We Have Problems
Here's the story so far (summarized)....
The subs who did the foundation did not notch for a basement window at one the locations as indicated in our Milan floor plan. Our floor plan showed two windows in the basement - we only got one... and it's the one in the UNFINISHED part (there is only one in the finished portion.. that's the one we're missing). Naturally, I informed my PM. He said basically that he was looking into getting the window. I said okay and waited to hear back with an update on the window. And then waited more, and more..... Lumber delivered on 1/6/2016. Had some freezing temps and a few snow showers. A week later... still no work done to the house. Lumber continues to sit untouched, now under all the snow, ice, and rain that has fallen. Other houses under construction in the new neighborhood that were "behind" us now suddenly "catch up" to us in terms of progress. More snow, some rain, low temps, another week later, and still no word from PM. I call Sales Rep. She tells me that our house is still on schedule and not to worry because even if it seems like they're not doing anything on the house, things are always in motion . Also find out that our PM has been on vacation and won't be back until 1/25/2016. Am now worried... still no work done on the house and I just KNOW we're falling behind schedule at this point. Lumber continues to sit. A week later (on 1/27/2015), PM is supposed to back on the job by now... I drive by the site... still no basement window and no other progress whatsoever. I e-mail PM asking for an update.
Here is the floor plan I received from Ryan Homes with the missing basement window circled:
Here is the floor plan I received from Ryan Homes with the missing basement window circled:
YESTERDAY
PM e-mails me back and states that he is "surprised" that no work was done while he was out, but says the workers are behind because of the bad weather. Says that we are now delayed ONE MONTH. Okay, so guess how long it's been since they worked on our house.... ONE MONTH. Now we're delayed... ONE MONTH! I understand bad weather makes things harder and sometimes slows things down, but Ryan Homes ASSURED me that their subs still work during winter weather. Not to mention, it has been cold, but there have been several 40 degree plus days where I have drove by and STILL there was nobody working.
I am not quite sure what to do. I am kinda upset about the window and feel like Ryan Homes shouldn't be giving out floor plans with windows if, in fact, there aren't any. ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE..... WE'RE DELAYED A MONTH, WHILE OTHER HOUSES ARE BEING WORKED ON INSTEAD OF OURS.
I AM OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS AT THIS POINT. Does anyone know who I might call or e-mail to complain about the situation about the basement window? SOMEONE needs to know at Ryan Homes that if they don't plan on including two windows on the Milan, then the floor plan they're presently giving customers is MISLEADING.
You email him back and ask for HIS supervisor's number. As I understand it, that window enables another complete bedroom downstairs, right? Which would drastically up the resale ability and the price. Correct? I would absolutely NOT accept any minor concessions. I would call uncle Marv. So you have an actual architects opinion onon the matter, and submit that in writing. I would also write the BBB if they continue to lie and act shady like this. I would strongly articulate that you are a reasonable person, and as such, expect delays and issues to pop up during this process what youyou should not have to deal with the manipulation and deceptions on behalf of your PM (what's a PM anyway?) and other staff members. Also. Just to note, vacations are perfectly acceptable... But should at least be CONVEYED ahead of time. It shouldn't come as a surprise to you that your PM is on vacation, and there should have been a designated point of contact for you to reach out to in case of emergencies who is at least fairly in the loop and knows what's going on. How terrible. Now that you're in their system, they know you're stuck and are totally taking advantage of you. You need to work your way up the chain of command, and if you can't resolve it, contact the BBB. They'll get their sh*t together real quick, then.
ReplyDeleteYou should have gotten a welcome email from the Central Ryan office in your market. Call and email them. Trust me, I did this and got immediate results.
ReplyDeleteAlso look around in your lot, did they deliver the Windows yet? Mine is a walkout and even tho, they still delivered the basement Windows even though it wasn't used...come to think of it, there was only 1window. Go to the SR and look at the plans (unless you've done this)..make sure there's 2 on there.
ReplyDeleteWe did that already. In fact, at purchasing, with the floor plan in front of me that SHOWED two windows, I asked the SR and she told me it did, in fact, have two windows included in the basement. See if it didn't I would've gladly paid for the extra one but I didn't even have the chance! It was probably all due to confusion, but if they're selling me a $300k floor plan, I expect it to be what they said it would be.
DeleteJohn they did deliver the windows already. I don't recall seeing any of them for a basement though.... I'll have to drive by tonight.
DeleteI'm pissed I was misled. But I am even MORE pissed that no freakin work has been done for a month now on our house. Other houses, yes, but not ours and now we're delayed a month. And nobody will give me a frickin straight answer as to why.
DeleteI am so sorry that you have to deal with this BS!! That sucks 😩! My dad has a lot of experience with floor plans and building houses, maybe talk to him and see what he thinks, he may have some advise for you. Good luck Dustin!
ReplyDeleteOh trust me, I plan on talking to your dad at LENGTH next time I see him lol. Thanks Brittany.
DeleteThat is crazy that they are a month behind now! That is totally unacceptable and they need to be working overtime to catch you up on at least some of the lost time.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly - and I was assured that they are going to be doing just that when I met with my PM yesterday. Here's hoping they make good on their word!
DeleteAn idea... maybe to make up for the lost window and the lack of natural light in the finished basement area they should now agree to also finish those other parts of the basement for you allowing you use of the window they did make a notch for.
ReplyDeleteI probably should have mentioned that because that would've been great! Oh well, at least we ARE getting the missing window now :)
DeleteHi Dustin,
ReplyDeleteI've been following your blog for a while now. We're building right now too in Ohio (Cleveland area). Our blog is http://florenceinohio2015.blogspot.com. This is so disappointing to hear what's happened with your home so far. Maybe much work hasn't happened because they don't know what to do about the mess up with the window. Like you said it's been cold but the weather's been pretty decent for winter especially for Ohio.
I read in another one of your posts that you had some modifications you wanted to do with how your basement was finished. Before it sounded a little noncommittal on whether they were going to follow through with the changes. Now might be a great time to make sure Ryan does all those modifications. In addition, maybe you should ask for some kind of enhancement to your selections (like flooring and cabinet upgrades).
I read on another blog that Ryan installed the wrong brick on a house (and the whole house except the rear was brick). That really sucked because they either could remove all the brick and redo it (meaning it would take longer to complete) or provide something else to compensate for it. The homeowner eventually chose to keep the brick and instead upgraded their flooring (about 5K upgrade).
Maybe you should reach out to someone above your PM at this point to see how Ryan plans to amend for the mistake and to get back on track with building your home.
Hi NurseWife and thank you so much for following our journey. I will be checking out your blog and following ya'lls as well! To update you - after a meeting with my PM yesterday, we ARE getting the basement window now. We're also getting the modifications I wanted done to the basement bath location. There's a couple other things they offered too, but sufficed to say, I feel much better now and really feel like I can put the issue to rest now. They gave me what I wanted and a bit more. Obviously still not happy about the delays up until this point but yesterday they assured me that they'd be putting their best crews on our house to get caught up. Drove by today and they were already working so that's a good sign!
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