We are absolutely in love with the layout of the home, the architectural design, natural light, and airflow.
It is taking quite a while to get some of the early issues corrected - specifically the cabinet cutout around our microwave and oven, the metal covering on which fell off within our first week as it was attached only with caulk, masking several incorrect builder cuts in the openings for the appliances.
We really appreciated the weekly video updates on the progress of our home and the responsive communication.
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Design and solid construction
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We like the layout of the house and the materials that we chose to upgrade. Everything we chose was installed correctly which was an area I expected to possibly have problems. I like the design of the exterior of the houses as well. The lot premiums were very reasonable and that, combined with the reasonable size of the houses (as opposed to all the McMansions), made this an affordable endeavor for us, even with choosing a significant amount of upgrades.
For the most part, we are satisfied with our house so far. However, there are things that I would change. First, the windows seem a bit cheap - they easily become off-center and won't lock correctly, and they're very lightweight. Same can be said for the sliding patio door. Next, the basement drywall is terrible. We were told that since we did not upgrade to finish the basement, basically we got what we got. The seams especially look terrible, there's a kitchen sink down pipe sticking out from it where it should not be (despite the fact that we asked for it to be fixed), and overall it will have to be completely re-done when we do finish the basement down the line. Also, some of the more detail work (namely the trim) is just not done as carefully as I would have liked, and the brick details on the exterior are just bad. The bricks are crooked and not at all flush with one another. It looks like it was rushed, and our columns do not have the decorative brick cap that the other houses do. We also still do not have any landscaping whatsoever, even though we moved in over a month ago, and houses that started after ours, and moved in after us, are completely finished. We were told our included front landscape would be done weeks ago, but has not been started yet. Finally, other homebuilders we had talked to before deciding to go with Wonderland had higher standards for insulation and energy efficiency. I feel Wonderland houses could do better in this area. Perhaps the most frustrating part of this experience was the actual timeline of the build. The construction portal is completely useless. Though we understood that "things happen" in the construction process, the portal was completely inaccurate and not reliable at all. When the build first started, the completion date was mid-February. We did not end up closing until June. For at least a month or two in the middle of the build, no progress was made on the house at all, and we were told it was due to a hold up with inspections, which was blamed on the county. This should be taken into consideration when laying out the timeline! Literally every single milestone had a date listed that came and went, and once it actually was completed, the "estimated completion" date was simply changed to match, instead of showing accurately when things were scheduled to be complete vs. actual completion. There were even times when things were marked as completed when they actually weren't! I simply do not understand the point of the portal when it operates (or lack thereof) as it did for us. Please consider improving this for future buyers.
I think some of the standard features are really impressive (tankless water heater, granite countertops).
I wish I had been told how certain upgrades would impact the home. Specifically, had I known that upgrading the bathtub in the master would result in a smaller shower, we would have just kept the standard tub. We basically paid over $3000 more for something we would only use occasionally to reduce the shower size, which we use daily. It doesn't impact me so much at 5'4", but my 6'3" husband hates it. The light switches are so inconveniently placed. I get that they are aligned with outlets, but you have to reach so far from the edge of the wall. They are not in the expected location when you enter a room, and we have to put our TVs in an odd location to compensate. Although, there is one room where we just had to cover up the light switch with the TV and we have to reach behind it to turn the lights and fan off.
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Service from the sales reps
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I loved receiving the weekly updates and photos throughout the process. They made me feel valued. Plus, I love my new house.
There are a few structural quirks that we would change. Also, we would provide more “options” to customize. Some examples are extended deck/patio options and the option to switch out a tub for a shower.
The house is awesome overall, the layout is great. We love the neighborhood and surrounding area. The non-construction employees were pleasant to work with and we enjoy our wonderland home
Construction Manager did not allow us to mark items for fixing during the orientation walkthough. Felt like he needed to control the process and was deliberately making things take a long time. It was pretty different from how its been described to us from literally everyone whos bought a new home. During the verification walkthrough, many of the items we indicated weren't even fixed. We had to schedule to get things major things fixed, and minor items we wanted fixed before we moved in we've just accepted because we dont want to have workers in and out of our home constantly. It took over a month to finally finish the list generated from the orientation walkthough, which seemed ridiculous. And again, things that we didnt even want to bother with due to the slow repair process we had to fix ourselves or just deal with them
The quality of the home, the fact that the builders helped explain the features of the home, and facilitated the walk-through.
Respondent had no comments.