I built a home with Shaddock in Tavolo Park in Fort Worth. I am extremely happy with the service…read morethat I got with them.
A shockingly important part of the process was the people I worked with over there. Rich Berquist was our sales guy, who helped us with all the big, up-front decisions. It would seem like there are only a few decisions like that to be made, but there are actually tons, and I am very particular, apparently. I was over a lot talking with Rich and getting things figured out. Every time was a pleasure, honestly. He's such a good guy and very sincerely wanted to help us to get the home that is right for us. We really feel a kinship with him and trust that he wants what is best for us. That's something much more than sales.
I live close, so I was on top of these guys every day during construction. The construction manager, Mack McGowan, is a wonderful person. You won't find a more sincere, honest, patient, helpful person anywhere. He was very much on our side every time any little thing came up and did his very best to get us what we wanted, even if that meant going over and doing it himself. We will never forget working with Mack, and honestly kind of miss interacting with him as much as we did during construction. I can tell you, that's something special in a builder. What a team!
The house itself is moderately upscale. In terms of price, I think "fair" is a good word for it. These houses are not cheap. But they aren't built cheaply either. Lots of attention to detail and nice design decisions. The location is really good.
As I think over things that could have been better, only two things really stick out: I could have used a little more flexibility on a few items. For example, they wouldn't let us switch the locations of the fridge and stovetop, and we didn't love the selections at their "design studio," which, by the way, is located way out in the colony. The other thing to be aware of, and I guess this is common, is that a lot of the incentives they give you are contingent on using their lender and title company. The title company was pretty pricey and not very responsive. And the lender was personable but refused to make a loan unless I bought points, even though I didn't want them. It would have been very nice if I could have had the incentives and not used their lender and title company. Just go in with your eyes open about the strings those incentives come with.
In terms of subcontractors and people you work with outside the team, they were all pretty great with very few exceptions. The drywall company was quite a problem. The workers had a super bad attitude and didn't respect the home at all. Mack had to make them redo a lot of things, though the final product ended up good--I was glad I monitored them. The low-voltage (ethernet and audio) guys were pretty bad to work with--just wanted us to subscribe to their BS service and didn't care about the house or ever get around to addressing issues. These were minor parts of the experience, but I do remember them. The tile guys went above and beyond what their instructions were to do excellent work. The electrical guys were very friendly and flexible, though I do think a few of their decisions on where to put switches were questionable. We loved Raul and his team, who did the brick. We did spray foam encapsulation, which is honestly such a good decision, and that company was really good and thorough too.
Overall a great experience. I can tell you if you are building or around Fort Worth, the team you have here will deliver a great home and a great home-building experience.
