Stratford Homes - Stratford, Wisconsin

Chad G.

We liked several things with Stratford Homes; seeing pictures during the building process, price stability, and options, and that we could opt out of things and get them done local. Worth Construction was the builder. The good was overshadowed with the many issues we have dealt with. We liked Randy; he is a friendly person, but I ended uptaking over the remainder of the project due to extreme delays. Some delays were Randy, some were Stratford. House documents were signed in January, and a build date in the summer was estimated with delivery in october. We did not want to build in the winter; the house arrived in January the next year. The builders guys did a pour job on our basement floor (cement cracked significantly). The builder selected a sub for the garage, covered deck, and covered the front porch. The garage alone took almost 3 months from start to finish, and that's not even with concrete and doors. The flat work contractor was supposed to get the deck concrete holes inspected and didn't show up. I had to call the county inspector to call off the inspection a half hour before scheduled (Randy repeditedly said he would call but didn't). I then moved away from the builder and selected contractors for the remaining work myself. Things then wrapped up on the project. It was noticed BEFORE any stone work, the large picture window in the front had a crack in the frame on the top (see photo), it was promised this would be fixed. Stratford sent a tech to use vinyl repair kit approved by Sierra Pacific (the garbage manufacturer). The next spring it was cracked again. Brian with stratford,agreed the frame needed replaced. I then started looking closely at other windows. 2 other windows have cracks in the frames. I brought this up to Brian, he took this information to Serria Pacific, who denied warranty because "the stone work on the house was being pushed by the frost in the ground and cracking the windows". Then Brian denied fixing any of the windows. Two of the windows have no possible way for this to happen given one is above the concrete stoop (as stated earlier this window was seen cracked before stone was added), and another the earth doesn't meet the stone work at all so this is a completely false diagnosis. Our kitchen window was tweeked from delivery ,nd Brian kept promising replacement of the sash, which took a year. We had to stuff shopping bags into it because it would not close (1/4 inch gap. wind would blow through a,d it took a year and a half to get this fixed). A major blunder during the plans was Stratford changed the front porch as requested on the print, but they didn't change lower level on the print. The foundation was then poured wrong no, matching the house. Randy didn't have our garage or stairs built to code. We had to find contractors to add dry wall to meet county code whi,h of course cost extra. If Stratford wants to improve I would start with picking a different window company because there are way better options for the money. Offer a spray foam option which would help with air seal and stiffen the structure. Deliver the house with very minimal windows installed. The front door was tweeked and still is not right. Be involved with the builder or bring that in-house to ensure when delivery is scheduled a path for transport and site is ready with a plan. Our home was backed in and jerked around (have video) which I believe to be a lot of our issues. We fully expected Stratford to back up their product but they flat out did not. Simply put we would go a different direction. This is tough to say, because my mother bought a home from them in the 90s, and the experience was great.

When you build, you of course expect issues and things to not go as planned, but we feel our experience was extreme and have many other examples not included above.

To Stratford, we were considering a lawsuit, but you win! My wife and I just do not want to expel any more energy toward getting you to honor your product warranty. We will instead be sharing our experience.
Feel free to reach out with questions.

Wade D. G.

Very poor customer service have been trying to get our front door replaced now for over 5 years. First the place that sold us the Stratford home said just deal with it and if it gets really bad just replace it ourselves. reached out to Stratford now and seems like they keep forgetting or just don’t want to replace it. It keeps leaking water whenever it rains. Very disappointed in Vande Berg Homes and Stratford.

Andrea ?. Z.

We went through Ideabox for our house. So far we have spent over $10k fixing problems that Stratford messed up on. Plumbing, electrical (which was incorrectly installed) major drywall cracks, unfinished interior doors, cabinets that were suppose to come level but didn’t, cracked cabinets, walls that start small on the floor then increase in size as they go up by a few inches and to top it off tonight our kitchen sink fell out tonight. Oh and I can’t forget the HORRIBLE tile and grout job. I can’t believe this company is in business still. Do not use them.

Megan V. B.

We sell Stratford homes at All American Dream Homes and we are beyond pleased. I was also raised in a two-story Stratford Home and it was a great experience. My grandparents own a Stratford and love it as well and it has been the perfect retirement home for them. The Stratford staff is a great team to work with and are a company with great values and craftsmanship!

HOF B.

Pretty sure this is the place our retirement home is coming from. The loft cabin style with an open great room is exactly what we want. Staff was awesome. Friendliest and most helpful staff of any of the fabhome places we looked at. They may have been the friendliest people we've ever met. If not the friendliest definitely the top three.

Mike G.

Terrible experience. Stratford will hide behind the "dealer" which in our experience was a year and a half of delays and poor workmanship. The warranty is 1 year after the house is set up. It was 9 months after the house was set before we received occupancy therefore 3 months of warranty. Absolutely no follow up from Stratford. Not even one phone call to ask how things are going. Less than 3 years later the roof is leaking and the warranty person is out of the office, he'll get back to us. Month and a half later we're still waiting...............

Heather P.

Tom at stratford went out of his way to get us some pictures of our home eventhough it was already wrapped up!! We weren't notified by our contractor soon enough but when I called stratford they still helped me get some photo's. Great customer service and very friendly and accommodating. Thanks Tom😁

Len S.

Very nice family owned and operated business. Just starting process of building a retirement ranch home. Have a ways to go but we love the "Kennedy" model we viewed on site. McKenzie was GREAT!