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Richmond American Homes of Virginia!

An investment well placed or a gamble not worth considering?

Original Website

Click below to go to orion77.com gateway

 

Last updated on: 27 December 2003

Purchase Agreement Signed 14 May 2000, Settlement Occurred on 23 October 2000

Use of defective material, "bad batch" of plywood, disclosed by RAH Senior Vice President on 14 September 2001

Click on the dates below for related documents

16 October 2001: Offer to Correct Defective Material Issue and Poor Workmanship as well as Complete Unfinished Work

22 October 2001: Offer Accepted

2 November 2001: Our Request for a Plan of Work, Action Items Included

8 November 2001: Start of Work Letter and Deviation From Agreed Upon Offer

30 November 2001 - 24 April 2002: RAH Seeking Complete Release of Liabilities

11 April 2002: Construction Code Violation and Correction Letter

30 April 2002: RAH's Complete Retraction of Accepted Offer

May 2002 - Present: Subsequent communications and interactions with RAH and MDC Holdings, their parent company

 

The question above has to be on the mind of home buyers, after all, the most important investment most of us make is that of buying a house. Answering that question becomes harder when the house is being built by a builder you really don't know much about.

Richmond American Homes advertise that they are building; Dreams, Quality, Value, and Future. Given our experience thus far,

what we received was not as advertised.

We may be a limited few who have had bad luck with Richmond American Homes of VA, a toss of a coin you may say. The question is would this be a gamble you want to risk? Browse the website it may help you answer the question.

 

Description of Website Pages

Page

Description

Code Violations

Building Code Violations and County Correction Order Letter

Letters

Written communications with Richmond American Homes

Releases

Proposed Release Agreements by Richmond American Homes and our proposed changes

Documents

Contractual documents used in purchasing a home from Richmond American Homes of VA

Pictures

Pictures taken during the Construction and Repairs phases

Videos

Videos taken during  Construction and Repairs phases

Report Card

A progress history of some of the many deficient items

RAH on the Net

Links to Richmond American Homes Related Webpages

Survey

Our response to a J. D. Power New Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study

Feedback

Your feedback, questions, and request to see for yourself
 

Examples of defects in our Richmond American built Home.

(Click the colored buttons for: Pictures/Videos/Letters)
Characteristic   General Examples of the Deficiency

Service

Professionalism

  1. Inscribed profanity

  2. Claiming that deficiencies are "Normal"

  3. Shifting work from one department to the other

  4. Senior management have yet to deliver on their offers

  5. Unresolved pre-settlement issues

Quality

  1. Recurrence of repaired problems

  2. Defective material

  3. Poor workmanship

Structural

Frames

  1. Gaps and cuts.

  2. Not-to-Code construction

  3. Defective material

  4. Poor workmanship

Sub-floor

Warped, sagging, bulging, and loose. According to their senior vice president "Bad Batch" of plywood was used

Rigidity

 

Creaking and flapping in the presence of moderate winds.

Finish

Walls

  1. Not enough nails securing wallboards to the studs

  2. Visibly bulged, not plumb, corners not square

  3. Trim molding joints and seams are visible

Carpet

 

Seams are visible to the naked eye and bumps are felt.

Windows

 

Windows are either loose or binding.

Cleanliness

  1. Drywall mud in the windows channels

  2. Usage stains in the bathrooms

  3. Carpet stains

  4. Debris in the heating ducts

  5. Stained front porch concrete

  6. Stains on doors

Landscaping

Dead, missing, and/or infected lawn and plants.

Efficiency

Draftiness

Entry doors, fireplace, frame-foundation interface, kitchen, master suite, etc...

Insulation

 

Missing and/or insufficient.