Holly Homes Inc

My husband found a listing from the Nutts on Realtor.com. They had a vacant lot with permits for a 1700sqft home for $170k. We had a few minor changes (ie. upgrade insulation, swap a tub for a shower, etc). Andrew increased the price to $173k & we immediately agreed. Several times we were assured Andrew would oversee the build; Holly would work with us on finishes. The build went smoothly after they finally broke ground. The quality was impeccable. Andrew has great subcontractors. As we neared the end we noticed Andrew would change things without our consent or forget conversations we had. Some things we caught & fixed but some we discovered too late. Most notably: Andrew picked out our granite, tile/grout, & carpet. Things Holly was supposed to meet with us about but never did. We spent the day before our Christmas vacation running to different vendors to fix what we could. Our contract was clear that any/all changes were to be submitted in WRITING by Change Order. I work construction & know how the process works. Andrew never did this. This is especially frustrating because these were things we were supposed to discuss with Holly. Instead Andrew made the decisions without us. 30 days AFTER he was supposed to be done we learned Andrew hadn’t completed 3 major items: water softener, sod, & half our driveway. Andrew said he wasn’t doing them. We asked how we might use those funds elsewhere. That’s when he said WE owed HIM money! Apparently he’d gone over budget early on but never said anything (ie. spent double on land clearing & repaired the dirt road at an intersection past our house his crew tore up). Any overages as Andrew described are not up to the Owner to fund. Especially damages from his crews. The only legal way for him to have us pay would’ve been to process a Change Order as outlined per HIS contract. We met with Andrew to explain all of this. He took it well in person but magically forgot the conversation within a few hours. He sent an email with a $0 Change Order saying he’d lay sod & a sidewalk but WE would be responsible for a water softener. We sent several emails to clarify. Andrew didn’t respond. I contacted a lawyer who confirmed Andrew was out of line & was obligated to fulfill his contract. During this time we learned of more lies. Andrew scheduled final inspections with the bank & county stating the project was 100% complete. My husband & I weren’t present because weren’t told until the day before. We didn’t have ample time to schedule absences with our employers. I called the bank & explained the situation. They promised to provide the contract & our concerns to the inspectors. But somehow everything was approved. The lawyer reached out to the Nutts. After some back & forth, good news came when we learned the Nutts agreed to comply. The only change: they’d purchase the water softener but not install it. Instead they’d write a check (for 30% of the item cost). It wasn’t until after we agreed that I discovered that wasn’t true. The check was meant to be in lieu of the water softener item altogether. Our only options were to fold & be done with them, or pay thousands in court fees. It would’ve been a guaranteed win for us but we were too tired & didn’t want to sink any more money into dealing with them. Every vendor/sub/client we’ve talked to since hasn’t had much nice to say about him. But there aren’t any negative comments online about Holly Homes. If we had known maybe we could’ve saved ourselves a lot of money & time. PLEASE steer clear of Andrew & Holly Nutt. As of Feb ‘17 they were operating under Holly Homes Inc (based either out of Tavares or Orlando depending on which website you visit). However Andrew has been seen wearing the logo of Hegstrom Homes (Sorrento).