Garrette Custom Homes

Link: https://www.redfin.com/WA/Federal-Way/1772-Lot-1-SW-344th-Pl-98023/home/176490670?600390594=copy_variant& We decided to cancel our contract with Garrett today. It was a painful decision but in the end we’d rather lose our hard-earned earnest money (30k) than live in a Garrett-built house. Here are some of the reasons: 1. Schedule: We were initially told by Garrett’s agent in writing that the house will be completed in March/April (when mortgage rate was still very low). We’re now told that the house will not be completed until mid-May. With the unforeseen delays and the historical rate hikes this purchase no longer makes sense for us from the financial and value standpoint. 2. Design and Quality: We’re very disappointed with the design, selected materials, and construction quality. According to the listing agent, the house is fully spec’ed (meaning no design change can be made) but she assured us that the design team “had made beautiful selections” and the house will look “very similar to the model home”. Well, the house is almost done now and I can tell you that it is much uglier and cheaper than the model home that we saw. First of all, I think the Willow floor plan has a serious design flaw. You may not believe this but the entire second floor has a total of 2 small windows (I’m not kidding). As shown in my first photo below, the loft area on the second floor has no window and thus zero natural light. They should have know that this is the PNW where we spend almost half of the year in darkness. To make it livable you will have to spend extra money to install skylights, which you shouldn’t have to do after buying a million-dollar brand new house in fricking Federal Way. In addition, the house has no fence and the covered patio is just an eyesore. As shown in the second photo, the outdoor fireplace is just massive compared to the tiny 8x10’ patio. This fireplace essentially block all the lights and view to the backyard from the dining area, which is already dark. When my wife and I saw this “outdoor living area” for the first time, we just looked at each other in disbelief. It is nothing like the spacious outdoor living area in the model home and we feel like we’re cheated. Building quality left a lot to be desired. They completely forgot a door from a bedroom upstairs to the bathroom until I pointed out to them. You can see this in the third photo which shows the electrical wires being re-routed above the door after they had to cut the sheetrock to create the door that they forgot. The 4th photo shows the ugly seam on the kitchen’s countertop where they “cheap it out” by merging two small pieces of quartz instead of using a single piece. Keep in mind that this is a relatively small and straight countertop (not a L-shaped with a corner). When I complained to the listing agent about this, the response I got from her is “we got seams in most of our homes including the president of our company’s home” (so basically don’t expect much).

Poor service, low quality construction, lack of follow up, they ghosted me often! Purchased new home in January 2021 and closed in Oct 2021. It took about another two months for them to finish the home after closing after repeated attempts to contact Garrette and convince them that paint overspray on wood floors is not acceptable (along with other similar issues)! I've purchased other new construction homes and have not had such a poor experience as with Garrette.