Allan Homes Unlimited

I have undertaken 9 major building or remodeling projects in my lifetime and I have never found a contractor more difficult to work with than Allan Homes Unlimited in Columbia, Maryland. Although they are a custom builder; working with them required constant vigilance to detail on my part. I found that I had to show up daily to inspect what had been done that day. Way too many aspects of this latest project, a condominium renovation, had to be redone due to shoddy work. For example, in my custom kitchen, most of the cabinet doors had to be replaced by them due to the improper & inconsistent placement of cabinet handles. Worst of all was their failure to level the floor in the master bath. As a result, the new shower pan was not pitched properly and the shower did not drain. While I had specified and provided a design for an accessible shower with a two and a half inch curb; what I wound up with was a not-at-all accessible shower with a 6 inch curb. The former shower was converted to an open shelf closet and it is out of square and the walls are not straight and the four shelves are not parallel. I have a new contractor coming in to redo the closet properly. Among the many issues that came up during the renovation was the failure of Allan Homes to comply with the condominium rules about floor coverings in the common hallway, noise mitigation, and no work rules on weekends. The project manager, Jim, was particularly argumentative and created a lot of friction. He opted for cheap choices and charged for correcting them. An example of this was when he had the electrician put junction boxes in the ceiling of my expensive renovated kitchen. When I balked at having holes with plastic plates on my ceiling, he charged me to fix the wiring issue and holes. They also charged extra to replace the 30 year old electric outlets and switches in the totally renovated kitchen. Although this renovation was done during the pandemic, most of the delays were caused by poor allocation of resources and having to correct workmanship errors and then wait for replacement materials. The project went three and a half months past the agreed upon completion date. No one needs this kind of grief, especially when you are spending $$$$.

Three years post remodeling - so many things have had to be repaired or redone from the renovation of my condo. I brought in a new contractor to redo the bathroom closet that Allan Homes messed up. Had a handyman come in to tenant kitchen doors and reinstall shelving that fell off the wall in a walk in closet . Lots of sanding and re-painting doors and walls that had gloppy bubbles and peeling.

Our experience with AllanHomes was fantastic. Allan helped us sell our townhome and was present, responsive, and helpful throughout the process.

As both a builder and a real estate agent, Allan expanded our pool of potential buyers. For instance, when a buyer expressed a preference for an additional bathroom, Allan offered to add one at an affordable cost, increasing our chances of a sale and willing buyers.

When our water heater broke during the sale, Allan was able to leverage his contacts as a home builder to quickly arranged for a quality replacement at a great price. He also oversaw the installation, saving us time and money since I didn't have to take off of work.

AllanHomes made the selling process smooth and stress-free, allowing us to focus on other aspects of our lives. We highly recommend their services.

Of all the home renovation experiences we've had, working with Allan Homes has by far been the best one. They worked with us from design to completion, helping us along the way with professionalism, friendliness and top-notch quality. They were ahead of schedule, respectful of our time and space, and always cleaned up after themselves. When we had any questions, we got quick help and responses (including the time that our hamster escaped and we had to cut a hole in the wall and patch it back up to rescue it). It was really the best possible experience we could have had with invasive home renovation project and I couldn't recommend them more highly.

Please read everything before committing to this contractor!

To sum up everything, there are pros and cons to every construction group, but we feel like we made the wrong decision. Our kitchen looks beautiful because we picked out great materials and fixtures. However, as our contractor himself put it, this is the project from hell. The project started in July 2020. As of February 2021, the project is still not done. From the plumbing to electric, carpentry to cabinet installation, anything that could go wrong, went wrong. Among other things, we have experienced a large leak from the kitchen drain, leak from a toilet bowl, exposed live wires left unfinished for over a week, crooked dishwasher installation after 3 attempts, a large crease where 2 drywall panels met (after 5-6 attempts to fix we got another company to fix it in one try), severely out of level drywall where a ceiling and wall met (also requiring another company to fix it in one try, after several failed attempts by Allan Homes), kitchen cabinets out of level with the appliances since they were placed on the sub floor and the appliances were on finished floor (this required a complete removal of the cabinets, which we were charged for!), a built in refrigerator that would not fit into the surrounding cabinet, several days of no functioning air conditioning in sweltering August heat, contaminated water from a pot filler, scratched furniture, large scratches on cabinet faces, and unsightly gaps in cabinet molding.
All of this requiring many attempts to fix over many months. By the end, we were an afterthought, not a priority, on a job costing nearly $100,000. Most galling is that we were offered no discount or incentive for these numerous problems and inconveniences. We had to split the cost for them to take out and fix the cabinets that they installed on the concrete instead of running the new flooring first and then installing the cabinets, or at least accounting for the height difference when measuring. We were also refunded $500 for the drywall person we hired but only after a very intense telephone confrontation and we were told they didn’t touch that drywall but when reminded they did, it was then decided that we would get that refund. We were told to expect 6-8 weeks until completion. It took more than 10 weeks to have a livable kitchen with electricity, water, and cabinets. And months later, we are still encountering roadblocks while trying to finish the cabinet around our refrigerator, that, guess what, requires a different company to complete. We have told every person we know that they should never, ever, under any circumstances, use Allan Homes for their renovation projects, and we hope that anyone who is considering using Allan Homes reads this review first. We wish we would have known what we were getting into.