Meritage Homes at Orchard Park

1^st off I am a 1^st time new home owner. We walked into the models looked and asked questions about the development to, Diana Coykendall (great, great Lady!!). She had a great attitude and answered all of our questions. If she did not know, she didn’t hesitate to say i don’t know but will find out for you. Next move we picked our lot and 7 months later we moved in. We can’t be happier!!! Sure there were little things that where not right but Meritage Homes (Paul, Jonny, Anthony, Diana) made them right. They have gone above and beyond what i expected (no i do not work for company). During the build i did see things i did not like but i asked questions and was put at ease. I also took a lot of pictures during the process, for future reference. The employees working for Meritage have made my house buying experience the best ever! Diana communicated with us during the whole build. Along the way we met Anthony, and he also stayed in touch with us. We done the final walk with Paul and Jonny, and again now all of them have continued to interact with us and made the whole house buying experience great.
My advise to others if you are expecting everything to be perfect, it is not going to be, just make sure you speak with the builder so the problem can be either fixed or you are at least have a better understanding of what is code or allowed and the home still be ok.
Thanks again to Diana for making the whole experience great!

Beware if purchasing in Manteca of changes to landscaping! Due to drought requirements they are doing absolutely no sod or original sprinklers in front yards. Now they’re doing plants, tan bark and a small area of river rock. Builder is even to cheap to put ground cover down to prevent or help with weeds. Most builders in area are putting small areas of sod but they’re also including tankless water heaters as standard to help with drought cut backs. Meritage is doing nothing to help buyers or compensate for the change. I hate to see what the neighborhood is going to look like in a couple of months after the weeds come in and the tan bark that covers 80% +/​-​of the yard blows away. Not to mention other mistakes I’ve noticed that I’ve had to point out and waiting to have fixed. I’d seriously check out other builders if moving to this area. I’m finding that Meritage doesn’t have the buyers interest in mind. They use a lot of cheap materials and do things however they find acceptable. No wonder they lock you in by taking the deposit up front doesn’t give the buyer much of a choice.

Worst mistake we have ever made is purchasing a home from Meritage. What was supposed to be an enjoyable experience building our first home has been anything but. Throughout the entire process we have been dealing with construction mistakes, shortcuts, fires, flood, cheap materials, cheap quality labor, and nothing but excuses from construction supervisors. It started bad with a poor quality concrete foundation with waves, cracks, and disgusting joints. It then led to poor quality framing and poor quality materials used for framing. We started complaining when we began noticing things werent being fixed properly, they were only being covered up. I started addressing my concerns and was only told oh just wait till frame walk through and point them out. Ok, we waited but i continued to monitor the construction. I met with a city inspector who also related that the quality of the home was bad, and his exact words to me were «I wouldn’t buy this piece of …» I only wish it was that easy to just say never mind, but our deposit is in and cashed, and we would of course be out $ 5000. As I walked the next door house with the inspector, we observed an electrician smoking in the house. His friend quickly ran over to him when he saw us and told him to put it out.
The next day was our frame walk. However I received a call at 7am stating that sometime last night, the house caught on fire from «vandals.» I arrived to meet the construction manager and saw about 30% of one room and a bathroom were completely damaged. He first related to me that its not that bad, and they don’t have to replace all the damaged materials. I said, uh yes you do, we will not buy a house with fire damage. He then came to his senses and related they would have an engineer come out and inspect and advise. Of course the engineer advised the entire thing needed to be replaced. Then started our delay. Oh, did i mention this wasn’t the first time this happened in the subdivision. Our neighbor right around the corner had people break in and have a fire in his livingroom. So you would think after the first time they would have hired security and cameras, but no. They (Meritage) didn’t want to pay for that, so they allowed it to happen again to our house. Of course, once I mentioned that my house was preventable, and this is borderline negligence, a security guard is now parked out in front of our house every night. Oh but the fun didn’t end there.
During repair to the fire damage, a fire sprinkler pipe was cut to access the roof. Instead of capping the cut portion of the pipe which was already filled with water, they left it and allowed it to drain into the bedroom. It poured onto the floor for 3 days until I was there inspecting and finally shut off the water properly. I was left with 4 rooms flooded with the main room having standing water about ½– ¾″ deep. Once again, a preventable mistake. When I addressed it to the construction manager, I was told, «Well, wood comes from a forest where they have rain so it won’t hurt it.» My god, what planet are you from? Way to take care of us meritage, as if we haven’t been through enough… but the fun doesn’t end there.
While all of this is going on, we are also dealing with shortcuts and mistakes in framing. Out of plumb walls, doorways improperly measured and installed too small, damaged stucco wire mesh. And instead of fixing it they just cover it up with drywall and stucco. And you can see the mistakes transition into the drywall, texture, and paint because they are just adding layer upon layer over top of the poor quality framing. As the saying goes, you can’t polish a turd.
So today I met with the construction manager again and attempted to address some more concerns. I told him I was not going to accept patch repair jobs to our new home. His exact words back to me were «You’re going to have to accept them.» He explained that is all we’re going to get. Even though our house is still in construction and the repairs could easily be address, he related they have a schedule to keep and they would not repair them correctly. It would be cheaply repaired and patched later. I asked why not do it right the first time rather than come back later? And all he did was blame it on the subcontractors, the ones he is in charge of. He says they are all rushed and have a schedule to keep. So its a take it or leave it attitude. Again I advised him we are contractually obligated now, our current house is sold and our kids are in a new school. It’s not as simple as saying we don’t want it anymore. He knew that and just related this is all you are going to get. And we are not even done yet… scary.
As always, hindsight is 20/​20, and I wish we had done our research online before selecting this low quality builder. But we were sold by the sales office on how they offered nothing but piece of mine quality and the best in the business construction. All lies. My only advice, shop the builder, then shop your home.

First, in response to the first two reviews, the high pressure sales person is at a new location. I never had to deal with her, but my husband did. There are now two great sales people in the office. Diana Coykendall walked us through step by step to make sure we understood everything. The other review mentions the development in Patterson. Maybe they had problems (not sure) but this location is in Manteca.
We moved in in December and so far so good. We just had our 21 day walk-​through and every concern we have had has been addressed. My only complaint is that the street to turn into the community can be missed if you aren’t paying attention. In a perfect world, they would put up a street sign, but it’s not a deal breaker.
We LOVE our home! We bought the smallest model which is more than enough for me, my husband, and our small child. We were looking at this property last year and should have purchased then because the price jumped about $ 20,000 since. Even so, we are very pleased with our purchase. We are very close to the community park and look forward to spending many summer evenings enjoying it.

New home buyers beware of this development on the south east side of town. Step inside the sales office and you will find high pressure sales tactics and misinformation aimed at getting you to sign up and get on the list. They do not want people bringing an agent with them. The onsite sales representative is there for the seller, who is the builder,. and a buyer without representation can be taken advantage of more easily. I was told that my agent could not be involved. RED FLAG. Thank-​you but no I will take my business elsewhere, there are more reputable builder with new homes in several surrounding communities. Meritage has poor reputation for taking advantage of buyers and ignoring their complaints — oh and watch out for being steered into using their «preferred lender» under guise of saving money. I would highly recommend doing your research ahead of time, an educated buyer is less likely to fall into these traps. If you do choose to go this route I recommend you demand to see all charges in writing, and take a copy of the contract to a real estate attorney before signing ANYTHING. Be sure to ask about the added assessments the city adds to your property tax (which will eat away any saving you might have from energy efficiency). Oh they aren’t zoned for the nearby school so you will have to bus or drive your kid 10 miles away to Ripon. So yeah, hopefully this review helps someone else and maybe the builder gets a clue.