Palm Harbor Homes
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Holly
Palm Harbor Homes
We are considering a Palm Harbor home and wondered if they are really as good as they say they are. Has anyone out there had problems with a palm harbor...wether it be with the structure itself, or the service /warranty, etc. We want the best...but of course they all say they're the best, so how do you tell?!!??
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rmurray
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
PH's 5 year buyer preotection plan is the best in the business...Read it and conpare...
Ask your sales person about "Gold Key Service"...No other manufacturer has a similar program to help you be happy....
Go for it...
Ask your sales person about "Gold Key Service"...No other manufacturer has a similar program to help you be happy....
Go for it...
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jgn
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
Do a google search and you will find little if any complaints about PH. Their quality of construction is good, not the best but sound. A lot of the locations are company owned so "the buck stops here" is true. They have a solid reputation for service after the sale and will custom a house just about any way you want, use plywood or osb flooring and t&t walls are standard at some plants. The street appeal of a PH is what attracts swmbo and I have to agree.
The only real complaint I have heard is their pushy sales approach although I have not experienced it. I think they have toned down their pressure tactics. If I have a question that the salesperson can't answer they call the plant representative and I have an answer.
We are looking at PH and Karsten, both nice homes, but I have a lot more faith in the company owned location of PH than I do the dealer of Karsten. Most homes look nice on the lot but it's how they are set and the service after the sale that really counts and PH wins hands down. I think you would make a wise choice by going with PH and try to take a plant tour if you can.
The only real complaint I have heard is their pushy sales approach although I have not experienced it. I think they have toned down their pressure tactics. If I have a question that the salesperson can't answer they call the plant representative and I have an answer.
We are looking at PH and Karsten, both nice homes, but I have a lot more faith in the company owned location of PH than I do the dealer of Karsten. Most homes look nice on the lot but it's how they are set and the service after the sale that really counts and PH wins hands down. I think you would make a wise choice by going with PH and try to take a plant tour if you can.
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TanyaF
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
Hi Holly, I'm sitting in my brand new PH home, been in it a month and a half now. I and my husband are definite PH fans. My husband even picked up an application at the local sales office for a salesman position...he's been saying throughout the buying process that this was a product he believes in, and therefore one he would be more than happy to try and sell.
I have posted many times on this site about my trials and tribulations with PH. Bottom line is, the dealership and the sales team you end up working with makes all the difference in the world. Make sure you've got a good, honest, straight-shooting team on your side who will answer all your questions clearly and in writing. If they don't, walk away. It won't be worth the trouble imho.
It's not fair to me to say anything about problems with the house since it's so new. I will say though, that PH has cheerfully upheld their part of the repair service quarantee and has sent out their repair person a couple of times to deal with the inevitable small problems in a new house. In fact, our repair guy was so nice he even repaired a couple things that weren't really PH's responsibility!
So to sum up, I can totally vouch for the company as a whole, but the teams at individual dealers can vary.
And no, we didn't encounter any high pressure salesmanship either.
I have posted many times on this site about my trials and tribulations with PH. Bottom line is, the dealership and the sales team you end up working with makes all the difference in the world. Make sure you've got a good, honest, straight-shooting team on your side who will answer all your questions clearly and in writing. If they don't, walk away. It won't be worth the trouble imho.
It's not fair to me to say anything about problems with the house since it's so new. I will say though, that PH has cheerfully upheld their part of the repair service quarantee and has sent out their repair person a couple of times to deal with the inevitable small problems in a new house. In fact, our repair guy was so nice he even repaired a couple things that weren't really PH's responsibility!
So to sum up, I can totally vouch for the company as a whole, but the teams at individual dealers can vary.
And no, we didn't encounter any high pressure salesmanship either.
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Dave Wangnoss
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
Hello; We are very much interested in PH homes also. We can't understand what problems a new home should have no matter how nice the repair folks are. Can you at least give us an idea of the problems? Thanks so much, Dave W.
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TanyaF
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
Manufactured homes go through a settling process after they're setup, so cracks tend to develop in tile, drywall etc. PH guarantees even the smallest cosmetic detail for the first year, so some of it was that. Other issues were the windows sticking, a light fixture that wasn't coming on, and a couple of window blinds needed replacing. The biggest issue we had was that we occasionally get very high winds where we are, and we lost shingles on a couple of occasions. Part of that was actually the setup crew's fault, since it was happening at the marriage line, but the PH guy repaired it anyway, with longer nails this time. Shingles did come off in other places too, but our neighbors (who didn't buy PH) are going through the same thing, so we figure that's not necessarily a sign of poor design, just very hostile weather conditions. I'm not trying to say that the home is flawless by any means. But when you compare the construction to most other homes in the same price range, it's obvious that the construction is a lot more solid. For the money we paid, we're very satisfied so far.
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JoAnn
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
My husband and I bought a Palm Harbor home in December 2000 (Casa Grande --large home!). It took six months for them to finish it...and they only finished that "soon" only because we kept calling and asking questions. (We paid cash!). Finally they called us and told us the home was ready for occupancy. That was in late May 2005.
After our 350-mile drive from our old home to our new home, we discovered th all sorts of electrical problems, the hot water heater wasn't connected properly, so we had no hot water. I As we walked in the front door, the steps were at last 15 degrees off, so you walked up stairs that were tilting sideways down to the left. When I turned on the light in the living room as I walked in, it turned on the light in my bedroom instead. The oven was wired improperly, so we couldn't use it. When you walked on the "new" carpet, you could feel all sorts of debris under your feet, like no one had bothered to sweep up the floors before putting down the padding and carpet. Some of the bathrooms had no toilet paper rolls. The screen doors were sitting in the middle of the living room, never having been attached. Every single window and surface was filthy!!! The contractors had made our yard their personal dumping ground, never having cleaned up after themselves, leaving construction messes, soda cans and garbage strewn all over the property. One of the contractors had taken all the extra concrete blocks he had (the ones used underneath the house) and dumped the leftovers on a vacant lot across the street--and we heard about it from the owner who was mighty upset!!!
Palm Harbor told us to make a "punch list" and they'd come out and fix the problems. Well, they took care of one or two here and there that were vital, like the over and the hot water heater, and told us they'd come back to finish the rest...but seven weeks later (flash forward to mid July 2005) they still haven't finished everything. They had to re-do several walls and two ceilings because the seams were so poor you could swear the house wasn't put together right. They didn't attach the skirting right at the bottom of the house, so now we have cats leaving under there and under the house smells!!!! The supervisor who came out said the entire skirting has to be redone!!!
Two ceiling fan vibrated and hummed so loudly in my kids rooms that the kids were complaining they couldn't sleep!
I wanted to move into a house that was totally finished.. not one in which I'd sit through seven more weeks of additional construction!!! If I knew the house wasn't really finished, I could have stayed in my old place until they were TRULY done.I know there are problems whenever you build/buy a house (since my husband is retired military we've bought/sold/moved many times in the past two decades!). But this is incredible!
Bottom line: the houses are LOVELY. They are much higher quality than what you'd think in a "manufactured home." But Palm Harbor sub-contracts a lot of its work out to other independent, local contractors, who they've supposedly "screened." But there doesn't seem to be much quality control after the house gets to your lot, thanks to the contractors.
Palm Harbor personnel build the houses all right in the factory, but then there's 10 or more other contractors involved once it leaves the factory. And that's where the quality control problems come in. When you call to say the hot water heater isn't connected, and it's not working, they then have to track down which plumber who did the original work, see when that person can come out to fix it, when they're available, etc...
Finally, I got SICK of waiting, so I fired off letters to every Palm Harbor executive I could find and threatened going on TV to one of those consumer protection reporters. FINALLY, when they realized I was dead serious, they sent half-dozen guys in five trucks, all of them scrambling to get done in a few days all the items that should have been addressed before we ever even moved in. I feel like my entire summer has been wasted sitting around waiting for Palm Harbor to send folks out to correct all their mistakes.
EVENTUALLY, Palm Harbor will live up to the warranty. But not if you don't make a lot of noise!!!! I believe they market these houses to older folks, figuring older folks won't notice all the things we did. When you're in your 70s or 80s buying one of these houses, you might not notice all the flaws, but when you're middle aged, like us, with lots of home-building experience and expertise, you don't miss a trick.
And be prepared for them to "cut corners." For example, here you buy this big, beautiful new house, don't be surprised to see Wal-Mart-quality products in it. Don't expect a progammable thermostat. Expect the cheapest available on the market. (We had to go buy a Hunter and replace the junky one they gave us a few days after we moved in!!!) Don't expect a hi grade interior paint. I used Behr in all my other homes. But they use a cheap flat paint that comes off if you just simply use water to wipe off a scuff mark. Unless you pay for upgraded ceiling fans, expect a $13 K-Mart model. (We're in the process of replacing all those --supposedly now in the 2006 models a better fan is available, so get those if you can. Heck, the bathrooms don't even come with medicine cabinets unless you specifically pay for one. And don't look for towel racks in the bathroom either --we discovered that after we got here. They told us after the fact that they no longer install towel racks because too many older people use them as hand rails, and they'd grab them mistakenly. So you'll have to install your own, as we did.
Palm Harbor's own employees are good and conscientious and will get the job done; HOWEVER, it's all the folks who aren't their own employees that are giving Palm Harbor a bad name. The independent contractors are the ones who screwed up everything in our house. Eventually, Palm Harbor came out to fix what the other folks messed up. But be prepared to WAIT and be inconvenienced. They will come at THEIR scheduling convenience, not yours.
After our 350-mile drive from our old home to our new home, we discovered th all sorts of electrical problems, the hot water heater wasn't connected properly, so we had no hot water. I As we walked in the front door, the steps were at last 15 degrees off, so you walked up stairs that were tilting sideways down to the left. When I turned on the light in the living room as I walked in, it turned on the light in my bedroom instead. The oven was wired improperly, so we couldn't use it. When you walked on the "new" carpet, you could feel all sorts of debris under your feet, like no one had bothered to sweep up the floors before putting down the padding and carpet. Some of the bathrooms had no toilet paper rolls. The screen doors were sitting in the middle of the living room, never having been attached. Every single window and surface was filthy!!! The contractors had made our yard their personal dumping ground, never having cleaned up after themselves, leaving construction messes, soda cans and garbage strewn all over the property. One of the contractors had taken all the extra concrete blocks he had (the ones used underneath the house) and dumped the leftovers on a vacant lot across the street--and we heard about it from the owner who was mighty upset!!!
Palm Harbor told us to make a "punch list" and they'd come out and fix the problems. Well, they took care of one or two here and there that were vital, like the over and the hot water heater, and told us they'd come back to finish the rest...but seven weeks later (flash forward to mid July 2005) they still haven't finished everything. They had to re-do several walls and two ceilings because the seams were so poor you could swear the house wasn't put together right. They didn't attach the skirting right at the bottom of the house, so now we have cats leaving under there and under the house smells!!!! The supervisor who came out said the entire skirting has to be redone!!!
Two ceiling fan vibrated and hummed so loudly in my kids rooms that the kids were complaining they couldn't sleep!
I wanted to move into a house that was totally finished.. not one in which I'd sit through seven more weeks of additional construction!!! If I knew the house wasn't really finished, I could have stayed in my old place until they were TRULY done.I know there are problems whenever you build/buy a house (since my husband is retired military we've bought/sold/moved many times in the past two decades!). But this is incredible!
Bottom line: the houses are LOVELY. They are much higher quality than what you'd think in a "manufactured home." But Palm Harbor sub-contracts a lot of its work out to other independent, local contractors, who they've supposedly "screened." But there doesn't seem to be much quality control after the house gets to your lot, thanks to the contractors.
Palm Harbor personnel build the houses all right in the factory, but then there's 10 or more other contractors involved once it leaves the factory. And that's where the quality control problems come in. When you call to say the hot water heater isn't connected, and it's not working, they then have to track down which plumber who did the original work, see when that person can come out to fix it, when they're available, etc...
Finally, I got SICK of waiting, so I fired off letters to every Palm Harbor executive I could find and threatened going on TV to one of those consumer protection reporters. FINALLY, when they realized I was dead serious, they sent half-dozen guys in five trucks, all of them scrambling to get done in a few days all the items that should have been addressed before we ever even moved in. I feel like my entire summer has been wasted sitting around waiting for Palm Harbor to send folks out to correct all their mistakes.
EVENTUALLY, Palm Harbor will live up to the warranty. But not if you don't make a lot of noise!!!! I believe they market these houses to older folks, figuring older folks won't notice all the things we did. When you're in your 70s or 80s buying one of these houses, you might not notice all the flaws, but when you're middle aged, like us, with lots of home-building experience and expertise, you don't miss a trick.
And be prepared for them to "cut corners." For example, here you buy this big, beautiful new house, don't be surprised to see Wal-Mart-quality products in it. Don't expect a progammable thermostat. Expect the cheapest available on the market. (We had to go buy a Hunter and replace the junky one they gave us a few days after we moved in!!!) Don't expect a hi grade interior paint. I used Behr in all my other homes. But they use a cheap flat paint that comes off if you just simply use water to wipe off a scuff mark. Unless you pay for upgraded ceiling fans, expect a $13 K-Mart model. (We're in the process of replacing all those --supposedly now in the 2006 models a better fan is available, so get those if you can. Heck, the bathrooms don't even come with medicine cabinets unless you specifically pay for one. And don't look for towel racks in the bathroom either --we discovered that after we got here. They told us after the fact that they no longer install towel racks because too many older people use them as hand rails, and they'd grab them mistakenly. So you'll have to install your own, as we did.
Palm Harbor's own employees are good and conscientious and will get the job done; HOWEVER, it's all the folks who aren't their own employees that are giving Palm Harbor a bad name. The independent contractors are the ones who screwed up everything in our house. Eventually, Palm Harbor came out to fix what the other folks messed up. But be prepared to WAIT and be inconvenienced. They will come at THEIR scheduling convenience, not yours.
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JoAnn
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
In the first line of my earlier posting... Mistake in my message. Please forgive me. We bought our home in December 2004... (not 2000!!!! oops) and it wasn't done until late May 2005. Now July 2005 and problems still aren't resolved. Sorry for the dating error. My fingers moved too fast across the keyboard
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Kirk
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
"PH's 5 year buyer preotection plan is the best in the business"
I've been in a Palm Harbor home for almost a year. They have not covered a single thing that has gone wrong with the home. It has cost me (so far) over $1000, and there only response (when they respond at all) is "that's not covered". OK, fine, so plumbing, A/C and heating, strucutural, electrical, and appliances aren't covered. What the heck DO they cover? You can't sue them, they only work thru "Arbitration" and the best you can hope for is to spend less on lawyers than you would on repairs.
If you haven't signed anything yet, then RUN. If you really want to throw a ton of money away, donate it to a useful cause or charity instead. You'll end up with far fewer headaches.
I've been in a Palm Harbor home for almost a year. They have not covered a single thing that has gone wrong with the home. It has cost me (so far) over $1000, and there only response (when they respond at all) is "that's not covered". OK, fine, so plumbing, A/C and heating, strucutural, electrical, and appliances aren't covered. What the heck DO they cover? You can't sue them, they only work thru "Arbitration" and the best you can hope for is to spend less on lawyers than you would on repairs.
If you haven't signed anything yet, then RUN. If you really want to throw a ton of money away, donate it to a useful cause or charity instead. You'll end up with far fewer headaches.
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TanyaF
Re: Palm Harbor Homes
Wow, I'm so sorry people are having such bad experiences. Yes, the subcontractors can be a problem. The worst problems we had with our ordeal was with one of the subcontractors, not PH themselves. We were in a unique position of having to find and hire our own subcontractors, since we lived so far away from the dealership we chose to work with. We were extremely fortunate that all but one of the contractors we found (literally by word of mouth and looking through the yellow pages!) were great people. Even the one we did have trouble with, with their delaying and demanding more money, seemed to do a quality job once they got around to it. At any rate, we could hardly blame PH for the people we hired ourselves. Actually, I take that back, that contractor was a referral from the PH dealership we chose NOT to deal with, because we didn't trust the people there. But since then, PH corporate has sent a new GM to that dealership to "clean house" because there were some shady things going on there.
Yes, some of the fixtures are "bargain brand". We're not very impressed with our vertical blinds, which break easily. But before this, we lived in a used Champion Infinity, where every single fixture and faucet was made of plastic, and the construction of the home itself was questionable. The difference between our old home and this, overall, is night and day. When I think about what we would have to have spent on a "stick built" home for the same square footage, I'm willing to forgive them a couple of "Kmart specials"
I have to reiterate again...make sure you absolutely trust the dealer you work with. It's their willingness to go the extra mile to deal with the problems that come up and protect you from them that will make things go a lot smoother.
Yes, some of the fixtures are "bargain brand". We're not very impressed with our vertical blinds, which break easily. But before this, we lived in a used Champion Infinity, where every single fixture and faucet was made of plastic, and the construction of the home itself was questionable. The difference between our old home and this, overall, is night and day. When I think about what we would have to have spent on a "stick built" home for the same square footage, I'm willing to forgive them a couple of "Kmart specials"
I have to reiterate again...make sure you absolutely trust the dealer you work with. It's their willingness to go the extra mile to deal with the problems that come up and protect you from them that will make things go a lot smoother.
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