck, luckily it is a twelve year old work truck.

Now the shower seat was leaking and we found black mold. Which I put a respirator on and was forced to tear out myself. Got a lawyer crunch the numbers after the company said sue us we are not fixing it. Not worth the time and effort plus paying the lawyer.

Randall of Austin, TX December 21, 2009

I just registered my first complaint today. We'll see how long it takes them to respond back to me. All of my light fixtures are off center, door locks are wearing out and door jams are crooked. The tape and texture is falling from the ceiling in the kitchen. My house is 5 years old. These are cheap materials and substandard workmanship.

Tom of Fort Worth, TX October 22, 2009

Legacy homes are not finished well. I bought a home in 2002. The kitchen tile started coming up this year (2009). I had a contractor look at the problem and he found that the tilers did not clean the tiles or paint off the concrete before laying the tile. As a result of the lack of preparation, the tile is all starting to pop up! This issue exists in my kitchen, one of my baths, the front entry way, and garage entry. The tiles all need to be redone to a tune of 4600! I don't recommend Meritage brand homes.

Rob of keller, TX September 6, 2009

I will just list the problems i have had some fixed some still fighting with them. 1) Lighting fixtures not centered in the room. 2) Bad Tile job. Hollow and cracking tiles. 3) White wood trim turned yellow within 4 months. 4) Door knobs had to be changed out 5 times due to poor installation and cheap material. 5) Wood cabinets different color stains. 6) Light switches behind doors. 7) A/C problems too much to even tell. 8) Fence warp within 4 months. 9) Poor texture job on walls. 10) ACME brick on one side of the house has shed the white and gray colors and now looks orange. This is the biggest problem so far and meritage and ACME have made up a lie and stated the iron in the city water has changed the brick orange. A lawyer will love this one because when you take your finger and scrape off the white and gray features off the brick it is orange underneath. No one will return my calls and if they do they just lie and make up what ever they can think of. I will take them to court if it comes down to that. But only after I go door to door and get some support.

Robin of Richmond, TX September 3, 2009

We purchased the home in 12/2007 (Built) and we notice this past spring that the brick above the garage is cracking in several places. We looked at the Ultimate Warranty List for Meritage Homes and the first thing on the lists says "Lifetime Warranty on Brick". I called them several times and they said the brick is actually a stone which is not brick so it is not covered. We did not order the brick so it came with the house so to me is is brick or in the brick family.

Ted of Southlake, TX August 12, 2009

Mr. Barnhisel was the Sales Manager for a new subdivision in Roanoke, TX. In my role as a real estate agent I showed a client a home the company had listed on MLS. We then negociated a contract through three prices with upgrades included and then removed and were told by Mr. Barnhisel that the corporate office had approved the deal with Meritage paying all the closing costs for my client.

All my client needed to do was bring a 2,000 cashiers check to him and the deal was done. We did that and my client begain to get ready to close and move. She submitted her documents to the mortgage company she was required to use by Meritage to get the best deal for her etc.

Four days later Mr. Barnhisel call to say that corporate will not do the deal. My client has decided not to buy a home until this Spring. Just be careful who you deal with when working with Meritage. I lost a 4,000 comission becaurs Mr. Barnhisel did not tell the truth about the deal being approved.

robert of san antonio, TX July 10, 2009

my wife and i were discriminated because of our hispanic lineage. we were told to go look at some less expensive homes. does meritage homes not cater to hispanics.we are 5th generation americans and very proud of that fact.

Biggie of Euless, TX June 16, 2009

Meritage is the WORST HOME BUILDER ever!!!!! They suck they suck they suck they suck. I should have known when I had a bunch of prospective home buyers drive by and ask us if we've had any problems because that's what they'd been hearing. I had only lived here at this time, a week. It didn't take but a few days after that to realize all of the problems.

Let's go down the list, shall we?

1. It took them 4 months for them to even start our punch list. (One of the items, mind you, was an exterior door that seeped water all over the tile and grout and stained the base molding.)

2.We have MASSIVE dead trees in our yard (it was winter when we first moved in). Every time it rains or there is high winds, giant limbs break and fall all over our yard. The main customer service supervisor told me "the trees must be sick" or "well we can cut them down." Did you forget about the damn 5 feet wide stumps you'd leave behind or the fact that I paid more for the property because of "the large, beautiful, mature trees"? Or maybe you forgot about the ferns and 6 dif. species of plants that are growing from the dry, rotted trunks that fall off in clusters. When you lay a foundation to a home, there is a correct way to relocate roots to avoid this but obviously after reading all these reviews, they are cheap and take every shortcut possible. They have been avoiding further phone calls so this situation will most likely end in the courtroom.

3. NO ONE ANSWERS THEIR f- PHONES. Terrible customer service.

4. Bob the builder/contractor in DFW is a total moron I cannot believe someone actually gave him a college degree. He avoids us at all costs and tried to pawn us off to various people in the company to finish his jobs. He must of made fake business cards for them because they don't answer either. You know Meritage is cheap when they've got the builder driving a 1992 F150 that is conveniently parked at the model all day. DO YOU ACTUALLY SUPERVISE YOUR JOBS BOB because it might spare your company and homeowners the hassle. It might help people sleep better at night knowing they won't wake up to a leak, a tree falling through the roof, a foul smell, a broken hvac unit, toilet, etc.

4. The model home has been broken into 3 times in a month but spending 260k on a new home doesn't constitute a damn community gate?

5. I see several roofs in the neighborhood that have bubbles in the roof because they didn't ventilate the attic properly.

6. Every few days a strong AWFUL SMELL takes up the entire upstairs. They sent a plumber out and he found nothing. Guess that's a job well done guys. Way to put your problem solving skills to work!

7. Everytime it rains, my mailbox leaks so all of my mail is bled together. Netflix keeps wondering why all of the DVDs I send back are water damaged. Hm. Let's ask the US post office what happens when mail is tampered with. Let's also ask the mailman how annoyed he is with the flag that won't go down because the brick wasn't layed correctly.

8. I still have a leaking toilet that has turned the tile behind it a "2000 flushes" blue color.

9. Do I really need to go on here? I'm tired of wasting my time with these people. PLEASE DON't WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THEM or purchase one of their homes. It's very disappointing for us especially being that we are first time homebuyers. We love our home, don't get me wrong, but all the hassle makes me wonder if it is all worth it because we havn't been able to enjoy ourselves. If you are going to spend this much money on a home, make sure you're getting better quality. These houses go up in a week by people fresh over the border.

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