Cress Company

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• By Billy C.

  March 12, 2022

  Build a home

  Very disappointing! Gave nice first impression upon initial meeting at his office and followed up promptly with our questions. Then the problems began. He attempted to have us sign a contract before all our allowances were by saying it would reserve a start date as he was so busy. How can you sign a contract before you know what your final estimate would be. We spent much time and money traveling to all of his recommended vendors. His assistant was very evasive. We felt as soon as we called him out on this, he shut us down. He said he was booked until 2023. When we told him 2023 would be fine he never responded. Then he said he would be out of town, and would talk with us upon his return. He never called and when my wife called him he was annoyed. He flat out told us he would not be building our home without any valid reason. I think one can clearly see this speaks for itself.

• By Marsha B.

  October 23, 2019

  New home build

  $420,000

  Gerald is excellent at the design phase and does a great job of selling the concept of your home. This is where all excellence ends. Communication, schedules, worksite management, financial management were all non-existent. I finally fired Cress and had my own contractors complete the home after waiting 12 months for him to complete my 2300 square foot home.

  10 months after I gained possession of the home I received an email from Mr. Cress threatening legal action if I did not pay “unpaid invoices” within the next 72 hours. There were no copies of the “unpaid invoices“ attached to the email and this was the first I had ever heard of a financial issue. I requested the invoices (totally just under $30,000. Thankfully, I had kept excellent records due to my distrust of Mr Cress and his organization. It took several unnecessary hours of my time, but I was able to produce all the paper work and cancelled checks for the invoices. Was Mr. Cress trying to double bill me or is he merely that incompetent with his accounting? Either option is unacceptable especially when he was threatening liens against my home, and on and on.

  Gerald will be charming when you meet him, but he is a bully and fundamentally untrustworthy.

  Marsha Brinson

• By Julia Picard A.

  August 15, 2019

  Custom home

  $460

  We love our new custom home. Cress Company listened to our ideas and made them a reality. They have great communication skills and our home is just what we wanted.

• Anonymous

  August 7, 2019

  We absolutely love our new home!!! Working with Gerald Cress to get it exactly how we wanted it was great! He listened to our ideas and worked with us to make it a home to be proud of!

• Anonymous

  August 7, 2019

  We sold our house in NJ and retired to Tenneessee. Cress Company was one of the approved builders in the subdivision we had bought a lot in. We had a great experience with Cress Company. They were able to take our dream house plan and make it a reality and was better than we could imagine.

• By Kimberly T.

  October 10, 2017

  Spec House - Build/Completion

  $490,000

  Buyers beware! All allowances are underfunded - expect overages and the resulting 15% charges. Expect delays and no shows by the sub contractors or Gerald. Expect his project foreman to never appear. Expect his designer, Loretta, to take 3 weeks to forward vendor quotes. Expect delays and false timeline dates to close.

  Save yourself headaches, empty bank accounts, and shoddy construction. Buy elsewhere! Agree on all points on above review including the agent, Pam Zachary.

• By Disgusted

  February 27, 2017

  Build

  $400

  260 days

  Crooked! He damaged our house building next door to us and will not make repairs even though the Town of Farragut told him to. He eventually will screw over his homeowners in one way or many! BEWARE!!

• By Cheryl R.

  August 6, 2015

  New Construction

  $455,000

  304 days

  Worst Contractor EVER

  This is the worst home building experience. This is my 5th new house and my 23rd real estate transaction (I own rental property). The builder, Gerald Cress, has not abided by the contract for completion of the house. In addition, his real estate agent, Pam Zachary, refuses to assist in resolving these problems.

  I have it in writing that the house was to be completed in Oct, 2014. I did not move in until Dec 15, 2014. The house was still not completed. Because of his delays I had to move twice because of the sale of my prior house. My first punch list was 156 items and was verified by his real estate agent, Pam Zachary. To date, there are still over 20 items to be completed.

  I emailed and emailed and tried to talk to Gerald Cress. He would only correspond by email. I have sent him numerous numerous requests to complete the items on the punch list. He ignores the emails and will NOT return phone calls.

  I have had to file a complaint to the State of TN for failure to abide by the contract and building a house greater than his license. The State has still not made a decision. Cress Company contractors license is for $400,000 and my contract was for $455,000.

  Anyone can view my stone walkway and agree of the faulty workmanship. There is a window that has not been installed properly at the end of the house with a gap of 1-2". There are so many problems that I could list, but will restrain from doing so.

  Gerald Cress refuses to be accountable for any of his work. He filed bankruptcy once in 2010 under Cress Development. His current company name is Cress Company.

  I would NEVER recommend this builder to anyone.

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