Kings Court Builders Inc. Pete S. owner of the Company The Owner Who Promised But Raised His Price Anyway. naperville, Illinois

I first met Mr. and Mrs. Sever on Thursday November 8 when they had visited our model in Elgin. They had mentioned their experiences of pricing out homes with many different builders and that all of them were nickeling and diming them to death. They asked for pricing on about 15 items including removing a bedroom and adding a custom steam shower. Removing the bedroom required conversations with my architect before we could determine the credit for it. The pricing was prepared and given to my salesperson who set up an appointment to present it to the Severs on Saturday November 17.



They complained about some of the pricing. In response to their concerns I agreed to meet with them on Sunday November 18. In particular they were not happy with the custom steam shower price. They brought a printout of a steam unit they found on the internet and wanted to know why the price I was charging was so much higher. I explained to them that we priced out a 6x 4 mud poured base (compared to the standard 48 x 34 fiberglass base), 4 body sprays (which they asked for), a custom made 3/8 thick glass enclosure with venting flap (compared to a 4 wide 3/16 glass standard bi-pass door). He acknowledged this was more than other builders had figured in and wanted a lesser priced alternative.



They were also not happy with any of the standard lots we offer. They wanted to drive around and look at the lots again and asked me if I had any other standard lots that werent currently on the market.



Despite having a lot of open items at this meeting on November 18 Mr. Sever wanted to negotiate the price further. He indicated we were over his budget and that if I worked with him on price he would go to contract. HE NEVER INDICATED A WILLINGNESS TO MOVE FORWARD AT THE BASE PRICE GIVEN.



Unrelated to my dealings with the Severs lumber prices continued to spike and there were new codes that were going to cost more from the City of Elgin as well as Elgins adoption of the latest International Residential Code which forced me to raise my prices.



Building a custom home takes a great amount of communication, trust, and cooperation and I had come to the conclusion that this was not going to be the case between the Severs and Kings Court Builders and my salesperson notified Mr. Sever of a pending price increase knowing that since he was over budget already they would not be building with us.



Mr. Severs reaction was strong and he made two of my employees uncomfortable with his actions on two different occasions. This confirmed my decision that we would never build for him at any price.



Kings Court Builders has built well over 900 homes since 1986 and whereas it would be difficult to satisfy every customer we continue to garner many repeat buyers and a significantly higher than industry average number of sales from referrals.

I felt compelled to take a moment and express how wonderful the experience was to work with Pete, Aimee and everyone else affiliated with King's Court Builders.  My wife and I had our home built by King's Court and it was beyond amazing how professional, honest and supportive they are.  From Pete (owner) on down to the sub-contractors everyone was open to opinions,  accommodating to our needs and quick to get us an answer when we had questions. 

We also spent many months researching builders as it's a major decision and one we wanted to make correctly without regret.  Choosing King's Court was the beyond a doubt the right choice and we are forever grateful for the home they built us.  We had numerous change-orders both structurally and to the interior.  Most of the pricing was accessible to Aimee immediately and those that we had to wait on only took a day or two at the most.  Everything was seamless and direct with no fine print or stipulations. 

Pete has been building homes for over a quarter century and I believe Aimee has been there for most of that.  Every contractor we met with (electrical, flooring, appliance, low-voltage, lighting, granite, closets, etc.) commented how great it is to work with them and how they consider King's Court one of the best in the business.  Heck, King's Court got high praises from the woman whose office we sat in during our closing.  Moreover, this woman happened to share some horror stories of what buyers from other builders have told her.  Needless to say my wife and I walked out of closing with even bigger smiles on our faces.

While every experience is different I can attest for my wife and I, along with all our neighbors, that King's Court is wonderful to work with and build beautiful homes.  You won't be disappointed.