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Please let us know what has happened to you, and let us know if you would like to help us make buying new houses safer.
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Maggie and Brad Parker
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posted 23 January 2005 22:18 CET
Ryan Homes promised us a perfect home for our growing family in a new subdivision of Terrace Ridge in Cincinnati, Ohio. Needless to say it all "went down the drain" with a series of gross acts by the unsupervised contractors. We pulled up to view our nearly finished home in our pick up truck one late afternoon following work. The bricklayers were still working and I suspect assumed we were subcontractors by the way we were dressed. The bricklayers were in and out of the second floor windows via the scaffolding so we stayed in the basement and 1st floor to stay out of their way. I was walking through the kitchen when I noticed yellow dripping from the ceiling of the kitchen through the sub flooring and down the drywall going from the kitchen into the dining room. We walked upstairs to find a fresh pool of urine in the bathroom linen closet floor and splashed all over the drywall seeping through the sub flooring. Horrified, we went downstairs and found other locations of pools of urine including the dining room with seepage coming through the kitchen floor under the dividing wall. We immediately called the Ryan supervisor and left a message with no response. We then had to call again in the morning. They said they would bleach the affected areas and replace some of the floor boarding and drywall. They could not guarantee that this was the only incident. There was only one port-o-let on the job site and it was roughly 1/5 mile away from our home...until two days following our gross findings and then they put one right next to our house. After expressing our emotional blocks in a meeting with the sales manager, they told us they would "not make us buy the house" and that we could take the weekend to decide. We made a call to the local health department and the inspector was concerned with health issues involving future mold problems arising from the affected areas. Right then we knew we no longer wanted this home or any home Ryan built. We called the sales manager and told her our decision to void the contract. She then got nasty and said we would have to pay all the costs associated with the breach of contract and that they were going to keep our hand money we gave up front. She then offered to do a special cleaning and paint our basement floor...the basement floor never came up as a possible affected area and it was a finished living area during the construction. Ryan's neglect in supervising and hiring quality subcontractors and their bad business practices of deception by their sales department has left a terrible taste in our mouths for the new home building experience. We hired an attorney to retrieve our money back and force Ryan to let us out of the contract and now we are in the process of filing a complaint with Clermont County in Cincinnati, Ohio. Perhaps this indecency may be another reason why mold problems are so widespread among newer homes. I pray this doesn't happen to any other home buyers, but BEWARE! |
Michelle Mahala
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posted 22 January 2005 20:30 CET
I am not sure who is responsible for the issues with my home, however I am very sure it is not me.
I have been dealing with this issue since 2003 to no avail.
I will be breif in my explaination.
Basically Pennsylvania was in drought when we purchased our home in 2001. In 2002 PA came out of drought and we began to notice water pooling in the back corner of our yard. We have contacted the Borough where we live and the builder who built the home and asked for help in aleviating the swamp like condition creating when the sump pump line was buried in our back yard. We had no luck. We hired a lawyer to help us... again no luck. We were served the first of the year with a lawsuit from the Borough in which we live to clean up the water back up that we have all but begged for help with and got no response. Now they are threatening to put a lein against our home and put us and our five boys out on the street.
Even if I could afford a lawyer I can't find one willing to take the case since it is government.
What is a person to do?? |
Trevor Hubert
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posted 18 January 2005 14:53 CET
Turnberry Homes LLC (Rick Bell) continues to deny there are any problems and has yet to accept any responsibility. Turnberry advertises themselves as the "Ralph Lauren" of homebuilders but, in my humble consumer opinion, they are far from living up to the implied reputation. Turnberry Homes LLC, by their inactions, has forced us to pursue legal action as a remedy to resolve these matters. The complaint with the Tennessee State Contractors Licensing Board and Law Suit filed in Williamson County Chancery Court are still pending.
Roof – Water damage under the felt; shingles improperly installed; areas without any felt under the shingles; nails and nail holes in shingles; improperly installed flashing; rain gutters improperly installed and leaking; splitting eaves from the house settling and causing the shingles to split and leak water... .
Attic – Because of the mold and mildew on the roof, there is now mold, mildew and fungi in the attic area.
Brick veneer - The brick veneer walls were installed with NO flashing for windows or flashing for the weep holes; ...there are areas of the OSB board behind the brick that have NO felt and are wet and have mold and mildew; Architect and Engineers recommend that all the brick, OSB and insulation be completely removed...
Windows – The windows are not properly installed and have NO flashing; several windows leak when the rain hits them; water leaks through the windows and runs down the back of the drywall; many of the window frames and sills have peeling paint from the water and moisture; daylight can be seen through the frames of several windows.
Back door – The back door leaks water and has mold and mildew growing in the frame from not being properly installed.
Foundation – There are 7 areas in the foundation where the mortar has washed away into the crawlspace from the hydraulic water pressure coming from the outside; the hydraulic water pressure has also caused several of the cement blocks in the foundation to loosen...
Crawlspace – There are several areas where water accumulates up to 12” deep in the crawlspace after a rain; .. there is mold, mildew and fungi on the wood in the crawlspace...
Hardwood floors – The hardwood floors are not properly installed and are sub-standard quality. The hardwood is separating, splitting, warping and have many “Mill Ends”.
Steam shower – The steam shower control unit has never been permanently installed, it was left hanging from the wall by its wires.
These are but a few of the many challenges we are experiencing with our 1 ˝ year old house. The Architect stated in his report that he would rate this house a “ D or even an F”. The Architect also states that in his professional opinion our house was “Built to sell, not to last”. We paid in the neighborhood of $500,000.00 for a house that needs extensive, expensive repairs after only one year. The estimated cost of repairs now is well into the 6 figure $ range. What will the repair/maintenance cost be for 5 or 10 years? More than we paid for the house in the first place?
At this point I have to say that I would not personally trust Turnberry Homes to build a “Dog House” for me, never mind any other type of house.
August 28, 2003 –
· We took position of our Custom Built Turnberry Home and the NIGHTMARE began.
August 2004 –
· We filed a formal complaint with the Tennessee State Contractor Licensing Board. We gave the State copies of all the inspection reports we had concerning our home.
October 2004 –
· We received a copy of the Turnberry Engineer response from the State CLB. The Turnberry Engineer report says that our home is “constructed well beyond what is considered good and workmanlike and the industry standard”.
· We filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
· A State Inspector/Investigator performed a preliminary inspection of our home.
November 2004 –
· We received a letter from the States CLB Attorney stating that he has requested an investigation of our case and an Investigator would be contacting us in the next few weeks.
December 2004 –
· Our Attorney, acting on our behalf, filed suit against Turnberry Homes LLC for:
1. Fraud
2. Breach of Contract
3. Consumer Protection Claims
4. Negligent Misrepresentation
5. Negligence
· |
Debra Rylander
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posted 17 January 2005 13:44 CET
I live in a home that was built by Perry Homes and a community being developed by Perry Homes.
Nine months after we moved into our home a professional engineer
(David Grissom P.E.) gave us the bad news. Our home needed a complete underpinning, the repairs for this will run approximately $55.000.00. We have battled with Perry Homes for 2 years and have spent $53,000.00 on legal fees and forensic testing to find the cause of our foundation problems. To date they have offered to redirect the water from two gutter downspouts. My engineer laughs at this fix. We are now faced with three choices none of which holds the builder accountable. 1. We can repair the home on our own dollar. 2. We can file a lawsuit. We were told this would cost us approximately $100,000.00. 3. Choose binding arbitration by the 28 Jan. 2005 with the Home Warranty of Texas. Which we must pay for. What would you choose. Where are the rights of the home owner? Perry spent 9 million in the 2004 elections. Guess I need to have my name on a political ballott to get a response from him. |
Vance Carolin
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posted 13 January 2005 23:10 CET
I am currently finishing up a log home after just over 2 years. I have been the builder for 90% of the project. I have some thoughts.. 1. Babysit your subs and check their work. 2. Learn the building codes better than your inspectors. 3. Check the quality of every bit of material that goes into your house. If I was having a home built for me, I would apply the same precautions, only more so. I would get to the building site at least twice a week and inspect all work and if the contractor won't or can't tow the line..find some else. If the home buyer doesn't have the skills to ride herd on the contractor, hire a well seasoned trustworthy professional to do so. Vance |
Shonese Gardner
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posted 12 January 2005 19:40 CET
Good Afternoon,
My name is Shonese L. Gardner . My husband and i purchased out home August 2003 from American Hertiage which was bought out by KB Homes. We have had numerous problems and can not seem to get anyone to return our calls on a local level. The basebroad started to lift shortly after our Brand new home was purchased. My house has been leaking in my kids bedroom, my livingroom and my laundryroom. The paint is chipping from the outside of my house, due to it not being sealed properly. I have called an office in California ( I think your headquarters office) and no has returned my call.
I have 6 neighbors street that have had to have the drywall ripped out by KB and redone.One of my backyard neighbors had mold in his house , due to the leaking and 2 of the construction worker go sick after working on his house , due to the mold that they breathed while working on his home. Please ..Please..Please.If there is anything you can do to help me it would be greatly appreciated.
I live in the St Lake Charles subdivision.
Thanks in Advance for your help,
Shonese Gardner |
dissappointed
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posted 12 January 2005 16:54 CET
We purchased a mercedes home last year. Since we moved in all we have had is one problem after another with walls not being comepletely finished to major leaks through walls, windows, and foundation. We spent alot of time and sweat to save for this home just to feel like we wasted our time and money. we have made several calls to mercedes with no positive results. i am begining to wonder if they are just waiting for our warranty to run out so nothing can be done! |
Candyce Norvell
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posted 11 January 2005 21:32 CET
SUMMARY OF PROBLEMS
Builder, Paul Starr of Tri-Starr Homes of Texas, repeatedly used
materials and methods inferior to those specified in construction
documents and then refused to redo work when both architect and
engineer inspected home and discovered this. (That is, this wasn't my
word versus his; construction professionals put in writing that he
failed to follow specs in substantial ways that impacted safety and
quality of construction. Framing problems are so severe that I will pay
architect $1500-$2000 to redraw structural details to address
unauthorized changes made by builder, and then will have to pay framers
to do the actual corrective work.) For approx. 4 weeks during
construction, builder refused to communicate with me. During this time,
he closed his office and did not notify me of this or let me know how
to reach him. During same period, he left approx. $40k in bills unpaid
so that lien notices poured in to me. He also sent me a $5k change
order made up of items he had agreed in writing would be done at no
charge to me (I have documents), items that had not been done or even
requested, and items that he had authorized without my request or
permission. Builder then essentially abandoned the project while
continuing to demand money.
WHAT I HAVE DONE
Both my banker and I tried repeatedly to work out the problems. Builder
communicated with us only minimally, and repeatedly lied about various
matters. Some issues, such as the $40k in unpaid bills, were partially
resolved. Yesterday I sent builder an email explaining what he needed
to do to avoid termination and giving a reasonable deadline for each
step. The first step was a request for him to email me by today to
assure me that he intended to meet his legal responsibilities under the
contract. He did not respond to this email in the approx. 36-hr. period
allowed, although he did send a nonresponsive, disrespectful email.
STATUS OF PROBLEM
I fired my builder today after he refused to acknowledge my latest
request that he perform his legal responsibilities under the terms of
our contract. My concern now is to keep other customers from going
through this. This man, who I think does business under multiple
company names, should lose his license. His home/office address: 719
Thompson Ranch Rd., Wimberley, TX 78676; tel. 512-847-6141. I can
document all that I have written, and architect and engineer will
confirm major construction problems. |
robert Gianni
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posted 6 January 2005 15:21 CET
K Hovnanian Homes Chestnut Green Developement, Williamstown New Jersey. The Building contractor is poor oin Homeowner service, warranty work, and customer satisfaction. I have been in my home since September and I am totally unsatisfied with my home along with other homeowners. |
rich mcinnis
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posted 5 January 2005 17:53 CET
Brooks Properties has failed in all aspects of building my home, from the initial time schedule where the home was finished 6 months late, to the quality-where I have had window, roof, door, and chimney leaks since I bought in October 2000, and the leaks continue as recently as last week when I had a window, door, and garage leak. I have had a tarp draped from the roof to the ground for one year now and he has not even attempted to resolve the leaks anymore. Because of the poor quality and response, I have picketed his new homes for sale at clearwater court 2 miles away, and because of this he filed for 2 restraining orders to keep me from picketing and talking to visitors of his new homes, and when the court dismissed for lack of evidence, he sued me twice for picketing, and is no longer responding to fix my water leaks, even though his fixes were never long term. I had no other choice but to sue this builder and have spent 50K to date to defend myself against his frivilous retraining orders and lawsuits, as well as another 50K on construction experts and attorneys to sue him for his shoddy workmanship, so buyer beware!!! The owner, Bill Brooks is just like a used car salesman, he's your best friend till the sale is done, then he doesn't know you anymore. Rich McInnis rich@odysseysys.com Seabeach Townhome President 231 Main Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060 |
Kenneth
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posted 4 January 2005 20:43 CET
I'm loooking at buying a new home in San ANtonio, Texas in April 2005. I was looking at Ryland Homes, Plantation Homes or Medallion Homes. Any comments are welcomed via e-mail: buggtussell@san.rr.com |
LaNell Anderson
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posted 31 December 2004 10:25 CET
We contracted to have a custom home built 7-1-04 to be completed 12-15-04. The foundation was placed 10-23-04 and we immediately knew it was defective. Very poor workmanship was used and we ended up with about 15 items or more created by the concrete sub that were not to code. In learning the code in rarely enforced in Texas Counties I began to investigate. I was thrilled to learn of HOBB.org and this site and Janet have been very helpful. We were able to get detectives to file criminal charges against our builder yesterday and we found out we can file our own claim against our builders "builder's risk" insurance. That is our next step. The builder has collected a good sum of money from our mortgage company and the only thing he has delivered is a defective foundation. I spoke with an attorney at TRCC and found out that our home must be "substantially complete" before it would fall under the rules of the TRCC. Thanks Janet. |
JLRivera
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posted 30 December 2004 09:45 CET
My husband and I are so frustrated that we have been submitting our warranty items to Centex for 4 months straight now and they are flat out ignoring repairing the most serious items (including a leaky window that is causing damage to our walls and floor!) At first they would schedule a day to come and make the repairs and then not show up or only a few of the persons scheduled would show up and now the flat out do not even respond to your requests. Our most recent request to have the leaky window repaired is over 20 days old and not a word from Centex. And don't even get me started on their lack ability to give full disclosure on lot restrictions before they have your downpayment. Due to the headache of trying to deal with warranty issues and other flat out dishonesty - I would NEVER buy another Centex home and recommend you do not buy one either. |
ROYCE
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posted 29 December 2004 14:57 CET
I HAVE OWNED A KB HOME IN ROUNDROCK , TX FOR APPROXIMATELY 2 YEARS NOW AND HAVE BEEN HAVING PROBLEMS THAT CONCERN ME. I HAVE SPOKEN TO ANOTHER FELLOW WHO LIVES IN MY SUBDIVISON AND HE HAS HAD THE SAME PROBLEMS AND WORSE . HIS HOUSE IS 4 YEARS OLD. MY PLUMBING KNOCKS WHEN MY UP STAIRS BATHTUB IS RUNNING. ALL MY SHEET ROCK IS CRACKING ALONG CIELING AND FLOORS. A DOOR WONT SHUT . MY BACK PATIO DOOR LETS WATER IN WHEN IT RAINS AND I THINK I OBSERVED MOLD ALONG THE BASE BOARD BY MY PATIO DOOR. THE CEMENT ON MY LIMESTONE INFRONT OF THE HOUSE IS CRACKING. NOW ...I TALKED TO THE FELLOW LIVING IN MY SUBDIVISION AND HE HAS A FLOOR PLAN SIMILIAR TO MINE. HE TOLD ME THAT HE HAS A WINDOW THAT LEAKS MOISTURE AND THAT IS CLOSED OFF TO THE REST OF THE HOUSE IN THE ATTIC. THIS CAUSED HEALTH PROBLEMS FOR HIS FAMILY. HE SAID THAT THE WINDOWS WERE DEFECTIVE AND KB KNEW IT AND WOULDNT DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. I DONT WANT TO BE HIM IN 2 YEARS. I AM ALREADY SEEING PROBLEMS SIMILIAR TO HIS AND I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM OTHERS IN MY PREDICTAMENT. EMAIL ME AT SALSAROYCE@AUSTIN.RR.COM
OH YEAH MY UPSTAIRS FLOORS CREAK TOO LOL |
Ruth & Rex Gentry
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posted 28 December 2004 20:06 CET
Lennar promises EVERYTHING INCLUDED (We did not know that it included a CRACKED SLAB) Our Lennar sales rep. had discussed the cracked slab with our neighbors but failed to mention it to us. This crack went the entire width of our home-- our slab was literally in two pieces. We were devasted when our inspector found it (after we had been in our home 11 months). We fought with Lennar for a year and they treated us very disrespectfully but eventually repaired the damage. However, I would never recommend that anyone purchase a home without an inspector and just because a company has the word integrity in their advertising does not mean that they know what that word means. |
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