Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2353016)

New build purchase in 2013. Over size corner lot. After low area kept flooding noticed a spongy area there. Put a shovel in and pulled up the sod had been laid over a large piece of rug, 4'×8' approx. Pulled up the carpet and found 3/4" plywood sheet 4'×8'. Drug out the filthy, rotting plywood and discovered a metal grate covering some kind of equipment vault in the ground. I was shown a pristine lawn. I ended up with a large metal grate that drains water into this concrete vault for who knows what. Later, I mentioned it to our sales rep who claimed he knew nothing of it. I would be lying if I said my experience did not color my opinion of the builder, ethics, honesty, quality and integrity. It was a definite attempt to present our property as something better than it is. But, I like our location, lot, house. Since I don't care about the drain/vault, it doesn't change how we feel about our home, no problem. Someone else might have made a huge stink, sued for fraud, misrepresentation of property, and more. But, over all, we enjoy living here, but that doesn't blind us to the faults and short commings of TV.

Originally Posted by djlnc (Post 2352982)

We purchased new construction in the village of Richmond last year. I was very unhappy with the hills and valleys in the back yard sod. Called the warranty number and they sent a fellow out to look at it. He said essentially "Don't believe your lying eyes". Said it would even out, that they do meticulous work to level the yard before sodding.
I think back to that when I do work in the yard and I find signs like these of the wonderful workmanship.

Originally Posted by Shelbyh (Post 2353502)

Yes ours felt uneven as well but recently it has filled in and will likely improve. My husband plans on over seeding and may even do a few other tricks to help. We are just used to lush Ohio grass.

Originally Posted by asianthree (Post 2353402)

Every couple of days in the evening we stopped at our build, inside and out we picked up trash, cans, Modello bottles, pipes, hoses, and threw them in the dumpster.

At final grade before sod we took rakes with us to remove large rocks, and whatever junk was left, threw it in the dumpster.

When they built our pool the guys actually said it was the first time they didn’t see a waste dump in our yard.

Then again we have built 3 houses up north and saw the same trash, we picked up every week. One house we contracted on our own, usually with people we knew personally and still picked up trash, less but still onsite trash. So it’s pretty common no matter where a house is built.

Originally Posted by Robojo (Post 2353507)

So you were lied to and ripped off and you're okay with it. Sound iffy to me.

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2353016)

New build purchase in 2013. Over size corner lot. After low area kept flooding noticed a spongy area there. Put a shovel in and pulled up the sod had been laid over a large piece of rug, 4'×8' approx. Pulled up the carpet and found 3/4" plywood sheet 4'×8'. Drug out the filthy, rotting plywood and discovered a metal grate covering some kind of equipment vault in the ground. I was shown a pristine lawn. I ended up with a large metal grate that drains water into this concrete vault for who knows what. Later, I mentioned it to our sales rep who claimed he knew nothing of it. I would be lying if I said my experience did not color my opinion of the builder, ethics, honesty, quality and integrity. It was a definite attempt to present our property as something better than it is. But, I like our location, lot, house. Since I don't care about the drain/vault, it doesn't change how we feel about our home, no problem. Someone else might have made a huge stink, sued for fraud, misrepresentation of property, and more. But, over all, we enjoy living here, but that doesn't blind us to the faults and short commings of TV.

Originally Posted by Miboater (Post 2353544)

If you have a new house with St. Augustine grass there is no over-seeding as you can't grow it from seed. I has pretty good luck with the sod plugs from Lowe's and a healthy dose of Black Kow.

Originally Posted by krash (Post 2353112)

Our new home that we bought back in 2007 also had problems of leaking pipes behind walls, leaking window sills, and a box of shingles left on the roof that were not discovered until we wanted to enclose our lanai. The guest bathroom tub did not drain, and we found chunks of garbage and construction debris in the pipe.
We tore out the cheap carpet to install tile, and found under the carpet were a dozen cigarette butts and some food greasy wrappers. It finally dawned on us why stains were appearing although we never spilled anything. When we took out the formica counters, we found more cigarette butts, soda cans, chicken bones, food wrappers, and lots of dead cockroaches on the floor behind the cabinets.
Quality control is definitely lacking.

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2353026)

The developer has a number of "builders/contractors" working in several places at the same time. Each builder builds so many homes in a "village". Our paperwork names the builder responsible for construction of or home. He is responsible for our structure, he has several subs for electric, plumbing, etc. There is supposed to be an inspector/overseer who checks each phase of the project. If the workers and supervisors all do their jobs correctly, the end result is a walk through with zero "fix it" items. And, zero crap purposely hidden to improve price and saleability, as well as save on the cost of cleaning and properly disposing of possibly harmful chemicals, trash and waste. A tale like ours and others here shows a genuine lack of integrity and honesty along with greed that flows from the designers, developers,all the way to the subs and even some of the individual workers stealing the equipment and appliances that they just put in.
I love living in TV. But, when it comes to the developer, builders, etc, [B]its all about the money![/B
Jmho, based on 10+ years here.

Originally Posted by RRGuyNJ (Post 2353481)

We were going to have a barn torn down and a new building put up on our property in NC. The contractor said he could bury some of the debris to help with the cost of hauling it off to the landfill. I said no thanks, haul it off. I have been told that when the house was built in NC, a lot of the debris was buried in a small pasture on the property. Now I notice dips forming after a lot of the lumber has rotted away. It's hard to get away from the Corner Cutter mentality some contractors have.

Originally Posted by LeRoySmith (Post 2353620)

That used to be pretty standard practice in the Midwest. When I was in my late teens (in the 70s) I bulldozed several barns and buried them on site. Standard procedure was to dig a hole next to the barn 60 or 80 feet in diameter 6 feet deep, push the barn in the hole and do figure 8s on it until it's a giant pile of toothpicks, push dirt on top of it, spread rye.

Originally Posted by MollyJo (Post 2353594)

I’m glad to see these issues being discussed. Maybe it will get the attention of someone who is interested in doing something about it.

Originally Posted by fdpaq0580 (Post 2353905)

Standard practice, yeah! But when did "sweeping the trash under the rug" become standard practice for , so called, honest high quality builders/businesses? Acceptable? Never! Dishonest? I think so.

Originally Posted by LeRoySmith (Post 2353980)

Yeah, there's a huge difference between the developer and a dirt poor dirt farmer trying to scrape by. Those folks knew how to save a penny. I think that may be where I come by my "thrifty" ways.