Anonymous
map-marker Naperville, Illinois

Djk Custom Homes Construction Review

Never, Ever build with DJK. Dan Kittleson is not an honest broker...and overcharges for everything.

Sub contractors have NOTHING good to say about him.

If you decide to build with him consider yoursrl6f warned. Be CAREFUL!

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Reason of review:
Pricing issue
Anonymous
map-marker Illinois, United States

DAN (DJK) NOT A MAN OF HIS WORD DONT USE THEM

stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full stars-rating-full

I agree with all of these complaints and I have many more I could add but won't at this time. NEVER NEVER would I recommend DJK DAN IS NOT A MAN OF HIS WORDS said many times he would take care of issues and problems when the weather was better..look years later I am still waiting.

No actually we have had to pay everything out of our pocket. HOW IS THIS MAN STILL IN BUSINESS SHAME ON DAN.

I could go on but I won't because I am not done with my issues with DJK but you can bet if they don't step up to the plate I will let others know not to use DJK. They really cheat the buyer!

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Reason of review:
Poor customer service
1 comment
DJKCustomHomes

Hi,

Thank you for expressing your concerns. We are here in the office from 7am to 5pm each day and have received no calls, emails, or personal visits from any of our home owners regarding any issues such as the one you mention.

Since this is an anonymous posting we will need to be contacted directly in order to help you out if you are a legitimate djk home owner with an issue. Please feel free to contact us direct at our office (630) 369-1953 or stop in and chat with us personally at any time. We are more than happy to take care of any concerns that you may have if you are indeed a DJK home owner with an issue with your home.

Thanks,

The DJK team

office: (630) 369-1953

address: 26108 Stewart Ridge Drive. Plainfield, IL 60585

Anonymous

Overpriced *** home. The "details" dont exist!

DJK Custom Homes - Overpriced *** home. The details dont exist!

for a builder that claims that they pay attention to every detail, they must mean the detail on a dollar bill. Money is the ONLY thing that this builder pays attention to. Sure the owner loves you if you have a large checking account and are willing to dish out upgrades at a markup of between 40-400%!!

Example --- vaulted ceiling.. The carpenter told me flat out he got paid somewhere around $200 for this. I was charged $1800

Example --- I wanted wraught iron on my staircase - Stair guy from Right angle stairs (who was doing work at the time don't know if he still does) said he charges $10 per spindle. I was charged $40 per spindle!!!! then was told they could do it at "cost" for $30 a spindle.

Example --- wanted upgraded hardwood flooring.. Spoke with FCA and Great Western Flooring.. NOPE. you are FORCED to use Performers Flooring. This is where the real price gouging comes in. Its simple math and you are stuck. DJK will make a minimum of 35% to 50% on your flooring. and if you dare decide to stay with the standard?? you get a lovely choice of 5 tiles that I wouldn't put in section 8 housing. every flooring option was outrageous. I felt a little bit badly for the owner of the flooring place as he looks as though he doesn't want to price gouge however he still did it to me. His field workers had ZERO positive things to say about DJK and basically said they dread going to DJK jobsites. Just what every homeowner wants to hear

the examples can go on and on, but you get the point. If you are eager to spend $8500 for a front door that DJK buys for $2000 then DJK is your builder. Enjoy building a house you will NEVER resell. Look around. every single home DJK has built is appraised for hundreds of thousands less. I only wish people would have reviewed them so I wouldn't be one of his victims

This was my "nice" review as I modified it from the original. I would not hire DJK again even to come wash my windows as im sure there would be some hidden charge as is the case with them.

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8 comments
Guest

I've emailed DJK to see if they would build in my area & Dan replied they do work in my area. Now I've read the complaints, I'm afraid to go with this builder.

We are new to the process & need find a home & move by the end of next year. Can anyone help me & know a good, reputable affordable home builder?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1346169

We too did our research and went elsewhere. I am glad we did as we have seen numerous lawsuits against that builder and many bad reviews. Overstreet Builders, Kings Court Builders, and Sienna all seem to have positive reviews.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1355980

Our last home in Bolingbrook was with Oversteet Builders. I would NEVER buy from Doug again!

He took advantage of several home buyers in the subdivision.

I'm sure he took advantage of us too by marking up the price! That is why we purchased our own stainless steel appliances and our gorgeous wood front door after the purchase of our home!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1346169

What area are you looking to build in? Try Clare Castle Custom Homes in Oswego.

Definitely pay attention to detail.

The owner Joe Griffin built our home in Elmhurst. Was honest and upfront about the cost and what we could expect to pay for what we wanted.

Guest

Im also a contractor who did work for djk builders. bad bad experience.

you are asked to put inferior products in for the lowest end price possible. even after i refused, i was still shorted on the pay. needless to say, djk is ALL about money. its impossible to make a living with them because they short the pay.

the company has no one working there but the owner and a guy who drives to the jobs so u are forced to chase money. stay away, find someone else reputable

Chanel Urc

Your experience is nothing compared to what I personally endured from djk homes. My entire home was built by the superintendant and the owner visited my home during the process MAYBE 1 time. We were promised that Dan was going to visit the jobsite daily which in turn meant never.

I would often make comments about something looking good to which the owner would reply "yes that does look good" even though I made it up, further proving he never went there.

This may not seem like a big deal, but when you are sold a home and told that the "owner" is personally going to be at your house daily, you expect that.

The list could go on forever, but here are a few of the items that were done that looks like 5th grader completed it

1. Our casings on our windows are smiling at us. We later found out that the carpenter who built our home also trimmed it. Classy! The poor quality shows

2. We have gutters that leak. YES they STILL leak to this date, bc the company who did it wont do any more work for DJK and I assume Dan "forgot" about the warranty phone call. It seems he has a knack to "forget" everytime something needs to be fixed. I simply stopped calling.

3. all of our duckwork in the basement is leaking air, I assume because the joints are not taped. Just another shortcut that DJK took and we recently hired All Seasons HVAC to come and tape every seam properly.

The one thing I am grateful for is that I no longer need to deal with them. Some of the trades were nice, the superintendant and office girl were helpful but they had very little say in anything bc Dan just used them for the bad news that was always delivered to us "this and that are not included" "this is more money" etc etc etc

Stay away!

Guest

Sounds eerily familiar to what my husband and I experienced with DJK Homes. Inflated upgrades and a LOT that were supposedly "included" in the home when we talked before signing contract.

We no longer do any agreements with a handshake or verbally as we got burned by Dan Kittilson. Just speak with the contractors, they talked to us during the process too and most didn't have good things to say and the majority complained about not getting paid or being paid peanuts.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-610405

We did work for DJK as a contractor and after discussing pricing and being asked to just "do the work" and we will take care of you, we were told here is what you will be paid, take it or leave it. I can't speak for others but my personal opinion is that the quality suffers because they treat contractors like trash and after they are done ripping them off they move on to the next. Would never do work for them again

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B L Elk
map-marker Bronxville, New York

DJK Custom Homes RIPOFF and Dan Kittilsen Owner is a FRAUD

V signed a contract with DJK Custom Homes Inc (Plainfield and Naperville Illinois) with the OWNER himself Dan Kittilsen. This man is a FRAUD. V wish v did our research BEFORE being ripped off by this man. I have since spoken to over a sozen of his homeowners and they ALL HAVE THE SAME STORY. Dan Kittilsen is a great salesman, and he told us everything v wanted to hear. Only when he put the contract together he leaves many of the items out, only to say later on that "it wasnt included". He ripped my wife and I off by more than $100,000!!!

He charged us to "INSTALL THE APPLIANCES", which i later found out he did not do to others. He rips each client off in whatever way he can. HE IS A FRAUD. He charged us to "haul dirt off the property" and told us it was an amount. We questioned the amount and he then handed is an INVOICE from his contractor. Unfortunately we spoke to his contractor and found out that DAN KITTILSEN himself MADE THAT INVOICE UP. The real invoice was thousands lower. I have contacted legal respresentation and am considering pursuing this. HE IS A FRAUD AND COMMITS IT WITH HIS HOMEOWNERS.

After speaking to many homeowners I found that he does lie about 90% of the time and others have also received FRAUDULENT invoices.

V found out the hard way by building with DJK Custom Homes. DO NOT BUILD WITH THIS MAN. His staff is rude and inexperienced and he doesnt warranty his work. Other homeowners want to file legal action against him, however it is SUCH A DRAINING PROCESS to work with him that most people just want him to go away.

HE IS A GREAT SALESMAN.. IF you are considering to built with him, then ask him for the last 20 homes he built for references. I am within those last 20, so you should speak with me also. He will NEVER give you his last 20 homeowners because over a dozen i spoke with hate him.

I am saddened that v were taken advantage of, especialy after talking to other homeowners and real estate agents in the area and finding out that he has been doing this for years.

V spoke with many of his contractors also and over 50% of them either were short paid or were not paid at all. It was the worst experience I have made in my life and I dont wish this on anybody else.

Build with someone else. DAN KITTILSEN IS A *** ARTIST, BEWARE!!

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8 comments
Guest

Exact the same experience. Dan Kittlesen does nothing but promise things and never delivers (lies non stop).

During the building process you can catch him in his lies (if you are diligent in emails and conversations - he is not that smart...), but he will still deny. Never met such a dirty scoundrel.

A class action lawsuit seem appropriate due to number of complaints, but then DJK would just claim bankruptcy and start up again the next day under a different name doing the same antics

Guest

Sorry you have had a bad experience with this guy. I do know that the builder next to him in Stuart Ridge is not someone you would want to spend money with.

This guy was afraid to put anything in writing and then when he had to he complained that he was losing money on the deal.

I walked from his antics. Another builder that should be out of business..

Guest

He has been ripping trades off for years!! A homeowner is lucky if they have a warranty if the contractor is not paid .

I have noticed some contractors got smart and started filings leins on his properties.

The worst builder to work for! I feel sorry for the homeowners.

Guest

Be very careful when selecting a home builder. We have learned the hard way from DJK Custom Homes out of Plainfield Illinois. After being promised the world, we rarely saw the owner himself Dan Kittilsen. We were told time after time that things were included in the home only to be delivered the bad news by his staff that its "not included". It doesnt happen once it happens the entire process. I was going to leave my thoughts to myself as we are glad to be done dealing with them, however we have warranty issues that still remain unresolved.

Items that need attention are put off for months, ultimately it looks as though DJK wants the warranty time to expire. His 2 year warranty is a gimick, because he can give you a 10 year warranty, it wont matter because they wont show up to fix anything.

For the money that you spend there are better options or just build the home yourself and pay a contractor to oversee the project as DJK Homes bounces subcontractors in and out. We had multiple trades quit during out home only to have another contractor come in and "repair" the poor quality work.

We are now out of pocket money to repair fixes and seeing what avenues we can take to recover some of our losses.

Guest

I know this is true from the contractors side. We have been short paid by Dan Kittilsen over & over again.

He is the only one making out on his home sales. He changes his tradesmen like the rest of us change socks.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-559287

we too had been ripped of by djk.. I dont understand how he has not gotten caught. Isnt there some type of signatures we can obtain to take him to court?

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-590997

I am a Owners rep in high end construction projects,protecting owners interest and I have not seen this type of price manipulation in years, without any type of line item breakdown justifying this INFLATED pricing. I need to gather more information to help my client but this builder needs to be stopped!

He is ripping good people off. It will not stand!!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-637982

We bought home from DJK and did research after questioning pricing thru out project. appears most upgrades have a margin of 45% or higher for DJK.

some items were charged as high at 600% of real cost. Id like to speak w "consultant"

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Hilton Zhu

Warranty Work not completed 4 years later

We built with DJK homes well over 4 years ago and thought that anyone who is considering building with them should know that it has been 4 years since we completed our "30 day walk thru", and it is STILL NOT COMPLETED.

Obviously we have given up, and hired another company (who has since remodeled our office and completed our basement)to complete the work. Ironically enough the contractor we hired, worked for DJK and told us all about how Dan the owner refuse to pay his subs and actually tells his subs to cut corners to keep prices dirt cheap.

Anyone considering building with DJK should know this first hand from a homeowner. Once you close, you become a distant memory

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Loss:
$5000
3 comments
Guest

I’m in need of a home remodel and was looking into DJK. After reading many bad reviews I’ll pass on them. If you have any recommendations it would be greatly appreciated!

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-1419743

Recently passed on them as well. There are too many horror stories about DJK and looks like many of the positive reviews are being posted by people they use, like lenders.

Guest

Does NOT warranty his services. Has gone thru about 15 people in his office in the past 2 years, no one stays working there.

He will get his in *** one day.

If you build with this guy, you have been forewarned. You WILL GET SCREWED

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Danyell Npc
map-marker Los Angeles, California

DJK Custom Homes Ripoff, bad ethics

I am a homeowner of a few years of a *** built DJK custom home. From leaks, to cracks, to mold, I have had it all. It is almost impossible to get this company to warranty their work. The contractors that are hired are the cheapest of the cheap. Most of the ones who built my home dont even work their anymore as my husband and I have seen many of them over the past years who dont say good things about the owner. The owner is Dan Kittilson, who is a scheister himself.

When we signed contract on his home we were excited as this was suposed to be our dream home. Instead, it turned out to be our nightmare. We ended up over $120,000 over budget due to Mr Kittilson's bait and switch tactics. We had a very specific list of items we wanted in our home all of which we were told were included. Turns out they arent. My husband and I are not confrontational people, however that didnt stop Mr Kittilson from calling out fights and speaking down to us. He did this on a few occassions and continued to say we shouldnt call him a liar.

There is a large group of DJK homeowners who are completely dissatisfied, however he will never send us as a reference just like he did with my husband and I. He instead gave us a reference list of 3 people, and 2 of which we have learned he never built homes for. This man is a sheister.

We dont choose to put down every detail that he screwed us on, because the list never ends, however everything from shingle color to brick color was an upgrade. The brick "allowance" is so cheap you get more from a Pulte home. Faucets are marked up and you cant do anything about it. The flooring is the worst. You walk into HIS flooring store to be ripped off. You have no choice but to use HIS contractors as this is how he makes more money and forces you to use them. We caught him in a lie on our flooring upgrades only to have him threaten us not to call him a liar. Needless to say, we paid it. At that point he had so much of our money, what else coluld we really do.

We hope this man goes out of business for all that he has put and others through. Since we closed our home, we NEVER heard from him again. During the home process, he visited our home 6 times max over 6 months of construction. He relied on his staff and forces his staff to continue his poor code of ethics. His contractors spoke to us during the construction process and told us how awful he is to work for. Just what a homeowner wants to hear!!. Luckily we would buy the guys pizza and donuts and that seemed to help on our home.

We ended up with a home that is falling apart, that never had a warranty, and is overpriced. we truly hope that others do their research on this company before using them. It all sounds so promising and exciting up front and then it turns into a daily nightmare. Once you give him your money, you will be handed off and everything you thought was included will be an "upgrade".

If you are even considering to build a house with DJK, you should ask for allowances for every single item, and be assured you can use any contractor you want. If he wont do this, use another builder. His contractors are awful, and they work for below wage. The electrician that did our home spoke to us and told us that he was never paid on the previous home and therefore he could "only spend so much time on our home". again.. just what a homeowner wants to hear.

Use a reputable builder instead. ask around, and talk to realtors and other homeowners. You will regret it if you use this company

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2 comments
Guest

Was referred to this site after talking to a friend about builders to build with. If a "custom" builder has this kind of bad publicity, probably worth going a different route.

Homes look nice but from what i hear the homes have a lot of issues. Glad i checked it out!

Guest

This company tried to sell us a home but would not give prices up front and refused to show us any pricing so we didnt buy from them. Glad after seeing the reviews that we went elsewhere.

Pays to do your research. Feel bad for ones who werent so lucky and deal with a company like that.

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Anonymous
map-marker Bronxville, New York

DJK Custom Homes Ripoff. Scam company. Fraud Owner Dan Kittilsen

V purchased a home with Dan Kittilsen of DJK Custom Homes (Plainfield Illinois and his other address is Naperville IL) and it was to be custom built. After telling my wife and I that he was a man of his word, we found out he was anything but. He is a *** artist. He tells you whatever you want to hear up front and then when he puts the inclusions sheet together for contract he leaves things out. In my home he charged us TO INSTALL THE APPLIANCES! He had a photo of the home we wanted to built and he then later said "this and this and this isnt included". He charged us to "haul dirt off the lot", and then handed us a FRAUDULENT BILL which was made up by him. Yes v verified this with the contractor who confirmed that Dan Kittilsen is a scam artist. I spoke with my attorney regarding this and have yet decided if we will pursue legal action. After speaking with other contractors, it is clear that he short pays every contractor and some contractors he doesnt pay at all. He seems like such a nice guy when you first meet him, but all the homeowners v spoke with hate him.

He does not warranty his work and his staff is rude. V spent almost 1 million dollars with this man and he still took advantage of us.

My wife and I spent over 300 hours with this man and each time he created a new lie. Do NOT under any condition build with this man. He is a WONDERFUL sales man, unfortunately he is also a FRAUD.

Ask to speak with his last 20 homeowners, and you too will see that this man is a FRAUD. V had to learn the hard way by having him put us through *** for a year. He missed out closing date by months and each time blamed someone else.

If you cant speak to his last 20 homeowners, then DONT BUILD WITH THIS MAN. HE IS A FRAUD AND WILL GET OVER ON YOU TOO!

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Loss:
$50000
6 comments
Guest

Dan is the most unethical person that I've come across. As others mentioned, the details are in the dollars...and he will squeeze EVERY dollar from you until you are bone dry.

Fraudulent bills - yep we got those too!

Many of his contractors shared thoughts on his unethical way of doing business. Seriously folks...DO NOT trust him!

Guest

djk builder losses lawsuit a few weeks ago. glad he gets what he deserves. he *** me and many workers.

Guest

I found both builders in Stewart Ridge to be clowns. They both remind me of someone you would find at a street corner in the city running a dice game.

Needless to say my husband and I went with Kings Court Builders and had nothing but a wonderful experience. Just ask around with realtors and contractors and you will not find many good things said about those 2 builders.

One realty office actually laughed when we mentioned DJK. That was all we had to hear.

Guest

Thanks to all the posters that have given us the real deal on this builder. I too, was in talks with this builder, but soon realized that he was not for me either.

I hope you can get relief from this guy.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-599225

We to were in talks with this builder but saw through his tactics. The owner seems to slam other builders and old trades.

We got the sense that Dan(owner) appeared desperate for sales and overall seemed to have no organization.

Glad we read the reviews and chose a builder in another town

Guest

There are many other unhappy homeowners . Thanks for posting this as I noticed other people had leins on their homes from subcontractors not being paid. Buyers Beware!!

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