Complaint Review: Adair Homes - Vancouver Washington

Let me preface this by saying that we are working with the Adair office in Mt. Vernon WA, but I listed their main office so people see this representing their company as a whole.

My family and I first contacted Adair in May of 2017. We were quickly set up with an appointment with their sales manager at our local office, Matt Whitehead. When we went to the meeting we had little knowledge of what the process of building your dream home entails, and Matt was excellent at selling the idea behind Adair. He told us that he would love to get us our new house by Christmas of 2017 but most likely it would end up being January of 2018. He provided us with some prices of different model homes within our needs and price range, and encouraged us to work quickly to sell our home and begin searching for land to build our home on. By June of 2017, we had our house listed for sale, we had nailed down a home model that we wanted and we made an offer on some land to build our home. On 6/22/2017 we met with Matt again to finalize our home order. There were a couple of mistakes, quickly and easily rectified, and we received the final home quote by 7/11/2017. On that day we also received the first round of contractual agreements between us and Adair.

By 7/13/2017 we had an appraisal ordered to work towards finalizing our loan. What’s special about Adair is that they partner through a financing company called Alliance Financial Services. What it should be called is Adair financial services. Matt Whitehead even joked with us about how it was essentially still part of their company when we began this process. Adair’s loan requirements are so strict that they practically require you to work with AFS. I attempted to receive financing through a different (very reputable) company but they did not meet the requirements for the construction loan. While working through the financing process, our representative front AFS, Brian Miner, was extremely poor at communicating. There would often be days that went by without a response from him regarding the need for some crucial information. Not only that, but his communications were often vague, terse, and hardly what one could consider professional or helpful.

It was at this point when the problems began. When we inquired how long the financing approval process would take so we could inform the owners of the land when we would be ready to close, we were told 90 days from the time we submitted our request for financing. This was submitted on 5/10/2017, it wasn’t until 7/18/17 that our appraisal payment was processed so the appraisers could begin their work. Our home sold on 7/19/17, meeting one of the requirements of the loan, and on 7/20/2017 we received copies of the final documents to submit our home order. On 7/24/17 we signed and accepted our home order starting their signature "120 day price lock” which allowed us to retain the price of our home throughout market fluctuations. At this time we were informed that we should receive our home plans within 60 days for building permit submittal, and so by then we should have 60 days to complete permits and be what they call " Lot Ready” for them to pour the foundation.

On 8/1/17 we received an email that the appraisal would not be completed on time due to a family emergency of the appraiser working for them. At this time, the entire loan should have been nearing completion by 8/10/17. We found out through much teeth pulling that the appraisal was no where near completed and wouldn’t be done for a while longer. The appraisal wasn’t completed until 8/16/17 and at this time Brian Miner requested that we extend our closing date on the land until 10/1/17, a month later than the original plan. The loan wasn’t even accepted by the lender until 9/1/17. I worked with the realtor representing the seller of our land, with little to no help or explanations from Brian Miner and AFS and was able to get an addendum for closing on 9/22/2017. By this time we realized that we would not be "Lot Ready” by 11/21/2017 and were contacted by Adair and received an extension (with no price increase). By 9/13/17 we received lender approval and closed on the land on 9/22/17.

One nightmare over. As soon as the land was in our name I began working diligently on nearly every day off preparing the Lot with water, power, and working with subcontractors to have temporary power set up, excavation, and our septic system installed. On 10/10/2017 we finally received our home plans that allowed us to begin the permitting process, 78 days after we submitted our order when they said 60 days or less. This process is arduous, time consuming, and the person doing so must be meticulous and accurate. I worked diligently with a member of our local permitting department and submitted the permits for approval on 10/26/17. We received our septic permit on 12/14/2017 and installed the system immediately. At this point all the other requirements except excavation for the foundation was completed since we needed the permits before we could do this.

On 12/19/17 we received our building permits and I drove to our Adair office that day and delivered them to our preconstruction coordinator, Stephanie Young. At this point we had 9 days to be Lot Ready. I immediately coordinated with the contractor doing the excavation work, and he came out and completed the work as soon as he could by 1/5/18. On this day I submitted the Lot Ready form and was informed by Stephanie Young that when she last checked there was no price increase. That evening we received an email requesting payment for a $4500.00 price Increase. Confused, my wife and I didn’t sign, and immediately reached out to Stephanie. I also called the regional manager, Justin Keller, and the preconstruction manager, Kelly Moe. I heard back from Justin on 1/8/17 that he would have answers for me within 48 hours.

On 1/11/17 I reached out to him and he informed me that he was unable to get any further information, but he would have something for me the next day. Today, 1/12/18, I received an email from Justin stating that Adair would give us a break on the price increase since the home plans took an additional 18 days longer than it should have. When I received an email from Kelly Moe, her information was exactly the opposite. She stated that we were actually subject to a second price increase totaling $12000.00, but they would waive the additional $7500.00 due to their part in the delay. This company forces accountability on their customers without taking any responsibility for their actions. Had they not delayed the initial financing due to their incompetency, I would have hit my Lot Ready date long in advance. Couple that with the delay from the house plans and I didn’t stand a chance. My family and I are so upset with this process and truly just want our house built at the agreed upon price without further delay.