Pinewood build our home in 2002/2003. They have their strengths and they have their weaknesses. What is frustrating is their weaknesses could easily be turned around with very little cost and they would be an excellent builder. I dealt with Mike Sr on the major items and Mike Jr was the on-site contact. Understand Mike Jr has now taken over.
Strengths: Floors solid - no squeaks after 11 yrs' basement sound no leaks, minor cracks in floor; windows no leaks in any seals; inside walls - good drywall job - well painted (have actually brought the painter back to do other work and he is excellent).
What's not so good.
Roof: even though I upgraded the shingles when I bought -after just 11 years I have had to replace the roof. My neighbour who used different shingles and roofer - his shingles are just fine. If Pinewood had paid an extra $300.00 ?? and put on good shingles I wouldn't have to spend $12,000 to replace it. Pinewood's solution - contact the manufacturer of the shingles - not our problem. Who cut the deal with the roofer and decided what shingles to install - sure wasn't me.
Furnace: Have had 3 major repairs in 11 yrs. One local service guy wouldnt even work on my furnace as he was mad at Pinewood for sourcing outside the area and installing "cheap crap" - his words not mine - No way a new furnace should break 3 times in 11 years.
Toilet: The toilet they installed had a crack in the basin and leaked onto the hardware floor. Pinewoods solution was to tell me to contact American Standard - isn't that their job?.
Lighting: We have cathedral ceilings and the lighting that was installed was way under sized. Their solution - put in bigger bulbs. Did this and the extra heat generated blew a breaker in the light and we were in the dark. I ended up installing a sky light at my expense to get adequate lighting.
Bottom line is they build a good home but some of the sub trades need improvement and they could do a much better job of resolving problems. I had to contact the home warranty people before |I got any action on any of the problems I had with the house.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $330,000.00