[amadeuz]

I'm glad I discovered this forum. The purpose of this thread is for any of you readers who have had problems with Lovett and need a place to vent. I also want to warn other readers away from Lovett who are thinking of purchasing a new Lovett Home. My experience with Lovett Homes has probably been one of the worst customer service experiences I've ever had. Since the day we signed the sales contract our sales representative has been unaccommodating to our needs. Every single answer to our question was always "NO" And not a polite no, but an immediate no without even consulting higher ups. Once you have signed the dotted line forget about customer service. In the world of Lovett, the customer is never right, the builder is always right. Anyway, for lack of time I will end this post here, but will follow up later. Please feel free to add your own Lovett experiences.

[WestGrayGuy]

Although I don't know anyone who lives in a Lovett home, they appear nice from the outside. I had not heard anything about customer service, good or bad. I live in a Perry Home and they have been very responsive to my customer service needs. The sales woman was amazing to work with....very attentive.

Ironic I think...

[hokieone]

I hate to slam builders, but I'm going to chime in here too. I had a contract with In Town homes, a subsidiary of Lovett, and the problem there wasn't with the customer service, more the quality of the home. I know kjb and some others on here bought with them, and actually I think kjb even had similar issues. All along the builder talked about the Lovett quality, but the builder I had was maybe capable of building a doghouse, or a birdcage, but not much more. Literally, there was a crooked wall in the house that I was told was "common" and that was just one of many issues I kept having. Electric outlets cut into the baseboard trim, I wanted tile in the kitchen and they put wood instead, then claimed they always install wood first and then go back and put tile in, which then resulted in the cabinets being damaged.... blah, blah, blah I can go on but its not important.

In the end, I walked and lost my earnest money. I was more sad than mad because I liked the floor plan and the house, it just didn't work out. Only reason I'm posting is because someone else mentioned Lovett and I've worked with one of their other divisions and it also didn't pan out.

I just get the feeling these days with all the townhomes being built inside the loop, name the builder, and you'll find at least one incident. Like West gray Guy said, for as much bad press as perry gets, he hasn't had any problems. So sometimes it may just be isolated incidents.

[editor]

I think Hokieone is on to something. There are a lot of complaints about a lot of builders, and when you're a huge builder like a Perry or whatever you're going to statistically have more complaints. In a perfect world it wouldn't happen, but it does.

The house I lived in as a teen was a total piece of crap, but it wasn't designed and built by a chain, it was designed and built by an architect for himself. Since he never anticiptated anyone else living in it, he half-assed everything. Light switches in one room that controlled outlets in other rooms, huge gaps in the window casements, no insulation in the attic at all, and probably a lot of thing I never knew about.

In large part, it comes down to the pride of the builder. The last two places I've lived were just a couple of blocks from each other. One was a 1930's building rehabbed in 2003. The other was a new building built in 2005. You can totally tell that the people who worked on the 2005 building took a lot more pride in what they were doing than the other building. In the 2003 rehab I found garbage (empty cigarette packs, empty tape dispensers, rags) in the walls and even in the empty space below the air conditioning unit. The electrical sockets were overtightened and cracked. There was something under the carpet in the living room I never identified, the laminate on the kitchen counter peeled off in six months, and just a few weeks after moving in a fire standpipe exploded a few floors above me, flooding my apartment (I never thought to buy flood insurance since I was on the 25th floor). In the 2005 place, everything is perfect. And I mean absolutely perfect. Even all of the screws in the light switches and outlets face the same direction. The builders have even been back twice to make minor repairs to things that weren't yet broken, but they thought might break before their time. Again, I think a lot of it depends on how much pride and money people have in their work.

[hydepark]

editor, on Friday, December 2nd, 2005 @ 11:51pm, said:

I think Hokieone is on to something. There are a lot of complaints about a lot of builders, and when you're a huge builder like a Perry or whatever you're going to statistically have more complaints. In a perfect world it wouldn't happen, but it does.

The house I lived in as a teen was a total piece of crap, but it wasn't designed and built by a chain, it was designed and built by an architect for himself. Since he never anticiptated anyone else living in it, he half-assed everything. Light switches in one room that controlled outlets in other rooms, huge gaps in the window casements, no insulation in the attic at all, and probably a lot of thing I never knew about.

In large part, it comes down to the pride of the builder. The last two places I've lived were just a couple of blocks from each other. One was a 1930's building rehabbed in 2003. The other was a new building built in 2005. You can totally tell that the people who worked on the 2005 building took a lot more pride in what they were doing than the other building. In the 2003 rehab I found garbage (empty cigarette packs, empty tape dispensers, rags) in the walls and even in the empty space below the air conditioning unit. The electrical sockets were overtightened and cracked. There was something under the carpet in the living room I never identified, the laminate on the kitchen counter peeled off in six months, and just a few weeks after moving in a fire standpipe exploded a few floors above me, flooding my apartment (I never thought to buy flood insurance since I was on the 25th floor). In the 2005 place, everything is perfect. And I mean absolutely perfect. Even all of the screws in the light switches and outlets face the same direction. The builders have even been back twice to make minor repairs to things that weren't yet broken, but they thought might break before their time. Again, I think a lot of it depends on how much pride and money people have in their work.

PRIDE, Amen

[supkof]

amadeuz, on Thursday, December 1st, 2005 @ 5:54pm, said:

I'm glad I discovered this forum. The purpose of this thread is for any of you readers who have had problems with Lovett and need a place to vent. I also want to warn other readers away from Lovett who are thinking of purchasing a new Lovett Home. My experience with Lovett Homes has probably been one of the worst customer service experiences I've ever had. Since the day we signed the sales contract our sales representative has been unaccommodating to our needs. Every single answer to our question was always "NO" And not a polite no, but an immediate no without even consulting higher ups. Once you have signed the dotted line forget about customer service. In the world of Lovett, the customer is never right, the builder is always right. Anyway, for lack of time I will end this post here, but will follow up later. Please feel free to add your own Lovett experiences.

It's really not fair of you to publicly give this builder a bad name without producing some real examples of what makes them so bad. As someone who works in the corporate office of a large home builder with a sales location in the Houston area, I see the direct effects of such bad publicity all the time. Please, if you're going to publicly denounce this builder, give some examples of why they're so bad to do business with. So the salesman said "no" to everything... what is "everything?" What were your requests? Were you requesting plan changes they can't make? If so, the answer is likely going to be "no." More information is necessary for one to make a common-sense judgement in this matter.

[amadeuz]

If you want examples here are a few:

1) One of our bathrooms was incorrectly tiled i.e. incorrect pattern. Our design sheet clearly showed this. However, Lovett refused to change the tile out. They maintained it was not a mistake! This was no "plan change." It was merely a simple request to correct a mistake. The sales lady was not sympathetic or receptive at all.

2) At one point, we decided we would rather switch the tiles in another bathroom rather than the messed up bathroom. Again, the sales lady was very uncooperative. She was extremely rude to us. However, when we got in touch with the contractor (who was very nice) he said it would be no problem!

3) We repeatedly had to take initiative to contact the sales representative for anything. She was not responsive to our emails or phone calls.

4) The incident that broke the camel's back was when a 12 foot tall utility bank was placed directly in our backyard. The way are home was arranged was that the back of the home was facing the street. So basically everyone seeing our house would only see these 4 12 foot tall poles. When we looked out through the living room all we could see was this monstrosity. The sales lady never showed us a survey of our lot and disclosed the presence of this utility bank. When we confronted about it, she told us a bold faced lie and said we did know about it. Unfortunately, we are in the process of going through arbitration now, so we'll see what happens.

When I mean everything, I meant everything! Anytime we made a request to change things, whether minor or not, it was "no." Not a maybe, or we could do that. It was "no." Evidently, Frank Liu is not fazed by bad publicity or litigation anyways. He could've simple given our earnest money back and saved alot of time and trouble, but he knows that nobody is going to buy a home with freaking utility poles in front of it.

So please do not think that I am just wasting space and bad mouthing Lovett for no reason. I hope this helps.

supkof, on Friday, December 9th, 2005 @ 10:49am, said:

It's really not fair of you to publicly give this builder a bad name without producing some real examples of what makes them so bad. As someone who works in the corporate office of a large home builder with a sales location in the Houston area, I see the direct effects of such bad publicity all the time. Please, if you're going to publicly denounce this builder, give some examples of why they're so bad to do business with. So the salesman said "no" to everything... what is "everything?" What were your requests? Were you requesting plan changes they can't make? If so, the answer is likely going to be "no." More information is necessary for one to make a common-sense judgement in this matter.

::This post edited by Editor::

[rippedoff]

supkof, on Friday, December 9th, 2005 @ 10:49am, said:

It's really not fair of you to publicly give this builder a bad name without producing some real examples of what makes them so bad. As someone who works in the corporate office of a large home builder with a sales location in the Houston area, I see the direct effects of such bad publicity all the time. Please, if you're going to publicly denounce this builder, give some examples of why they're so bad to do business with. So the salesman said "no" to everything... what is "everything?" What were your requests? Were you requesting plan changes they can't make? If so, the answer is likely going to be "no." More information is necessary for one to make a common-sense judgement in this matter.

I will tell you why. When you sign a contract to have a home built you are thinking, well, how 'bout the word "competence". You think people know what they are doing when they are building your home. Instead you end up with defects that will ruin your life when your builder refuses to take any repsonsibility
and leaves you with an uninhabitable home. Can't live in it, can't sell it. SO while you are sitting in a corporate office and I am sure your home is ok, many of us have lost everything. (and no I am not Hydepark, I just understand the frustrations of that poster)

[BackHomeInTexas]

These posts are a clear reminder of why I have yet to buy a new home in Houston. The reason can be summed up in four words.....Texas Residential Construction Commission. This nightmare of a joke, courtesy of Rick "GoodHair" Perry and the founder of Perry Homes has created a nightmare for new homeowners since it took effect in June 05. Good luck with your problems gentlemen...and vote that idiot "MoFo" Perry out of office....his greed is truly the source of your pain.

[lwood]

BackHomeInTexas, on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 @ 5:35am, said:

These posts are a clear reminder of why I have yet to buy a new home in Houston. The reason can be summed up in four words.....Texas Residential Construction Commission. This nightmare of a joke, courtesy of Rick "GoodHair" Perry and the founder of Perry Homes has created a nightmare for new homeowners since it took effect in June 05. Good luck with your problems gentlemen...and vote that idiot "MoFo" Perry out of office....his greed is truly the source of your pain.

Home building requires a lot of research on the builder. The better products seem to come from smaller "custom" builders. They are out there. I actually had a good experience working with a smaller company.

[texas911]

What sucks is we need to hurry and implement some hurricane standards while we're in a building boom. Its comical to see, hurricane straps as the only safety feature on a house. We need to follow Florida's lead.

And don't vote for Rick Perry either.

[RedScare]

texas911, on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 @ 8:40pm, said:

What sucks is we need to hurry and implement some hurricane standards while we're in a building boom. Its comical to see, hurricane straps as the only safety feature on a house. We need to follow Florida's lead.

And don't vote for Rick Perry either.

I don't think you're giving properly installed wind straps enough credit. City of Houston high wind codes require new construction to withstand 110 mph winds. Wind straps easily handle this load.

The other big problem from high winds is broken windows. 5/8 inch plywood over windows will do the trick.

According to the National Hurricane Center, a Category 4 hurricane, with 144 mph winds at landfall, will produce no higher than 109 mph winds over Houston.

http://www.nhc.noaa..../gulf_144.shtml

The 1900 Storm that hit Galveston was a category 4. Katrina was a 3 at landfall. Rita was initially a 3, but may well have been a 2 at landfall. Houston's last direct hit, Alicia in 1983, was a Cat 3 at landfall. While a Cat 5 may produce higher winds, most of Houston would not get them. There have only been a couple of Cat 5s in US history.

The part about Perry, I wholeheartedly agree with.

[nmainguy]

supkof, on Friday, December 9th, 2005 @ 9:49am, said:

It's really not fair of you to publicly give this builder a bad name without producing some real examples of what makes them so bad. As someone who works in the corporate office of a large home builder with a sales location in the Houston area, I see the direct effects of such bad publicity all the time. Please, if you're going to publicly denounce this builder, give some examples of why they're so bad to do business with. So the salesman said "no" to everything... what is "everything?" What were your requests? Were you requesting plan changes they can't make? If so, the answer is likely going to be "no." More information is necessary for one to make a common-sense judgement in this matter.

I have a good friend who had a contract with InTown. She too had a leaning wall in the kitchen and another in the garage. She informed Lovet-InTown that she didn't contract for a leaning wall. They laughed and said of course she didn't and proceeded to do nothing. She backed out of the contract and they just sold the piece of poorly built crap to a less assertive buyer.
So it's totally fair to slam an unscrupulous builder. Our only hope is they will be wiped out completely.
So sue me, my friend, amadeuz, hydepark and the thousands of others who have been ripped off with the assistance of the State of Texas and the Texas Residential Construction Commission.

[designingwoman]

I too am careful about whom I "badmouth", but I also know easy it is for people to get duped into buying poor quality construction. I also know about Lovett's poor quality (prefer not to say how) and that people don't have any way of knowing about things like this if people don't talk about it.

So much of the quality (or lack of it) in construction is hidden from view. It's sooooooo easy for a builder to utilize surface materials and impressive architectural designs that look dazzling and portray a perception of quality while hiding shoddy construction and dime-pinching shortcuts in places not visible to the buyer. It's really sad, because the problems are often not apparent until several years down the road.

I agree with the person who suggested research. I suggest learning as much as you can stand about construction, and walk through houses in various stages of the construction process by many different builders if at all possible. This can at least help train the eye to recognize good construction.

Bloopers are common in construction, even with the best of builders, because there are so many things going on; however the builder should be willing to stand behind their work if they care about the longevity of their reputation. I've seen homebuyers get irate about things beyond a builder's control partially because they don't understand the construction process, but poor quality and poor customer service doesn't benefit anyone.

For the one who walked away and lost their earnest money: I feel for you, but if it makes you feel any better, I'd be willing to bet that you cut your losses in good time compared to the costs that will probably be incurred down the road when this house's flaws become more apparent and more expensive to remedy!

Hope I haven't been too negative, but I feel that people need to talk if a builder is consistently producing McMansions that are not good quality. This devalues property values in the long run.

[hursttx]

designingwoman, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 @ 2:26am, said:

I too am careful about whom I "badmouth", but I also know easy it is for people to get duped into buying poor quality construction. I also know about Lovett's poor quality (prefer not to say how) and that people don't have any way of knowing about things like this if people don't talk about it.

So much of the quality (or lack of it) in construction is hidden from view. It's sooooooo easy for a builder to utilize surface materials and impressive architectural designs that look dazzling and portray a perception of quality while hiding shoddy construction and dime-pinching shortcuts in places not visible to the buyer. It's really sad, because the problems are often not apparent until several years down the road.

...

Do you mind saying what type of poor quality construction Lovett does regularly? Even if you don't say _how_ you know about it, giving descriptions on what could be wrong helps others. Is it something that having a 3rd party inspector coming to the site every once in a while would prevent? I'm planning on moving into town within the next year and have looked at some of the Lovett sites. On the outside, they look great, and knowing what might have happened inside the sheetrock is pretty important (especially for the price they sell at). Besides you and two other posters, I haven't heard many negative marks against Lovett...

Along the same lines, what about HHN? I haven't been able to find anything about them besides one or two posts where people say they feel the company is decent. Nothing substantive either way.

[musicman]

hursttx, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 @ 11:29am, said:

Do you mind saying what type of poor quality construction Lovett does regularly? Even if you don't say _how_ you know about it, giving descriptions on what could be wrong helps others. Is it something that having a 3rd party inspector coming to the site every once in a while would prevent? I'm planning on moving into town within the next year and have looked at some of the Lovett sites. On the outside, they look great, and knowing what might have happened inside the sheetrock is pretty important (especially for the price they sell at). Besides you and two other posters, I haven't heard many negative marks against Lovett...

Along the same lines, what about HHN? I haven't been able to find anything about them besides one or two posts where people say they feel the company is decent. Nothing substantive either way.

i know two different owners, same complex both have had problems with the cultured marble sinks. both have cracked and one to the point where it is leaking. Materials like that shouldn't do that unless extremely thin cultured marble is used.

This post has been edited by musicman: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 12:32 PM

[Spencer Street]

Quote

Do you mind saying what type of poor quality construction Lovett does regularly? Even if you don't say _how_ you know about it, giving descriptions on what could be wrong helps others. Is it something that having a 3rd party inspector coming to the site every once in a while would prevent? I'm planning on moving into town within the next year and have looked at some of the Lovett sites. On the outside, they look great, and knowing what might have happened inside the sheetrock is pretty important (especially for the price they sell at). Besides you and two other posters, I haven't heard many negative marks against Lovett...

There is an article on Perry Home, it's not on Lovett but you may want to look into some of the things that are mentioned on this article.... (It's a year-old article)

http://www.houstonpr...ws/feature.html

This post has been edited by Spencer Street: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 4:30 PM

[hursttx]

Spencer Street, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 @ 4:26pm, said:

There is an article on Perry Home, it's not on Lovett but you may want to look into some of the things that are mentioned on this article.... (It's a year-old article)

http://www.houstonpr...ws/feature.html

Thanks for the article, I hadn't seen that one. I don't think I could stand to live in a Perry home. They look like they were taken from the 'burbs, cut in half, then airlifted into Midtown. I want a little more variety than that (one of the reasons I want out of Friendswood so badly <g>).

It's a given that no single builder is going to make perfect homes 100% of the time. What's scary is trying to determine what the defect rate for a particular builder is. Without hard numbers, how are people deciding on a new home builder? If I had the money, I could hire an architect to design and handle the construction for me. But I don't, or at least don't believe that I do.

[NYC Texan2]

If Lovett was that bad, it probably wouldn't be responsible for rebuilding 50% of West U and about 20% of River Oaks and Memorial...

I think bad experiences can happen with any builder due to the nature of the business. Lovett has very good specs relative to other builders, and anyone who was to take a tour of their properties across town would be very impressed with the variety and quality of the designs, both freestanding and townhomes.

That said, In-Town does not advertise itself as a Lovett brand and neither does Frank Liu.

[nmainguy]

NYC Texan2, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 @ 10:37pm, said:

If Lovett was that bad, it probably wouldn't be responsible for rebuilding 50% of West U and about 20% of River Oaks and Memorial...

I think bad experiences can happen with any builder due to the nature of the business. Lovett has very good specs relative to other builders, and anyone who was to take a tour of their properties across town would be very impressed with the variety and quality of the designs, both freestanding and townhomes.

That said, In-Town does not advertise itself as a Lovett brand and neither does Frank Liu.

In-Town is not a Lovett brand. It is a Frank Liu brand. Frank Liu owns Lovett and In-Town. To say they are not one and the same is a fallacy. Of course Liu is free to build as many poorly constructed houses as he wants to. His political clout isn't as great as Perry's but great enough to get away with it.

[amadeuz]

NYC Texan2, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 @ 11:37pm, said:

If Lovett was that bad, it probably wouldn't be responsible for rebuilding 50% of West U and about 20% of River Oaks and Memorial...

I think bad experiences can happen with any builder due to the nature of the business. Lovett has very good specs relative to other builders, and anyone who was to take a tour of their properties across town would be very impressed with the variety and quality of the designs, both freestanding and townhomes.

That said, In-Town does not advertise itself as a Lovett brand and neither does Frank Liu.

Rebuilding 50% of West U?! I know that percentage has to be an exaggeration. As the original poster, why do I feel the need to defend myself? I freely admit that from a superficial view, Lovett Homes seems like a quality builder. Why do you think we went them in the first place? HOWEVER, the purpose of the thread is to warn others about how you will be treated once you sign. You will NOT be treated like a customer. They lure you in with the eye catching bait, but once they have you, forget about it. No customer service, no catering to your needs. Frank Liu does not care about customers; the only thing he cares about is making money.

FYI, Frank Liu and his company are involved in multiple arbitrations including my own. And please don't say that arbitrations are part of the business. Maybe for monstrous corporations like KB, Newmark, etc, but not for supposedly respectable custom builders. The possibility of litigation is part of the business, but being involved in multiple arbitrations at the same time? I don't think so. I have friends in the real estate business. Frank Liu does have a reputation. Anyway, I am a firm believer that what goes around comes around. So, to reiterate, I'm not telling you not to buy a Lovett Home because they are crappy homes, I'm telling you not to buy a new home from them unless you wanted to be treated like dirt.

PS In-Town Homes is a subsidiary of Lovett Homes and IS at least partially owned by Frank Liu.

::Post edited by Editor::

[hursttx]

amadeuz, on Friday, May 12th, 2006 @ 9:55am, said:

Rebuilding 50% of West U?! I know that percentage has to be an exaggeration. As the original poster, why do I feel the need to defend myself from the actions of a greedy real estate baron? I freely admit that from a superficial view, Lovett Homes seems like a quality builder. Why do you think we went them in the first place? HOWEVER, the purpose of the thread is to warn others about how you will be treated once you sign. You will NOT be treated like a customer. They lure you in with the eye catching bait, but once they have you, forget about it. No customer service, no catering to your needs. Frank Liu does not care about customers; the only thing he cares about is making money.

FYI, Frank Liu and his company are involved in multiple arbitrations including my own. And please don't say that arbitrations are part of the business. Maybe for monstrous corporations like KB, Newmark, etc, but not for supposedly respectable custom builders. The possibility of litigation is part of the business, but being involved in multiple arbitrations at the same time? I don't think so. I have friends in the real estate business. Frank Liu does have a reputation. Anyway, I am a firm believer that what goes around comes around. So, to reiterate, I'm not telling you not to buy a Lovett Home because they are crappy homes, I'm telling you not to buy a new home from them unless you wanted to be treated like dirt.

PS In-Town Homes is a subsidiary of Lovett Homes and IS at least partially owned by Frank Liu.

Did you purchase your home prior to the TRCC going into effect? Did you have to create a SIRP to get into arbitration? When you signed, did you try to modify the contract so that you wouldn't have to resort to arbitration as the sole method of resolving the problems? I'm just trying to get a feel for what a home buyer can and can't do...

Also, I know that arbitration results are normally not made public. What about how many arbitration requests a company has had/is going through? That might be a good metric to measure home builders on.

Fyi, I looked on TRCC's site and there are only 2 homes registered for Lovett (I thought they all had to be?), and no SIRPs filed with the commission. I know that TRCC is a sham, I'm surprised that either their database doesn't update very regularly, or no one seems to be using it

[amadeuz]

hursttx, on Friday, May 12th, 2006 @ 10:12am, said:

Did you purchase your home prior to the TRCC going into effect? Did you have to create a SIRP to get into arbitration? When you signed, did you try to modify the contract so that you wouldn't have to resort to arbitration as the sole method of resolving the problems? I'm just trying to get a feel for what a home buyer can and can't do...

Also, I know that arbitration results are normally not made public. What about how many arbitration requests a company has had/is going through? That might be a good metric to measure home builders on.

Fyi, I looked on TRCC's site and there are only 2 homes registered for Lovett (I thought they all had to be?), and no SIRPs filed with the commission. I know that TRCC is a sham, I'm surprised that either their database doesn't update very regularly, or no one seems to be using it

I'm pretty sure Frank has several attorneys on retainer. Lovett Homes did not blink an eye when we sent demand letters and finally an arbitration demand. I'm sure you know that builder contracts nowadays are all contracts of adhesion. You either take it or leave it. Especially Lovett Home contracts. That thing was so one-sided it was unbelievable.

To answer your question, our claims did not involve a construction defect so we were able to sidestep the minefield known as the TRCC. And yes, if there was a way to find out how many arbitration demands were filed for a builder, it would be an outstanding metric. If we had known how many arbitrations Lovett has been through, we definitely would have had second thoughts with buying a home from them.

[pachanga]

NYC Texan2, on Wednesday, May 10th, 2006 @ 10:37pm, said:

If Lovett was that bad, it probably wouldn't be responsible for rebuilding 50% of West U and about 20% of River Oaks and Memorial...

where do you get your numbers 50 % of west u? 20% of river oaks and memorial...i think not.....not even close thank God. we want our houses to be standing when our kids become homeowners...

This post has been edited by editor: Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 9:49 AM

[amadeuz]

pachanga, on Friday, May 12th, 2006 @ 6:04pm, said:

where do you get your numbers 50 % of west u? 20% of river oaks and memorial...i think not.....not even close thank God. we want our houses to be standing when our kids become homeowners... frank liu could care less about anyone but frank liu............

Hallelujah...there is proof that I am not alone. Another victim of Lovett Homes has posted a website about his or her experiences with Lovett Homes. Please check out http://www.lovetthomes.org for more information. It was almost eerie how the poster's experiences mirrored my own. Fortunately, we didn't close on the house and experience the shoddy workmanship, but we did experience the one-sided contract, the "legions of minions," and the absolutely worst customer experience ever. Enjoy!

[texas911]

Man I know that guy is mad, but that site is racist as heck!

[Trophy Property]

amadeuz, on Friday, June 9th, 2006 @ 5:03pm, said:

Hallelujah...there is proof that I am not alone. Another victim of Lovett Homes has posted a website about his or her experiences with Lovett Homes. Please check out http://www.lovetthomes.org for more information. It was almost eerie how the poster's experiences mirrored my own. Fortunately, we didn't close on the house and experience the shoddy workmanship, but we did experience the one-sided contract, the "legions of minions," and the absolutely worst customer experience ever. Enjoy!

The site mentions that Lovett charges a 6% fee from the buyer. This seems unusual to me. The seller almost always pays this fee. I have seen some pretty nice stuff by Lovett and almost purchased one. It was a townhouse that was already lived in. It was a little out of my price range so I bought a Perry. I had no problems what so ever with my townhouse. I hear a lot of bad things about almost all the builders in Midtown and intown Townhouses. I guess I was lucky.

[NYC Texan2]

I am sorry that you had a bad experience, but since you didn't close, it obviously became a war of wills. It sounds like you and Lovett were in a standoff over work to be done before the close, and that Lovett recognized that it could probably get another buyer to close the purchase without as much trouble. That said, I am not making any assumptions about who is to blame.

Lovett is a high-end builder that has done most of its work by limiting the amount of customization on its designs. The houses are original designs and are usually one-of-a-kind, but Lovett is not a cost-plus builder and has an incentive to move on to the next project.

I recognize that these experiences can be traumatic and have been involved in arbitrations before myself (and seen homeowners recover a lot of money). My family has bought two Lovetts. There were some ups and downs on the first one but both houses were very, very solid. The foundations on those things are engineered to stay there forever.

Also, the estimate of work in West U probably isn't that far off. I believe I heard Lovett had completed 300-500 homes in the neighborhood.

New construction can be a real pain. I don't see myself doing that any time soon.

[Lovett Homeowner]

As a disgruntled Lovett homeowner, I entirely agree with the negative comments regarding the highly dubious workmanship, and the completely dismissive attitude of Mr. Liu and his brigade of misguided henchmen. Many people have had enormous problems with their Lovett homes, myself included, but the lingering bad feeling toward Lovett seems prevalent even among the fortunate few who have experienced less substantial difficulties. My advice to a prospective purchaser would be to avoid the purchase of a new Lovett construction, unless you relish the thought of appropriating a significant amount of time (and money) to sorting out whatever difficulties are lurking. It is completely disheartening to move into your new home with the intention of devoting your time and money to embellishments, only to find that your resources must necessarily be allocated to repair (extremely costly and inconvenient) plumbing problems, replace rotten wood (unprimed wood decays rather rapidly), fix leaks, et cetera. Lovett employees are skilled prevaricators, and misappropriate substantial time pretending that possibly, just maybe, they'll remedy the problems. In my case, Lovett's negligence cost me thousands of dollars, and more time than I care to contemplate. Frank Liu himself was made aware of the problems, and chose to leave me to my own devices, notwithstanding documentation from various sources confirming Lovett's negligence.

[texas911]

Nice first post.

[Pumapayam]

They have to be better and KB homes and Royce homes.

[PureTexan]

texas911, on Friday, June 16th, 2006 @ 10:53pm, said:

Man I know that guy is mad, but that site is racist as heck!

Are we talking about the same site? I went to the site www.lovetthomes.org, but I found nothing racist at all. Exactly what are you referring to? That site seems very factual, and not just some "this builder is bad" garbage. My Lovett house seems to require about three times the maintenance cost as the 40 year old house I moved out of. Most of this "maintenance" is correcting things that were done wrong to start with. These are real problems, and the site is 100% correct about Lovett not giving a darn about any of the problems. I think the site is right on, saying that "Beauty is only skin deep".

[texas911]

Lots of first time posters and surprise surprise, this thread is directly linked from www.lovetthomes.org. I think this forum is being taken advantage of.

[PureTexan]

texas911, on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 @ 1:27pm, said:

Lots of first time posters and surprise surprise, this thread is directly linked from www.lovetthomes.org. I think this forum is being taken advantage of.

I just typed "Lovett Homes" into a Google search, and found that two of the top four results were this forum and the www.lovetthomes. org site. Try it, Dude. Thank god for forums like these that let people share their opinions. It is comforting, if nothing else, to see that other people have had the same experience as we have.

[texas911]

Its jus suspect, how do we know its not one person posting as multiple people to try and get their views across.

[amadeuz]

texas911, on Thursday, July 13th, 2006 @ 4:04pm, said:

Its jus suspect, how do we know its not one person posting as multiple people to try and get their views across.

I've been on vacation for the last week so those posts were definitely not by me. Anyway, what would be the point of posting fake posts? Do you think I want to drum up fake sympathy for myself? I personally think that many people have had bad experiences with Lovett, but had nowhere to vent until now. Maybe Mr. Liu can finally have an opportunity to read about how he is affecting other people's lives since he refuses to hear about them or listen to them. So people, keep on posting!

[Lovett Homeowner]

That a rancorous individual could fabricate multiple identities to discourage Lovett's prospects is interesting to contemplate. I am reasonably confident, however, that the misguided many who find themselves unwittingly domiciled in one of Lovett's nightmarish products are entirely too occupied with repair issues to offer much time to the task of creating fictitious identities. I agree with the person who suggested that there are simply many people who have suffered unfortunate experiences with Lovett, and misery, as they say, prefers companionship.

[pachanga]

Maybe Mr. Liu can finally have an opportunity to read about how he is affecting other people's lives since he refuses to hear about them or listen to them.
[/quote]


DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH... he could care less... it's all about the $$$$$$$ with frank

This post has been edited by pachanga: Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 2:43 PM

[amadeuz]

Texas911, if you don't have beef with Lovett then why the heck are you even reading and posting on this thread? Obviously, you've never been screwed over for thousands of dollars before by a greedy and nefarious company like Lovett. So no one is taking advantage of this thread. We are voicing our opinions and will continue to do so.

On another note, thank you all for your participation in this forum. I encourage everybody out there to continue posting your bad experiences with Lovett Homes. Due to external circumstances, I won't be posting here as much. I would just like to offer some more advice on people looking at buying from Lovett.

Do not EVER buy a spec home from these people during pre-construction phase. I personally would never even buy a completed home from Lovett after my own experiences, but if you must, wait until the home is at least 90% completed so you can do your own inspection and know exactly what you are buying. Read the contract very carefully. It will be completely one sided in their favor. It includes an arbitration clause and a DTPA waiver among other unfavorable clauses. Unfortunately, this DTPA waiver will be held enforceable if you sign it. In other words, you really don't have much legal relief.

Please know that this is a contract of adhesion, i.e. a take it or leave it contract. If you feel uncomfortable at all with signing such a contract, DO NOT SIGN IT. Even if you love the house. I repeat, even if you love the house. YOU WILL BE SCREWED BY IT. In addition, Lovett requires a 10,000 dollar NON REFUNDABLE deposit. Rarely do homebuilders require such a hefty upfront fee. Only a homebuilder who expects a customer to back out because of their shoddy workmanship or horrendouse customer service asks for this kind of deposit.

Do not believe a single thing coming out of that Lovett snake oil salesperson's mouth. Be sure to get EVERY SINGLE THING in WRITING and IN that contract. You want a parking spot...IN WRITING. You want a gate...IN WRITING. Once you sign that contract, that salesperson could care less about your needs. Just be aware of that.

texas911, on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 @ 1:27pm, said:

Lots of first time posters and surprise surprise, this thread is directly linked from www.lovetthomes.org. I think this forum is being taken advantage of.

::This post edited by Editor::

[informed]

amadeuz, on Wednesday, March 8th, 2006 @ 1:45pm, said:

If you want examples here are a few:

1) One of our bathrooms was incorrectly tiled i.e. incorrect pattern. Our design sheet clearly showed this. However, Lovett refused to change the tile out. They maintained it was not a mistake! This was no "plan change." It was merely a simple request to correct a mistake. The sales lady was not sympathetic or receptive at all.

2) At one point, we decided we would rather switch the tiles in another bathroom rather than the messed up bathroom. Again, the sales lady was very uncooperative. She was extremely rude to us. However, when we got in touch with the contractor (who was very nice) he said it would be no problem!

3) We repeatedly had to take initiative to contact the sales representative for anything. She was not responsive to our emails or phone calls.

4) The incident that broke the camel's back was when a 12 foot tall utility bank was placed directly in our backyard. The way are home was arranged was that the back of the home was facing the street. So basically everyone seeing our house would only see these 4 12 foot tall poles. When we looked out through the living room all we could see was this monstrosity. The sales lady never showed us a survey of our lot and disclosed the presence of this utility bank. When we confronted about it, she told us a bold faced lie and said we did know about it. Unfortunately, we are in the process of going through arbitration now, so we'll see what happens.

When I mean everything, I meant everything! Anytime we made a request to change things, whether minor or not, it was "no." Not a maybe, or we could do that. It was "no." Evidently, Frank Liu is not fazed by bad publicity or litigation anyways. He could've simple given our earnest money back and saved alot of time and trouble, but he knows that nobody is going to buy a home with freaking utility poles in front of it.

So please do not think that I am just wasting space and bad mouthing Lovett for no reason. I hope this helps.

amadeuz, on Friday, August 11th, 2006 @ 2:06pm, said:

Texas911, if you don't have beef with Lovett then why the heck are you even reading and posting on this thread? Obviously, you've never been screwed over for thousands of dollars before by a greedy and nefarious company like Lovett. So no one is taking advantage of this thread. We are voicing our opinions and will continue to do so.

On another note, thank you all for your participation in this forum. I encourage everybody out there to continue posting your bad experiences with Lovett Homes. Due to external circumstances, I won't be posting here as much. I would just like to offer some more advice on people looking at buying from Lovett.

Do not EVER buy a spec home from these people during pre-construction phase. I personally would never even buy a completed home from Lovett after my own experiences, but if you must, wait until the home is at least 90% completed so you can do your own inspection and know exactly what you are buying. Read the contract very carefully. It will be completely one sided in their favor. It includes an arbitration clause and a DTPA waiver among other unfavorable clauses. Unfortunately, this DTPA waiver will be held enforceable if you sign it. In other words, you really don't have much legal relief.

Please know that this is a contract of adhesion, i.e. a take it or leave it contract. If you feel uncomfortable at all with signing such a contract, DO NOT SIGN IT. Even if you love the house. I repeat, even if you love the house. YOU WILL BE SCREWED BY IT. In addition, Lovett requires a 10,000 dollar NON REFUNDABLE deposit. Rarely do homebuilders require such a hefty upfront fee. Only a homebuilder who expects a customer to back out because of their shoddy workmanship or horrendouse customer service asks for this kind of deposit.

Do not believe a single thing coming out of that Lovett snake oil salesperson's mouth. Be sure to get EVERY SINGLE THING in WRITING and IN that contract. You want a parking spot...IN WRITING. You want a gate...IN WRITING. Once you sign that contract, that salesperson could care less about your needs. Just be aware of that.

Do not rely on Lovett's slick website regarding its customer service. There IS no customer service. Frank Liu, the owner of Lovett, and in no uncertain terms, one of the richest real estate barons in Houston, once gave a talk at Rice University entitled, "Making Money is Easier than you Think." That is all that you have to know about Lovett and its philosophy. Making money.

These people tried to get a large settlement from Lovett over something that was largely thier fault and when the courts didn't settle in their favor they have decided to go on line and tell half truths and lies. Some people have no honor and will say anything when they don't get thier way, Shame on You once again!!!

::This post has been edited by Editor::

[dbigtex56]

informed, on Sunday, August 13th, 2006 @ 3:18pm, said:

These people tried to get a large settlement from Lovett over something that was largely thier fault and when the courts didn't settle in their favor they have decided to go on line and tell half truths and lies. Some people have no honor and will say anything when they don't get thier way, Shame on You once again!!!

And you are...?

Seems to me if you're so 'informed' you could be a bit more specific.

[ChampionsAdam]

I was wondering the exact same thing. 'Informed' joined the forum yesterday and specifically to respond to the complaint regarding Lovett Homes. Coincidence? I think not.

[amadeuz]

dbigtex56, on Monday, August 14th, 2006 @ 12:03am, said:

And you are...?

Seems to me if you're so 'informed' you could be a bit more specific.

In light of recent comments by "informed" I must respond. dbigtex56, your suspicions are correct and I think for the first time, an actual Lovett employee has been reading this forum! In fact, I am almost positive that it may be the salesperson we dealt with. Otherwise, why would "informed" respond only to me and not the other participants who have had poor experiences. I find it laughable that "informed" is making these ad hominem attacks on me, accusing me of "half-truths and lies" in view of our experience with Lovett.

This person plainly does not know what they are talking about. First, a court of law cannot possibly have been involved since Lovett has an arbitration clause in their contract, giving the consumers no chance to hear their case before a jury or the right to appeal. In arbitration, your complaint is only heard by one arbitrator or a panel of arbitrators. It is an expensive proceeding which many people cannot afford. However, despite this, Lovett has gone through many arbitrations. Obviously, this is a testament to what type of company it is. Secondly, anybody can verify the truth of what's in the Lovett contract. People need to be aware of the unconscionable provisions in that contract.

As to "half truths and lies," why would I lie about my own experience? There's no gain for me in doing so. As a consumer, the best defense is information. Having gone through a bad experience, I want others to make an informed decision based on as many resources as they can. This forum just happens to be one of those resources. Albeit, it is biased, but at least people will have an inkling that everything's not fine and dandy at Lovett.

At any rate, if you actually took the time to read through this forum, I'm not the only one that has a beef with Lovett. Why don't you respond to the other people who have had problems with your company?! Furthermore, I've never made any personal ad hominem attacks on anybody in this thread. So please refrain in kind, "informed."

This post has been edited by amadeuz: Monday, August 14, 2006 at 2:04 PM

[amadeuz]

You may not believe me, but I did not make that post. I'm pretty sure, "informed" is either a company representative or even the actual salesperson I dealt with during my forgettable experience with Lovett. Hey, at least I know I'm getting somebody's attention over there.

ChampionsAdam, on Monday, August 14th, 2006 @ 12:24am, said:

I was wondering the exact same thing. 'Informed' joined the forum yesterday and specifically to respond to the complaint regarding Lovett Homes. Coincidence? I think not.

[gwilson]

The two most important things you can do when buying a new construction home or building one is:

1. Hire a lawyer to look over the contract. This might cost a couple thousand, but it is cheaper than the alternative.

2. Hire your own independent inspector. This, again, will cost you money, but it will save you lots of time and stress.

I am a builder and I question the intelligence of anyone who does not do these two things. Even a cheap 120k home is a lot of money to risk on a faulty product.

[u080570]

lwood, on Tuesday, April 25th, 2006 @ 12:01pm, said:

Home building requires a lot of research on the builder. The better products seem to come from smaller "custom" builders. They are out there. I actually had a good experience working with a smaller company.

Same here - Jewels Custom Homes - excellent job on my previous townhome...

[ChampionsAdam]

amadeuz, on Monday, August 14th, 2006 @ 2:05pm, said:

You may not believe me, but I did not make that post. I'm pretty sure, "informed" is either a company representative or even the actual salesperson I dealt with during my forgettable experience with Lovett. Hey, at least I know I'm getting somebody's attention over there.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that someone within their company may have Googled Lovett and the complaint website pulled up and then found the link to the forum or someone told them about it. Either way, they would have been better to let it be. I will say that they do build a very attractive looking traditional home, I was impressed with the elevations on the homes on their site as well as the interiors. Very similar to homes in my area. I was puzzled however when I clicked on the area on their website pertaining to 'Customer Care' it was an arbitration clause and had a place to click agreeing to the clause. That seems rather stupid and not a wonderful way to build confidence in customers. I was expecting something like 'We go above and beyond' instead of 'You will probably complain about our construction and want to sue us'. Okay...I just clicked on the 'agree' portion of their "Customer Care' page, it is for the convenience of their customers when they have a complaint about their new house....may be convenient but does not build confidence.

This post has been edited by ChampionsAdam: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 at 1:32 PM

[amadeuz]

ChampionsAdam, on Tuesday, August 15th, 2006 @ 1:25pm, said:

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think that someone within their company may have Googled Lovett and the complaint website pulled up and then found the link to the forum or someone told them about it. Either way, they would have been better to let it be. I will say that they do build a very attractive looking traditional home, I was impressed with the elevations on the homes on their site as well as the interiors. Very similar to homes in my area. I was puzzled however when I clicked on the area on their website pertaining to 'Customer Care' it was an arbitration clause and had a place to click agreeing to the clause. That seems rather stupid and not a wonderful way to build confidence in customers. I was expecting something like 'We go above and beyond' instead of 'You will probably complain about our construction and want to sue us'. Okay...I just clicked on the 'agree' portion of their "Customer Care' page, it is for the convenience of their customers when they have a complaint about their new house....may be convenient but does not build confidence.

Thank you for your polite response. Yes, they do appear to be nice homes at first glance. However, I believe a builder should be more than just the way a home looks; it should be the whole package from start to finish and beyond. I think Lovett has focused on the appearance of their homes to the neglect of anything else that matters.

And yes, I have noticed the arbitration clause on their website. It's interesting isn't it? Any company that posts an arbitration clause on their website should give someone pause before proceeding with them. I unfortunately didn't notice it until too late. They must employ a bunch of lawyers though, huh?

[builder]

gwilson, on Tuesday, August 15th, 2006 @ 11:33am, said:

The two most important things you can do when buying a new construction home or building one is:

1. Hire a lawyer to look over the contract. This might cost a couple thousand, but it is cheaper than the alternative.

2. Hire your own independent inspector. This, again, will cost you money, but it will save you lots of time and stress.

I am a builder and I question the intelligence of anyone who does not do these two things. Even a cheap 120k home is a lot of money to risk on a faulty product.

I am glad that someone finally gave some good insight for prospective home buyers. Every builder out there is going to miss things occasionally and make mistakes, some more than others. So when buying a new home, or a used one always get a private inspector. Many times the inspector will find things that are not relevant, but they are one the home buyers side and know what to look for to protect the buyer.

[VicMan]

http://www.lovetthom...ustomerCare.php

Lovett's Customer Care section...