I really wanted to have a positive experience with Stanley Martin, especially after purchasing a brand-new home, but the way my ongoing HVAC issue has been handled has been extremely disappointing.
My A/C problems started approximately three months ago. Since then, there have been multiple service visits, but the underlying issue was never properly resolved. The system continued struggling to cool the second and third floors, and the problem eventually became severe enough that the HVAC contractor confirmed a refrigerant leak and determined that the evaporator coil needs to be replaced.
The home has now reached approximately 93°F indoors, and I have been unable to reasonably stay or work from the house. I work remotely, so this has directly displaced me from my own home. I have also had to make alternate arrangements because I have a partner and a pet, and remaining in the home at these temperatures is simply not reasonable.
What makes this even more frustrating is that this did not happen suddenly. The HVAC issue had been reported and serviced repeatedly over the course of several months, yet the root cause was not identified until the system was essentially unusable.
I was told the replacement evaporator coil had been ordered, but there was no confirmed ETA. I was later advised that if the part did not arrive by the end of the day, the repair could be delayed until after the Labor Day weekend. In the meantime, I repeatedly asked about temporary cooling, including portable A/C units, and no temporary solution was provided.
I even purchased fans myself, but when the home is already around 93°F, fans are simply circulating hot air and do not solve the problem.
On top of that, my electric bill was approximately $140 in June, while each of the last two bills has been around $240, despite the HVAC system failing to properly cool the home. I cannot say definitively that the HVAC issue caused the entire increase, but it is extremely concerning to see a roughly 70% increase in electricity costs while dealing with a system that has been running and struggling to maintain temperature.
I understand that manufacturers can have delays and that Stanley Martin may not control when a specific Trane part arrives. What I do expect, however, is for a homebuilder to take responsibility for finding a reasonable temporary solution when a major system in a brand-new home fails under warranty particularly when the problem has been ongoing for months and the home has become extremely uncomfortable to occupy.
At the moment, the solution has essentially been to wait for the part while I stay somewhere else.
For a newly constructed home, this is not the level of warranty service or post-closing support I expected. I hope Stanley Martin takes this seriously and improves how situations like this are handled for homeowners in the future.