The other issue is the decorative louver trim on the garage gable. According to the elevation drawings, it is supposed to be centered both vertically and horizontally on the reverse gable. It is close to being centered horizontally, but nowhere near being centered vertically. This is right on the plans. Why do these guys refuse to follow directions? Now, of course, the fix will result in holes being left in the siding, but we are going to ask for it to be replaced if the holes are not behind the trim piece. Plus it seems like a bad idea in general to attach something with screws thru the face of the siding. Seems like it would restrict movement, which is what vinyl siding is designed to do.
Now for the paint color issue. According to both our PM and the Production Supervisor, we signed our contract prior to the color change taking place. So therefore our pricing did not reflect this change of color. Of course the pricing stayed the same from the time we signed our contract until, and beyond, the day that the model home opened and they were handing out brochures listing the standard features for the community which included the beige paint. They used the example, "XYZ development is getting beige paint too, but there's lots of people there who have white paint." The difference is that is an established community that's been around for 4 years. Not a single person is living in our community yet. Then they gave the example, well if you bought a car and then the next day they offered a/c standard with the car, you wouldn't be getting it. If the dealer cared about their customers you would!! Even Wal-Mart will refund your money if their prices change within 30 days!! They were so unwilling to budge on this item that they offered to give us our money back and we could go our separate ways!!! With "no hard feelings." That's right! We were given their standard, "maybe we aren't the builder for you" line. Really poor way to run a business. Our house is sold, we are 2/3 done building, and we just want to walk away???? They would rather lose the entire sale than put different colored paint in the sprayer!! Really hard to believe!!
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| Note the off-center trim piece. This guy should invest in a plumb-bob, or tape measure. |
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| Still needs the metal roof over the porch. |
Since we were told no on everything non standard from the get go I am not surprised they are telling you no now. It seems once the house is started they have ordered everything and I am assuming they already have the paint. Have you tried calling corporate or going over your sr and pm to their bosses?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't walk away from your dream home over paint color, it is a cheap builder grade paint that you will want to paint once the 10 month inspection has passed. I know it is frustrating but your house is beautiful and it will all come together once it is done.
As much as it sucks I can understand the refusal on the non-standard items, "they aren't a custom builder" as we have heard several times, but the paint was advertised in the community brochure at the model. We wouldn't walk just over the paint color, it has been a multitude of reasons, and, quite frankly, we are a bit concerned as to how any issues that come up post-build might be handled.
DeleteSo typical !!!! I cant believe that you got the " well maybe we are not the builder for you " They also offered us our down payment back too when the house was halfway done over minor issues.. I cant believe they you are not getting the paint, well yes I can , I know who you are dealing with !! Did you speak with Todd yet? He did seem more reasonable, but we always spoke with Tim and it was never a positive experience !!!! good luck.. LOVE THE COLOR!! Our house color /trim look so similiar.. we also got graphite gray but in wood siding. Just on the brighter side.. it was hard working with these people.. but we absolutley LOVE our home !!! so in the end it was well worth the fight !!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the words of encouragement. We are dealing with the same people...getting nowhere. Now they say our closing is not going to happen on the day they originally told us. Well actually the second date they gave us. Of course we sold our house and made arrangements with the buyer to stay here until that date, but RH doesn't care. Not their problem we took time off work and won't have a home for a week and made arrangements to have help moving on that date. And there is still plenty of time to get it done for us by the original date, they just seem unwilling to do so.
DeleteOn a more positive note we do like the siding color. We actually have driven by your house and it looks great! Wish they did the hardi-board siding in our community but we had to settle for vinyl.
Sorry to hear RHs response on the paint issue. It seems they really need to be versed in customer service, or to at least even feign an attempt to "try" for you. I've read quite frequently of RHs wanting to try and make it right. Your Courtland Gate does look great. I think I would also prefer the trim piece to be where it is, since it's not big and moving it lower would have a lot of open space/siding around it. However, I do understand the principle of it all too.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I've ran businesses my whole life and even if you're not going to do something for somebody you can at least pretend to! They don't even want to do that. You should have seen the way they responded (or more accurately didn't respond at all) to our simple requests at the pre-con meeting....That basically set the tone for the build. It's really unfortunate. This should be an exciting time for us...Really hasn't been...
DeleteOn the trim piece, if it were centered horizontally we probably wouldn't have said anything, but the fact that it's off on both axis was too much to ignore. The front elevation print is taped to one of the front windows, unfortunately it was just disregarded by the laborer.
DeleteI hear you on that one! It's definitely frustrating because all the information is there, easily accessible for the contractors/subcontractors. Good thing you're catching things during the building process. I really don't understand the "we'll let you walk away" reasoning either. With that option, both parties lose in the end. You lose the time wasted and potential other homes you could have purchased (and not to mention the rising new home prices). They are forced to sit and pay utilities/taxes on a house where there is little room to change any options AND they have to find someone to fall in love with the home too.
DeleteOMG that is crazy! I can't believe they are acting this way over paint that they will order 100s of thousands of gallons of.... Wow if you weren't so far in the build I would say call thier bluff.
ReplyDeleteI can't either. However they are unwilling to pay the higher labor costs associated with a colored paint. Which, I'm sure, are minimal based on the work crews we've seen so far on the less-skilled trades...
DeleteI say fight for your paint color how dare they speak to you in such a manner trust me when I tell you I would like to walk away from our builder right about now their customer service SUCKS too hang in there the good news is your almost done and as soon as you get the keys hire a painter!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny once you've signed on the dotted line and given them your deposit, their whole attitude towards you changes A LOT!!!
DeleteI will definitely keep following you to find out what happens with the paint situation stay strong and trust that they need to make the sale at all costs.
DeleteLike the color and really like that porch.
ReplyDeleteIRT RH's response. I've read others getting the same response but nobody has called their bluff. RH's hates inventory so much they won't even buy the lots until they have started construction. I've also heard about cases where they have cut the price of their home thousands of dollars to meet the lower than expected appraised value. I find it hard to believe they would be willing to allow a sale go over even a couple hundred dollars in paint (assuming it is even that much of a difference).
Yeah we were pretty close to it. We are at the point now where any more BS on their part and we will call their bluff (or maybe they're not bluffing). They seem to be pretty headstrong around here. However, in the grand scheme of things, it's just a house. It's not like there isn't tons of other houses around. BTW, They claim it is several thousand more to paint a color. Apparently with white paint they just spray the same crap on the walls and ceiling, eliminating cutting in with a brush. You would think they would do it just to keep a happy customer, but obviously not...
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