LGI Homes Reviews Warn: “Don’t Buy from LGI Crooks”

Buying a new home is a quintessential part of the American Dream. But what happens when the dream turns into a nightmare? This seems to be the experience of Phillip C. from Florida who shared his story among the LGI Homes reviews on PissedConsumer. According to Phillip C,

“They tell you everything they possibly can to have you buy their homes and once a deal is signed, they basically don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

Phillip isn’t alone in these sentiments. His review is just one of the hundreds on the PissedConsumer review boards left by frustrated new homeowners who have complaints about everything from issues with the home-buying process to the use of the LGI Homes warranty well after move-in.

Number of LGI Homes reviews – 525

LGI Homes rating – 1.8 ⭐⭐

Claimed losses – $2.1M

Successful calls – 3%/272

Resolved issues – 4

In his original written review, Phillip C. explains that after moving into a new building by LGI Homes in Florida, he realized he had “been lied to, dealing with all the issues and pain and suffering.” After countless rounds of back and forth with LGI Homes customer service, PissedConsumer reached out to Phillip to hear more about his experience.

• Video interview
• Customer reviews on PissedConsumer
• Tips for buying homes

LGI Homes Review: Homebuilding Woes

In his video review, Phillip explains that he and his family, including two children with medical needs, moved into a new home built by LGI Homes. The first issue for the family happened at closing when, after advertising a zero-down move-in, the company required $12,000 for closing on the new house. The family complied but wasn’t happy. This was just the first of many complaints the family discovered.

Phillip continued his tale in his LGI Homes review with plumbing and HVAC issues in the home. In his review, he described water backing up into the house through the plumbing. Despite a plumber being sent and claiming the issue was resolved, it wasn’t.

Ultimately it was discovered the builders had left a piece of PVC piping behind which had fallen and become trapped in the sewer lines.

Additionally, Phillip, who works in HVAC, discovered a series of LGI Homes complaints about the HVAC system installed in the home. His home was not cooling below 81 degrees in the 95-degree weather. This created a serious health concern for his daughter with congenital heart disease.

As his home was still in the first year of its LGI Homes warranty, which acts essentially as a type of LGI Homes insurance, Phillip tried multiple times to work with the company to have the issues resolved. He called the LGI Homes customer service number to speak with numerous representatives with LGI Homes customer service as he tried to find a solution to both the plumbing and the HVAC issues.

He explains that after multiple calls to the LGI Homes phone number, nothing was resolved because the contractors claimed they didn’t feel anything was wrong in the various warranty claims.

After explaining that the company had waited months to inspect, according to Phillips, the LGI inspector denied that he saw any issues. Despite multiple online reviews and complaints about LGIHomes.com, Phillip’s issues were never resolved. The plumber sent by the company pushed the broken piece of pipe into the sewer line.

As far as Phillip’s experience, once he had gotten all the help he could through LGI Homes insurance, Phillip used his HVAC background and removed the builder’s 3-ton air conditioning system and replaced it on his own to update his air conditioner. This finally kept his house cool in the summer.

LGI Homes Reviews on PissedConsumer: The Most Common Issues

In the more than 500 LGI Homes reviews that have been left on PissedConsumer, common issues have been shared. Hundreds of calls have been made to the builder, but only 3% of the issues consumers have had are ever resolved by the company.

One reviewer explained in her online review that she has opened 10 major warranty claims in the first year of owning an LGI Homes house. In her review, she claims that work isn’t completed after the claims are filed and that trying to contact customer service is a challenge because the company representatives “do not answer their phones and the voicemails they leave are brief with zero information, making it impossible to get anything scheduled.”

Among the most common complaints about LGI Homes, you’ll find:

• Quality of Workmanship. The vast majority of the LGI Homes reviews are about the quality of the construction in the new homes. Many of the homes have air conditioning issues, leaking windows, protruding nails, and even birds in the attic of a home due to gaps left in construction.
• LGI Homes Warranty. Like most new homes, LGIH offers a warranty, but according to the complaints online, many customers find the LGI Homes warranty to be insufficient. When customers have issues with their homes and try to use their insurance, they find that nothing is resolved, promised workmen never show up, and some warranty claims are closed by the company before any work is completed.

In the case of one reviewer (review #3544929), despite her opening a warranty claim, the company hasn’t resolved her leaking windows. Now she is dealing with mold in her walls and her LGI Homes warranty is about to expire without any resolution.

• LGI Customer Service. According to many reviews on PissedConsumer, LGI customer service leaves much to be desired. Reviews complain that they call LGI support, and speak with the company representatives about their issues, but the promised help never arrives. Many customers feel like the company doesn’t follow through on the services offered by the company.

Tips for Buying LGI Homes

Building a new home is exciting, but can also be stressful, especially for first-time homebuyers. We compiled the warnings and advice left by real LGI Homes consumers to create this list of tips for those considering buying a new home.

If you’re considering a new home, consider the following:

• Work with a realtor. As a buyer, you don’t have to pay a realtor anything to work on your behalf, but the realtor can help you solve issues and guide you in the buying process. You have nothing to lose by working with a real estate professional as an advocate with a home-building company and perhaps a great deal to lose.
• Hire a home inspector. A new home should be perfect, but a home inspector can help make sure of it. Hire a home inspector as part of your buying process and have him or her work through the home. A good home inspector will help you spot non-cosmetic issues with electricity, plumbing, HVAC, roofing, and more.
• Get known issues repaired before you close. Once you sign as a home buyer, the new home is yours and you’re stuck with the issues you knew about before closing. You do a final walkthrough in your home before you close, preferably with an inspector, and create a “punch list” as part of the home buying process. Take your time and mark everything you see and note. Don’t close on the home until all your concerns have been addressed.

Your home is your castle, and nobody wants a shoddy castle. Building your new home should be exciting, not traumatizing. There are many steps that go into the home-building process, and it’s important to understand what is happening each step of the way.

It’s even more important to work with a reputable home builder who you can trust to create the home of your dreams. Want to learn more about what others are saying? Read their feedback or consider leaving a review about your own experience to help others in their home-building journey.

*Disclaimer: Ranking and statistics are based on our users’ review texts and PissedConsumer posters’ reviews. Also, a company’s rating is calculated using a mathematical algorithm that evaluates the information in the profile, including users’ rating, the number of resolved issues, the number of company’s responses, etc. The algorithm is subject to change in the future.