Meritage Homes Corp

We did our homeowner orientation, if you can call it that, on March 26 for the Victoria community.  During the walk through, we were advised that it would not be a blue tape party and that they will just write everything down.  Here is a sample of what we found:

-Drywall and/or texture issues in garages, kitchen, nook, loft, stairs, all bedrooms, and all bathrooms.
-Painting and caulking in all rooms, including both garages.
-Kitchen Cabinets multiple scratches, dents, and missing paid for hardware (soft close).
-Kitchen Microwave did not work (electrical issue)
-Master Bathroom countertop is uneven/warped also damaged
-Wrong shower enclosure in master bathroom (paid for upgrade and received basic)
-Most ceilings have lines throughout due to poor texture application
-Stucco issues and paint issues in exterior (including missing paint, exposed wire, and etc)
-Weather Strip not installed on front door
-Service door molding and paint
-Framing and drywall issues in bedroom 5 bath (ceiling)
-Water damage due to leak in bedroom 5 bath
-Framing and drywall issues in Master bedroom closet
-Window screen issues
-Roof tile issues
-Garage electrical (dedicated fridge outlet) had a standard GFI outlet.
-Floors (tile and carpet) not cleaned - dirt, paint, and etc. on both.
-All marble tile and countertops were not cleaned - has dirt, paint, marks, and caulking

We closed on our home March 29 and received our keys at 1600hrs.  None of the issues discovered were addressed!  Now, we have crews coming and going with no end in sight.   We just past our 10 day period and the list keeps growing on issues.  We truly regret buying a Meritage home as they don't care about quality!  I've spoken with several neighbors, they all have similar horror stories.  To make matters worse, we are being placed last to address the issues while they work on new houses. Do yourself a favor and go with another builder! I'm submitting a complaint with the board of contractors.

UPDATE: Close to the 1 year mark and most of the issues were addressed in 2017.  We have a couple new items, but that is to be expected and why most builders offer a 1 year warranty.   I updated their rating to two stars as the staff has been helpful and have worked with us.  We have a home inspection soon and will update review with findings.

I closed on my home 7/20/2021. I have several unresolved warranty issues that have been ignored or completely rejected for over a year. The biggest are my patio door that opens on the wrong side, the $20k in plumbing work needed to correct a bad pitch problem identified by 7 plumbers including Meritage contractor Dupree Plumbing, venting issues with the HVAC & fireplace, & now a broken A/C.
I filed a warranty claim for the master bathroom 11/9/21. That issue was inspected by Dupree Plumbing when they came out on 12/13/21 to fix the 2nd bathroom leak. The plumber stated that there was a pitch problem where the pipes underneath the master bathroom were flat or slightly raised causing a negative flow. Evidence was in the toilet gurgling that would happen randomly & when the water would back up in the shower when I was bathing. On 7/9/22, the stoppages shut down the plumbing in my house. After not being to reach them thru the emergency line, I had to pay out of pocket to a 3rd party company to get this fixed. I was told I would receive reimbursement but never got it.
The 3rd party company had to come out on 8/8, 9/6 and 9/7 for more stoppages in the master bathroom. They sent out 6 different technicians and did a full scope of the line with recorded video, level & the machine to identify the point in the line where the pitch changes. They confirmed the source as a pitch issue that creates a reverse flow. I was told that stoppages would continue until the issue was resolved so not to use that bathroom. I was quoted about $20k to fix it & water damage.
Warranty Manager, John Rojas came out with his team to inspect the bathroom with a plumber on 10/6/22. I was told that they needed to come back out again on 10/20 with another plumber to identify the needed repairs. I received an email from Meritage on 10/24 that despite me having 7 plumbers confirm the issue, my claim was being Rejected because the 2 different plumbers they used said that they didn't see anything wrong.

My wife and I purchased a home in Goodyear AZ from Meritage Homes and closed in late September 2022.  As a real estate professional for the past 17 years, Meritage Homes has the worst follow-through/service I have ever seen/experienced.  All the complaints in these Yelp reviews are what we have experienced.  No follow-through!!  So disappointing!!! I will never purchase from or recommend Meritage Homes to anyone.  Buyer beware!!  Just a few pictures of some of the flaws we are experiencing.

The house we moved into we were promised a lot of things would be fixed. However, nothing was completed and now we have to wait 11 months. They fired the building manager, causing any previous agreements null and void. I wouldn't recommend using this builder did not follow through with there verbal obligations. Make sure everything is in writing.

Well here goes, if you buy a Meritage home be prepared for an abundance of issues and a customer Service team that really doesn't care. After two years, I still have issues with the home and. Is they are refusing to help.  The communication is minimal and that's at best. The field and supervisory staff are both unreliable and have attitudes when communicating with them. When the issue is brought up it is nothing but excuses.

I will NEVER purchase
Another Meritage home.

Winding Creek Roam. They will promise you to take care of everything under warranty and deliver nothing. The communication is horrible, bad attitudes all around. We have several issues and will end up fixing on our own because Meritage is refusing to do anything after wasting 20+ hours of my time waiting for people to show up and inspect. And way too many big issues - bad electrical breakers, A/C repair, hot water heater repair, bad flooring install, not to mention over a dozen major cracks in drywall. Buy anywhere else.

If I could leave ZERO STARS I WOULD.  I am so fed up with Meritage and their customer service. All they want is their money and to get homes up as fast as possible. They don't care about the quality of work. They claim that they will fix anything wrong in the first year and all you have to do is submit a claim. However if you do not take a picture of every little stinking problem they will only take care of just what you have in the picture. Ex. I have a HUGE crack in my ceiling. That was the main problem. Drywall people came out and rather then them fixing the additional cracks and drywall problems they say well you only send pictures of the crack in the ceiling. Since the manual only covers drywall 1 time. They will not fix any other drywall problems.
I have had my home only 1 yr and I have had to have more work done on my home in this first year then I had to when I had a home for 5 yrs. Ridiculous.
The photos are only some of the issues. The cracks in the stucco are only some of the cracks. The guy repair so many more because he felt he needed to because they were That Bad!!!!

I would never buy from Meritage home.
My fiancé and I was under contract for about 5 months. 2 days before closing they told us the appraisal wasn't back and they were waiting for an appraisal before we can close.
As we wait for the appraisal the loan officer Tehuana tells us the underwriting team isn't liking your husband credit history. At that point as a customer I am confuse because we went through the pre-approval, we paid what we needed to pay and we were clear to close a few days ago. After countless disappointing messages and lack of communication from Meritage homes we decided to walk away from the deal. We ask Meritage for our money back since my husband credit history was the REAL reason they were preventing us to close and they told us NO. No because it was past the 21 days of being under contract. If Meritage home knew my husband history was a problem they should have never approved us and should have returned our money but noooooo they dragged us along on some BS! I really wouldn't recommend this company to anyone. Their communication suck you have to call a million times to get in contact with your loan officer. I am going to take my time next time and research these builders because companies like Meritage do not care about their consumer/buyers at the end of the day. It is all about a sell!

Meritage home ruin our home buying experience!!

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy a home from Meritage Homes
They provide bad quality homes, that fall apart constantly, and they do not stand behind their work.
We have had 2 MAJOR floods, and STRUCTURAL issues, plus a mountain of other things, and our house isn't even 2 years old.
All we asked for was an extended warranty, and it was denied

Bought 3 homes from you guys and every time it's impossible to get the warranty work done.

As a proud Veteran of the US Navy I feel scammed as I lost $18,000 in earnest money in my attempt to purchase a home from Meritage using Veterans First Mortgage, a subsidiary of Wintrust Mortgage.
I submitted over forty documents and paid all the earnest money only to be told that my loan was denied the day after my projected closing and that I'd loss ALL of my earnest money in the sum of $18,000.
I feel like this process was a total scam and now have approximately a week to find somewhere to live as I let my lease expire expecting to have a new home to live in.

One of the great benefits of serving in the military was to take advantage of the well earned VA home loan but now I have no desire to attempt to buy a home ever again and risk losing my life savings a second time.
The worst part is that I was told that not only would I not get my earnest money back but that Meritage is going to raise the price of the home by $20,000 before putting it back on the market. Meritage seems to be the biggest winner in this process.

This NO way to treat our Veterans! I did everything in my power to meet the requirements for my VA Loan. I should at least get my earnest money returned so I can continue my pursuit of owning a home and not have to spend years saving up to start this process again.

This is our second time buying from Merittage. Our first home was built in 2015 in Tolleson AZ. We were very pleased with our purchase very minor issues that got fixed right away. We decided to build with them again because we loved and enjoyed our previous home. Our second home was purchased in July 2021. It took over a year for it to be finished. We were well aware of current situation with pandemic. Short staff. Short in materials etc. but now we have been in our home for 7 months it's been a total nightmare.  Numerous of things that need to be fixed or replaced. It's been a total disappointment and nightmare. So sad that we are not able to enjoy our home. Very very disappointed with all the process.

A star is giving way to much credit. This is a sad company to purchase any homes from. Their work is cheaply made and way to quick to build. All about how much money they can make. We moved in just over a year ago. The walls are so cheap I went to smoosh a small spider on the wall and it left a hole. The tiles throughout the house have cracks on them. Tiles have  been replaced many times. The entry way is uneven. Still waiting for the all of The tiles to be replaced, again. HUGE issue is the AC. DOES NOT COOL the entire house. Chaz Robert's is the company working for them and will not fix the problem. Meritage will
Not accept responsibility nor fix the problem. Kathy, from the corporate office is passing the work order off to the Phoenix team to figure out what to do. I was told I'd have to call Chaz to see if they will come out. Or, place a covering over the vent in the master bedroom where that is the only room that is cold in the hopes to get more air into the front 3 bedrooms. Do not buy a manufactured home from Merritage. Way to many problems. They even forgot to calk the kitchen sink before we moved in.

Fayetteville, Ga.
I gave a great review until a year later started having problems.
My walls are crooked, after having a manual j load calculation performed by the top Carrier contractor in Atlanta it was discovered the HVAC unit was undersized by 12,000 btu's  I needed to buy a new larger 5 ton HVAC system and modify ducts on my dime. The builders hvac contractor stated Meritage told them what size to install, the unit couldn't heat the home properly. My back door frame was not secured, only held up by the hinge screws. Drywall sag: wasn't properly fastened. The master bedroom exterior wall had a water leak and now the wall is full of mold. My master bedroom wall has been open for 4 months. They keep patching and can't fix water leak.

Purchased home from Meritage Homes, closed on 8/26/2021 TimberLake was the sub contractor to install home cabinets, American Woodmark is the parent company. The installation of Cabinets missing drawer pulls and drawers are misaligned. We noted this on Final Walk-Through, it has been Three Weeks and the Contractor has still not able to get into our new home and fix the issue with our cabinets. What Contractor (TimberLake/American Woodmark) Installs cabinets misaligned and missing drawer pulls and calls the job complete? Pure incompetency on installer and managers of job site. This is a Meritage Home - Western Ridge Community in Fort Worth, TX. I would not recommend these Cabinets, cheap and flimsy.... Builders and Homeowners go with quality use Huntwood Cabinets.

Looking into purchasing in Sedella.  Alicante homes.  It looks amazing!!!Anyone lives in Sedella?  Any advice? Thank

I would like to update this review and say that Josh Riley has made things right with my family and I. For that, we are very thankful. At this point its a buyer beware of the sales agent, Peg Higgins. If we had questions she would twist the truth to make the sale. We have filed a complaint on her with LLR. My advice to anyone is DO NOT work with her! Request working with someone else. Peg Higgins has taken advantage of many families. Join the buyer beware Meritage group and see for yourself.  Also a lot of helpful information for future home buyers.

Such a shame the way my family and I have been treated. We have been misinformed, mislead, disrespected and our business not appreciated! I feel I was completely taken advantage of. My agent made many promises and broke every single one of them. Things I was promised and made a deal with, were sold to an auction company. No one was going to even inform me of this! It has been one lie after another with this company. The agent cut communication off right after we gave them our earnest money. Even before then, we could never get her to return our calls or reply to any of our texts. We have called many times and get transferred from person to person. The lack of communication pretty much started after the contract was signed. I am very disappointed and an unsatisfied customer. They dont even deserve a one star!
Peg Higgins-Agent

Meritage Homes refused to refund my ernest deposit after I received military orders to leave the state for a few months. Per the contract that I signed with them in June 2019, they told me that my closing date would be in October 2019. After getting the run around for months in regards to why my house was not being built (the houses around mine were being built though), October came and went. I was forced to sign another lease with my rental company because my home was still not ready. I was told by a supervisor at Meritage that they would be pushing the closing date back to January 2020. No valid reason was given. I informed them that I would not be here to sign any closing paperwork because I would be gone on orders for a few months in 2020. I was told by their mortgage company, MTH Mortgage, that if I was unable to sign my closing paperwork I would lose the house. I then asked them for a refund of my ernest deposit and at first they told me that they would return half. Then after more deliberation they flat out told me that they would not be returning anything. So there you have it.

What I find ironic about Meritage is that they are building homes right next to the military base, yet will not hesitate to screw over civilians or service members by literally stealing their money. By far one of the worst companies I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

Don't waste your time with this builder.  They promise everything and deliver nothing.  Poorly managed communities with high fees and lousy customer service.  There are better builders out there....forget this one.  Meritage could care less about you once you buy.  Warranties are horrible and you never get an answer from them.  Stressful enough to move without choosing a terrible builder.  Don't choose this one.

I agree with everyone else's one star reviews.   I wish I would have read these reviews before purchasing a home with them.  If I could give them -5 stars I would too!!! Not only were they a month off in letting us move in but the house was built so sloppy and so many things were broken.   They told us a day before that our houses were closing.  Who can get time off, find movers and do the walk through???  And since I did the pre walk through there are still a ton of stuff they haven't fixed.  And since I'm about to be homeless because they took soooooo long to give us a closing date, I just have to move in with everything not fixed.  PLEASE save yourself from going absolute hell and do not go with these guys!!! I hope I help at least one person with this review!

Buyer Beware! Have an attorney review the contract before you sign and understand you are dealing with a greedy company that is not honest in their dealings.

Dear future Meritage home buyers,

We are here sharing our bad experience with Meritage, as we do not wish for any home buyer to go through what we went through with this so called Quality builder. So please consider it a warning for future buyers to read this before you sign any document with Meritage...The whole thing was so painful that after few months passed we are still sore and feel motivated to write this review in order to expose the sad truth of this company, who does not deliver what it promises. We hope that these experiences will be avoided in the future by letting future customers be aware of what to be expected with this company.

We were scheduled to close last fall (2018), however, things went downhill from the moment the house was ready for the walk through which was a week prior to closing. There were COUNTLESS defects in the house, many damages, and so many unfinished areas. It was quite humiliating walking through the house that was ready to close, but  yet presented in such an awful state. Please see pictures attached so you can evaluate yourself the conditions of the house at our final walk through at closing time. We brought up all these problems to Meritage management, either they completely ignored to address them or they made us look like we were demanding such crazy requests, claiming that there is no such thing as a perfect house.  The carpet seam lines were very visible, but instead of addressing the issue, they'll tell us those are vacuum lines which clearly were not. The difference is obvious between carpet seams and vacuum lines. The granite counter top was absorbing water and instead of telling us they will seal it for us, they claimed it was already sealed from the factory and that of course any natural stone will absorb liquid.... what kind of response is that for a kitchen counter top ??? The paint quality was so sloppy that it looked like it was done by a group of elementary kids. Although we blue taped all the defects, much of the problems were still there at the time of closing. Very basic things like windows not opening and doors not latching were not addressed. The backyard that we had was basically unusable land because of the of very steep incline that they were not willing to fix. The driveway had a bump on it that every time we would drive on it, it would scratch the bottom of our cars. We can keep going on and on about the things that went wrong in the house, but more importantly, we were very disappointed in the way were treated overall.  This was honestly the most disheartening experience we had in our life. We were buying a huge purchase, only to be belittled, ignored, and talked down to. We tried to voice our concerns to every source of their management and corporate team, however, no one reached out to us and this is the very reason we decided to post a review. They clearly do not care about addressing concerns. All they really care about is building houses in masses and get you to sign the contract as soon as possible. The builder was too busy closing on 18 houses that month to even know what was going on in our house. There was no supervisor on site.

Due to this, we ended up having no choice but to cancel the contract. There was no way we can move into a house that had countless defects or accept the way we were treated.

We tried to ask for our deposit back, they said they were ready to deliver a complete house but that we did not want it. Which is not true, as the house was not complete at all nor presented within standards. So on top of all the frustration that we went through, we ended up losing our money.  We escalated to Meritage CEO, hoping at that level we would receive some attention. However, there was no response whatsoever.

Please save yourself the hassle of dealing with meritage. Their houses are built only for show. The material that they use is very cheap. The quality and workmanship of the house was very below standards.   And do not expect responses from the builder or the management with concerns that you have once you sign the contract. Expect to be put in the dark about your closing date, and of course, not to close on time, as our closing was pushed an entire month, only to get a house that wasn't even complete! They wanted to finish some things after closing, which is completely ridiculous after the long the wait that we waited.

At the end of the day, this house was not built to standards or even acceptable conditions for the price we were going to pay. Nor was the treatment that we received at all acceptable. We would have never signed a contract with Meritage had we known the stress that we were to get ourselves in and the time that we were to waste.

We closed on our house in the Candella neighborhood in Wesley Chapel NC in Sept 2017. There were many things we didn't like but they refused to correct. The workmanship in general is sloppy.  All the walls felt like sandpaper. We had to have all the interior walls sanded and repainted. The grout in the master bath was apparently from different batches, because there were different shades of grout all over the bath. The outside trim is very sloppy as if it was done by an amateur not a carpenter. The latest discovery is the range hood and fan, it never had any suction and when we cooked certain meals we had to open windows to air out the house, so we decided to replace the cheap looking one with a nice sleek modern looking one from Broan. When taking down the old hood, it was discovered that the installer didn't cut a hole in the cabinet floor to attach it to the ductwork. They just taped it up to appear as if it was attached. So of course I cut the hole and did it right, but in testing the new hood fan, I realized the exhaust vent that goes thru the side of the house was blocked by the trim someone used around the opening.
So I break out my ladder and cut the trim to allow the flap to open. The only thing we really like about our house is the blown in insulation. That was done properly and keeps the house comfy.

At this point if I could do a 0 I would.  Our experience has not been good.  They blame the delay on COVID, and perhaps that is some of it, but can't blame all on it.  We purchased this home back in July of 2020.  It was to be done in January of 2021.  We sold our home and got all plans to move ahead.   By the time we get in to the house, which is now projected for August.. we would have invested over 30K in costs between staying in a hotel, motor home and campsites, storage..  My daughter who purchased a Meritage home in Marley Park in December has had nothing but problems and lack of response or delays in correcting issues, many times the repair folks show up unannounced to repair something, the quality of the home is very poor. They had to pay for a private inspector to come through and even after finding many concerning issues, there are still very few items that have been resolved.  I will report more later as this progresses.  But for me, if anyone would ask me about Meritage I would say run the other way fast.

In no way would I ever recommend this home builder. So many signs from the start that it was a bad idea moving forward. Design center was ridiculous, not many choices at all, and so overpriced and they did not offer any incentives like other home builders. They started the home way later than planned and are rushing to get it finished in time with the most ridiculous closing date. Corporate is a joke, we reached out for help with an issue and they twisted the issue back on us because they value money way more than they do their customers. Never in a million years would I buy from them. Blandford and Taylor Morrison were top notch compared to this joke of a company. Stay clear.

I'm not one to usually rant, but Meritage Homes deserves it. And everyone who is even considering buying a home from Meritage should read this review and view the pictures I've posted.

We closed on our house on January 31, 2014 in the Gilbert Commons subdivision. Our 2,760 sqf house only took 4 months to build from the ground up. That should already make one hesitant.

Fast forward to almost 4 months later, and literally almost none of the repairs that we've submitted have been corrected.

Steve, the superintendent, and the sales associates (Marcie and Becky) have done nothing to alleviate the issues at hand and only procrastinate sending contractors out to fix the problems. The problems I'm specifically referring to will be referenced in the pictures attached. I'm scared to think of the issues hiding behind the walls; those we can't actually see. Thankfully the near-future will probably require us to relocate to the Bay Area for work, so we shouldn't be stuck with this issue for long.

I will post updates and modify my review as necessary. Until then, don't purchase a home from Meritage. They rush the house through the building process and then refuse to fix the issues at hand, which are caused by their sloppy contractors. Absolutely no pride is put into the building of these homes.

Update: It's been ten full months since we closed. We finally have a straight wall with paint. Gaps still in the granite/tile/air vents. Carpet messed up where they tried to fix our tile upstairs. We currently have no working outlets in either upstairs bathroom. This builder is a cruel joke.

Update 2 (Dec. 2, almost a year from closing): Carpet somewhat fixed (by stretching and glue). Outlets working again. We've had our second bee infestation due to gaps and cracks in the sidings of the house where they've found suitable to nest. I've attached a picture of the bees coming through the bathroom vents. We are in the process of roof repairs and hopefully Meritage will reimburse us for the bee exterminations.

They get 1 star because of absolutely terrible customer service.  The phone is never answered, always goes to voicemail.  IF someone calls back, it takes days.  They have no plan to support customers who took the solar package in my neighborhood.  The thermostats no longer work because the 2 solar companies they partnered with went bankrupt.  They cannot be programmed except for a website that no longer exists.  Do not buy a solar package from these people.  And if they install thermostats made by Radio Thermostat of America tell them to rip them out and specify the brand you want.  Customer service is about as bad as it gets.

Horrific company and employees. Michelle Lowenthal is a highly inappropriate real estate agent over at the Wesley Chapel location. Check out her license plate next time you're there and you'll know what I mean. Jeff Sebastian is her manager who can't get two words out and sits in the dark all day and tries to avoid people. Together they are the most worthless and conniving real estate team I've ever met in my entire courier. The company's values are null and they specialize in stealing from customers. Beware!

Everyone is very nice during the buying process - once you're in the house, they don't care. They offer a referral program where you can refer friends   and family to buy a house and they give you $3,000. Well, that's only if the buyer does not have a real estate agent. So, they have you do their dirty work and then don't give you anything for it. We referred family who bought a house and then we were given the well in the fine print.. speech. They also offer a 1 year home warranty on anything - except they never get back to you. I've filled out multiple requests for issues and have to follow up with them to get anything done. They talk a big game, but they do not deliver.

They have banners everywhere here at Quail Run in San Tan Valley,AZ stating why rent when you can buy a home in the low $200's and move in for $500.  My cleaning lady went in the office and spoke to Belle who I referred her to and she was told the cheapest homes and models they were building was $290k plus... My cleaning lady has a 720 credit score and that is what she was told. She could not believe the false advertising by Meritage homes!! All she needs because it's just her and her husband is a smaller home looking for the advertised low $200's which they did not have because the prices were increased to the $260k plus for the cheapest model. She was also told it would not be ready until August or September and at the $290k price instead... I am forwarding this to Pinal County showing they are false advertising!!! I feel Belle was being racial in her interaction with my cleaning lady not knowing she has over a $60k yearly paying job and only does cleaning for certain clients on the weekends as a supplemental income to help pay her husbands hospital bills because he was a veteran who doesn't get VA care... She totally was racial I believe because my cleaning lady was hispanic a true potential buyer who really liked my home and does house keeping twice a month for me a Disabled Veteran also... and was sent out the door with a sour taste in her mouth because of Belle's attitude toward her!!

They don't even honor a written down promise!

There are tons of articles warning against trusting a builder's oral promise. Hardly would anyone expect a builder to break a written promise. But this is exactly my experience with Meritage Homes. Meritage Homes promised to build two HVAC units. After they mistakenly installed a single-unit system, they refused to replace it with the right system.

I ordered to build a new house with Meritage Homes at Oviedo Gardens in January 2017. Before signing the contract, I asked the sales associate how many HVAC units there will be for the two-floor house. She checked the plan and confirmed through email that there will be two. Satisfied with the answer, I chose the model and paid the deposit.

However, Meritage Homes mistakenly installed a single-unit damper HVAC instead of the promised two units. I researched and found that damper systems are far worse than two-unit systems except that the damper systems are cheaper to build and install. I brought up the issue to the construction manager and the sales associates. They told me that their company forgot to synchronize the plans the construction team and the sales team use, and the two teams end up using different plans. They admitted it was Meritage Home's fault and believed their company would replace the wrong system with the right one.

However the Orlando division rejected the switch. Joe, VP of operations, first offered to switch with a two-unit system, on the condition that we must accept a reduced total tonnage. Two weeks later, he changed his mind and declined to make any switch. To justify the breaking of promise, he came up with all kinds of funny excuses that contradict with his own words. Because of word limit, I have no space to write down all the funny reasons he provided. Throughout the process, I was over and over again shocked by Meritage Homes' arrogance and unprofessionalism.

I've been looking for ways to sue Meritage Homes but under the current legal system, there is really nothing a house buyer can do to protect himself, not even with a written promise or contract. All I can do is to warn future buyers about Meritage Homes. I think the problem lies in their corporate culture, which definitely doesn't put customers' interest first. I doubt those people even care about the company's reputation or long-term profit. Whenever issues emerged, their first response is to play hawkish on customers. They seemed to believe that all customers would concede sooner or later. Sometimes they wouldn't hesitate to lie to customers to avoid trouble.

Speaking of lies, here's another example. The side width of the countertop of my kitchen island is 7 inches shorter than that of the countertop in the inventory house. To make sure the inventory house should be right, I checked Meritage Homes' promotion house of the same model on YouTube, which has the same size of countertop as the inventory house. The overhang of my countertop is so small that the person who sits on the chair by the kitchen island would have no room for legs. I reported the issue to the construction manager. He replied the inventory house was wrong and mine was correct. I asked for the plan. He sent it to me and the plan almost perfectly matches the inventory house. He threatened that if I continued to complain, he'd lift my countertop and cut the width even shorter than before. Up till now, Meritage Homes still insisted that my countertop is the only one that's correct. It seems that they would regard the plan wrong because it doesn't match my countertop.

The building process has been a nightmare. For example, the sod company has come five times but a big part of lawn is still bare. Each time, the sod company failed to bring enough sods. I asked sod workers why. They said they brought what the builder estimated to need. No need to say how much waste is involved. If Meritage Homes really wants to save money, they should improve building management rather than skip a HVAC, cut corners on countertops or lie to customers.

Update 6/11: Just found out that they've canceled the contract without even notifying me, and they are reselling the house while still holding my deposit. Isn't it fraud?

STAY AWAY! We are not first time home buyers by any means, but we have never seen carelessness from a builder of this magnitude. We went to our walk through and the house was a disaster. It was like us walking through a house that needed a few more months before completion. They scheduled us for our final walk through and when we arrived back in town to our surprise most of the items were exactly the same. They still wanted us to close two hours later. We went online and saw reviews of people saying if everything is not right do not close. We took the advice and decided not to close. They have played games and pretended like they just needed one more day to do touch ups, but there was substantial work from roof repair, missing fixtures, cracks, unfinished floors, unfinished painting, buckling walls, etc. after we would not close and due to the amount of money we were spending to fly and hotel expenses we decided that the signs were there and we should not close. They will not give us our earnest money saying that we didn't give them an opportunity to fix it. After we said we did they pretended like someone broke in the house and made the damages after they were complete. Although we had time stamped photos from the original walk through with the same items still undone on the second walk they denied us our money. We are seeking legal representation. I will personally make sure to take the time to write reviews and warn people to stay away. They are liars and cheats. If I could give zero stars, I would.

Let me start by saying, it does not come as a surprise to me that the reviews here are SO bad. We were harassed by a sales agent, even after requesting to work with someone else, and eventually signed a contract October 2019, and only did so because of family and schools nearby. After that, we immediately became an afterthought. The sales agent was rude, condescending, and dismissive. Nothing was filed for our home until December, and the permits were filed incorrectly, so they didn't actually begin building until February. When we were promised 6-8 months. Also, mind you, they have a strict rule that they will not make any updates to your choices, although they can delay the process as much as they'd like. Here were are in September and we finally receive the CO, only for their lending department to be COMPLETELY unprepared and asking for documents that were submitted months ago. It's been one lie after the next, one pathetic I'm sorry, and each employee is less helpful than the next. I'd never believe they work on commission. I strongly advice going ANYWHERE else, or at a minimum, use your own lender that actually cares.

terrible experience with my new Meritage home. purchased my home last August and I am still trying to fix and repair items that were on the orientation correction list. I definitely will not purchase another Meritage home due to poor craftsman and workmanship.
it is unfortunate that the bean counters at Meritage don't have to deal with the homeowners. if you have a choice between Meritage and another builder, choose wisely and carefully.

We have had a lot of issues with the home.   Meritage is dragging their feet on fixing the issues.   A couple of the main issues include defective tile throughout home , crooked walls, cracked granite.

I recently got stuck purchasing a Meritage home in Mission Royal.  The workmanship is shsdfy and you are not able to choose your own accessories,  even though I would have paid additional for them.  Cabinets are cheap pressed board.  I would not recommend.

Do not buy a home through Meritage!  They are the worst!  Supposedly they said out house is energy efficient, the last electric bill was 400 because they put too small of hvac system in our house.  We can't keep our house below 74-75 degrees.  Our ac unit runs 24/7!

Horrible experience with the builders after the home was complete, we bought lot 47 in vanden ranch; we are disappointed in the quality of the finished product, as are our neighbors.  They hide behind what they call industry standards, they seem to believe it is alright to leave customers with lackluster homes and claim other builders follow the same formula.  Stay away, there is a reason the homes are priced so much lower than others.

We recently bought a home from Meritage and have been terribly disappointed. They make it impossible to get things fixed, even when they are under warranty. They do not honor their warranty. They never call you back and only care about their model homes or the ones that are about to close so they can get paid. Their quality is poor and their customer service is worse! We called their customer service and they don't even call you back.  There are much better builders out there; you will get burned bad with Meritage.

We had a house built in 2013 and it's a very stressful process. I was at the house almost every day inspecting even though I have no clue how to build a house. There was one major issue with the plumbing being placed incorrectly for a bathroom. It was fixed as there was no choice. Other than that minor issues and warranty hasn't given us a hard time. Everyone I talk to says it the superintendent that matters with any builder and that is true from what I can tell. We love our home

This is a bottom of the barrel home builder. I don't know how anyone would buy a home from them after reading some of their reviews. It's not like their reviews are any better in their other markets either. The finish work in my 2008 town house is just miserable. I've spent the last 6 years correcting their sloppiness. But the workmanship I saw on one of my final projects was what finally caused me to write this review. I'm having hardwood stairs installed and did some of the carpet removal myself. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but this is what I found under the carpet: Stair treads not meeting the wall, cracked OSB nosings and just a general lack of any workmanship above what couldn't be hid by carpet. In addition to the flooring mess, I've had a water heater fail, garage door opener break, A/C coils go bad and numerous what were they thinking moments. On top of all that, they abandoned the subdivision mid-build leaving the community in developer controlled HOA purgatory for the better part of a decade now. Ugh, never again. Luckily for the next owner, all the above deficiencies have been corrected to acceptable standards.

OMG. These other reviews remind me of my current Meritage DISASTER and this HORRIBLE experience has just began. Regrettably, I didn't read these spot on negative reviews before now. I should have saw the red flag once I went in to the Meritage office in Jordan at Southpoint  in Durham NC when the female salesperson acted as if she could care less if I purchased a home or not. Given her disposition, my realtor and I decided to wait until the salesman named Chris returned. He wasn't set to return until 2 days later but in order to hold the home I had to hastily provide a $10K builders deposit check. I reluctantly did give the check even though I hadn't had an opportunity to speak to Chris about the items I wanted to negotiate. That action was a huge MISTAKE

My realtor and I arrived on Sunday after e-mailing my requests on Saturday. Given the fact that Meritage already had my $10,000, Chris preceded to say NO, NO, and NO to each request, most of which were small items. Supposedly, in that 24 hrs my requests had been presented to several levels up in management.  I was mostly disappointed about the NO I received about fixing the crack in the garage wall base and the crack that spans the width of the screened in patio. Instead of a discussion about getting it corrected, Chris stated spouting crack widths guidelines and numbers of what is allowable. And his excuse about why Meritage wouldn't replace the installed door with a front door with glass didn't make sense. If you are still building homes, how could a builder be stuck with an extra door, particularly since the doors are a consistent size over your various models. It suggested to me that Chris was just saying something to move on to the next NO.  

What made his denial of all my request so troubling was that Meritage had raised the home price by an additional $4,000 dollars. $4,000 dollar more on the purchase price and I can't get some blinds or a ceiling fan installed? Preposterous.

Lastly, using the Meritage owned mortgage company is required to get their builder concession. In one of the first e-mails their mortgage company representative Erin sent to me, already she was talking about additional fees I would be charged if I didn't do as directed. Once Meritage has your money, you get what you get I guess.    

It's a seller's market, so I am sure this review will not stop someone from buying from Meritage Builder in Durham NC (Jordan at Southpoint (1601 Capstone Drive) or the new neighborhood Meadows at Southpoint (1310 Catchfly Lane)). I just warn you that you will regret the experience with this builder, so at least be mentally ready for the negative interaction. I was unaware and unprepared to be disappointed and that hurts more.

If I could I'd leave no starts! Their customer service is very poor! They don't care about their customers at all. We bought a house in Florenza in Peoria,AZ more than a year ago. The construction was going on when we moved in and it's still going on. There's a bunch of trash on the roads in the neighborhood including bolts,nails,screws,staples ... All this comes from the construction and nowhere else. The construction workers never clean up after themselves,super loud and obnoxious. We got more than 6 nails and staples in our tires  throughout the year. Meritage called us liars, maybe took care of one of them,didn't take care of the rest,time off to fix them and time and money for missing work. They pretty much told us to bolt. That it wasn't their problem,they didn't care and wouldn't do anything about it! Be aware. They're crooks. They take your money and that's where all stops! Horrible customer service! Be aware!!!

Buyer beware of Meritage Homes in the Raleigh, NC area.  They are not equipped to keep up with the demand, and it is manifesting itself in delays, poor quality, poor communication, poor customer service, and unhappy customers.

We had a contract to build a home with Meritage in Durham, NC.  Delays, mistakes, poor quality, communication problems, and lack of experienced construction management started from the very beginning.  After we signed our contract, it took three months for Meritage to break ground on our lot.  During this time, we received no updates and had to persistently inquire to get any information.  At first Meritage avoided our inquiries and we couldn't get any information about reasons for the delay, and then the reasons for the delay kept changing, and some of the reasons given were lies.

When Meritage did finally start we had all kinds of problems:  concrete slab problems, framing problems, electrical outlets in wrong location, HVAC vents in wrong location, brick columns on front porch not straight, walls not straight, trim not straight, bad fireplace stone installation, mistake pouring concrete driveway - the list goes on and on.  We requested meetings with Meritage about problems several times, and none of our requests were granted or even acknowledged.  We had a real estate agent representing us, and he couldn't get Meritage's attention either.  He told Meritage several times that there were problems and that we were not happy, and Meritage ignored him also.  Meritage's lack of interest was frustrating and baffling.  Meritage's modus operandi appears to be to ignore the customer as long as it can and then if pressed either claim ignorance about the problem or say that there is no problem.  There were also several times where we were told something would be done and it was not, and we were not told why.  Meritage lost their credibility and broke our trust early, and it only got worse.  The communication and coordination between Sales and Construction appeared non-existent.  There were many, many times where we asked our Sales associate, who was supposed to be our prmary contact for questions, something about our house and he either did not respond or did not have the information we needed.  It definitely seemed to us and our agent that Sales was not getting the information it needed from Construction.  It was a typical example of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing.

One contributing factor to the problems we experienced was that Meritage changed our construction manager, with no transition or handoff (even though our agent suggested a meeting), at a critical time in the process.  Things went downhill after that.  Several things which were discussed with the previous construction manager were missed or done incorrectly.  Our new construction manager was inexperienced, appeared overwhelmed and not knowledgeable about our house, and was not present much at our job site.  We and our agent felt that our construction manager was not giving our house enough attention and was not walking it like he should.

The problems piled up to the point where we decided we could not close because Meritage was not fixing anything and we did not have confidence in the quality of the home.  If there were that many problems we knew about, how many problems were there that we didn't know about?  The final product was as flawed as their processes and communication.  We informed Meritage that we would not be closing, and only THEN they decided they wanted to meet with us.  We met with management (Director of Sales and Director of Construction).  They claimed they had not heard about any of the problems.  They admitted they had problems with their internal processes and with their staffing and with our construction manager being inexperienced, overloaded, and insufficiently trained.  They admitted they were having trouble keeping up with demand.  They agreed that our concerns were valid and reasonable.  They offered to look into the problems but could not commit to fixing them.  We politely asked for a refund of our $11,000+ deposit, and they refused.

We also had issues getting a closing date from Meritage and Meritage's in-house mortgage company, MTH.  When we got to the point where we should have received a closing date, we did not have a closing date.  We went several weeks past the point where the builder should have provided a closing date - the mortgage company even told us that it was strange that we did not have a closing date by that point.  When we asked our Sales associate about a closing date, he told us he had nothing to do with the closing date and passed us off on the mortgage company.  The mortgage company passed us off on Meritage.  Not getting a closing date for so long and so late in the process made it difficult for us to lock a mortgage rate and resulted in us getting a higher rate than we should have.

We know Meritage can easily sell the house for at least $10,000 mor

Do not purchase a home from this builder if you expect high quality building.  My sister and her husband closed on their home recently and it is a mess.  There are so many things that were done poorly.  When they came to finish touching up, before the closing, they got white paint all over the upgraded carpet and the dark wood floors.  The home was not cleaned before the final walk through.  If you buy one of these homes, which I don't recommend, don't close until they company follows through with their promises.  They do not do quality work or care about their buyers!!!

Buyer Beware! TERRIBLE quality and even worse customer service! We purchased a home 2 years ago, have taken them to the Better Business Bureau TWICE, and are still having problems.

We moved in June 19, 2012. The AC did not work, the laundry room hoses were installed incoorectly - leaving water running into the inside of the walls every time we did laundry - causing 3 walls to fall down! The ceilings still have huge cracks everywhere from this issue (which they are trying to blame on our landscaper). They will not repair these cracks, even after two complaints to the BBB. And the horrifying list goes on and on.

Save yourself the headache and buy from a reputable builder who stands behind their product. I have spent two years trying to get the home we paid for - this was a brand new build. I've never seen anything like this.

They were able to put up four walls and a roof-  The amount of money we spent on upgrades was crazy, and the selections weak at best.  Don't ask for anything extra, none of our speakers- wiring additions for chandeliers and fans- it all had to be fixed multiple times.  The things we complained about at walk through were never addressed to our satisfaction.  And some of the extras we purchased, still haven't been installed.  The electrical is horrible.  They don't explain any of the products they market in their energy efficiency displays.  Our video doorbell has a two minute delay from the time the thing rings from the outside.  Never addressed.  When they put in the additional speakers- they didn't add any kind of receiver... that's another $3,000 plus.  Our neighbors have all been through 5 microwaves.  Our house is a fiasco.  If the lot weren't so amazing... we would probably try to sell this mess.  Next time we would buy a lot and build our own home.  The price vs. quality is just not there.  They didn't even sink the nails in our moldings.  I can't tell you how much construction shards are in the unclean fill dirt that surrounds our home.  I can't walk in the dirt without shoes to show the landscaper whet to do.  The carpet tacks are sticking through the carpet as of day one.  The carpet quality for a 1 upgrade is horrific- flat already and pilling like crazy.  The slab installed- this is important- on the kitchen island, is substandard and if they had lessened the 1 1/2 overhang on both sides of the island, it could have been done in one slab but we got charged for two-  it's why they built the island 3 inches bigger, to charge more.  It's the worst company to buy from.  We are distraught.  Our Christmas package to plug the lights in and be able to turn them on and off by switch isn't working at all- another scam.  When I called the construction super he said he isn't in our subdivision and call the warranty people.  We had to plug in elsewhere- not a huge deal but when you pay for convenience, you expect to get what you pay for.  Merry Christmas.

Stay away from this builder!  They lie! We were so happy about our new home and paid a hefty lot premium. We were excited to build our dream backyard on this sizable lot we purchased. Before buying it, we confirmed with Meritage that there would not be a two story behind us. They told us that the plot plans would not allow a two story home behind us. Well, we now have the entire side of a two story home in our backyard! This is not normal. Now we have to spend a ton of money just to get our privacy back! We literally have to build a structure as the neighbors can see every square inch of our backyard. Now only a portion of it will be usable. Trees wont block this view, not even a little. Their windows practically sit on the property line! No response from Meritage. They quit responding to your needs after you have given them good reviews. They are worse than car salesmen! We bought a home at Camino A Lago in Peoria!

If this could be a NO STARS it would be!!!

I personally have NOT bought from Meritage, but with the experience that my family member has has I will NEVER purchase from this company no matter what development it may be.

Our family has had issues since day 1 of move in from the solar being hooked up incorrectly causing a $300+ payment for over 6 months, walls falling down due to the incompetence from the washer/dryer installation (causing the water from the washer to drain into the wall instead of where is should be), cracks on the interior walls of the house that are actual gaps that you could hide things in that they continue to claim a landscaper is to blame.  (not sure how that works since the landscaper works on the outside and these are interior walls).

I have to say there have been multiple requests to fix items and they fail to follow through with satisfaction.  I have to say WHAT A WAY TO RUN A COMPANY WITH NO REGARD FOR YOUR CUSTOMER/HOMEOWNER.  Thanks for making someone's dream a NIGHTMARE!

I'm disappointed with the design center experience and the Iwire electronics experience. It seems like they just don't care about customer service.  I had my Iwire appointment the day before the design center which wasn't ideal.  I added a bunch of iwire stuff to my sheet bc the salesman made it sound like I needed it.  Then when I talked to some more tech savvy friends I realized I didn't need most of the stuff.  When I called to ask questions the salesman was short with me.  He was not nice at all when I was asking more detailed questions . In turn the designer was super annoyed with me bc she needed the final paperwork from him and I wasn't ready bc of the crummy service I already received from iwiired.  She also had no people skills.  Most employees in 7-11 have better customer service skills than either one of them.  It's really disappointing .  I'm wondering if it might just be worth it to lose 10,000 and walk away.  The houses in Colorado are expensive but the service doesn't match.  The salespeople on site have been pretty nice and helpful. The fact that they work with such a low end electronics company is a red flag.  I also didn't appreciate the designer acting like I was such a pain bc I took some time to make my mind about the final selections.  The design center is supposed to be the fun part.  The biggest mistake I made was attending the iwire sales pitch in the first place.  I just should have got the very basics over the phone.  The houses seem nice. I like the floor plan and the location but I worry when I read all of the reviews.  If the service is this terrible how will everything else go?

I purchased a Meritage home, moving from out of town.  The closing went fine but warranty department is incompetent.  They continually lie and do not do what they promise.  I emailed the CEO and he never replied but rather had another local person contact me that hasn't got the issues resolved.  The local warranty guys, tried to install a medicine cabinet and put a hole in the wrong wall, shattered my oven's glass window, painted the wrong color on my walls, TWICE.  They can not even schedule the contractors to complete the few small tasks necessary.  They just don't care once you close on the house.  Look to another builder if you can.

Meritage Review:
We are not happy at new home.
Meritage's Sale person get us quote for Gourmet Kitchen -our most important reason to buy a brand new home instead of used one and when we asked about home details they told us we need to go to Design Center to get information and we can't go to Design Center until we purchase the home.
Then we purchased the house and in Design Center we shucked they don't offer Gourmet Kitchen. We like Gourmet Kitchen  because we don't like to have a Ranger in our new contemporary house then we offer to Meritage they can put Oven under cook-top and add in Microwave in Island and but they didn't accepted , we like Grohe faucets and they don't offer it event didn't accept that we pay extra or buy our fauct with our selves...... Briefly, Design Center was a Nightmare for couple of weeks for us.
We had a dream of new fully loaded home with high end contemporary stuffs but they play so much with us till we decided to go with standard option in almost every things except instructional options.
in walk-through day we detected lots of painting issue and issue with concrete blocks in front yard parking way. They told us they will fix all of the problems before move-in day but in move-in day lots of problems remain as same as before they just changed concrete block in our move-in day and it cause a lots of problem in over move. Just imagine you move-in to your new home in Arizona's hottest days ~120 F and you can't move your truck into your garage.....
in all the state of process of buying of our home sale persons, managers,..... from meritage were agree that these problem are related to Meritage not me and my wife but Higher mangers always block or denied our mails and req.
we call one of higher managers Shaun for talking about our problems in new home and he scheduled some day me and my wife take whole day off for meeting Shaun but in meeting day Shaun didn't come other persons came to our home and they told us Shaun had an meeting and he couldn't come.....What the fuck! = Meritage means waste your time.
After some argue when they saw we are not happy with the sitiuation they called Shaun and he came in less than a minute I don't know wich meeting can be end in less than minute ..... whatever... He talked with us he accepted that they didn't do a good job and they will had an meeting with higher ^ 2 managers about doing our backyard for satisfying us. we accept the situation and after 5 weeks suspends us they come with big No.
Right now I and my wife are totally unsatisfied and unhappy as much as if I can sell it today for good price so I don't loss lots of my money i will do it right now.
I had a lots of problem that it's hard to write all of them in this review. Our friends also had an water leaking and damage on their roof......

We contracted a new build with Meritage Stoneledge in North Phoenix. With a price of over $300,000 we wanted to make sure it was going to be built right.... well.. lets start at they poured the foundation on a day when the temperature was 118. So we had cracks in the foundation throughout the house and back porch. I brought this to the attention of the Superintendent, Jason and to Meritage. Janet with Heritage said it was Normal to have cracks... REALLY??? She should have used 1 of her 10 layers of makeup foundation to repair the cracks. We were having tile floors laid down and if the cracks spread, so does the tiles, breaking grout, cracking tiles.. etc. We demanded something be done.... so what they did was CANCEL OUR PURCHASE CONTRACT!!!! So if you want a crappy built home... don't complain.... just accept it or they will cancel your contract... So glad they did, we found a QUALITY built home, with a pool for less than Mericrap.....

I love my house and my neighborhood, but I would NEVER buy a Meritage home again! Getting warranty work or repairs fixed is like trying to win the lottery. Since December I've been trying to get things fixed that are under warranty. Countless emails not returned , phone calls not returned, workers not showing up when I'm told they will, every time you contact someone they pass the work onto someone else who tells you to contact someone else, no follow through or follow up on what they say , I've wasted hours and hours of my time sending the same emails, submitting the same work orders, making calls and sitting at home waiting for people to no show or cancel 3 min before 12 when they were suppose to be there between 8-12! I've never seen anything like this before in my life with a business being run this way