Lennar Homes Suck

As I mentioned in my first posting, we had a terrible experience with attempting to build a condo with Lennar Homes.  In fact, I'm pretty sure "Lennar" must mean "nightmare" in some language.  When we moved to the DC area, we fell in love with Ashburn, VA.  Sure, it's a bit of a haul to work, but it's very serene with rolling hills, lots of green, and everyone seems nice.  We looked into some pre-construction homes because we were tired of buying houses other people had already lived in and had made an agreement that our next house would be brand spanking new. 

We ultimately decided on Goose Creek Preserve, with a townhome style condo called The Alpine:

Our condo was supposed to be available in September, but somehow September turned into February.  Even with this nearly half-year setback, we plodded on dutifully; making visits to the site (even though little progress was ever made) at least every other weekend to check it out and bask in our soon-to-be completed home...

::Queue the scary music::

What went from an exciting experience of being new home owners quickly went down the toilet as the work on the condo buildings finally got rolling.  We were given access to the building by Lennar, and from the moment we first walked in, we knew we were in trouble.  Let me preface this that I am not a construction worker, nor am I an engineer, architect, plumber, or code inspector.  Luckily (or unluckily) I didn't have to be to identify the glaring problems that we saw when we did our first tour.  Toilets positioned in strange places, giant holes in plywood, ceiling beams with gaps so big that the nails that were shot in (not sure why) only gripped open air, rusted fire-sprinkler heads that looked like they were bought at a 98% markdown at the swap meet... The list goes on and on. 

Unfortunately, things didn't end there.  We quickly noticed that our nice gas fireplace that was supposed to be included was now swapped out with a electric "fireplace" that I could literally order my self for under $700.  We were told they felt it would have been too difficult to vent and run a gas line to the advertised gas fireplace.  Keep in mind, Lennar is the third largest home builder in the US.  Next on the list was our stairs.  Initially advertised as a beautiful open staircase spanning 4 levels, we found this was actually not the case, and the "middle" section of the stairwell had been built over.  Lennar claims it was a safety issue (probably to prevent people from jumping to their death from the fourth floor when they realized they'd been hoodwinked).  And lastly, the ~100 sq ft attic with a door leading into on the fourth floor was suddenly GONE.  Apparently Lennar didn't realize the building trusses would get in the way and thus were not able to build an access into said space.  Again, Lennar is the third largest home builder in the US.  Apparently, they hire their architects and planners straight out of elementary school.

So without further ado, I would like to present a galleria extravaganza with the theme being "Why Lennar should never build another home".



I buy from the discount pile at Home Depot too, but come on!



Pretty sure those trusses are supposed to be nailed INTO the beam.



Thar' be mold!  Arrggg!



At least we didn't have to pay extra for knotty pine!



Either they ran out of insulation or something is already living in there.  Note the light coming through the exterior.  I smell a serious mold problem in the making!



It's no optical illusion folks - apparently the bowed look is in.



Whoops!  I'm preeetty sure that's not supposed to be there.



This is why you measure twice and cut once.



What do you do when your fire protection is an actual hazard?



Did I mention "measure twice, cut once" yet?



Whoops again!  And again!



At least they're consistently rusty...



The cement corner of this building looks like it fell off!



Harnesses are for wussies!  Real men use a nailgun with no harness!


Unfortunately, these pictures are just from MY PHONE from ONE DAY.  We have videos and about 100 additional photos from our other devices and from different days, but I don't think we have failed to make our point here (although the video of the walk-in closet in one of the units where they forgot to frame an actual entrance to was pretty funny... maybe I'll post that for Christmas).

My advice is to stay as far away as you can from anything that has Lennar Homes associated with it.  I haven't even touched upon our interaction (or lack thereof) with Lennar and their treatment and intimidation tactics they will try to use if you voice your concerns over anything.  Perhaps I will add that as a part two in the future.

Onwards and upwards!