We purchased and built a home through True Homes in the fall of 2012. While we have little complaints on the actual home so far (aside from a small roof leak which was covered through the warranty and addressed quickly), but our complaint (similar to those listed above), where we do have MAJOR COMPLAINTS is in regards to the poor drainage we are now left to deal with. When our home was being built we were not only warned by current neighbors, in what was an old Ryan Homes Neighborhood, but also could see with our own eyes that water ran from the backyard of several neighbors, through our back yard (cutting it in half), running alongside our property line with our newest neighbors to the left, and into a huge drainage hole in their front yard. We brought up several concerns throughout the build process about the water running through, and were told that they dug this to ensure that the water stays away from the job site, but that it would be resolved and not to worry (MISTAKE #1 by us). We not only brought this up once, but virtually every time we went out to the house and spoke with our realtor- Rae Mactaggart, as well as our builder Jesse Morrison, and let me tell you, we were VERY involved in the building process.
When we went to close on the house the backyard was covered with grass seed and straw, so the drainage area, now affectionately referred to as the 'mote' was not as visible. Once a big storm came through, all of the grass seed and straw were washed away and we now have a ridiculous line of dried up dirt on dry days, and a raging lazy river during storms. This is something that is not our fault, and we understand the natural progression of the land, but then why did we pay the same land premium as others when we in essence had a DEFECTIVE lot. While we were left with a ridiculous mess of a backyard where it looks like they just plowed everything to the back of the yard and wished us the best, our neighbors to the left, who moved in after us, had trees removed and the yard flattened before being seeded. Don't worry, their backyard also drains into ours so now we have drainage from BOTH sides of the back of the house.
Long story semi-short, we have reached out numerous times to the people of True Homes, including their president- Scott Wentz, and Warranty Manager- Brian Ronca and have been told that there is nothing they "can" do to help the situation. When in reality, there is nothing they are WILLING to do. We even offered to purchase the necessary supplies if they could just bring someone in with some equipment to dig a proper ditch so that we do not have to try and instill the help of our father in laws in hand digging a ditch to install a french drain that is too small for the amount of water coming through. We also offered to sign a document saying that after they dug the proper drainage they would not be responsible for any repercussions of the drainage. Had we known that all of our concerns throughout the build process were going to be masked by grass seed and straw in order to get a couple of first time home buyers to sign on the dotted line, we would never have built with them. The only remedy they did have, was to drop off a $20 bag of Scott Grass Seed on our door step, which is completely worthless considering the lazy river. The only use we have for this now would possibly be to act as a sandbag to stop the water flow. This was such an insult, I mean really?! ONE BAG OF GRASS SEED for a probably 50' defective lazy river in the backyard. So ridiculous.
Word to the wise- take them with a grain of salt. Like every other sales position out there, they want your money, and could care less that the home you live in and raise a family in is hardly to a standard that they would consider to be acceptable. We gave them several opportunities to remedy the situation, and we are now having to spend thousands of dollars on a mistake that never should have been made in the first place. If there was nothing that could be done, then that should have been said to us in the first place, and we would have chosen a different lot, or no lot at all. KEEP YOUR WORD TRUE HOMES! This was our starter home, and instead of sticking with a company we could have loved, we will definitely be staying far away from any True Homes current or new build when we out grow this one. read more
