Kingston Homes

25 years in real estate; I am a little picky. I know what is good, and what is great. We moved from acreage so I could have community, sidewalks, and parks, not only did I get all of this, I also have the best built home I have ever lived in. We bought the builder’s model before it went to market. I am a very lucky person. Chris Galyon and his team are the best in the business. They built my dream home that I actually get to live in every day. I walk the Salmon Creek trails and see the bald eagles, nature, and wildlife everywhere I go. I am the luckiest person in the entire world. Thank you, Chris and your entire team, you guys are the bees knees.

We purchased a lot with the expert guidance of Chris Galyon of Kingston Homes and custom designed and built our forever home over the course of the next year. Chris and Kingston were both top-notch and defied every bad thing we heard about building a home. Their craftsmanship is high quality, their finishes start at a higher end level than most builders and their communication and patience in helping us through the process was commendable. We just received the keys to our home yesterday—3 weeks before their estimated completion date! We could not be happier with the result!

The Kingston Homes’ web page,indicates “Kingston Homes are built with luxury touches and premium standard features. We continually strive to uphold our reputation for high quality workmanship.” As we recently purchased a Kingston Home and ran into difficulties from layout through warranty work, I was curious what an unbiased opinion of a Kingston home would be. Since the County examines many homes designed by different builders, I believe they would offer a comprehensive and fair evaluation. County grades are low, fair, average, good, and very good with plus and minus modifiers for half grade. To my surprise, most Kingston Homes achieve a good minus construction review. In fairness, Kingston grades ranged from average to good plus with most in the good minus for at least two inspectors. Homes in subdivisions near ours constructed by other builders achieved grades at least a half a grade higher than ours. Several annoying aspects of purchasing a Kingston Home include the trade talk, modifications, and warranty work. The trade talk assumes the buyer knows that dimensions and details shown on the drawings are not the finished dimensions. And beware the term “industry standard”: I now understand that to mean the designer is taking the easy way out when drawing up the plans. Requesting modifications to the standard plan is what can make a house a home. And I know that modifications come at a cost. Be prepared to verify the modification was constructed otherwise getting a refund is time consuming. The most irritating of the aspects turned out to be warranty work. As stated to us by a Kingston representative, warranty work is the lowest work priority. We’ve had simple things – such as soft close mechanisms not working correctly – to more major items – the garage sink fell off the wall – go awry. Getting a response on the minor items was time consuming, although the major items were responded to within a couple of days (I guess Kingston didn’t want to have to pay a different subcontractor for emergency repair). And the subcontractors do NOT always send the “A” team to do the repair: we had to ask one repairman to leave before he damaged more (we are waiting until after the warranty period and will then get someone competent to repair the work). And to further rub salt in the wound, there are items Kingston claims are the industry standard (exposed pipe in the crawl space is industry standard?) and do not require repair. While our home is warm, secure, and we do enjoy it, don’t be fooled by Kingston’s claim of “high quality workmanship.” And especially don’t think that customer service is high on their priority list. 20 Jan 25 When we purchased our home, we assumed (we know what that means) Kingston would use trades people that understood Kingston's goal "... to uphold our reputation for high quality workmanship." We've been experiencing difficulties with our mastershower and decided to replace it. When the trades people were demoing the existing shower, they uncovered workmanship that was far from high quality (see attached photo). As the work was concealed, I wonder what else is hidden. A whole new meaning to "buyer beware."

My wife and I moved from the East Coast and were looking to build a home. We met with three builders (New Tradition, Holt and Kingston). None of them seemed bad, but the things that were included as "standard" with Kingston seemed to be of better quality and their model home was beautiful. We started the process in September of 2020 and just moved in July 2021. We absolutely love the house, this was our first custom build and though there were a few hiccups along the way, in the end they hit every mark. Chris is a great sales manager, honestly that title doesn't suit him as he's also the architect, the designer, the advocate and sometimes the therapist. He guided us towards smart design choices, found ways to save us money and helped create our dream home. That's not to say he doesn't have a great team with him; Anita, Casey, Shawna & the rest of the team were amazing as well. If you're looking to build in the area, I'd really make sure you take the time to look into Kingston homes. Building a home is a long and sometimes stressful process and some things will certainly go wrong, but having a team like Kingston Homes in your corner is worth every dollar.

We have been in our new Kingston home for two months and we love it. It took longer to build than we anticipated but it was worth waiting for. The quality of the build and their attention to detail is exceptional. We were not living in the area while the house was being built and had to rely on their oversight team to make sure everything got done right. They did an excellent job. I think the key to being happy with the end results is spending a lot of your time in the design phase before building begins. Make sure you visit as many of their homes as possible, whether being built or almost completed, so that you know what you want in yours. Do not be afraid to ask for modifications, they are willing to do what you want. Of course, if what you ask for does not make sense, they will be honest and tell you so. They will also make suggestions because they have been at this a long time. Kingston’s vendors are excellent and easy to work with. If you have a choice of builders, I highly recommend Kingston Homes.