ComplaintsforS & A Homes Inc

• Initial Complaint

  11/04/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We had a timeline to occupy the house and S&A made sure we met that target. Unfortunately, the house painting was less than half finished at the time. We also created a punch list for our project manager at S&A Homes. In the first month of occupancy, we found other major issues with the house (e.g. incorrect fireplace, cracked window, faulty gutter and excessive water run-off at our foundation, flawed wooden floor slabs, bathroom vanities with scratches and gouges, a series of faulty lights, railing was not stained as ordered) and communicated these to our project manager. Over 3 months into occupancy, S&A Homes has not yet finished these major tasks, has not finished house painting, and has repeatedly cancelled days of service at our house or simply not showed up. S&A Homes has also not bothered to complete the many purely-outside jobs, which do not require our presence to be completed. When we ask about what the plan is to replace the more major things like the defective bathroom vanities or floor boards, we are repeatedly met with statements such as "I'll check in with those guys [sub-contractors who should do the job]". The evidence to us is that S&A Homes is not prioritizing finishing our house in any timetable and that S&A Homes would simply stop working on this job unless we make noise. If we stopped communicating with S&A Homes, the past month of a few fixes around the house by S&A Homes sub-contractors wouldn't even have been completed since S&A Homes does not initiate communication with us to plan work days. Even if we text our project manager at S&A Homes a few days before and then a day before a planned work day, we find that S&A Homes or their sub-contractors do not show up and will not give heads up notice that they are not coming. When we repeatedly call to find out why they didn't show up, we are often met with excuses.

  Business response

  11/19/2021

  Given the uncertainty of the times within which S&A and the residential construction industry currently operate, it is nearly impossible to provide exact dates, even within weeks for that matter, when homes will be completed at the start of construction.  Supply chain and labor issues amongst subcontractors have played a major role in changing how we must approach our operations and the length of time it takes to complete homes.  The ****** had a hard deadline in which they wanted to occupy their new home.  S&A bent over backwards to try and fully complete their home by the stipulated deadline; however, the home was not 100% complete when the ****** settled their home.  The ****** knew that work remained to be completed and that S&A did not have the opportunity to complete our final punch out.  Typically, S&A would have had many, if not all,  of the named open items completed, or corrected, prior to move in.  Certain items have long lead times and subcontractors must fit return work into specific schedules when a home is occupied as opposed to being able to return to complete work on evenings or weekends, or when they get an unexpected time slot in their schedule, in an unoccupied home.  For the most part, the subcontractors have showed up when they have been scheduled- an unfortunate miscommunication among all parties caused the recent issue with a subcontractor not showing up when scheduled.  S&A cares about every customer and every home we build.  The ****** provide a perfect example of our commitment to our customers as S&A continued to pay the electric bill for the ****** home for several months despite multiple requests for the homeowners to switch the electric into their name.  Most of the outstanding items have been addressed, those that still remain have been scheduled or are on backorder, and S&A knows the ****** will love their new home.

  Customer response

  12/01/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  

  S&A Homes has not proposed a resolution to the concerns that have been raised. 

  
  S&A has attempted to discredit us by falsely commenting that they made "multiple requests for the homeowners to switch the electric into their name". We were informed during a pre-construction meeting that the electric utility transfers upon finishing of the job by S&A, not upon occupancy. We were contacted on 28 Oct 2021 by the S&A Team by email and voicemail (since I was in a meeting at the time of the call) to let us know that they requested us to transfer electric service to our name. I emailed them back later that day and we had a short back-and-forth email conversation to confirm the situation. The next business day 29 Oct 2021 I called the power company to transfer service. There were not multiple requests made. There was one communication to make this request. We immediately made the requested change. This approach by S&A Homes to publicly discredit our complaint through a false statement is libel.
  
  We established a punch list with S&A, which are post-occupancy items needing completion to fulfill the project. We request proactive communication and planning to complete the punch list as given, rather than us having to remind S&A of the needs. The latter explains why it has been 4 months since occupancy but we haven't yet seen the punch list completed. We would like to see the punch list finally completed, including two new vanities to replace two scratched/pitted marble vanity tops (that our S&A project manager admitted should not have such surface defects), finishing a railing system that was originally mis-stained, drainage corrections, and any other remaining items. We agree that S&A has steadily worked on these items but we have needed to step in frequently in recent months to communicate with the project manager to remind them of needs that are not being addressed.
  >>>>>>
  
  Thank you for considering this reply and we look forward to learning of S&A Homes' plan to remedy the situation.
  
  **** 
  

  
  

   

   

   

   

  Business response

  01/11/2022

  S&A continues to address the open items. As noted, these are unprecedented times and, despite continual efforts to do such, S&A has no control to expedite delivery of goods via outside vendor supply chains.  S&A anticipates the several remaining items to be addressed in the next few weeks based on the assumption that ordered goods will be delivered when indicated by the vendor.

  Customer response

  01/11/2022

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** *****

• Initial Complaint

  09/28/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  S&A built a home for our neighbors in 2019. The home is located at *** ********** **** ***** ******** ***  At the time the home was being built I expressed verbal concern to the builder that the grade of the yard would result in water run off to my property and potentially damage my retaining wall, driveway and basement. A swale was placed between the two properties. It is very shallow and does not adequately divert water. I now have water cascading into my backyard whenever it rains and my driveway floods. I have provided video to the builder and asked that they deepen and widen the swale to prevent damage to my property. I believe that as a reputable builder S&A should stand behind their projects and cover this under warranty. I did have the site evaluated by an independent landscaper. He indicated that the swale and birm are inadequate to divert rainfall and it is the responsibility of a builder/homeowner to keep water that falls on their property within their own property.

  Business response

  09/28/2021

  The homes in this neighborhood are built on fairly sloped hill near Tussey Mountain and there are storm water management devices such as swales that are constructed on the lots at various areas such as the sides, rear and front area of the properties.  S&A does not own the property this consumer refers to and never has owned the property.  A part of the storm water management system is the driveway moving water from the home to a deep drainage swale that runs in front of the homes along the road.  What this consumer is failing to note is that he has a hill on his property that surrounds his driveway in the back and side of the driveway which funnel water to his driveway; however, water cannot move to the drainage areas as his driveway has negative slope- meaning that water actually would have to move uphill to get the drainage areas that are at the front of the property along the road.   The negative slope creates an artificial dam and doesn’t allow the storm water management system to function as intended.  The inability for water to get to the front drainage areas actually causes his driveway to act as a pool during severe weather events given the water has no way to move to the designed areas with the surrounding hill and negatively sloped driveway.  S&A has met with this consumer and he indicated there has been no damage to his driveway, retaining wall or basement.  Also, S&A has observed the property during several typical rain events and noted no issues.  Storm water management features have been constructed as required on the home that S&A constructed; however, in anomaly rain events such as the ones shown in the pictures provided by this consumer, storm water management systems can get overwhelmed (for example Hurricane Ida which recently hit the area as well as the several inches of rain that fell in a short time last week) and overflow.  In all weather events given the slopes in this community, there is water that flows from property to property throughout the community as no system contains 100% of water flow.    

  Customer response

  09/28/2021

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********* and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]

  I have been a resident of my current property for the last 11 years.  While the construction manager from S&A is correct that my driveway has a negative slope, it drains into a swale that was created when the house was built.  The swale is 3ft wide x 1ft deep and readily visible on the property.  I have never had standing water on my driveway or deterioration of my retaining wall until the home next door was built.  The neighboring property grade has been dramatically changed and directs water into my back yard.  It saturates the ground behind my retaining wall, pours into my yard, overwhelms my existing swale and floods the driveway.  Harris Township engineering required S&A to created a swale between the two properties. Unfortunately, as clearly displayed in the photos and video provided to S&A there is no width or depth to their "swale".  There is no effective berm.  The flow of water from the neighboring property is unimpeded.  It is not "mild sheeting", it is heavy flow that overwhelms the current drainage system during each rain event.  My driveway has been one quarter flooded and my retaining wall is beginning to sink.  I communicated my concerns verbally with the building staff when S&A was building the neighboring home.  I attempted again last year but the construction manager failed to return my phone calls.  I took time off from work today to discuss my concerns with S&A management at their corporate office.  At no time did a construction manager contact me directly or offer to come onto the property to discuss a remedy for the problem.  I expressed to the S&A management that I believe this is a minor construction correction that could avoid significant damage to my property.  It should be a warranty issue since the problem has been ongoing since construction was completed.  I believe that a reputable builder should stand behind their completed project.  They should support not only the home buyer but also surrounding properties that have been adversely impacted by their construction.  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *******

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