Highland Homes Reviews in Austin, TX

Our salesman Ethan was very responsive, knowledgeable, and caring. He was very helpful throughout the entire process and was eager to solve any and every issue that arose throughout. The construction manager Dylan was the same until the very end when there were some issues with door frames, when brought up he tried to talk his way out of solving the issues by going as far as saying it would push closing back two months. After going to his boss and pushing back it was resolved within a day. My family and I love the house and are very happy in our new home. Ethan is the best and I would recommend him to anyone and everyone. ... More

Our experience with Highland homes was absolutely fantastic! Lynn and Linda in the sales office were so helpful and accommodating. I don't say this lightly, but their integrity was one of the biggest reasons we went with Highland. Every interaction we had, we walked away knowing we could trust what was discussed. One person who I really can't thank enough throughout this was Blake, our Building Manager. That guy made the experience fun and exciting. He listened to what we had to say, provided us with some great feedback, and kept us up-to-date with everything that was going on. He was very professional, but made it seem like you're just talking with a good friend about something they're extremely knowledgeable about. Because of Blake, I can absolutely trust that the quality of our home is something I won't have to worry about. I also wanted to make note that we started the construction of our home just before COVID hit. Once the foundation was poured, that's when the first shutdown started. I really can't thank the team over at Highland enough for staying on top of things and letting us know what was going on every step of the way. Building with Highland was the right choice and if you're thinking about it, do yourself a favor and go see them. You won't regret it. ... More

Overall we're very happy with this home.. It's beautiful. The construction seems very well done. The neighborhood is great. Highland has been very responsive with any questions or concerns during both the build process and post-closing. However, the value of the upgrades is somewhat questionable when considered against what you pay for them. This is mainly due to what is very evidently rushed install and finish work by the subcontractors they use. Poorly run caulking beads. Chipped/scratched glass. Improperly cut trim. Unfinished cabinetry that was simply overlooked. Wiring that trips a breaker when you plug a single phone charger in. In a word - sloppy. Small things, to be sure, but many of them. If you have the time to be at the site consistently inspecting the work as it happens then I'm sure a lot of this would have been caught during the process. Not the case for us. Regardless this seems like quality control the builder may wish to own as a matter of course. Again, Highland is great about making it right. It's just frustrating that an expensive master bath upgrade has caulking that looks like I did it myself. ... More

Overall has been a great experience and would recommend to anyone!

We were very excited to build with Highland for the 2nd time. We were impressed with the standard features and incentives offered this time around. Once we moved in we started experiencing one problem after another:the a/c drip line wasn’t connected to the drain causing the washing machine to dump an entire load of waste water into the walls. The issue was addressed immediately by the emergency plumber and Sean sent a restoration company to pull baseboards and set fans to dry the walls out. It was an oversight that should have been caught during several different inspections. It was very inconvenient but it was handled as well as it could have been. Then the dryer didn’t work. It turns out the plug was wired 110 instead of 220, which meant holes had to be cut in the walls in the laundry room and bedroom. The garage door opener and plugs suddenly didn’t work, turns out they moved a plug in the garage and didn’t connect all the wires. The garage door doorknob fell off in my hand. We still haven’t gotten the USB plugs, which are a standard feature, installed. One of the bedroom door frame boards has all sorts of chunks and notches taken out and the painters decided to remove the blue tape without fixing it. There was a lot of that from our final walkthrough. There are a many imperfections that weren’t fixed/touched up. It’s unfortunate that there isn’t much pride in workmanship anymore. Things that should have been done right the first time are now going to have to be addressed by the warranty department. I’m making a list. ... More

Living in this home issues are so extensive it is easier to just list them by category. The final stages were rushed and thrown together. There is a blatant communication disconnect between management, contractor, vendors and service techs. Hot water: The “contractor crimped the gas line” which ultimately affected us and our neighbors hot water, gas range and stove top. Electrical: Some lights switches were mis-wired, the utility box was filled with wood chips and dust, and when I use the closet plug, it would short out the whole Master bed and bath, tripping the breaker. An exterior lamp, was not properly mounted and needed to be adjusted. One lamp in the media room was missing a bottom plate, after many requests eventually our Contractor provided a whole unit. I had to replace the GFI in our master. Paint: When I wipe an area on the wall too hard, the paint comes off. The doors and windows, have paint was just slapped on. There are drops, drips and splashes throughout the home on our tile floors, windows, light fixtures, fans, door knobs, etc. Hardware, taped to clothes racks, just painted over. Some areas, not painted or caulked at all. Tile: They used the floor tile from our washroom for our Kitchen backsplash! The floor tile is not up to par. There are boot prints, from someone stepping in paint and tracking it through the house. The seal in the kitchen and to our bedrooms, was not complete. We had a cracked tile that I would never have found if not for me fighting off spiders and ants, entering the house through the poorly sealed floor. Cabinets: Our dark colored custom cabinets are ruined. This possibly occurred during install and /or when they removed things to replace the tile and the countertops with the correct ones. A substance on our cabinets, that cannot be wiped off, cleaned off, sanded and painted over. The resolution was to order set of new doors to hopefully camouflage the blemishes in the finish. But Burrows lost track of our order or completely forgot about it. Our contractor wants to come to our house with Burrows and re-re-re-examine the kitchen cabinets and mud room drawer. I informed him that Burrows had been here for over 3 visits, including 2 with the touch up guy and one with 2 gentlemen who took pictures and texted their boss to get approval for replacement doors, which we were told would be here in 2 weeks, 4 weeks ago. They have the specifics on the cabinets, what does a visit do that they could have done, prior to our move in or the many visits in-between? More visits means more exposure to potential COVID-19 infection. Also under-neither and around the cabinets, in the kitchen, the mudroom and the bathrooms are incomplete stain/paint and caulking. Appliances: Gas top Range had no flames. See Hot Water. Faceplate for the microwave keeps coming off. When we first moved in, the dishwasher didn’t work. After many service calls, we requested a replacement. Highland replaced the Dishwasher. It was installed, quickly. The installers wore masks. They were very respectful and mostly efficient. They left copious amounts of water under the sink from the removal of the old dishwasher and installing the new one and didn't give us a heads up, which caused us to think we had flooding under the sink, like our first night in the house. Also the installers tested the dishwasher which was great except, they left the paperwork inside to be washed as well. Thank goodness it was all in plastic. A week or so later, the installers returned fix the microwave trim piece. They found an incorrect sized screw, no screws and a screw that was screwed into a void space, the trim piece is now secure. Doors: The doors were not plumb. Several interior doors had no door pins, the contractor has been able to bring them by when requested and I just hammered them in. A door to the attic space, the pin was not seated properly, after many attempts I was able to hammer that as well. Cleanliness: Our Attic spaces were dirty and needed to be cleaned, builders left old soda cans, filled with soda and a petrified banana. Clint, sent one woman to clean both spaces, above the garage and our upstairs. She did very well, and yet I still found old cans with soda in them, where she could not reach. We shudder at the thought of what could be thrown in the insolation and hidden in the crevices unseen. Pest: We hired pest control. We have had spiders, ants and mosquitos, We also have “Carpet Beetles”. Are the carpet beetles tied to the profound buffoonery we are enduring? I would not go so far as to blame Highland homes for this, but our pest issues have exacerbated and compounded the issues we are dealing with. Especially after finding our attic has been used as a garbage can. Yard: In photographs we noticed, several slates had not been attached, many slates are cracked. The sprinklers that were not working properly, an uneven yard filled with potholes and collected water and, flooding/drainage issue between us and a newly finished home next to us. As of this writing, that issue is still in the progress of being resolved. Missing Window: We discovered, by reviewing our plans Highland Homes missed installing a window in our living room. Highland homes has graciously offered to send a construction crew to fix this. We are extremely reticent to have anymore vendors from Highland near our home, let alone a construction crew due! For 2 months straight we have had people in and out of our house, during a pandemic, The interruptions and the lack of competency has become maddening. Highland Homes has attempted to blame us for their shoddy work, no one signed off on the home they promised to have completed. This is on them. Highland Homes: Great sales, lovely house over all, nice people, ruined by bad vendors, shoddy craftsmanship, a lack of communication and accountability. No experience is 100% perfect but a new home experience shouldn’t be this… ... More

Highland homes did a fantastic job on our new home, responding quickly to questions and resolving issues quickly.

The whole team with Highland did an excellent job building the house and the quality is seen through every square inch of the home. I have and would continue to recommend working with this builder, they exhibit true professionalism throughout the whole process and we couldn’t be happier with our decision.

The build process went incredibly smoothly and the Highland manager followed through on all his commitments.

We entered into a contract on a new Highland Home right before Covid hit. Even though we were unable to return to the home to do an inspection or walk thru, the construction supervisor walked us thru it on Zoom so we could get another look at the house before we closed.

Great builder. Did exactly what they said they would do. Wonderful experience.

I am really happy with my home, Highland has created a house I have been able to turn into a home. If you are looking for a home I would definitely go to talk to Ethan. The only problem is there is only one Ethan. He is amazing at what he does, and can tell he actually enjoys what he does. My problem came when some of my bushes and trees were dead when I purchased my house. Although the project manager assured me they would be fixed even though the closing documents said they would not replace them. Once I moved in, and discovered they were dead, the project manager simply told me it was nothing he could do. Besides that I was very happy with my home, and guess this will be something I have to do on my own. ... More

Purchasing and building our Highland home was a Great experience. From the selection and sales to the build. Our contractor, Nico, was a pleasure to work with and took good care of us. I remember when we first met him he told us that his main responsibility was to make sure we were satisfied and that he built us the best home possible. He succeeded. We toured many new homes models all over the Austin area and by far preferred Highland Homes.

Highland Homes did a great job. We appreciate the responsiveness of both Luke and Jacob, who made every effort to meet our wishes with all of the options we selected and special requests. The only suggestion we have is that Highland Homes find a better way to communicate available options and coordinate the selections to be more seamless among the office person, design center, electrical related selections, and construction manager. We found out about and added options several times after the first selections. We would have been very upset if we had not learned about those in time to add them. We were told that having many change orders was typical, but I do think those could be significantly reduced with better communication. And having more seamless communication would have made the whole process less confusing. ... More

Gerardo ...Fast and good and neat

We had a great process most of the way. The sales people were fantastic; super helpful and went out of the way in many cases to assist us. The construction side was pretty good - they cared and tried. They were pretty flexible and worked with us to accommodate some special requests. The company is higher quality than many others, but there were still small shortcuts taken here and there that were frustrating. We then got caught up in the COVID hype and they cancelled walk-thrus and refused to work on warranty items even though construction was continuing right next door on other houses. That was very frustrating and the communication was not great during this time, but the circumstances were unusual. Overall, they could have been better, but I have seen alot worse out there. Compared to their peers, I think they are near the top of the industry in terms of customer experience. ... More

Larry, Amy, and Matt were all very accommodating to our requests and last minute changes. Very professional and responsive. Great team to work with and very pleased with our home.

Be sure to have specific lists and items you wish to discuss with your builder contact before meeting. Spend time doing the walkthroughs and stay positive and appreciative of their time and effort. They are working with big issues related to the virus and the processes involved with getting items addressed in your new home.

I would highly recommend Highland Homes!

Everyone on the team was outstanding!

We moved in December and already experiencing issues of poor workmanship. The houses in this neighborhood are so close to each other and the house which is getting built after we moved in has window directly facing our window. With houses being so close to each other, more thought should have been put to not have neighbors window face each other. Flooring is cheap wood and not perfect for a new home. Would love to provide more details when contacted.

Our construction manager on site was great to deal with. Very reliable and always easily accessible to communicate with.

Everything was perfectly built and suited to our needs, Will recommend highland to everyone!

Highland homes are great, quality is fair but support is terrible. Just the hassle wasnt worth it.

From start to finish, there was nothing that could go right for our build. From permitting issues for the the Sri way to having to redesign the driveway. Our 3rd party inspector found several issues with the proper installation of all the anchor bolts throughout the entire frame. All the bathroom cabinets and kitchen cabinets were heavily damaged BUT were still installed. Our building construction manager was informed about the cabinets but was told by the cabinet company they they would not be replaced only repaired. At this point I went to highland homes social media page and expressed my disappointment with the cabinets and the refusal to have them replaced. At the point I got a phone call from highlands regional manager who wanted to meet in person at the home to see the damages. He then expressed his apologies and said that was not to “Highland standard “ he made a call and the very next day all the cabinets were replaced with new undamaged cabinets. By this time we had Laos faith and trust in our building manager and his crews so we decided to show up unannounced to do walk throughs and this is when we found that all the paint and finish work was not up to “Highland standard “. The texture on the walls didn’t match and had to be done 3 time before it finally matched. Master bathroom tiles are loosing grout and the shoulder leaks. The bathroom window leaked for almost 2 weeks before it was resealed. We have grout in kitchen backsplash that is now cracking and separating. And now we noticed that anytime the furnace or ac is on, all the lights in the home flicker constantly.. so here goes another work order and letting more people into my home .. never ending bad dream.... ... More