Patrick Stad operates Hourglass Properties and is/has expressed intent to build multiple homes on Maui (see select properties he owns in the box to the right) despite being an unlicensed homebuilder in the State. As he is unlicensed, Patrick used a loophole by requesting a separate builder to assume title to obtain an occupancy permit to enable it’s sale.
This review intends to inform others about the experience my family had in purchasing a home built by Patrick in the luxury ($10M) space, as despite us having purchased multiple builder homes in the past, this was by far the worst experience we had with a builder who’s turnover of the property was incomplete and actually unsafe for my family.
Our experience requires us to soon file a formal complaint with the county’s Regulated Industry’s Compliance Office (RICO).
Here are the details of our experience with photos in case you intend to buy one of Patrick’s other properties so you better understand potential items to look out for:
Hourglass Properties owns the following properties in Maui:
140 Hawane Loop, 96761
710 Mahana Ridge St, Kapalua, 96761
Lot 49 Mahana Ridge St, Lahaina, 96761
Lot 46 Mahana Ridge St, Lahaina, 96761
Lot 5 Mahana Ridge St, Lahaina, 96761
1) Delayed possession, dangerous debris, bad hand-over
We moved from out of country with 2 aged pets, but the home purchase was delayed because after the deal was signed in March, material progress on the home stopped for months. As such, when we arrived to Maui we were forced to rent a VRBO at our expense in Kihei awaiting Patrick to finish construction and obtain the occupancy permit through his loophole of using a different builder to obtain our occupancy permit.
When we completed a home inspection, Patrick did organize remediation of a number of items - yet despite having 30-day contractual terms to remediate - many material items to date (at 90+ days later) have yet to be fixed despite repeated requests.
When I walked the yard at first to explore with my six year old daughter, we noticed sharp debris everywhere. I filled 3 contractor garbage bags with dangerous construction items strewn all around the yard including sharp broken tile, bent rebar, metal shards and other dangerous debris. I later learned that the HOA had sent a formal letter to Hourglass informing them of the need to clean the yard from construction waste and that a neighbor had also told Hourglass that they needed to clean up the construction debris - but they didn’t bother or care to for this multi-million dollar property.
The lawn and many beds were overgrown with weeds at handover. The interior of the house still had construction adhesive on windows. Broken tools were left behind. Landscaping was a mess. Our realtor called their’s to express how unprofessional a hand-over a home this was. Retaining walls were not only not backfilled properly but we located a fake drain (on purposely deceitful) put by the end of a retaining wall to “look” like wall drainage had been installed. Very cheap exterior lighting was used and burned out in weeks and needed replacing.
We had never had a home with such lack of care handed over to us before from any seller, let alone at this price point. We later learned that much of this was known and deliberately left as is for us.
2) Dangerous non-compliance to code, dishonesty & vandalism
When we employed a different firm to fix our landscaping, the new team stumbled upon our main gas line being very dangerously installed just below grade vs code which requires at least 18” of depth. It was a miracle the line, our home, or my family was not seriously harmed as heavy machinery use was required over top of that area to clean up massive sections of the yard (from weeds and builder planting of cheap ground cover which was against HOA bilaws and needed to be removed according to the HOA).
When I informed the builder of the serious gas line issue and requested A) a county inspection with the official gas line plans present and B) a licensed plumber to come and remediate, the builder blamed our landscaper for “pulling the gas line up” but that he didn’t want to argue about it… so very much unlike many other items still not remediated - he said he was going to send someone over right away to fix it (but without the county inspection as requested). I put in writing to Patrick that he was not to send his low cost landscaper to touch the gas line. Approximately two to three hours later, and while I was off Maui on the mainland, my landscaper called to ask me if I knew that Patrick’s landscaper was digging up my yard.
I looked at my security cameras to see that they were indeed vandalizing my property against my wishes (and had not even turned off the propane line to the home despite trenching with a machine), and I can only surmise they were trying to quickly fix/bury the problem before the county could see the serious safety concern noted as I had raised by desire for the county to be involved.
I called the landscaper and texted Patrick again with instructions for them to leave my property asap. I then had to independently contact the gas company, licensed trades, and remediate the dangerous issue myself. Complaints are being filed with the county with RICO.
You can see video of them digging up my property not only without permission but despite me expressly forbidding it in writing, photos of the dangerous not to code gas line as originally installed by Hourglass as well as damaged caused to electrical from their unauthorized digging work.
3) Many issues, cheap trades, buyer spend and hassle
A) Upon possession of the home, we noticed that the the natural stone flooring in the home (that had previously been covered with a sheet of brown paper) was badly damaged. Everyone who came and looked at it saw it was a problem, yet it required significant back and forth (Hourglass originally attempted to get by with quick patch work ‘bandaid’ fixes on the tile) before Patrick agreed to pay for the sanding down and resealing of all interior floor tile. This required us to repack all our furniture out of the house into the garage and have 2 weeks of whole home sanding to live around without furniture again. This was a known issue to the builder that they also didn’t bother fixing properly before possession.
B) Main and non-potable water meters on the property were installed with weak plumbing materials and were not to code - nor were they inspected. Fixing the water meter installs came at a personal cost of $18k to re-install and get properly inspected which the HOA was happy to see done properly.
C) At possession, the HVAC system wasn’t working properly and temperatures in the home were way off due to faulty sensors (Thermostat showing 99 degrees, trying to cool to 78, temperature in room showing 72). Again, this was a known issue that the builder didn’t bother trying to fix before possession. We had to insist the HVAC individual return multiple times to fix the sensors properly.
D) Gaps still exist to-date between wood trim in ceilings and the attic creating air leaks between main living space and attic. Patrick has ignored repeated requests to fix despite this being in the home inspection report that he had 30 days to contractually fix.
E) The solar system may or may not be functioning properly, but Patrick has only sent a low voltage (not a licensed electrician) individual to look at it. To date we cant confirm if the whole solar system is working properly. Patrick wanted to come and look at it himself but after he instructed his landscaping team to dig up my yard to fix the dangerous gas line while I was away from island, I informed him he was not to enter onto my property any more.
F) Stone wall finish around the property was incomplete and very sloppy and after two times of having Patrick’s stone wall team return to address all the gaps and unfinished mortar, there were still other mortar gaps that we had someone else fix at our expense.
G) The washing machines were not installed correctly (secure moving bolts not removed during install) and we had to replace the machines at our expense.
H) Some other punch list items were fixed by Patrick - some cabinetry problems were fixed, electrical glitches (some plugs and a dishwasher were not working) were remediated.
I) An overflow drain on the pool basin was not connected to drainage and was just covered over by Patrick’s rock wall team (oddly shoddy to do) and pool water was spilling all over the yard as also the pool’s pumps and autofill were not set properly. I had the pool infrastructure fixed myself.
J) The driveway gate was installed poorly in many ways and needs to be removed, rewelded and hung again.
K-?) There are more items that Patrick has been contractually required to remediate within 30 days of the home inspection despite him not doing yet (like weather stripping, overspray, BBQ area rust), but we are having to slowly fix ourselves at our own expense at this point due to our general experience to date. Recently Patrick’s Project Manager reached out asking what still needed to be remediated and I replied, to which I got nothing back from him.
Final Review
Patrick is focused on building ‘high design’ homes, which he does do. In a way his homes are works of art for a more modern aesthetic. He has pride in the systems installed (audio, automation, solar) but then not only dropped the ball on very basic finish, cleaning or care in handover of this property - but he on purposely left behind significant problems for us, at times with very basic coverups. We saw him often default to low cost (and at times unlicensed) individuals to address warranty items. All of the above put us in a position to have to spend significant costs ourselves post purchase to remediate. We saw Patrick try to shift blame, he has not been forthright or transparent on some stuff he doesn’t even know we know, and has refused to address some warranty items despite repeated requests.
We don’t understand how a builder like this who has been open about building multiple properties with many people can operate with being unlicensed in the state of Hawaii while using a county builder loophole like he does to obtain an occupancy permit, but we will be working on that as well now with the County.
All of the above is your call if you wish to buy one of his other properties as listed above. We spent approximately $600k to bring our property to the condition and stature it should have originally been delivered with. We are very happy to live in this home now despite a few remaining fixes needed, but getting to this point has been the worst experience our family has had with any home builder (or even just any home seller!) we have had when buying a home.