Homeowner’s Resources

Quality Assurance

Classic Homes is committed to customer satisfaction. We go the extra mile for each customer, guaranteeing that your new-home experience meets our standards and your expectations. Every home is covered by our 10-year structural warranty.

After construction, we continue your Classic experience with a structured warranty program. We have a dedicated staff available to assist with questions and to help resolve any issues that arise. During your first year, Classic Homes’ service representatives perform walkthroughs at 90 days and 11 months, ensuring everything in your home functions properly.

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Warranty Program

We encourage you to call our Customer Care Department anytime with any questions or warranty concerns you may have.

"Call Anytime" Warranty Program

Items from your Home Orientation Report (final walk through) will be the responsibility of your Builder and will be corrected within the first thirty (30) days after settlement, weather and access permitting. Items that you notice after settlement, and were not previously noted on any pre settlement list should be reported to our Customer Care Department. They will be your primary contact until the conclusion of your One-Year Anniversary Drywall Service.

You may initiate your service inquiry either by mail, telephone (301-637-2034) or email (warranty@classichomesmd.com).All non-emergency inquiries will be responded to within 24-48 hours.

Upon receiving your service request, a Customer Care representative will contact you for an inspection appointment if one is necessary or they will directly issue a work order to the appropriate trade partner. Please note, for most service appointments you will have to allow access to your home between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Weather permitting and with your cooperation to obtain access to your home, all work will generally be completed within the following fourteen (14) days.

One Year Anniversary Drywall Service

To make your home looking new and fresh even after one year we have introduced One-Year Anniversary Drywall Service just for Maryland customers only.

This one-year anniversary service marks the conclusion of your One-Year Classic Homes Limited Warranty. During the year, you will encounter nail pops and small cracks due to the settlement of your home and the change from the heating and cooling seasons. Because of these nail pops and cracks, Classic Homes recommends that you do not decoratively paint or install wallpaper in your home until after the completion of your One-Year Anniversary Drywall Service.

Just before the time of your one-year anniversary, you must schedule your one-time One-Year Anniversary Drywall Service with our Customer Care Dept to correct nail pops and drywall cracks that have taken place. The drywall contractor will point up nail pops, settlement cracks in the drywall, and seams that have puckered, leaving areas ready to sand and paint.

From time to time our customers apply custom mixed paint or stains in their new home after settlement. Please understand that with any custom paint color, normal touch-ups will be impossible to match, and will be readily visible. Likewise, standard surface products (such as wood fillers) or methods may not match as well as they do with standard materials.

Therefore any custom paint applied to your home will void the Classic homes warranty.

Seasonal Maintenance Tips

Like a car, your home needs regular maintenance and occasional tune-ups to stay in great shape. As the seasons change there are different tasks to complete to ensure your home remains in top condition, keeping it beautiful for years to come.

Preparing Your Home for Spring

When winter finally comes to end, Classic Homes would like to help you ensure that your home survived the harsh winter months, and is prepared for the coming spring showers and summer heat.

Roofing

  • Damaged shingles can allow water to find its way into your home.
  • Inspect your roof for any damage caused by the extreme winter temperatures, winds, ice and snow
    Look for missing, broken or misshapen shingles.

Gutters and Downspouts

  • A clogged gutter can back up, causing water to wash over the sides of the house or into your roof, potentially causing all sorts of damage.
  • Check your gutters and downspouts to ensure that water is being diverted away from your home
  • Gutters should be cleaned routinely to keep them free of leaves, branches and other debris.
  • Check for leaks along the seams and corners of your gutters.

Windows, Doors and Siding

  • Caulking is important, as it not only keeps cold air out of your home, but water as well. Make sure your caulk adheres properly. Clearing windows of debris can help prevent standing water.

Inspect your home’s windows, exterior doors, and siding, ensuring that caulk seals all gaps.
Check window screens, and make sure all windows are washed inside and out.

Detector Batteries
Experts recommend checking and/or changing detector batteries at least twice a year.

Check or change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

Water, Heating and Cooling
All drains and vents should be inspected regularly. House bibs can also leak over time and may need to be replaced.

If your home has a sump pump, ensure that it is clear of debris, and there are no leaks.
Clean all vents of debris, dust, etc.
All drains in your home should be cleaned regularly.
Be sure to change or clean heating, ventilation and air conditioning filters.
Turn on and check your hose bibs (the outside faucet connecting your hose to your inside plumbing system.)

Preparing Your Home for Winter

When winter is approaching, follow these tips to help ensure that your home survives the harsh winter months.

Treating Ice
Protect your driveway, stoop and lead walk from winter damage.

  • Use of salt or chemical de-icers will damage concrete or asphalt.
  • We recommend using fresh sand or kitty litter instead.
  • Once the ice and snow has passed, it’s best to hose down your driveway and your vehicles of heavy salt de-icers from the roads.

Hose Bibs
Prevent problems caused by frozen external pipes.

  • Turn off the water to all outside hose bibs at the interior shut-off valve.
  • Drain remaining water to prevent it from freezing.
  • Disconnect all hoses.

Heat
Prevent problems caused by frozen internal pipes.

  • Always leave the heat on in your home in the winter, even if you plan to be away for weeks at a time.
  • Heat the entire home. Even that room in the far corner that no one uses.
  • Replace filters in the furnace and humidifier (if applicable).
  • Ensure that the condensation line is clear and draining properly.
  • Clear debris from around outdoor HVAC units.

Firepace
If your home has a wood burning fireplace, be sure it’s ready before using it.

  • Clean and inspect the fire box and chimney.
    Check that the screen and air intake/outakes are clear.

Sump Pump
To prevent possible water damage, be sure your sump pump is working properly.

  • Ensure sump pump is operating correctly.
  • Check drainage lines for obstructions.

Gutters and Downspouts
Frozen gutters and downspouts can cause more serious problems than you might expect, including roof damage, leading to leaks into your home.

  • Clear gutters, downspouts and ice dams before the winter weather sets in.

Emergency Service

If you experience an emergency, we recommend the following steps toward resolving it. Please make particular note of the information pertaining to emergencies after normal business hours.

First Step

Refer to your Homeowner’s Maintenance Manual and your warranty booklets, which address the most frequent items that commonly concern homeowners.

Refer to the back of this section of the Homeowner’s Journal for the names and emergency telephone numbers of plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, roofing, siding and insulation subcontractors, as well as referring back to the Utility and Community Service listing in the previous section. Prior to calling one of these numbers, please read the guidelines below to see what constitutes an emergency. It is important that you only call these numbers if the problem cannot wait until normal working hours.

If you experience an emergency, you must immediately call your trade contractor. Additionally, contact Classic Homes’ Customer Care Department at 301- 637-2034, and leave a clear message with your name, community address and home site, purpose for your call, and the phone numbers where and when you can be reached. During business hours 9 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday. Do not call any employee or your house Superintendent Directly. All service calls are handled by the office by a separate warranty/Service Department.

What is an emergency?

A quick guideline regarding whether or not a condition is considered an emergency is to ask yourself whether further property damage will result or if there will be a medical consequence if an item is left unattended by a professional until normal working hours. In general, if the answer is “yes”, then you should consider the situation an emergency. If the answer is “no,” please wait to call during our regular business hours.

Unnecessary calls interfere with more critical ones. In order to encourage careful use of emergency numbers, you may be charged a service fee if you request emergency service for a matter that is not a true emergency.

Electrical Issues

An emergency condition often exists when any part of the electrical system in your home is not functioning properly. Questions about the guidelines should be directed to your electrical subcontractor or electric service provider.

The following conditions, however, are not considered an emergency:

  • Your circuit breakers are not in the full “ON” position.
  • An appliance or light fixture is not operating properly and can be unplugged or turned off until normal business hours.
  • Power outage exists outside your home.
  • A Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) breaker is tripped or not reset.
Heating & Air Conditioning

An emergency condition exists only in the following cases:

Heating. An emergency condition exists when there is no heat coming from the main system in your home. All service calls placed after normal business hours will be handled promptly.

Gas line leaks. Leave your home immediately and contact your gas service provider for immediate response.

Non Emergency – Cooling
All calls will be handled during normal business hours. Cooling failures do not constitute an emergency condition, unless a life-threatening health problem requires conditioned air in the home. Please consult with our Customer Care Department should you have any questions.

Roof Leak

An emergency condition often exists when you see water spotting on ceiling. Please check if it is due to excessive condensation. Please call the roofing company immediately and please inform the customer care department we will make every attempt to have some one at the first opportunity.

Effects of Nature

At Classic Homes, we select the best available grade of materials; however, we want to alert you to the fact that the following forces of nature will still affect your home:

Humidity

Humidity has a big influence on the durability of your home and varies with the change in seasons. During the late spring and early summer, the humidity in your home increases due to the operation of your air conditioning system. During the late fall and winter, it decreases due to the operation of your heating system. These changes continuously cause contraction and expansion of the house’s structure and therefore these changes impact your trim, caulk and drywall.

Consequently, you should expect some cracks in your drywall and even your ceramic tile grout. Although Classic Homes provides you with a one-time One-Year Anniversary Drywall Service, you will continue to experience the effects of humidity for years to come. Please take this into consideration when planning your long-term home maintenance program and refer to your Homeowner’s Maintenance Manual for our care recommendations.

For Hardwood Floors: Please consider installing humidifier/dehumidifier at this time.

Sunlight

The exterior of your home is continuously exposed to sunlight. Although water from rain and snow is destructive to exterior trim, caulk and paint, it is sunlight that actually causes more wear and tear. Occasionally, you should expect to make repairs to exterior trim and caulking, as well as to repaint every two to three years. Please take this into consideration when planning your long-term home maintenance program and refer to your Homeowner’s Maintenance Manual for our care recommendations. Sunlight will also cause the siding, brick and painted surfaces to fade. This fading is to be expected due to the ultraviolet rays of the sun.

Salt

Salt and other de-icing chemicals used to melt snow and ice cause pitting and discoloration of the concrete. Even if you do not use salt, it can be tracked onto concrete surfaces from the street on feet or tires. In order to protect concrete from surface deterioration, we recommend the application of a concrete sealant available at most hardware or masonry supply houses that will help retard the deterioration of concrete surfaces. It is extremely important that you care for your concrete surfaces to avoid these problems, particularly during the winter months. Please refer to your Homeowner’s Maintenance Manual for our care recommendations.