Ashton Woods Homes review: built poorly 63

I have owned 2 Ashton Woods Homes in different cities and have been happy. I would buy from them again.

As a Realtor I am currently assisting one of my clients with the building process of an Ashton Woods home in Pearland, Texas. It is frustrating and time consuming to say the least. The quality of workmanship is below what most other builders deliver, the communication is poorly! Sadly, this is not the only builder I will not recomend to buyers again. I just wonder how Ashton Woods got the reward for highest customer satisfaction from J. D. Powers. Unfortunately this and the sparkling advertisement about this award lead my client to the wrong belief that he had made a good choice.
On the other side, I had built with AWH before in a different subdivision, which was a very good experience for my client. Still, after this process I will not recommend them!

I brought an Asthon Woods home in September of 2010, my first home. It is sad to say that I have had lots of problem with my home. For example, most of my dry walls have bumps and is unprofessioanl completed, the 1st month in the home my hard woods floors lifted, and now appears to be lumps in areas of the floor. In addition, some of the appliances in the home appeals to be damaged scathes, The most important problem, I have is the bricks on my home is chipping away, infact it looks like my home is 20 years old, this is because the mason job was poorly completed. I have been trying to resovle this problem, since I moved into the home. However, Ashton Woods is trying to avoid the fact that the bricks on my home may have some defects problem. Moreover, their customer service is unprofessional and insensitive to peoples concerns. If I can sell this house today I would and start over again. Overall, the quality of workmabship is poor... Please if anyone is thinking about buying a Ashton Woods home, make sure you have a professional inspection assistance, do not let the builder peform an inspection without hiring your own. Lastly, please consider this note as a respoinsible concern consumer that repsects humanity lifestyle.

Best Wishes!

I bought an Ashton Woods home in the Phoenix neighborhood of Vistancia in the fall of 2010. I have lived in lots of homes, and this one is by far my favorite. The model is called "The Villa" and visitors frequently tell me that it is one of the most quaint homes in Arizona. They say everything is in the details and it shows.

We are in the process of having a home built in the Laurel Ridge Sub-division of Morrison Ranch in Gilbert Arizona. Let's be honest here folks, in this day and age it is not Ashton Woods that is building the home, it is a bunch of sub contractors working for AW. With that said things happen. The AW team (here in AZ) has an amazing team that makes sure that everything is done the eay it should. I drop by my house daily yo check on the status and i point things out to the Super, and they get handled.We have had an amazing experience, from Melissa our AW rep to Gina our design consultant to Greg our Super, everyone has been awesome. Yes
sometimes things get missed that is why it is up to you as the consumer to be vigilant. Because of the amazing experience that I have had, I have already recommended two other families we know to also purchase an AW home. Thanks to all the crew here in Gilbert, here is to many years of happy home ownership.

One of the homes in the S/D got totally burnt down just before closing. That speaks volume to their building standards.
It's been more than two years they have not sold out this S/D. Their reputation has been damaged. Please be WARY!

I think Ashton woods definitely needs to work on their offerings and attitudes from sales to design. Once they are confident they will sell out in a particular community the arrogance & attitude starts surfacing in every single way, to begin w/ frequent price increases, availability of sales or office staff and their approach, seeking a design center preview appointment & making a pre-approval mandatory from their preferred lender only. Here in Chandler the price increased more than 3 times in last 6 months by $5000 each time leading to a net price hike of $30K. On top of that, posting the current advertisement & promotional emails is just a joke, they do not apply to their selling communities. Already they were priced at the higher end anyways and now there's this additional burden plus lot premium and their options pricing is also too high compared to other builders in the area. I am actually scared whether I should go for them for the desired location or find elsewhere. Has anyone recently bought an Ashton woods home in the phoenix area to be specific in Chandler. Plz share your experience so we get some insight. Thanks

"Here in Chandler the price increased more than 3 times in last 6 months by $5000 each time leading to a net price hike of $30K."

This is called a "free market economy". Do you want the government to step in and change supply & demand pricing? Other comments here might be valid...but I don't remotely understand this one.

Very poor construction, skipped over some legally required portions of the inspection process by having an unseen sign-off on a block of homes in order to process faster and get them in under the bubble. Refused to work with pricing, misleading customers, did not perform correction of punch list items with exception of anything that could be fixed with caulk, which was about 6 items and poorly at that. I paid quite a bit extra for a flooring upgrade for approx 1000sq ft, I got flawed tiles which were probably in the cast-off bin for a reduced price, obvious manufacturing flaw repeated in each tile. Ductwork had to be redone after the fact by my own hire as well as insulation. Builder refused to address. Also found some evidence of using refurbished plumbing fixures such as the toilets and tub, not cheap to replace those. Drywall patched together instead of using a full sheet, you get the picture. As many things on a new home are simply fixed, I only wrote up the expensive, complex or structural things and still had two pages. Got caulk. Was threatened with legal action if I refused to close or went public. Wish I had. Maybe someone will read this now and know the underbelly of their beautiful model homes - you won't get that product.

I am planning to buy an ashton wood home in milton preserve S/D. if any one is already living there please comment to the quality of construction. Reading through the reviews here make me think twice. I agree to the fact about the subcontractors doing the good or bad job, but when it turns out to be bad it is the responsibility of the builder to make it right. I hope Ashton woods team step up and fulfil the promises they make while selling the home.

I am in the middle of being screwed by Ashton Woods / Orlando . The Fountain Parke community in Lake Mary . The sales consultant gave me misleading info concerning the street the town home I chose to be built on . " Low traffic access street " is what I was told . Turns out that the street is actually the one way main exit road from the community. All they say is that they are confident I will enjoy it . Bull. They could care less . I also at the last minute to closing am told the appraisal came back at 40, 000 less than the sales price which changed the amount of cash I needed to close . I do not have the extra and they are just going to send me away keeping the 40, 000 I already put down . Being that their fiance arm is connected to Wells Fargo Bank, together with they being the initiator of the appraisal, I have requested an investigation by the Florida DBPR. Beware !

We just Bought the house from Ashtonwoods in James Creek.. So far, our experience with them has been very good.. Specially the sales manager Roselle and design consultant Camilla..Our house is still in initial stage of building process. I would suggest everyone over here and my friends to consider Ashtonwoods to buy a house.

I can't say that I was not warned...We also had a MAJOR issue with Ashton Woods ORLANDO and their reputation for false advertising and 'bait and switch'. They pulled us in by telling us that if we signed with them, they would rent our current home for 6-7 years - guaranteed income. We were approved and saved money for the deposit. We signed the contracts and then called the rental company and they said that Ashton Woods never contacted them for the paperwork and the guy that we were working with, of course, left the company! Ashton Woods dropped the ball big time and deliberately puts nothing in writing that they tell you - 2 mortgages is a lot to cover if we cannot guarantee that it can be rented. This was brought to the President of the company - Apparently, he doesn't want to honor the incentives of a previous rep or care if we walk away - but wants to keep our deposit, what? We were told that everything was taken care of and approved - we didn't need to be involved any further. Because this incentive was not documented as being mentioned again by us at the contract phase (even though it was apparently not part of the main contract), they are declining it was ever said. We didn't think anything of it because it was through a 3rd party and we were told we were all set. We read this about them in the beginning, called them on it, and they said that they do not do business that way. Wrong! You are warned...We are trying to fight this but they want to keep our deposit...of course they do.

"We just Bought the house from Ashtonwoods in James Creek.. So far, our experience with them has been very good.. Specially the sales manager Roselle and design consultant Camilla..Our house is still in initial stage of building process. I would suggest everyone over here and my friends to consider Ashtonwoods to buy a house."

I came to know that use "Finger jointed studs" with many joints for framing. Have you noticed? Are they good? Google lookup give mixed reviews about those studs. No other builder in Georgia using them. How is the quality of the house.

We currently have an Ashton Woods home in Windermere, FL. We are in year 3 of owning (original owners) and we now have a crack in the main floor tile that runs the legth of our home as well as leaky windows (now we have a moldy wall). I would not recommend this company to anyone and would tell anyone looking at them to steer clear! We have neighbors who also have similar problems as well as numerous other problems (all from shotty building). We will never buy an AW home again!

We are home owners in Ashton woods copper creek subdivision in cumming Ga . We brought a inventory home in Dec 2012 during the buying process and even now they are advertising that this community would only have 85 homes . We always wanted a small community that would gated and safe for the family and look tirelessly to buy this home and start a family, we just recently discovered that ashtonwoods has acquired another 10 acres of land adjacent to our community and is extending the community by building another 22 homes, they would pave a road to this 10 acres of land and also have an opening without a gate on the other entrance to the community . Ashtonwoods has deceived and cheated every single home owner . They are all about money, we also have lots of issues with the home and the home owners warranty and customer service is the worst among all builders in the market . Please be aware before buying from them . We are launching a campaign against them and will most likely fight them in the court . They are all about money and don't really care about the home owners .

All - we are actually going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau around fale advertisements and their bait and switch tactics! This is extreemly unethical and bad buisness! We are also considering legal action. If we pull together as a group we can make a difference. Please contact me at tb_bucs_fan76@yahoo.com if you would like to join the Better Business Bureau complaint. Once I am don't with my legal team I will also share information about the potential case.

We live in a community in Colleyville, Texas which was purchased by Ashton Woods. They have absolutely changed the entire feel and look of this once custom community. Our neighbors who have purchased Ashton Woods homes have had numerous issues structurally as well as aesthetically. They have no problem building the same floor plan again and again and will line a street with white brick home after white brick home. I would not recommend purchasing an Ashton Woods home! They are horrible to deal with and they continue to repeat the same structural mistakes home after home. All they care about is getting each lot sold, they ignore deed restrictions as well. Def. would stay clear of Ashton Woods homes!

My husband and i are looking into buying our first home and contacted one of the online reps for more information on their communities. For what you get i think the prices are very high as compared to other builders. Don't let the flashy model design fool you' they are all upgrades and will cost you more. For $265K in Richmond Texas, you only get the standard black appliances baloney and everything else is extra cost to you. With the little information received from them, am running as far as my leg can carry me from this builders.

I am considering buying an Ashton Woods Homes in Chandler, AZ ( Avian Meadows Subdivision).
Any information regarding this builder at this location is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for the reviews. Ashton Woods will not even call me back regarding some inquiries I have about their houses so this is God telling me that I should not purchase anything from them but I do plan to file a complaint against their company with the BBB and their corporate office.

Hi All!

My husband and I are looking at purchasing a AWH in the Bradenton/Sarasota, FL area. Any feedback on the experience from this area would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

We bought an Ashton Woods home in Smyrna, GA. We had to have over $2, 000.00 work done on the small side yard due to poor drainage. Our yard was a swamp when ever it rained. Complaints were never resolved. Be prepared to fix your own issues with drainage b/c they blow you off with false promises.

Ashton Woods needs to be put OUT OF BUSINESS! I bought anew home about 10 years ago & after about 6 months (or less) I wished I never did. I moved from a 2br, 2b, 2 car gar., into a 3, 2, 2. After moving into the new house, I found I did not have the closet space I had in the old house. The closet doors open inward, the back door opens inward. I see nail holes in the ceiling, cracks in some of the tile in bath, leaky windows, paint peeling off the inside garage door, fire place has wind noise. The worse is the water heater is in the attic. That should have been a red flag. Within 5 yrs. It leaked thru to the bath rm. ceiling. Thank goodness I was sitting on the pot when it happened or my whole ceiling might have come down. Boards began to come loose from the fence. BUT, the real kicker of this whole thing is: I am the only 1 of 10 houses on a cul-de-sac that did not get a WIND STORM CERT. Could not get any answers from A.W., engineers, inspectors, (or even find some of them)-So now I am paying a very high price for Ins. By the way it is in the Center Pointe s/d in League City, Tx. M.M.B.C.

My wife and I purchased an Ashton Woods home in Woodstock Knoll and have been disappointed from the beginning of construction on the lack of quality of the home, quality control, and poor follow up. We kept a laundry list of screw-ups they made, not to mention what our neighbors told us the things they messed up on theirs. At one point, I contacted Todd N. at the corporate office, who actually came out to check out a few of our complaints. He turned out to be just like the rest of them. This is our 3rd straight brand new home and, BY FAR, the WORST home. We absolutely love the community and subdivision, but would NEVER recommend this builder. Obviously, Ashton Woods must be paying someone off to be named "Most Trusted Builder". If anyone is considering an Ashton Woods home and wants an honest opinion, respond to this board and I'd be happy to provide my email address.

I bought a house in Ashton wood fieldstone in 2012. I have had two unsatisfactory incidents
1. after 2 years i completed a routine AC check, then found that i had to do a leak test which then proceed to a recalled part having to be changed. i spent over 3000.00 dollars for all the repairs. I sent it in as a warranty complaint to ashton woods. no one has even responded. i spoke to the builder and he completly ignores me when i mention it.
2. after 2 years a house was being newly built next door to me well that turned out to be a disaster to me. Due to the work being done, when rain fell water from my back yard had no where to run off. I repeatly called the sales office, put in warranty tickets and i am still awaiting something to be done after mths. Ashton woods wanted me to sign off on a ticket because they fixed drainage in the yard next door. the dirt has back up on my fence since the water has no where to do and has caused the entire side of my house to be water logged and even flooded with water. i refused to sign off on any ticket since my yard is still waterlogged. ashton woods even proceeded to blame my water logged yard on my sprinklers. Apart from damage to my yard, my fence will be damaged and who is going to take responsibility if my foundation is affected i am not at all satisfied with Ashton woods. Further more on their website there seems to be no place to contact anyone else for assistance

I am currently dealing with Ashton Woods nearing to my clos by this month end. We signed a contract with an option about $40090/- later we found that they made a mistake in the option list showing the price for dining room for $1660/- which was eventually converted as a study room with wood flooring for $1616/-. When we are asking for a compensation for $1660/- they are not willing to equally compensate and keep on arguing that we have negotiated a better price. Think hundred times before you walk into Ashton Woods office, model home or any sales person.

We brought new house from Ashton Woods at Fishhawk Preserve, FL and now regretting why we did so. Poor quality, bad customer care and business with no ethics. When we closed the house, we were exited to move the next day. But when we entered the house as soon as we got the keys, the house was full of bugs, dead frogs, broken front window, broken kitchen cabinets, incomplete painting, and apart from all the fire alarm was on. We called them but no one responded timely. We had to cancel the moving (at the cost of paying twice to movers, Paying one month rent for the previous house lease) Its been 5 months of moving still the issues are not dealt. They come and do the patch works, one room at a time. We had to take off from our job and wait for them to come and do so called their lousy work, very disappointed. They talk about the quality, then why they haven't had any sale of their houses so far, where in other builders like Cardel and David weekly are done with their sale. The other builders have provided good curb and nice palm trees. For us they have put 2 dried sticks, (will post the pictures soon). All I tell for the new home buyers to check with the other builders rather than burning your hands with Aston Woods. Here is a part of the story : As the house was getting constructed, there was different sales representative who showed us the basic designs. When we asked about the built in closet, she said : " Do not get it done with the builders, their charges are expensive. You get it done separately, she said the same even for some of the udates like light, painting etc." That it self raises the question about the integrity in the company. As the house was in the final stage we didnt had the mud room as seen in the model house, that time there was different representative at that location. When my husband emailed, the first representative answered him the mud room will cost extra 9000$. I asked for the same to be custom built from famous in built self, they said it will cost 500$. when I emailed asking about the same, the representative replied saying it costs 6000$ and he said, I came up with the number of 9000$. When I said it was first representative who told us, he is blaming us telling we didn't understand what they said, and he talked about the quality what they provide. So where is the quality of what you were talking now. At that point when two people telling different prices irked, and that time on it was not just money, it was all about integrity and ethics of the company. As I mentioned early there were so many bugs and the fire alarm was on, they had screwed up with all electric connections. As we had closed, they didn't bother to do any thing. We had to cancel our moving dates. During our final walk in itself, there were many things which were not done, and they didn't bother to complete it by the end of closing. (Disappointed with their business) Till now it is not done yet. We have already taken enough time off without pay just to stay home for them to do one thing at a time. I have all the pictures how the condition the house was at the time of closing. Please do some good business with ethics. Just have a look of other homes here to check out what the curb is all about. They have place 2 dried plam sticks and some plants which are not home plants but rather the ones seen on the road side. Please guys take away the so your palm tree and do plant at your model or inventrory home. The customer care is very bad doesn't want to keep up at what is said, thus no one is buying from Ashton Woods as Preserve. The only reason why I am posting is because of the attitude of the sales representative who said " our quality is better than others " the picture itself shows and the fact that no one purchased from Ashton Woods so far other than us. The basic ethics in any business is to tell why you are good but not tell why others are bad. Their inventory house is on sale since February and still on listening. From then to now they have changed the curb of the house twice and outer painting as well, still no one wants to buy. Till last month even the inventory house had the same curb as that of ours with two dry sticks, which they apparently changed as no one even wanted to see the house. If Ashton woods wants to do business here, be honest in providing good customer care.

I have an ashton woods home that is seven years old. I've had drainage issues, nail pops, etc. All typical for a new home. due to the grading and the loose soil settling causes the drainage to change it's natural. Nail pops occur no matter who the builder is, as the wood dries the nails get loose. I've had several things done to my home and the contractors all say how well an Ashton Woods home is constructed. People expect perfection and there is none, all in all my home has been a very comfortable and reliable place to live. I like the mechanical features of the homes that will save me money and hassles. Pex tubing, zoned AC system, reflective barrier on the roof, etc.

I bought an Ashton Woods Townhome in the Lake Mary/Heathrow area in 2012 and had water leaking into one of my light sockets after 16 months. When I called the site manager, he told me that he was because it was the exterior wall and took on the brunk of the sun and rain. When I asked if this meant that the exterior was only good for 16 months, he said it was normal wear and tear. I mentioned that the home has a 10 year structural warranty and he said the issue wasn't structural. If it isn't structural, what is it? Many others in our neighborhood are having other issues, some with the stucco bubbling off of the side of the home when the buildings were repainted. Apparently, Ashton Woods didn't screen their contractors well enough and ensure quality work. Our neighborhood is in the process of filing a class action suit.

We also bought an Ashton Woods Home in the Fountain Parke subdivision in Lake Mary, Florida. Prior to getting into this home we had a contract with them in a different subdivision. When our job prospects in the Orlando area changed through no fault of our own, Ashton Woods were very eager to keep our 15K deposit. When we finally got our employment situation straightened out Ashton Woods had sold our original subdivision out so we decided to pick an already built unit in the Fountain Parke division and forced them to transfer our deposit there. We moved in in October of 2014. The problems we faced were numerous(about 3 pages of a list) and in April of 2015 they were almost addressed. My impression of Ashton Woods? It is the average high volume builder who does not care but to turn out the numbers. For these numbers to work they underpay their subs who in turn underpay their workers who in turn do a very poor job. The people who are happy with their homes are either the ones who have the time to be on top of the building process on a daily basis and they understand all aspects of the process. The others who are happy are the clueless bunch who'll stay in their home for a couple of years and then move before the house starts falling apart. But these are the general observations from a homeowner who has built with Toll Brothers to Ashton Woods(I consider Ashton Woods an inferior builder to Toll Brothers). I find Ashton Woods to be very deceiving in their sales process as it has been explained by others in this forum. I also find them very arrogant and inflexible when addressing the issues they created. But the most alarming thing is that they apparently are so arrogant in dealing with their subs because of their power, that they really choke their subs into underpaying the poor workers. No other way to explain plumbing issues I discovered in these six months I've lived in my house. For example, we were getting sewer smell in the house. I suspected a p-trap was probably cracked and was afraid I might be having serious foundation problems. The plumber finally dag out a hole in the shower and when he felt the specific p-trap he told me that there was no problem with it and it was probably the toilet bowl near the p-trap that was draining the p-trap. He was ready to tear out the toilet bowl and everything in between. When I explained to him that physics did not support his theory in this specific instance and I insisted he cut the p-trap to closely inspect it he finally gave in and sure enough... Upon inspection I found that the p-trap was drilled from inside, probably during construction, probably by some unhappy worker and this tiny hole was draining the water and allowing sewer vapors in the house. Pardon the long text, but what was very concerning to me was the fact that when I asked the Ashton supervisor to explain how something like this can happen he just totally blew me off. Like I said, just make the numbers look good! The poor home owner has all the time, money and Home Depot is just around the corner, also counting on the homeowner to make their numbers! Lesson for all prospective homeowners? Get educated otherwise you are about to jump in a pool full of great whites! Your knowledge is the only weapon that will keep you swimming...

We purchased in Laureate Park, Orlando and had similar issues with AW. Sales person eventually got fired because she lied to too many people. My husband wrote a letter to the President of AW and apparently we weren't the first. Our neighbors also said they were lied to by the same sales agent. I asked if dove-tailed cabinets and the quality in the model home cabinets were a standard item for them and she said yes. Not! They did eventually come back and fix our drawers but after much cage rattling. They also were telling us that the mosh pit between our yard and the neighbors was due to the heavy rains in summer but after telling them it also was that way in the dry winter months, they blamed it on our overwatering, which was untrue since our settings were appropriate. After a verbal sparring with their warranty guy, Chris, and my neighbor supporting me, they finally put in some French drains. But they did a crappy job so our awesome neighbors had it redone on their own, since they were so fed up with AW, and we haven't had issues since then. AW planted a palm tree right outside of our window so the view was of a tree trunk and they planted an oak tree right next to the house...have you seen a full grown oak tree?...it would have swallowed up the house!...after much fighting again, they finally agreed to move the trees. These are but a few of the issues that we ran into and after the three years, we finally have the house mostly the way it should be. But what a pain in the patooty to get it right. They really don't care about the customers! Be ready to babysit their subs when they do the warranty calls since AW won't do it. Otherwise, you will have to call them to fix it all over again. What a waste of time and resources...do it right the first time people!

Ashton Woods high pressure sales tactics, inflexibility on almost every issue, and average quality is a recipe for trouble in Atlanta.

My husband and I are considering purchasing an Ashton Woods home in San Antonio, TX. Does anyone have feedback on this local office?

i am considering AW in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in TX. Anyone had experience in this area?

We bought a home in AshtonWoods Provence in Cumming, GA. Our whole experience has been a disaster. I would suggest whoever is looking for a new home to find a better builder. AW has been selling more quantity and building less quality. They're handing incomplete homes, with poor quality and never care to finish the job or take care of quality issues. Their real attitude towards the home buyer comes out once the contract is signed. Please choose a better builder. Good luck - Sreelatha