Schell Brothers Reviews 82

We decided to move in 2016 from the Washington DC area. MaryAnne had researched builders in Southern Delaware and found the Schell Brothers floor plans and brochures to be extremely helpful.

We planned several visits to various communities and by fate, our first visit was at a B & B (now a wedding venue) that was less than a mile from Coastal Club, one of the communities we liked. We met Adam Penttegell who immediately impressed us. Not just his personality, but his ability to help and answer multiple questions.

In the following weeks we corresponded with Adam and came down several more times to look at various houses and communities but we kept coming back to The Cassidy Model and Coastal Club.

We finally took that huge final step, with Adam’s help. We had our lot, and our home but the Schell experience was far from over. Maryanne was the driving force In floor plan decisions but we also had the professionals from Schell available. The final selection of everything from hardware to paint to just about anything imaginable was both nerve wracking and fun. We met neighbors at this who are still dear friends.

The build was seamless and I can imagine many reading here doubt that. Of course there were setbacks but Schell has outstanding supervisors and JD kept us informed and the project moving. We moved into a rental about 6 months before settling as our home sold quickly. If was fun driving in each day and we also got to join the clubhouse early which helped establish new friends.

So…..here we are. I walk into our home each day and have something to smile about. The colors, the lighting, the views of the pond, the sunsets, the courtyard and fireplace, the herbs and flowers we have established. One floor living has been a huge plus (although the loft and my office are terrific).

I am not going into detail but the towns of Lewes, Rehoboth, Milton all offer more positive experiences. Cape Henlopen State Park is a gem. None of this has anything to do with Schell Brothers but it had to be mentioned.

If this is too lengthy, I apologize. But, Adam and Schell Brothers truly changed my life and I tell him that each time I see him.

Life is good
Cheers

Please contact me if you have questions

I first heard about Schell Brothers after they did an Extreme Home Makeover close to my hometown. I built a home in 2020 in Saddle Ridge and couldn't have been happier with the end result. We built during COVID, so being a part of the build could have been a little difficult but between their construction app 'Heartbeat' and the weekly phone calls from the Construction Manager, we never missed a milestone in our home. This was a first build for us, so we were thankful Schell Brothers walked us through every step and had a transparent process that allowed us to be involved in every phase of our build. We love our home and can't thank the team at Schell Bros enough!

We are so grateful to have built a home with Schell Brothers. From the initial meeting with Schell’s sales person to settlement the process couldn't have been better. Selecting all the finishes for our home was our favorite part but we recommend doing your homework and coming to your selections appointment prepared otherwise the design day could be a little stressful. We’re so happy with the way our home turned out! Throughout the building process our construction manager kept us up to date through Heartbeat. We loved getting photo updates every week. The warranty team kept in touch after the settlement. We appreciated their timeliness in resolving a few small outstanding issues and answering any questions we had. We are very happy with our home and our builder and would recommend Schell to anyone looking to build a new home.

I am lucky enough to live in a Kingfisher at Marsh Island. All of the team at Schell Brothers was fantastic, from my first point of contact to Warranty. This was indeed a unique experience, and I can tell that their happiness mission is real. It shows in everything they do. My Construction Supervisor, Mike, was communicative, and thorough and I felt as though he cared as if he was building a home for his own family.

Schell has been the hardest company to communicate with. We moved in months after completion date and had a massive list of items to complete and fix. They have said everything would be fixed ASAP and we are still waiting for big items to be fixed since so much was rushed and completed incorrectly. We are still waiting for new cabinet molding and it’s been over a year.

BUYER BEWARE If you think Schell Bros is an ethical company, let me share our experience with you so this doesn't happen to you. 
We bought a new home in Aug 2021. The home was built for someone else but they backed out at closing in Dec 2020 and never set foot in the home. It was listed with a local realtor shortly after. We placed a bid which was accepted. We closed in Aug 2021.Fast forward to Sep 2022 when we got our first property tax bill from the county. Imagine our surprise when we were being billed for taxes BEFORE we took possession of the property. Yup, we were billed for taxes from Jan 2021. That's 8 months before we closed. When we brought this to the attention of Tricia Smith at Schell Bros in the Richmond VA office, we were told to reference section 7 of the purchase agreement which describes "Supplemental Expenses". The paragraph states the standard verbiage about us being responsible for property taxes, utility, etc to be prorated to the settlement date. We have no problem with this.

At the end of that paragraph are two sentences that provide a convenient loophole for Schell Bros. They state, " Notwithstanding the foregoing, and irrespective of the Settlement Date, Buyer may receive a supplemental tax bill for the increased taxes on the property following the completion of construction. All amounts due and owing pursuant to the Supplemental Tax Bill shall be the sole responsibility of Buyer." Those last two sentences allow Schell Bros to pass their tax obligation to us. Does this sound unethical to anyone besides us? It may be legal due to the contract but I would have hoped Schell Brothers to do the right thing and pay their fair share. Shame on you Schell Bros.
Our next step was to contact the county treasurer to get this adjusted. We were told that due to Covid and a shortage of personnel, the house was appraised in Jan 2021 but the amount was not entered into their system until Sep 2022 - a full 18 months later than usual. This was explained to Schell Bros who again took no responsibility. It seems they are taking advantage of the pandemic and are using it to their advantage. Again I ask, does this sound ethical to you?
Note - We have seen the purchase agreements of our nextdoor neighbors -one moved in before and one after we did. The one who moved in before does NOT have those last two sentences in their contract. The one who moved in after does have those 2 sentences.  However, when the one, who moved in after we did, complained AFTER closing about those supplemental expenses, Schell Bros agreed to NOT pass along any expenses after the settlement date. As you can see the precedent has been set.  Why are we being treated differently? We're requesting the same for our situation.  Do the right thing.

I’ve owned this home since 2012. My wife died in 2013 never got to enjoy the home. Had nothing but issues with the roof leaking Insurance adjuster said they cannot ensure the roof was not installed properly/dormers bowing inn/Windows leaking/basement door leaking/sidewalk main entrance sunk 2 inches funneling water towards the foundation/blacktop garage door entrance sinking.I would not buy a home from these people because once they get their money They don’t care about you.

My family and I live in Magnolia Green and have had an overall wonderful experience with Schell Brothers, even a year after closing on our home. We found that the construction did take longer than expected, but our team from sales through construction and warranty was top notch with their communication and kept us informed along the way. I loved the design process and ultimately did not mind that it took longer because I have a beautiful home, well built home to enjoy today. I hope I don’t have to move again but I would use Schell again if so.

Be very careful if you choose to do business with Schell Brothers, we contracted to buy one of the first 10 houses built by them in Richmond Va and it was a nightmare. The sales process went as well as you could expect, they even had us up to Rehoboth DL to do our selections. Sales folks are nice and gave us a good experience.

Once we got into the construction process with them the experience started getting bad. There was delay after delay, many changes in the constuction managers, some better than others.

When we finally did close on our house, problems began almost immediatly. The day we closed the first issue we ran into was we could not lock the front door because the lock had been swapped out incorrectly. After we found problem after problem in the house, some of the below where the worst.

- AC/Heat electronic dampers wired to the wrong zone, or not wired at all
- AC compressor didn't have electricity wired to it
- Heating and cooling balance issues, some rooms very hot or cold depending on the season
- Bowed walls
- Poor tile work in master bath
- Bad smells coming from the crawl space
- Holes drilled in the conditioned crawspace for low voltage irrigation controls under the dirt line, which allowed water to flow into the crawspace
- Incorrectly flashed deck
- Nosiy floors
- Very loud sump pump

Many other issues, it took almost 2 years to have everything corrected, most corrections involved fighting with managment to get a resolution. It was like living in a house that needed renovations even though it was a new build. The worst part was that corporate in Delaware didn't get engaged in fixing the situation from our perspective as a customer.

We wrongly expected that since they promised so much at the time of sale they would have focused on delivering a quality product, we where wrong.

We moved into our a SchellBrothers home on 4/30/20
with a lot of hesitation, but was assured the back and
one side of the yard would be fixed. They came four times, and each time they made the problem worse. We cannot walk on parts of the side and backyard without
Slipping. A rep from SchellBrothers came and told us that there is nothing they can do and offered us $1500.
The cheapest estimate we got to fix the problem so far is over $20,000.

We are having some serious regrets.

Shell Brothers only got one (1) star because I was forced to give them a star to write the review. In reality they deserve a negative reputation.

Last year my family and I purchased a new build from Schell Brothers on a 6000 sqft home in Magnolia Green; Located in Mosely, VA - just outside Richmond. It is a really nice, and family friendly, area to live in.

Our Home has had numerous issues over the past year: nail pops, cracks in the stone at the base of the house, a missing pump that was supposed to go into one of our sump pumps, drywall imperfections, a crooked wall in one of the bedrooms, a support beam the workers cut into to make room for a pvc pipe in the basement, and a slew of other issues that a county/state inspection company, we hired prior to our final one year inspection, found.

This inspection company gave us a booklet containing pictures of every square inch of our home where they found over 1000 problems that were both minor and potentially against county/ state code. When presented with this booklet, Caleb (a representative for Schell in our local area and the guy who calls the shots on what will and what will not be fixed), explained, in not so many words, that Schell is not responsible to fix most of the issues in the book leaving us to feel as if we will have to suck it up. Caleb took his time to mark all the issues Schell wont fix; so far it's been a stand off between the family and him.

If I had the motivation, I would sue Schell Brothers for the neglect and lack of care they have shown with the final product they produced; however I think that would be a waste of time and money.

So the bottom line is don't get into business with this company. They are shady, they only care about aesthetics, and they don't have your best interest in mind when conducting business with you; your home and family come second to their agenda. Schell talks a big game, but their product have shown that they take careless shortcuts.

On a final note: Caleb has been notorious for marking issues fixed in heartbeat which were not even looked at nor fixed in the real world. Working with Schell is a great way of getting ripped off.

If you are planning to purchase a Schell Brothers home in the state of Virginia, please take the time to read reviews. Even better would be for you to take a moment to meet people in the community where you are looking to build to gain an honest assessment before you spend the kind of money they are asking for your new home. I am providing this review based on a home that I closed on end of October 2021. Pro’s - If you are looking for a home that provides modern efficiencies, has curb appeal and located in a fantastic community, then Schell Brothers has those aspects of the build covered. I have been amazed at how low our utility bills have been and absolutely love my community. The home is as far as we can tell, structurally sound. However, when you are spending the type of money that you need to spend to obtain a Schell Brothers home, I HIGHLY SUGGEST that you consider and pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to the following which is the root cause of my review rating. Schell Brothers needs to spend time improving in the following areas:
1. Quality inspections throughout the process. Schell Brothers assures you that they perform several quality inspections during your build in order to ensure everything is progressing correctly. However, we encountered a few problems during our build. When they poured the foundation, they did not account for the Basement door. Instead, they put in a window. This meant they had to (after the framing stage), break out the concrete to replace with a door. In our finished bonus room, they installed blackout windows where we was supposed to have real windows. Part of our hall bathroom and several other locations in the home did not have painting completed.
2. Attention to Detail. We had huge issues with the Custom painting program. The job was sloppy to say the least. There were areas where only 1 coat of paint was used (supposed to be multiple), Drywall was a wreck, THEY PAINTED OVER THE HINGES. My Suggestion DO NOT BUY THE CUSTOM PAINTING. You will be better off getting outside contractor. If you must, inspect it well before your closing timeframe. CARPET was another huge issue. The carpet was cut short at all junctures where it met the hardwood or tile flooring. Additionally, we had several lumps in the carpet, the seams were terrible and visible. They did not even bother to tuck it at the baseboards. DO NOT UPGRADE the carpet you are offered. Instead, Get a real carpet installing company. The lack of quality of the installation will make you regret it. I already have in my plan to replace this carpet in the next 2 years.
3. Warranty Service. You will want to set aside plenty of time to do a DETAILED review of your home. Turn on all appliances and run the water, close the and open the doors and windows. Inspect the flooring. We had a list of over 50 items for them to fix. By the way the guy who came out initially before we was assigned our rep often tried to discount our concerns. However, we made them add to the list as this was not our first rodeo and I DID NOT appreciate being treated like I was an idiot. We have been in our home for 8 months now and we are still waiting for the Blackout windows to be replaced. We keep hearing they need to get a window contractor. But, keep in mind they are in the process of building a lot of homes, guess who their priority is on the list.
There is a lot more insight that I could offer, and I have pictures to back it all up. But the idea here is to help other people on their journey as the purchase of a home is a major decision. Would I do it again you ask, Probably not with Schell. I would have gone with a custom builder at this price point.
I would be amiss to not give a shout out to Melissa who is our current Warranty Coordinator. She has been helpful with trying to help us get things resolved. She was brand new to the company when we purchased our home. I can only hope that they allow her to continue with the type of service she is trying to provide.

The company leads you to believe that they will resolve issues reported within the first year of ownership per their warranty program. We have had an ongoing issue reported within the year warranty program that is not getting addressed. They keep passing the issue back to one of their suppliers who passes the issue back to Schell and me the owner is left with no one addressing the issue.

My husband and I are extremely happy with our Schell Brothers home . We were truly impressed with our entire experience, our 1st meeting was to tour the community, we then met with the salesperson he was very informative and not pushy at all. The customer service and design center were so helpful and made the whole process of designing our home not complicated or stressful at all rather an easy and fun experience. Our project manager called every Friday with updates he was great. Our entire build was so organized all we had to do was wait for our house to be finished and move in.
We could not believe all the time,updates and help we were given throughout the entire process .We have built several new homes and our Schell Brothers experience was by far our best and our finished Home is just beautiful and more than we ever expected. The detail ,quality of our house and the community we live in are just perfect for us.
We tell everyone we come in contact with how happy we are with our Schell Brother home, it truly is one of the best we have built.
Kathy & Drew Anderson

The punch list is extensive. From defective flooring to trimming issues and more. We make appointments to correct the problems and so far they have been true to their word. However, you have one year from closing to spot any defects or poor workmanship. After that you are on your own. It seems that the company's protocol is to build as many homes in the shortest amount of time as they can leaving many items done improperly. For instance, Our fireplace has two significant different shades of material. This is obvious simply by looking at it. Why would a laborer install that as it was so obvious? The homes are beautiful, but in my opinion, so far, the workmanship is poor to fair at best. I sadly cannot say that I would recommend buying new construction from them.

Have been attempting to set appointments since March 1 for visit. No callbacks, missed zoom calls, the worst.

Worst experience especially in Richmond Rivermill location, after several attempts got an appointment for site visit at Rivermill, sales person was so rude, first word when we enter to the office is “we already met our target for next couple of month not in rush to sell anymore”.if that is the case why they have given appointment?.
Through online we have selected model etc...I was promised site engineer will be available to clarify all our question it was a false promise, expect sales person who is fresher with careless and rude attitude.

Only interested in selling lots and homes-not interested in ensuring what was sold was what was communicated to the buyer. They put sod on sand-so sod does not grow, they engineer an HVAC system that is not equipped for a home, they have major drainage issues on sites that are on or near the water, they don't respond on a timely matter to follow punch list items...I could go on and on

I tried to set up appoints at 2 locations Magnolia Green and Highlands around Richmond, VA and neither agent called me back even though I said I was traveling from out of town to view those locations (looked at other builders in those developments) and then when I submit a complaint on line I received the response at the end of this email from a sales person who does not know what they are doing or read their emails. So glad I did not look at their houses and like them since from their salespeople I do not believe they care about customers or potential customers. Apparently they don't need new buyers, good to know in advance. One can only imagine how they treat buyers who have already given them money. Here is the response to my complaint email - someone should read their whole email before responding;
Thanks for your interest in Walden!
You can see the location on a map below. The community is located at the intersection of Hollymount Rd and Rt 24.
There will be a Cassidy model in the community, which will be available to purchase as a leaseback. Is that something you would be interested in learning more about?
We will keep you in the loop on the community as more information is released!
Sara Besche
Schell Community Consultant

Horrible service after you are in your home. I've been in my home almost eight months and still have repair issues that were present at time home was first occupied. When you call customer service your calls are never returned. They simply refuse to fix the problems in your home. My Landscaping was totally dead when I moved into my home and although they promised back in April 2017 they would replace it it is still the same. I have still have grout missing from my master bathroom and a broken window frame on the outside of my house. Front porch siding is still in need of servicing. Carpeting going up the steps had paint all over it, they did remove the carpeting but then took 6 weeks to put it back down. I would never buy from Schell again, once they get your money they really don't care about you.. too busy building new homes and they are just worried about the almighty dollar. I would never recommend Schell to anybody.