Fowler Custom Homes

We had the greatest experience with FCH. The building process was stress free, and everything turned out just perfectly! And.. on time! The entire staff was a joy to work with. If/When we build again... there is only one call that I will make! Hello.... Fowler? :)

We have worked with many contractors and have had great experiences. The opposite is true of Fowler Custom Homes. Owners Barry and Kelli Fowler run an unprofessional, unreliable and untrustworthy business. The biggest difference from our past experiences with reliable builders is the lack of any kind of transparency or a building schedule from team Fowler. The Fowler's claim they don't have a schedule - don't know the schedule and it is unreasonable for the customer to want to know when things will get done. FCH will not take accountability for anything that goes wrong - and in building things do and will go wrong - that is expected - BUT it is also expected the builder won't try to twist the truth and claim no responsibility. For example - 3 days after moving into a Fowler home - the basement flooded - we contacted Brandon Fowler immediately- his response was I will tell the office Monday and they can handle it - nobody handled it - we took care of the water damage - the hassle and inconvenience of a very poor job of grading and drainage (which Fowler does himself) caused the water issues - clearly the responsibility of the builder. The only redeeming quality for Fowler are the subcontractors- we finally had to bypass the Fowler team and worked directly with the subs - they were great - communicated well - spoke only the truth and finished the job - thankful for them Beware of Fowler Custom Homes - it was an unfortunate experience

BACKGROUND: I'm a commercial/industrial general contractor of 15+ years. I manage building contracts up to $175,000,000. I wanted you to get an honest review from someone with experience in construction, so you won't get dragged down the same road as I did.BUDGET: We chose Fowler Custom Homes because a now former friend of mine works for them. We told them our price range was $350,000 - $400,000 with emphasis on $350,000. Our first quote came back at $405,000! We finally settled at $370,000 after quite a few cuts and giving up some wants.FINISHES: We asked for a 4' front door and was assured that was not a problem. We found that none of their suppliers had a 4' door. It was suggested we go with a 6' double door. Received a change order for $2,335. "Why are we being charged extra for the door." "There isn't a 4' wide door available." Remember they told us, in the beginning, a 4' wide door was not a problem?COUNTERTOPS: Instructed to go to Midwest Tile. Went in to make selections and find out our budget; "We are not allowed to tell you your budget, that's between us and Fowler." Serious? We picked out some quartz and left. Went to A1 Granite and found some very nice quartz slabs. Fowler told us we were over budget. We bought the quartz from A1 and coordinated the installation ourselves. Our deduct from Fowler was $4,650. Seems like a lot, but our island is 30 square feet leaving only 23 square feet to finish the kitchen at that price. Estimate was priced for laminate countertops when we said solid surface during design.PLUMBING FIXTURES: During design we requested a free-standing tub in the master bathroom. Oops...we must have forgot, says the builder. That will be $1,770 extra. We looked at the contract documents to see what faucets were used for budgeting and found they were discontinued. Why would you setup the budget with a faucet that is discontinued? Change orders! Everything was priced as chrome finish when we asked for brushed nickel during design.GARAGE DOORS: They priced openers that had 1-star reviews across multiple websites because it consistently broke down. We asked for more robust openers and of course charged $495 more. Then they installed the wrong garage doors.DECEPTION: Speaking to the superintendent for Fowler, he tells me he is going to throw the inspector off by leaving simple things unfinished so we can get the C of O on-time. How is the inspector going to complete a thorough inspection if you are trying to throw him off? STAIRS: Which stair bullnose would you like us to install? The one that matches the floor... "They don't offer a bullnose for your floor." says Nick, project manager. Flooring companies always offer a stair bullnose for their flooring. I call the manufacturer and the bullnose is on backorder. Lied to again! I come back to the house the next day and a random bullnose has been installed. Still not fixed to this day and probably never will be based on emails from Fowler.CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY: Received on the final day of the contract. However, the carpet could not be installed yet because of people working in the house, making a mess. We need to be out of our rental house that weekend. We have to sign an early possession agreement at $70/day until closing. We can't close on the house until the carpet is installed per our lender. Final bill: $770 in early possession fees. BOTTOMLINE: Shady business practices. Fowler Custom Homes only cares about two things; how many houses they can crank out in a year and how much money they can line their pockets with.The good employees:Kara - Great designer. Treats clients with the utmost respect and does her best to help you choose materials and finishes even though she can't tell you the budget.Chris - New to the company but an amazing craftsman. Works extremely hard and pays very close attention to details.Floyd - Great trim and cabinet carpenter. Everything is perfectly straight!If you would like to discuss my review or ask me any other questions, please drop me a line at [email protected]

Fowler Custom Homes is phenominal! We built our home almost two years ago and the experience was wonderful. The one stop shopping at Gotch Covered was GREAT. Many thanks to Julie and Dori who helped us through the process of choosing our fiinishes. We would do this all over again with Fowler Custom Homes. If you want an experienced builder and very qualified designers at your fingertips, then this is the place to be! My thanks to all of you.Deb Yeutter

Warning !!!!!!!! Please don't build houses with Barry Fowler. My husband and I built a house with him in 2012 and have been having problems since the day first day we moved in. Our house have a lot of problems but Im just going to mention the big one. The foundation is not done right so we get water leakage in ourr basement eveytime it rain. We had to dealt with sink holes around our house and by our drive way. Tonight as i am writing this our dish washer machine  is not draining and water leaked out all over our kitchen. Water is pouring ou from the waterline in the basement. The humidifier machine is also leaking. This is a 1 year old im talking abt. We are very frustrated about all of these problems and is aftraid for who know what else could go wrong with it. We didnt research about him before signing the contract. Our foundation wasin the building process when i shared with my coworker about building a house with Barry Fowler. She told me he is a crook. She has a friend in the builder bussiness who knew about Barry so i got to talk to him. He told me to becareful and just watch Barry closely. I mean it was too late to back out but now we feel like we should have pay him the 5k and cancel the contract. Who would want to bbuy our house now for 260000k knowing there are all sort of problems. One of Barry real estate agent asked us to show our house to one of their customer and we refused because we hate Barry so much. We now regret that we didnt warn those people abt him. We shouldhave let them come to our house and point out how poor of a job Barry and his men did. This is a true story . Please learn about your builder before you putyour saving into ahouse.dont ever build with BARRY FOWLER.Hide12 of your friends have already joined Yelp. Sign up and join them