Mitch Harris Building Co Inc

As previous owners of a Mitch Harris home we were very satisfied with the quality and decided to build within our current sub, High Hills Arbor. From start to finish the new build was an excellent experience. Theresa, Ray, Scott, Kris and the entire team were extremely responsive when we had questions. We had the luxury of visiting the property almost daily which allowed us to see the progress. There was always progress and never once was there a time when the build stopped other than for inspections. The entire Mitch Harris team worked very hard, were very communicative and responsive which made everything go smoothly. It was truly a stress-free experience for us! We love our new home! We highly recommend MH as well as High Hills Arbor sub to build your next home.

This 3 star is in no way reflective of the office staff. The ladies there are fantastic and this review is solely on the quality of my home.

Overall I love the look of the home and the lot we chose. But once it comes time to repair final walk through and 1 year items, the builder leaves much to be desired.

1. Front Door. During our selection phase, I clearly stated that I wanted the same 3 piece as the model. This was a door where the side pieces only had a window at the top and this was written down on their notepad. Come time for door installation and I see we have full window side panes. I questioned this via email, and was told it was just a temp door. I didn’t buy that response as the door was the same exact color we ordered. Nonetheless we ended up with a door that has full side pane windows. Which we did not want.

2. Flooring installed at an angle. This was so clear to see, can’t even believe this was allowed. It was very clear that it was at an angle, as the final piece in front of our master bedroom looked like a triangle. To cover it up, the floor installer and/or builder, put wood grout in between the boards. We discovered the grout once the home started shifting. The installers came out at the 1 year mark and the fix looks even worse. They blame it on an uneven wall in the home. To top it off , they damaged all my trim and put the same trim back on. One half of my house looks like a new build, the other half looks like a 10 year old home.

3. To continue with flooring fixes, we had several boards that were damaged. The fix is worse than looking at the dent itself. I can’t wait to replace these whole floors. Instead of staggering the boards, one section in my kitchen has the same length boards. It is awful and very noticeable.

4. I paid for upgraded carpet with an inlay design. The installers stretched the carpet so much on the stairs that the design is non existent. The carpet is also starting to buckle in some spots. Do NOT pay for upgraded carpet. You will still have to replace it after a year.

5. Right after we moved in, we noticed our master bathroom smelled like sewer. We finally narrowed it down to an issue with the sewer vent pipe. The contractors who built our mud room bench, put nails through the sewer vent pipe in 5 different places. We found this out after calling our own contractor. We then told the builder that they needed to come and inspect. We had to cut a hole in the brand new cabinet t and bathroom wall to replace a section of the pipe.

6. 2 year bathroom shower tile issue in the master bathroom. Early on we discovered several cracked tiles in the shower. The builder and Trends were not very helpful on this and even after having email confirmation that we would be going down to the studs on this fix, they still decided to just to a piece work fix. It took 2 years to even get my bathroom back to somewhat normal. I talked to quite a few tile installers who could not believe how Trends was fixing the walls. They took so much off the original backer board, that they had to even it out with mud, just so the tiles would be flush against those that remain. The story on this is way to long for a review.

Items I need to replace:

Carpet
Hard Wood Floors and trim
Bathroom Shower, down to studs
Kitchen Island- somehow a microwave cabinet was missed. Possibly on this side of KSI

For the price of these homes, I expect better.

I feel like there are so many things that can help Mitch out, starting with and electronic builder contract system. Do away with this pen and paper.

Be very careful with this builder. I would highly recommend Not to use him! Here’s some photos from his hack work that was hidden under the carpet definitely not up to code. Look at the repairs I need to have done before I can do my floors. He also built my home with 2x4 construction instead of 2x6 which was clearly laid out in our contract. I found out the hard way that he will cut any corners to save a dime! I wouldn’t trust him for anything!

The house was built in 2016 and we bought from original homeowners in 2018. Last year a piece of siding fell off above the garage. I called and was instructed to go to warranty department. Not really sure what that meant only that siding had a 25 year warranty. So to this day I can't find anyone to hire to put up one piece of siding nor do I think I should. They have people that constructed this house and should come fix it and not be my problem. I also have a roof problem and is leaking in one of the upstairs bedroom. Another warranty but I did have a roof guy look and nails were missing or not laid right. Whether I am the 2nd homeowner or first a home built in 2016 should not have siding falling off and a roof with leaks and not having one of their guys who did the work come FIX IT.

My husband and I purchased a move-in ready home from Mitch Harris Building Co in 2018 and it was love at first sight. We were immediately wowed by the quality and craftsmanship of the home. The staff at MHB were also great to work with! We could always get ahold of Mitch with any questions and his staff went out of their way to help us during and after work hours.

Before purchasing our MHB home we looked into a few different builders in the area, non of which compared to Mitch Harris' homes. It was really a night and day difference in quality and craftsmanship.

I also wanted to mention that recently we had an energy check-up on our house and the technician praised our builder and said "whoever built this house went above and beyond to make your house energy efficient and properly insulated". The technician left without any substantial recommendations. Our house looks pretty but it's nice to know the guts are in good shape too!

Once we outgrow this home, our plan is to use Mitch Harris to build our next dream home!

Highly recommend Mitch Harris Building Co whether you are looking into one of his move-in ready homes or a brand new build!

Mitch Harris built our home in High Hills Arbor in 2019 and we moved in just before Christmas. To be honest, we fell in love with this community when we set our sight on it and more so today having lived here for a year. As with the building process and after, we are very happy from design to finish. Mitch and our sales consultant Theresa were professional with a personal touch. They were accommodating with many of our change order requests yet not delaying the project. I think it is very smart for Mitch to create decent size lots with many back into the woods. Ours is and it is just beautiful. Kris who is responsible for after sale warranty service has been very responsive and quick to follow up. As we all know, anything built by human may not be perfect but as long as the Company and owner would take the responsibility to own the issues and resolve them, that is all what a reasonable customers/homeowner would expect. Mitch and his team did just that. As the home warranties vary with what are installed, we continue to rely on Mitch Building Co to provide service and advice. I am confident that they will continue to treat us as their valued customer. Thank you Mitch, Theresa, Ray and Kris.

Jon and Carol

My wife & I are very pleased to highly recommend Mitch Harris Builders (MHB). This was our first experience building a home and we entered this process with a great deal of uneasiness. We figured, however, that Mitch Harris has been building homes for more than 40 years and you don't get to do that unless you're a great builder who knows what he's doing. So we dove in... Our experience started with a weekend visit to a model home in the new High Hills Arbor subdivision. That's where we had the very good fortune to meet Theresa from MHB. She became our main contact throughout the entire build process. Theresa guided us through all the complexities of building our home and became a trusted advocate for us from day one through our move in date. She is extremely knowledgable, remarkably available, incredibly friendly and very easy to work with. There is no doubt in our minds that Theresa had our best interest at heart throughout the entire build process. To say we couldn't have done this without Theresa is a significant understatement. In short, she is terrific!
The build coordinator/supervisor for our home was Ray. What an extraordinary man! It's a mystery how one man can know as much about building a home as Ray does. We honestly believe that Ray approached our build as tho he was building his own home and you can't ask for more than that. As unbelievably busy as Ray was (and is) he ALWAYS made time to address our concerns. It's hard to imagine a more experienced/knowledgeable person than Ray.
Our many trips to the MHB office were always made more pleasant by Tracy, the administrative assistant. It's hard to overstate the importance of Tracy's ability to welcome guests in a relaxed, friendly manner. She's got a great sense of humor and more snacks and coffee pods than anyone could reasonably expect!
Was everything perfect? Of course not. We were building a house for goodness sake. Of course there were issues/concerns. The more relevant & important question is, "How did MHB respond to the concerns we raised?" Our answer is directly, fairly & in a timely manner. Again, you can't really ask for more than that.
Bottom line... You are not going to find a better builder than Mitch Harris.

When building our first home we knew wanted to work with a builder who was custom and local, and who we could really build a relationship with. That’s exactly what we got when we chose Mitch Harris Homes. From the first meeting with Theresa and subsequent meetings with Mitch we worked on changes, custom details and adjustments to the design of our home. We received everything we were looking for and absolutely LOVE our home. We made many changes and with this comes time, patience and grace - things we knew we would need during the home building process. Nothing is ever perfect, especially when factoring in so many variables but we were always communicated with about what could and couldn’t be done and we made sure to stay on top of everything. They outline a very detailed process, timeline and what to expect, and although there were some setbacks, we knew these things were out of anyone’s control. Any issues we had after we moved in were quickly taken care of and the list of things we would have done differently is minimal. We’re thrilled with our home and would absolutely recommend Mitch Harris Building Co. to anyone who is considering building.

We are so happy we picked MHBC for our new house construction. We knew from our first meeting that we were going to be treated like family. The selections were painless, everything was completed in a timely manner, and anything we noticed that we didn’t like they made a point to make it right. Highly recommended!

We hired Mitch Harris after reviewing dozens of new construction neighborhoods and meeting with builders. We had a private lot, and were looking to build our dream home. We were very impressed by MHB neighborhoods and his reputation as a builder.

His team is top notch. From the very beginning and through the planning stages, they listened and were very responsive. We were informed up front the challenges we might face with our lot.

Theresa is a very knowledgeable sales consultant. When we had difficulty finding a floor plan with the specific details we wanted, she pointed us the right direction. She met with us frequently even before we decided to build with MHB.

The whole team assisted us on choices for our home. They gave honest opinions about our choices. For instance, we thought about increasing the size of our pantry. They would have been happy to do so, but recommended not making the change due to kitchen flow. Now that we are in our home we realize how that change would have been a disaster for our floor plan. We truly appreciated their input.

The build went well and any concerns we had were immediately addressed. Pete did a fantastic job of overseeing the trades and keeping us updated. He is very detailed oriented.

The office staff was also very helpful , MHB has a family feel and we enjoyed working with all of them. We love our beautiful home and would recommend Mitch Harris Building to anyone!

If you are looking for a home builder in Livingston County, KEEP LOOKING! Please Please Please heed this warning. After going through the entire home building process with them, I struggle to find a single good thing to say. I have worked in residential and commercial property management for over 20 years. The quality of their work, the professionalism and customer service they provide, and the backwards way they cut corners should be criminal. There are a number of code violations in the finished product they provided, but after building in this county for so long, I'm guessing they have some "friends" they've made in the building department in order to pass inspections. I regret choosing them as a builder and am happy to discuss this with anyone who wants more information. I have tons of pictures and correspondence I would be willing to share. And if you are SERIOUSLY considering going with this builder, I'd be happy to show you through my home to see what Mitch Harris decided was OK enough to push through as a final product. Again, you will want to avoid this builder. I promise you will regret choosing them. Also, if you are going with them, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING! Many of the emails that come from their office are not clear. You will get calls out of the blue asking for split second decisions with quotes over the phone, then they will try to bill you differently. From the top down at this company, it's shady, unprofessional, and open to cut the most ridiculous corners that somehow get right by the Livingston County Building Department.

I’d like to share two negative experiences in this review and you can judge for yourself. First,we paid a $15,000 lot premium for a daylight lot. When we selected the lot (which was on a hill) we were told by the salesperson that the driveway would be on the left (the less steep side of the hill). However, we discovered when we drove by one day that it was staked for a right-side driveway – up the highest point of the hill. We had a conversation with the builder about flipping the house. (This conversation was inadvertently caught on video by my wife who was filming some things in the model home).Mitch said that he could flip the house, but it would effect the grade. He then said that the daylight windows would have a small well under them. When I asked him if he meant that the daylight windows would become egress, he said no. He stated the wells would be below the window. However, after the foundation was dug, we drove by one day to discover that our daylight windows were in fact now egress. No one called us to discuss this. We had to stumble across it. When I talked with Mitch Harris directly about this, he initially said it was our fault. Then I told him I had a recording of our conversation and reminded him of what we had discussed and agreed upon. He then said he could make it right. However, he had to wait until the roof was on in order to correct the grade. His team regraded the lot and we assumed it was fixed. We then drove by again only to find that the windows were still egress. We involved a lawyer when it became apparent that we were going to be left with egress windows (a substitution of goods that we did not approve).Mitch then offered us a full refund a couple weeks before the house was finished. However, we had nowhere else to go and a significant amount of money invested in lights and appliances. We were never given an apology for MHB's mistakes or lack of communication or a dime of the $15,000 in concessions.
The second example I would like to share is that we just had a water line leak in our front yard. When the township came out to repair it, they told us that the line had been cross threaded by the builder(and they had pictures to show this).When we asked the Mitch to help cover the cost of the yard repair(a large portion of the yard was dug up)they told us that they would hand rake the space and put down dry seed and straw.Our landscaper assured us that this would never work.It was the side of the hill on a clay lot. It needed proper grading, top soil, and at a minimum hydroseed(All of which we had already done before the damage).When my wife and I talked to Mitch about this, he said that if we didn’t like it, we could sell our house and move out of the neighborhood.While the neighborhood is beautiful, the builder is incredibly difficult to work with, they do not stand behind their work,there were numerous times we were told one thing and given another,changes happened that were not approved, and the communication was terrible.We are not the only ones with this experience,but it’s difficult to comment online with an 11 month MHB warranty.
Response to MHB reply: As you stated "the wells would be beneath the windows". See pictures. The wells cover the daylight windows and there is a full egress well. This is not what we discussed, agreed to, or paid for. MHB redefining daylight as underground.
As far as the water connection, It was cross threaded 8 feet underground. MHB implying the landscaper dug down and cross threaded MHB's fitting is laughable. We sent Mitch two quotes. One for Hydro seed and one for Sod. MHB refused to do either. Sad but not unexpected. The work was completed and MHB refused to pay anything.

Our building experience was everything we had hoped for from the beginning to the end. This was our first time building a new home so we had no idea what to expect. Theresa helped us every step of the way. She was very patient as we took the time to choose every detail that went into our home. Theresa and Pete our project manager was always quick and willing to answer any questions we had. Pete had great suggestions that helped us when making decisions on the placement of lights along with many other things. He made sure that we were happy with the build as it progressed. We had a tight time frame until we had to be out of our previous residence, Pete made sure to hit that deadline. We would absolutely recommend Mitch Harris building Company if you are considering building a new home.

The efficiency and kindness of Michelle Moore and every staff member at the Mitch Harris Building Company made our transition to condo life a personal and positive experience. We have never missed the wonderful years in our 4 bedroom colonial because the moment we moved in to the condo, it felt like home.

Horrible company to purchase a home from. I purchased a home from this company 4 years ago, and am now selling it to move to a new state. The home inspection found a large crack in the foundation that is leaking and I was told by Kris in their warranty department that there's nothing they can do to help. After clarifying that I spent hundereds of thousands of dollars on this house only to have it break in 4 years, Kris told me there are other companies out there that can fix it for me. Got to love a company that won't stand by their own shoddy work!!

If I could give them negative stars I would. Worst purchasing experience I could ever imagine. Mitch cares about nothing but his money, and once he has it your on your own. Doesnt fix things that are wrong, doesnt respond to emails. 2 ft of water at the end of my driveway every time it rains at all, cant get in or out with a standard car. Took 3 months for final grade on lot. Wouldn't do half the stuff I asked for on a "custom" home. Terrible communication within company. I had to check EVERYTHING to make sure it was done how specified, and then they want to argue it wasnt specified that way. Tried to charge me for things that weren't done. The list goes on. STAY AWAY!!