Awful communications. Delays, delays. We signed contract in 2021..house still isn't finished. First Choice drew lots of money and didn't pay subcontractors. We've paid x2 . E aware be very aware of this builder​ read more

Horrible...stay away! Shoddy workmanship, not honest person, bad temperature! Took three years to build.​ read more

Taking 5 years to get this house built. He's doing shoddy work. They are scamming my mom!

Started building home over 2 years ago. They are no longer in business. We are now the owner/builder trying to finish our house. They took a lot of money from us. There is more. If anyone else going through this please message me. read more

BEWARE!!!! They do not return phone calls or texts. Additionally they do not pay their subcontractors. Worst company to work with.

We are entering year 3 with this builder and nothing has been done since early September. He now has over $200,000 of our money and is now holding us up for "overages" of another $30,000 and more overages when and if ever the project is complete. They refuse to provide back-up for these overages We are an elderly couple, and this builder has devastated us financially. The salespeople lie, they break timelines and promises, and they charge overage fees for things that were in the contract. Whatever you do, be very careful if you plan on building with this company. read more

Too much to list to work out. Including UP-CHARGING OUT OF THE BLUE! This will be an ongoing review. I am very understanding about delays and our world. The delays are longer than other builders I see. I live in North Port. This isn't about the worldly delays, its about many mistakes, but this one takes the cake. I have been very understanding, maybe a push over. Edit for hopes the owner will calm down and stop telling me he doesn't give a 'sh!t' about my house. Anybody have any additional insight feel free to contact me. So many delays they could have prevented, I'm done typing. read more

Please, never do business with First Choice or the owners. They took over 15000 of our money for nothing. We canceled the contract after nothing was done and received no refund. If anyone wants to sue them please let me know. read more

We also lost our $8,000 with this builder. Is there any class action lawsuit against this comapny or few families together want to sue them? I would like to join the "all together" lawsuit. Please let me know. We waitwd a year, nothing was happening so we cancelled... Now we just want at least 70% of the $8,000 back. read more

12/10/2022 First Choice Home Builders is not a company to be trusted. From the moment we began working with them, First Choice demonstrated supremely poor customer service and has demonstrated a lack of integrity. I signed a contract with them in July 2021 and was assured that in 6 months they would have a permit and be ready to build. It has now been 17 months and they don't even have the drawings to apply for a permit. What's worse is that Jeff, the owner of the company, has not answered any of the calls or messages I have left him. He simply no longer cares. I can't even find out what's going on with our contract. All I have been asking for is an update. First choice has breached every single date we have agreed upon and violated our contract's terms and conditions with no regard. I don't know how, or even if, they are still in business. I have no trust left in them and will do whatever it takes to terminate my contract and get my $8000 down payment back. If things not resolved I will let my Florida attorney file a complaint with the Department Of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) . Do not work with this company and let this same thing happen to you. read more

I'm so excited I'm coming to the house almost being done, it's been rough yet Jeff and Tracy are doing their best to get everything done. There has been a lot of supply chain problems and coupled with the hurricane, yet full steam ahead can't wait to finally be in my new dream home read more

First Choice spends more time working to have negative reviews removed than finishing the construction of the home you contracted to build. Many reviews are "anonymous" because FCHB clients are afraid of retaliation and delays as a result of the review. I think Yelp and Google should start contacting the individuals who post the reviews so they can verify the client. We were customers--this is a real review. It is supposed to be exciting to build a new home, but that turned to stress, sadness and significant financial consequences following the execution of our contract with FCHB. They provide you with a timeline to build your home that is not in reality going to occur (and for which they are fully aware will not take place in the timeframe they verbally provide at the time of execution); even though you negotiate a price in writing with all the finishes -- that is not the real price (and they know that too). Inducement into contract by offering a build time and price that is competitive and acceptable -- except they have no intention of abiding by either and historically--never have. Not even for contracts executed in June 2020! At this time, it will take FCHB a minimum of one year to obtain a permit-or more. After you obtain a permit and they finally start clearing the lot, you learn there is a significant "overage" for dirt. They do not provide proof of the "dirt" quantity delivered--nor do they obtain bids for the subcontractor providing such work. Nonetheless, the overage is due immediately after clearing your lot and will range from $9K to $30K depending on location, lot size, and trees removed. Overages must be paid or work will stop. The reason provided for the overage is "the allowance in you contract is substantially 'less' than what it now costs to complete; this is the case for all of their contracts--even the ones started in 2020--doesn't matter what year you executed, most won't be started for at least a year and "inflation" and current "material" issues is the reason given for the overages and increases. Regardless of when you started--it appears to be the business model -- induce with a low price and acceptable timeline--then adjust as you move forward and the customer is stuck in the middle with no house. It would be more upfront to just write out "whatever the price is at the time we get to it is what you will need to pay." I bet that would slow down execution of contracts. This builder has 138 open permits; completed a total of 28 homes in two counties during 2022 (a little less in 2021). There are a host of excuses given for the delays, overages, etc. but the truth is First Choice sold more homes than they could build in 3-5 years. There is poor communication, condescending treatment by sales staff, and outright false information provided to clients. Jeff & LeeAnn Burch and Dennis Rousseau are very aware of the situation, although it does not deter them from executing new contracts. FCHB and its sales agents participate in providing misleading and false information to its clients and potentially new clients. In my opinion, it is an intentional deceptive practice. We met with Jeff Burch when we received our first overage to advise we cannot afford these kinds of overages and want details of everything PRIOR to incurring any overages--as our bank only has so much money for the job. Jeff assured us that was the only overage because the materials had been ordered and he didn't see any issues going forward. Fast forward 5 months later--work incomplete and invoice sent for $26K for "partial price increase." No details -- just a voicemail from one of their sales staff stating sorry but your trusses and blocks or framing or something was more than we thought -- pay up and keep in mind, we expect a total of $50K or so in overages--but we will send the rest as we get closer to completion. Many FCHB clients are retirees living in another state, but have sold their homes to retire in Florida. They have spent all their money-are desperate to get into their new home--and they have to keep paying--over and over until two or more years later the cost is $50-$100K more than the contract -many spending everything they had in savings. The model homes are beautiful, but they are years away from giving any NEW customer a home as they have to finish the current 138 they started. According to them, 200 more homes were sold (they haven't even been submitted for permitting). Do the math. Check the County permitting records. It is difficult when companies receive bad reviews, especially if they are unwarranted. In this case however, the truth is ugly and painful. It has been nothing but stressful, disheartening, and financially draining. read more

We signed a contract with first choice in October 2021 and was told it would be 14 months total to have our dream home. We kept getting the run around from Robert he would never answer my calls or emails for days or weeks, when he did answer same thing you're in engineering. In July you're in engineering in August you're in engineering then in November he said well you're in engineering at that point I ask how long does it take in engineering. Robert said he sent an email to engineering in August and got nothing back (this is November), at that point Robert said we could cancel the contract but he would have to see how much we owed them I had to remind him that we paid 8,000 for permits and guess what we don't have PERMITS so we owe nothing. I filed a complaint with the attorney general of Florida and contacted BBB. Don't do business with this company read more

I signed a contract in June 2021 and was told our house would be ready in 12-16 months. First Choice did not even file for our building permit for 14 months. In this time they would not answer my questions or update me on any progress. I called dozens and dozens of times and nobody ever called me back. They took more than $30,000 from me and my family and now won't build our house unless we pay tens of thousands of dollars in "overages", when we signed a fixed price contract! They even "took out the escalation clause" to entice us into signing the contract without having to worry about the price going up. But come to find out there is another provision in the contract that allows them to jack up the price. The bank never would have approved the construction loan if they would have known the escalation clause was not voided out. If you're reading this review and pondering building a home with this company, please think twice about it, this is the Wrong Choice. read more