Great Customer Service Experience with Ryan Homes

First off, to follow up on a previous post, my columns were addressed. One of the PMs, Matt, came out the next day after I posted to fix them.He tried to fix them and paint them, but the reality is, the guys who originally "fixed" them kind of made a mess of them, so they needed a little more work than Matt could do that day. But I appreciate how quick he came out to deal with it.

So, this morning I went online and sent a message to Ryan Homes about my columns and a roof leak that we noticed in the last storm. About 5 hours later, I got a telephone call from a guy named Drew. I am not sure of his position in the company, but he came out the same day to address my issues. He did a water test to determine the source of the leak on the porch. He made an appointment to get our columns looking good again. While here, he also advised us on some other issues we had, including the need to fertilize the grass, and fixed a couple of other problems we noticed around the house. He was seriously a jack-of-all trades. He had a very helpful attitude and was more than willing to help, which is more than i can say for some other folks. Now, there has to be a follow up to today's work, but that's fine. It should be taken care of pretty soon. I am quite impressed with Ryan Homes Customer Service though. Thanks guys!

The Reality Is...

The reality of new construction is...things will break. Things will not be perfect. And that's fine. That is perfectly okay. I expect it. What distinguishes one builder from the next is how they handle these things. I am happy overall with my home. Are there things that have needed repairs? Yes. Will there be more things? Yes! And that's okay...and as long as it is done the right way, I will continue to be happy with my home.

Landscaping woes... and more

UPDATE: See below

Our trees have been dead since we closed. Not just my trees, at least four of my neighbors have dead trees too. They look awful. Our PM told us he would replace them if they didn't make it. But now he is gone to a new community. This is very concerning. I challenge all Ryan home owners to BEWARE of landscaping. I'll post photos of the trees soon. The grass is ok. It could be better but it's ok. I'm thinking we will fertilize it soon. Nothing will save the trees. Three out of four are pretty much dead. I dont suggest closing on a house with questionable landscaping. I'm going Ryan Homes steps up and fixes this. I'll keep everyone posted.

The other major issue we are having is the columns on the porch are falling apart. There have been three or four attempts to fix them. The latest fix may have worked. They shot up the panels with a nail gun and glued the seams. They need to sand it down and repaint it. It's been about two weeks since they last worked on it. So far, no painter. 

UPDATE: Our PMs Adam and Matt were on it quickly. They replaced my trees and a neighbor's trees as well. The trees look good and healthy. The landscaper left two of the old trees because they *might* come back. He left an additional tree in a pot in case one of those trees dont make it. I can appreciate that they kept their end of the bargain on this. Unfortunately, the land here is pretty sandy. So when the old trees were pulled, one neighbor suggested putting peet moss or something in it, or some sort of quality soil around the new tree. The landscaper did not do that. I don't think he understood English that well, to be honest. But that may be part of the reason the old trees died. Maybe I will dig around them and put a better soil around it. Again, I am happy with what was done to rectify this issue. Thank you Adam and Matt for dealing with my trees. Although I know you aren't happy about it, I appreciate you doing it anyway.

Two Weeks In.... and No Storage

Update: Our PM came through and helped us open up the spaces in the FROG. He put four screws in to hold the door back up. That solves our issue for the moment. It's not pretty thogh. Definitely not the same as having nice doors with handles. I can't blame the PM, he didn't design the house. I hope this is something Ryan homes changes in future homes.

We have been in the house for just a few weeks. So far, everything is ok. There are several little things that have to be addressed but nothing crazy. The shower upstairs literally takes 7 minutes to get hot. I'm waiting on that to be fixed. I do have one major complaint.

STORAGE

This nice, large house needs storage. We have 4 storage spaces that are literally glued shut. One has a door that opens, where the AC is tucked away. I have no idea what is behind each door, I'm sure there is some space. I asked our PM about it about four days ago. He hasn't said anything about it. I asked for hinged doors with handles. Once I was told that they dont make doors that size. I was also told that the space isn't made to hold a load. We literally have no where to hide the Christmas tree, or out of season clothes. I just have several boxes in the middle of the floor. We have a finished attic, so that's not an option for storage. I'm annoyed that Ryan Homes doesn't make use of a few of these spaces as storage options. Im just going to have to figure it out. I'm hoping my PM will come through and help us out with this. I'll put the floor in, but I would like to know which space is the largest and if they can add a door. This is a big deal for me. I hope it gets worked out. Anyone else with our model have any input?

We closed! And Moved In! ...A week ago. ..

I'm sorry about the lack of an update. We closed about a week ago. It was easy enough. I'm glad that's over. We have been moving and dealing with the family ever since then. The house is great. There were issues, but minor ones. Some spots that were touched up were never painted. There were window screens missing. The mailbox wasn't bolted down. The sliding door didn't lock. And my trees look dead. Some things were fixed. Others will be fixed. The paint job in the house overall is less than impressive.  However, my awesome PM helped me install my dryer, even though he didn't have to. Cool points for that. So far i love the house. It's big. I need to organize everything. That's it for now. More updates soon. Take care!

Final Walkthrough

Today, we had our final walkthrough. It was as expected. It lasted about an hour. Both PMs were there. We went over paperwork, how things worked and so on. It was a lot to take in, but luckily a lot of it is in this nifty notebook we were given about how to maintain the house. Everything looked good. The paint and very thin. You could see roll lines all over, but it is fine otherwise. I am really impressed with how it turned out. It is really beautiful. I didn't get photos today, but I will get some soon. At this point, I am pleased with the house. Too bad I can't say the same for NVR Mortgage.

NVR ....

I have to admit, I am still frustrated with NVR mortgage. Our big issue with them came about because we had a list of things that had to be done by closing. We had been getting those things done, no problem. All of a sudden, we are told that there is a much quicker timeline on things that we had never been told. Speeding up things cost us money that we had not planned to spend. NVR threatened to delay our closing, which would have cost us a fee every 4-5 days to extend the rate lock. I felt very bullied by them. It was just wrong on so many levels because we never were told about these deadlines before. So after thinking about it, I called NVR and said we shouldn't be held responsible for their mistake by having to pay for a rate lock extension. After an exchange of words with the lender, a call to the sales rep and a few days past, they agreed to pay for the lock extension if we needed it. Luckily, we won't need it because we already took steps to speed up what they needed. All things are settled, but doing it hastily cost us money. And that. ...I blame NVR for. I'm disappointed. This could have been avoided. I'm just ready to go to closing and be done with them.