Rochester Homes, Inc.

Our experience with Rochester Homes has been a good one.We live close and went to see the models on the Factory lot.We found the one that fit what we wanted almost immediately.We then met with Rob Carlson and explained our situation which was dealing with an Insurance Company dew to a house fire which was a total loss.We lived the floor plan but we had a lot of choices to make as far as exterior colors and interior choices as well.Rob was great he walked us through the process and gave us great ideas and the finish product turned out awesome.The Cement work went well that crew worked hard to get there end accomplished as well.A bunch of good guys.The house showed up a couple weeks later than originally planned but that was dew to site issues and planning changes that had to be done.And it was expedited very quickly as well.The home showed up and was carefully lifted and set in the Basement that part went well also.We did have some issues with water coming in the basement but that was taken care of very quickly.We had a Shower issue which took a few days.It had to be torn out and redid but it was handle immediately.As for the other few things once again I Text Rob and he was on it and it was handled within a few days.Rob has been awesome the house is nearing a year old and we love it.If anything changes I will update my review.

They oversell and underdeliver. We were told all sorts of things about how they go out of their way to create custom homes just the way we want them. Don't believe it. They do as much as they feel like doing and then come up with excuses for why it can't be done in our house. Don't ask for coffered ceilings because (even though there are photos of them in much smaller rooms), your room won't ever be large enough. Don't ask for hardwood floors cuz they can't be had unless you find someone else to install them. Don't expect walls painted the color of your planned decor because you'll hear that you can't paint modular walls for a whole year (ironically when the warranty expires). They don't even pass along the manufacturer's warranty on the roofs. We were expected to get our own storm doors and have them installed by someone else. Walking away ended up getting us everything we wanted and saved us $22,000 over Rochester and everything they wanted outsourced.
So unless you want a cookie-cutter house, go to someone where customer service means more than "we do what we feel like doing today."

I would probably have been much happier with my new Rochester Home had my dealer not turned out to be such a rip off. He would have made a great used car salesman. My primary reason for choosing a modular home was time. I was told many times that the home would be move-in ready in 4-5 months at the latest. The house was ordered July of 2015 & we have just moved in a few days ago. While most of my complaints are with the dealer, Rochester has been no help in getting my house "move-in" ready. Considering the house was nearly complete the day it was delivered, I find it hard to believe it took close to a year to site build an attached garage & small front porch. For the most part the house itself is pretty good. I'm a little disappointed with the quality of the drywall finishing & the electrical work leaves something to be desired. Several wall switches are located on walls that require you to be in the dark room before you can access them. We have one cabinet in the utility room that has a badly damaged inner wall yet the adjacent cabinet wall is undamaged. This could only have occurred if the damaged cabinet was installed in that condition. Poor quality control. I wish Rochester Homes would pay a bit more attention to their own hype about the caring quality of a family owned company & take better care of the end user.

The first major problem was, wires were not correctly connected in a plug by the front door. A fire started inside the plug. Lucky for us a subcontractor was installing baseboard and smelled smoke. The second problem was the electrical boxes for the bathroom lights were centered on the walls and not over the sinks. The next problem was the light switch for the bathroom lights controlled the bedroom plugs and not the bathroom lights. They were actually wired to stay "hot" all the time. Our contractor had to subcontract an electrician to fix those issues and to check all plugs and switches throughout the house to make sure all were connected properly. The othe problems involved finish work. The bathroom vanities were installed without spacers so the doors would only open part way and would be useless for storage. The kitchen upper cabinets were installed unevenly on either side of the window. One was about 1-1/4" the other about 3", very noticeable. One of the base corner cabinets was installed crookedly so the countertop is off. One corner of the countertop is pieced because someone in the shop mismeasured. So instead of one diagonal seam there is another seam going from the wall to the diagonal seam. They didn't strap down the cabinet drawers for shipping so they were on the floor and damaged upon delivery. We paid for upgraded cabinets but, they are only wood fronts. The boxes are at best 1/4" boxes covered in wood patterned contact paper with strips covering seams. Builder quality at best. We paid less for more solid wood cabinets for a remodel of our kitchen at our previous house. The ceilings in the dining room and master bedroom are waves. How do you fix that??? The windows were supposed to be Anderson windows and are but, are their lowest "builder" grade called Silverline. Disappointed there. We replaced two interior doors so far. One's frame was attached only by two long screws through the hinges. As soon as the door trim was taken off the frame twisted in the rough opening. No wonder the contractor was unable to adjust the doors. The walls were to be primed and ready for paint but, had so much dirt in the primer all had to be sanded before painting. We did not get the quality we thought we paid for. This was the fourth house we've had built, the first modular and the worst quality. We thought quality would be better due to indoor build and control. My parents bought a modular in 1996 built in Michigan by a company that went under in 2009. It was a really well built house with a quality finished interior. We thought ours would be the same. Not so.

Could those of you who write reviews please name the site contractors you worked with? I want recommendations on who to use and not use in Indiana.

Rochester has a good, solid base product, but beware: There are a lot of things that can go wrong with the process. You have to be present EVERY DAY and stand your ground, don't let them get away with leaving you with a home that is sub-par because they will try to do exactly that. The main salesperson at the plant has zero concern about the customer once he has your moeny and will avoid you at all costs once the process starts. The engineers and factory workers do not communicate with each other and what you order is not necessarily what they will manufacture.

Don't believe them when they say they can build ANY home from a set of plans, they cannot and did not build what we wanted, they changed the design until it fit what THEY wanted, in some cases without consulting us. The stairway was supposed to be 38 inches wide, they made it 48. The loft area was to have a continuous shed dormer, they chopped it into two dormers stating they could not do it any other way. Even the open concept that we ordered was not built to our specs, they went ahead and put in the ceiling and floor as if we never met about this issue, even after they marked up the plans showing it the way we wanted it. They actually put a HVAC duct opening above a bathtub/shower. So, we're supposed to heat or cool the air IN THE SHOWER?

Don't believe them when they say "All exterior walls are 2 x 6 construction" because they are not. One gable end wall on my home is 2x6, but the other one is 2x4. Why? Who knows? The last upper section of roof on my cape cod is also 2x4. The house does not sit on my basement correctly, it's about 3/4 inches off. That doesn't sound like much, but try putting siding on a house that is off by that much and see what happens. As well, they don't insulate the top floor if you get a cape cod, they claim the walls on that floor are "roof". So, it's up to you to make sure you insulate all those sections and dormers in your upstairs living space. They basically don't care about that 2nd floor at all, to them it's an attic.

The setting crew did a VERY POOR job of setting the home. They were supposed to spend three days, they spent two and slap-dashed the interior finish portions. The entire set of collar ties in the roof had to be re-done by another carpenter, they were not plumb or level anywhere, in some places out by nearly 3 inches. If we would have drywalled that portion, it would have looked like a roller coaster. They jacked up the basement so far that the house halves separated and the roof would not sit correctly, this made the end walls not sit inside of the space they were designed for and much fill and re-work was needed to fix these problems.

Also: be very careful who you buy the home through, a distributors might also be a double-wide trailer mover pretending to be "builder" and have little or no experience finishing out a home. I've learned my lesson, but sadly this is going to be my last home, it's where I'll retire so I don't get a "do-over". I have to live with Rochester's mistakes.

Overall I like my home. There are many finishing details I was not happy with. The merge wall is very noticeable. My builder was wonderful and helped every possible way. The finish crew had to come twice and still did not get every detail to satisfaction. Overal the house is good and I would probably recommend.

I own a Rochester Home two story. One of the best investments of my life. I have had no problems and the house is outstanding. The dealer and Rochester Homes was a great experience for me and my family!!!! I would recommend a Rochester Homes to anyone!!!!

I have a rochester home and I love it. Service was spectacular and the utility savings are unbeliveable!!!!