Guerdon Homes Cabin Series Review

Dealer and Manufacture fail to resolve with home owner.

Dealer: Family Home Center, Belgrade, Montana.
Owner: LeRoy Likness
Never contacted owner since close of Escrow

Manufacture: Guerdon Homes
Fails to follow up on repair requests.

Final walk thru list ingnored by dealer and manufacture.

Cabinet Work was incorrectly installed at factory. Needs to be inspected by a professional carpenter and repaired.

Tape and texture repair has never been completed.

Sub-floor may be in question.

See all articles below for specifics.

Low E Windows Fail

White splotches shows areas where the Low E film has failed.
3 windows have been identified to date. Several other windows have early stages of Low E film failure. Reason given to date is that these windows may have been part of a bad batch. While windows are covered under warranty, there is an estimated $55 per window to have installed at owners expense.

Replacement Door Not Fitted

The replacement door is not the same set up as original so another type of hinge has to be used to attach.

There are 2 problems with this.

1 - When closed the hidge shows and does not match all other doors.

2 - It is offset so that door is unable to be closed all the way.

2 Years Later

This milestone demonstrates Guerdon's response to 2 years of phone ands email contact and 60 days of this Blog.

A service representative has been identified in the company. He has been able to send out a new door for the cabinet. The wrong size was sent in error so waiting for new door again.

After 60 days there is no resolution by Guerdon.

Cabinet Doors Come Disassembled

Doors Fall Apart: This is the second door that has come disassembled. Both instances have been the seam closest to the hinges. A replacement was sent for the first door. It is a perfect match, but visible hinges have to be used since the original door has hinges inserted into a pre-routed recessed hole.

First images demonstrates that door frames are not glued or constructed properly. This door is being set to Guerdon for examination.

Second image shows what door should look like attached.

Third image is the solution since replacement door does not come pre-routed.

A later post will be made as to a reply from Guerdon and a resolution. This is currently Unresolved.

Staple Gun Uses On Drawer Glides

Drawer Glides: One of the primary factors in the failure of drawer performance is the installation process of drawer glides. They are not installed with screws as one would expect, but a staple gun. This makes them prone to be unstable or come unattached from drawer. Unresolved.

Wrong Color Used To Complete Deck

Front Deck: This is an indisputable display in the lack of quality control at the Guerdon factory and distribution of Family Home Center. Notice the two planks that are the wrong color. It may be without question that every individual from completion to delivery visually witnessed this. Homeowner coordinated the location and replacement of planks.

Tape and Texture

Drywall tape and texture. The long running crack on ceiling seam has been in house since walk thru. Over a period of one year some settling cracks have increased close to .25" inches. Owner was notified that this would be resolved late in the follow Summer.

This house is suppose to be UBC code. It has not been determined by owner if the exteriors walls have to be taped and the interior walls just have to be caulked to meet these guide lines. It is standard building practice on new homes to tape interior and exterior walls. Unresolved

Cabinet Drawers Not Installed Properly

Drawers - 70% of all drawer fell out or were off by as much .25" inch. They were worked on numerous times and has never been resolved completely. After move in it was discovered that quick fixes were performed using various methods not acceptable by any building or furniture codes. Notice a 4" screw used to hold this small cabinet frame support board in place. Unresolved.

Dryer Vent Hole

Dry Vent: Dryer was a full 11" from wall after installation. Much debate was made as to if this would be corrected by Family Home Center. Owner was told numerous times that this was acceptable. Owner had to contact Geurdon and get information from engineering as to why the hole was so far out. It was finally resolved that the hole could be moved back.

Damaged Door and Poor Weather Stripping

Notice the two slight horizontal lines on the door image above. These are creases where the door was bent. The top of the door had enough gap to allow air thru and be noisy on high wind days. It was discovered by the company that came out to reseal the house. Exterior Weather strip trim is inadequate, especially for northern states. The installation factor may be just enough to past factory standards. Unresolved

Stain and Sealant Inadequate

House stain and sealant. This is a picture of the exterior when it arrives. The bare minimum may be used to get this home approved for delivery. The pictures show that it looks like untreated wood. The log trim was exposed has had to be polyurethaned 4 times. That is a crack of approximately .25 inch between log and home. It took several conversations to get it sealed. The house had to be restained at the owners expense.

Trim Corners

Trim revisited again. This is a representation of the quality of trim in the Guerdon Manufactured Home. Images taken after many conversations with Family Home Center about this new house having so many challenges.

Ceiling Vents

Ceiling vents clack continually is outsides winds exceed 20mph. Earplugs may be needs past winds of 30mph. Fans must be turned on past winds of 40mph to lessen the noise of the flap hitting the unit. This issue is direclty related to the quality of unit installed. Unresolved.

Door Stained Uneven

Uncorrectable Stained Door. Family Home Center was unable to correct. No attempt made on their part to resolve. Owner hag to email this image to Guerdon who in turn did ship a replacement door that had to be installed by owner.

Facade Cabinet Trim

Cosmetic trim is only attached by a few thin nails installed by nail gun. The lightest touch will remove the trim. May be very hard to replace as wood is this and delicate. Unresolved

Trim Cover-up

Trim revisited: Family Home Center staff attempts to cover up one of the trim pieces stamp with lumber yard markings. Piece was original clear and fully readable. FHC staff attempt to cover up with wood pudding instead of replacing or sanding down.

Trim Warps

Trim warps. Note: Images taken after Family Home Center staff had informed owner that trim had been corrected. Images taken after staff had worked on trim twice. Entry trim cracked - warped. Door trim is warping. Almost all door trim wood was green and is warping over. 5
inch trim to basement not attached. Caulking of trim nail holes in trim. Deck doorway trim needs to be sanded or replaced. Wood blemishes and missing stain.

Poor Flooring

Flooring has immediate and long term deficiencies. Wood floor tend to separate and is not durable allowing for easy damage under normal wear and tear. Damaged Vinyl Flooring Guest bathroom. MasterBath floor has buckle. Floor from kitchen to living room is coming up. Wood flooring unlevel in spots. Flooring seperates from kitchen to livingroom. Linoleum flooring originally had some blemishes that were easily corrected. Owner had it replaced and was determined that flooring was never properly install. Flooring was only held in place by base boards. Flooring company was able to remove by just picking it up. Unresolved.

Kitchen Sink

Kitchen Sink not properly caulked. Family Home Center staff attempted to reseal with some form of caulked that pealed off. Still unresolved to date

Outlet Covers had over cut drywall exposing gaps. This was resolved by quick touch ups that are borderline acceptable. Not something normally seen is completed new homes.

Kitchen sprayer worked off and on. It was worked on several times by Family Homes Center staff out of Belgrade, Montana. never was resolved by(FHC). Was corrected by owner hiring plumber. Plumber resolved in minutes.

Kitchen Tile has Gaps

Tile and Backsplash in kitchen. Note image taken after tile was worked on three times. Still unresolved at time of walk thru. Original cracks and gaps were up to .25 inches in some locations.

Hose Knobs

Hose Knob on this Guerdon Home will continually come loose and fall off. After several mentions it was resolved by owner having to purchase locking washers. Also note that outside outlet covers may come sideways by as much as .25 inches.

Shower Handels

Shower Handel in guest bathroom falls off. It was fixed seveeral times over the first 30 days.

Bath Stop

Bath Stop in master bathroom tub does not hold water. Came off several times in the first 30 days. Worked on several times, yet still does not work well. Unresolved.

Toilet Paper Holder

Toilet paper holder falls off wall in master bedroom. Determined that it was installed using wood scews into drywall.

Poor Quality Door Knobs

Front Door Handel falls off first day of moving in. Rear door Handel came off within first 30 days of move in. All door handles had to have some form of adjustments. Never have been 100% stable. All these knobs should be replaced with a higher quality knob. Locksmith who re-keyed the house and fixed the knobs commented they are some of the poorest on the market. Unresolved.