Vista Builders, LLC

Joe Patrick _{on Google}

Mar 1st, 2020

Vista is a class operation. Josh is a skilled craftsman , astute businessman and all around good guy. He and his team build beautiful homes and hes responsive and engaged from day one to job completion. M wife and I would work with Vista again and highly recommend them to anyone looking to build.

Scott Schlegel _{on Google}

Feb 8th, 2019

My review was scrubbed somehowsso posting again.
Josh was very helpful with pursuing a suitable lot for construction, interested in the project and took interest in me and my wife as clients. All in all, our house turned out pretty nice at a pretty good price.
He frequently said he's interested in saving money for the client, but his fees end up being one of the largest single line items. I could have made some of the worst choices with everything else, paid for many more months of interest, and it wouldn't add up to the fees. He did let me purchase items outside of his overhead mark up so that was nice. That said, why does the price of the floor need GLI mark up? Whether it's nice or crappy floor, the labor to install is likely the same. I'd also imagine most of the subs have their own general liability insurance but the homeowner pays that as part of the fee to GC.
I've never built another house - first time homeowner - so it's really tough to compare him to others. I met with Ron Lee Homes, Maison de Reve and Highland Homes prior to settling on Vista Builders.
I was apprehensive because Vista Builders, or perhaps the legacy corporation "Braswell LLC" were not registered with the BBB, didn't have reviews on Houzz, and at the time no Google reviews. Maybe I should have paid more attention to this.
The pros: very transparent billing (received all invoices except for framing and drywall so unsure on what those prices were), very flexible with change orders, and willing to make things right in most cases. Plumbing and electric haven't had any substantial issues. Seemingly honest in most dealings - reimbursed me for a sink broken by a sub. Attempted to rush at the end to finish the project to meet our timelines.
The cons: sometimes the project would sit for a while between phases as the subs were tied up on other jobs I presume, had the home quoted out with several subcontractors (framing, electrical, plumbing, countertops) but the quotes / specs were not updated after the initial home plans changed leaving initially quoted-selections now incorrect and reflected pricing for a bigger house. Hurricane straps were installed incorrectly on front porch as they should wrap up and over structure instead of screwed just parallel to structure - he did fix. Wrong quartz countertops installed throughout the house - he did fix. This was likely due to lack of quote updates even though we visited the vendor to pick what we wanted and sent Josh a photo of the stone and name. Wood doors delaminating due to improper priming and sealing (not sealed on all sides, tannin bleeding through) - offered to fix but didn't want painters removing all the doors after we moved in. Roof was leaking through hot water heater vent on roof - he fixed this. Porch column rebar was placed in incorrect location on foundation - he fixed this by drilling and epoxying rebar into correct locations but left the old rebar for many months. Drywall has many seams showing - he tried to fix, also left many things unpainted. I'd avoid his paint, drywall, framing, and foundation subs if possible.
I've tried to reach out about getting things painted to really finish what we paid for and the response is "I'll try." In the Air Force, we used to say there is no "i'll try" it is "Do or Do not." Since then I've mostly been ghosted by him unless it's something critical where larger costs could come to him down the road - like plumbing fixes or leaks.
If I were to do it again, I'd consider using Josh again as the devil you know can be better than the devil you don't, or I'd consider learning it all myself and subbing out everything with Angie's List. Hopefully this review helps guide other purchaser's decisions as there is a void of reviews on Vista Builders on the internet. A general contractor should be familiar with doing most of the work themselves to give the ability to appropriately grade their subs work.
A reputable builder should be pursued and one of the best ways to know is with online presence - Houzz, Angie's List, BBB and so on.

Michele Hale _{on Google}

Jul 18th, 2017

Josh Braswell started out strong and attentive, but didn't ultimate live up to the promises made for our addition. Too long of periods of time went between workers coming to the house. Josh also didn't supervise the workers properly, especially the painters and trim guys, as some of their work was shoddily done or not even done at all.
Since Josh basically ghosted us with radio silence towards the end of our job with many punch list items remaining we had to hire others to finish it.