? Info: Superior Custom Homes in Rock Hill SC? (distance, hot)

[RF Smith]

Originally Posted by Kyle E.

Just some information for people reading the city data forum. Cline Builders did not buy "Superior Custom Homes." We bought the property and the homes on the site, not Superior. Shawn Burton misunderstood. We are the current owners of that location but not Superior. Also, Daryl does not work for us. He is currently in Tampa, FL. No former employees for Superior or "family" is associated with Cline Builders. When you have your own legacy you are not following in someone else's. Referring to the legacy in general is not difficult on people that do things morally and ethically correct.

Cline Builders was the number one builder for Carolina Building Solutions in 2008. We want people to understand that there is no association between the two companies. Cline Builders is clearing the air. If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact, David Cline. If this is not enough for people to stop associating the two companies, we will be glad to get you in touch with our attorney. I hope that nobody has any problems with this.

Mr. David Cline, has his home number listed, or you can contact him via email through our website, david@clinebuilders.com. Please respond if you have any questions.

Shawn I do not know you personally, but I do know David and have for a good while. We have been on many Company trips together in the past several years. I am very informed on the whole SCH and Cline builders situation. I would reccomend that you and I not throw rocks when we both live in a glass house or question each others morals or ethics or talk publically about invlovement with any SCH employees family members or affliation. I am doing the best that I can with the hand that I have been delt and I am sure that you are also. I would like to continue to exist seperately and respectfully toward one another in the same market area. KLR builds site built homes and Cline Builders builds modular homes. We are both in very different industries and completely different markets. I believe you will find this to be true. I was also the number one dealer of CBS in the not so distant past with SCH and I hope that you have better success than I did after recieving that convientant title. I will close with a conformation of what you said previously. Cline Builders has no affliation with the bussiness of SCH nor are they resposible for any of SCH warranty issues or any other obligation that was left by SCH. They are infact going to be doing bussiness at the property in Rock Hill on Anderson Rd that was founded and opened by myself Russell F Smith and operated by the name of Superior Custom Homes and they are selling the same product Carolina Building Solutions out of Salisbary NC now owned by Champion Enterprises ( a publically traded company on the NYSE under CHB). They are going to build modular homes in the local area after a void in the market due to SCH closing. This is not uncommon in bussiness, one companies loss is another companies gain. This is America and we have free trade and customers have the freedom to do bussiness with the company of their choice. Regardless of our current fincial situation our country is in, I believe that we live and work in the best country in the world. I know that we will rebound and be stronger than before, and if we are one of the lucky ones that survive the storm, the rewards will be great. I have nothing negative to say about Cline Builders nor will I in private or off of this site. I hope that they you feel the same way about KLR. After all we build site built homes and yall build modular homes so we really are not in competion. I believe that we have a completely seperate customer base. Good Luck and please feeil free to call me at 803-242-0332 if you or David would like to discuss anything in the future. Russell Smith

[FLRich]

Update: Jeff Pittman did call this week and we have scheduled to meet at my home this Monday. It was after Jeff called that I peeked here and saw Russell's reply but I have taken a few days before I replied as a cooling off period.

Originally Posted by RF Smith

As for Jeff Pittman I think his is the best Construction Superintenant that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He has a great compasion for his job and his customers.

Russell Jeff is not here and taking part of this so I'll leave that one alone. If anyone would like to know more I have all the e-mails in binders. I am not the only one that had issues with Jeff, some others actually have been here on this forum and agree, others that I have spoken to are not on this forum but it's just not me.

I know for a fact that he has tried to call you several times since this message was brought to his attention and you have not called him back.

Maybe because I had never received a call ?? When Jeff called THIS WEEK I answered the phone maybe on the 3rd ring, can't ask for much more than that. If you would like I would be more than happy to pull up the incoming call history logs on my phone, I am sure I can ask for that favor from someone at the office since I work for the company. You have also had plenty of opportunity to PM me from the start, don't you think that would have been more appropriate than to TRY to trash me here first and have Curtis call me later on the phone? Another Senior member did take the time to explan to you how to do so

I am not sure why, if you truely want help with your problems. Again I will close with I am 100% available to walk your home with you whenever you will allow it. I will do everything in my power to take care of your problems and I will also help get the other responsible parties invloved to take care of thier problems. Please call me at 803-242-0332(my cell phone number that I have had for over 10 years) or email me at russell@klrcustomhomes.com (my email address at work) I have a Blackberry and answer emails very efficiently. I do want to take care of every family that I have ever built a home for including your no matter how you feel about me personally. I apologize if my replies seemed rude or disrespectful but I have a lot of emotions invloved when my personal intergrity is involved and my family is brought into something that I am responsible for. I believe you can relate if you look at it from my side.

Just as your number never chainged neither did my number, e-mail address or home address...I contacted you several times and nothing came about from it, do you suggest STALKING PERHAPS ??

Yes your reply was indeed rude and disrespectful. I have nothing to hide, it is great marketing material... Sarcastic and smart remark yes...Disrespectful NO That was an example to make a point.

I have spent several days thinking of your message so I'll respond on all issues as best as possible, I think I'll get most if not all of them since I have spent some time pondering.

As far as the comment about you being here all your life and in business and me coming from Florida I have no idea what you are implying by that. It really seems important to you to point this out..at first when I read it I reall did take offense to it. What in the heck does that have to do with anything ? Sounds a bit like biggotry to me, do you have a problem with people moving in from out of state ? You should be happy that outsiders are moving in, it gives you the business you need. Surely anyone that has lived here long enough will have run into someone that has had a home built by you and would think twice. You depend on unsuspecting outsiders like me
Was that a cheap shot ?? but I deserve it along with the rest of us OUTSIDERS

As far as disrespectful I think you need to look up that definition in the dictionary since there was never any disrespect at all either to your face or by e-mail or phone calls. What you call disrespect is what I call the painful truth. Maybe people like to sugar coat things for you but I am sorry I don't and I don't work for you, I had hired YOU to work for me. I have had ZERO problems with anyone that I hired directly to work on my home and the same goes for the dozens of contractors that I have hired at work. The only time I have had any problems is with you, your employees and most of all your contractors. I don't pull punches, I am blaintly blunt and I don't lie, it's the fair way to do work to avoid miscommunication and problems. If you do not like that I am sorry but you are in business and provide a service for someone who hires you, like it or not you need to learn that or you will have difficulty in a customer oriented business. It takes hours to earn a customer and a second to lose one.

Disrespect is what your forum posting towards me was, calling me stupid and a know it all ?? Why don't you ask Jeff/Curtis about the occasions where he broke out cursing at me during the build TO MY FACE and on the phone ? Even though you shafted (got to use that word instead of SCRE since the forum software will delete it) my family I have NEVER disrespected you, I may have brought up truths that make you look like a low life but never disrespected you. If you are upset about that there is nothing I can do about that, you made your choices and you are in control of your own destiny. I'll argue, fight, and even have a shouting match with someone and still respect them, curse at me ONCE and you lose my respect forever. Do I curse, sure I do, like a trucker but I will curse at things NEVER at a person.

Why have I not contacted the contractors ? Because the contractors REFUSE TO RETURN TO WORK HERE. I can't blame them considering most of them were not paid. Why would I go and fix something that I was not paid for? Upon the advice of my attorney I was told that each contractor that was not paid for work completed on my home had 90 days after they step foot on this property to file a lien against myself and you. I was also told that they need to be given the opportunity to make things right if I were to persue legal action. So I did contact them, both the Electrical Contractor and the HVAC contractor threatned that this would happen basicly removing the notion of any warranty work EVER. The electrician I can care less about since I can do the repairs myself but your HVAC contractor did really shoddy work and created FURTHER DAMAGE TO THE HOME and will not repair it. On 2 of the 3 HVAC units the drain was not installed properly and created water/drywall damage. Since it appears that most if not all contractors that worked here were never paid or fully paid I have a home with no warranty. I will say that they did come to fix the pea poor work they did but it was at that time they made it very clear that any other problems would end up in legal action against this home. The HVAC people never repaired the damaged drywall and I never had another need for the electrician since I just did the work myself than to deal with his threats.

Then there is the issue of trust...and honestly 90% of this problem we are having which is the same with several others is based on trust and honesty. Bottom line is you have stolen hard earned money and time from my family. When within 24 hours of you signing a document stating evertything was paid and there are no mechanic's liens on my property and closing this deal my WIFE get's served court papers while unloading the moving truck it becomes PERSONAL! What was that about disrespect ??? Yea..for anyone reading this a $110K lien on the house from New Era, the home was not paid for at all. You nor your Attorney did ANYTHING to remove this lien from the house, I waited 1 month probably more and can get the specific time for anyone interested. At that time I hired the law firm of Hamilton Ballu and Sipes in Rock Hill at MY EXPENSE of $3,000 to remove this lien. It is so droll to say "call my attorney" that usually means a bluff, so I made sure to specify who I hired, it's not a bluff, they know Russell Smith very well since several other people had hired them for representation against Superior Custom Homes. It was only due to a loophole in SC law that they were able to remove it and it took 4 almost 5 months to do. During this entire period of time we were living with a 7 year old and newborn in a home we had no right to be in since the loan could not close from construction to perm! New Era had no right to place a lien on our home but they still did and it cost us a lot of money and worry, we got it removed RUSSELL DID NOT but it does not mean that New Era did not deserve to get paid for our home. Our beef is with a company taking our money and not paying off what belongs to us. Same goes for any other contractor, they could place a lien against us if Superior Custom Homes still owes them money up to 90 days after they last step foot on the job site. It will be found as unfounded due to the way the laws in this state read in my case but they can still sue and cost me money in lawyers each and every time.

I told this to you face to face and I'll state it again, I hired you to build us a home, I AM NOT AND NEVER WAS A PARTNER IN YOUR BUSINESS! I paid you cash within 48 hours of every request for funds. You took my money and used it for unknown other purposes. I can guess that you used it to float the contractors at your other homes under construction, your failed investment at Lake Wylie or personal expenses. I don't know I don't care but bottom line is that the money that was paid by us was not used to pay several if not all contractors that worked here or New Era and in my book that is theft by the way of embezzlement!

Your need to bring up my real estate issues in Florida had no basis for our issues. They did not interfere with ANY of our business dealings NOR your payment. Just as my other business ventures did not get in the way of our transaction your other problems should NEVER have interfered with my contract with you! And by the way I resolved all of my issues and no one got hurt personally or finantially, wish I could say the same in your case.

Finally why had I not contacted you when your grandfather had passed away is because even though I may despise you for the costs and troubles that follow me to this day that you have caused I do not kick a dog when it is down. Not only that I did not think it was BUSINESS APPROPRIATE that I contact you while or after your family member dies at a terminal care facility that my wife manages in a case that my wife personally handled. It's not right and we honestly did not trust you, the facility was well aware of your family relationship to my wife and I. When the name was found on the records and my wife verified he indeed were related to you upper level management was notified to avoid any conflicts that could have come up.

Prior to that chance meeting with my wife we had notified you in writing several times of the punch list that was never completed. Jeff states it was completed and except for that little $2 container of premixed patch concrete he used on the open cleanout trap that was incorrectly installed in the basement nothing was or has ever been done, same with some of the other Superior Custom Home owners I have met in passing...funny that

So in closing that is where I stand. Don't try trashing me just to move blame away from yourself on what has happened. The forum here is just a very small corner of the world here in SC but we seem to have several people that have had the same exact problems as I have. My attorney had several families with identical issues as to mine and the Better Business Bureau also shows an "F" rating for Superior Custom Homes. I have run into people out there with the same problems so if you take all of that into account along with the unknown numbers of others that we have yet to run accross there is no hiding from it sorry buddy. You may have gotten away from the problems by just closing up shop Russell but come on you are not fooling anyone. Marshall, Amanda, Jeff and your wife are still working together in the same industry under you, you are not selling New Era any more but you are building homes in the same community you are not fooling anyone, it may not be called SCH anymore but it's all the same it's the people who make a company not the name on some sign! I'll make a few phone calls and see what happened legally if anything but since you are broke there was no point in lawsuits. Consider yourself lucky 2 seperate law firms reviewed the documents and did verify that I could have brought criminal action against you but I did not in hopes that some day you would rectify the problem, you can't very well fix them from a jail cell.

The problems I have are not just cosmetic and annoying. I have a main beam that continues to drop, I have sections of the house that were never insulated and are sealed up with no access that are meat lockers in the winter and ovens in the summer. I have a HVAC unit that either has problems or can not support a portion of the home due to the air leaks and poor insulation. When it is cold outside I can't get the home above 67 degrees and when it's hot I can not get the house below 73. I also have a foundation slab that has been cracked since 3 days after the pour. You were informed of all of these problems not only when they were all seen initially but also during the entire build process and the puch down walk through. You ignored all of these matters and none of them went away, actually they have gotten worse. The fractured foundation get's worse weekly and is causing more problems as the house settles beyond expected. I have a large basement that was to be used a a main living area that is now just storage since it can not be finished in it's current condition. The main beam keeps dropping and continues to cause more dry wall problems, both my Mom and I wonder when it will actually cave in. I have screens that were never provided and others that were removed and never brought back, probably just stolen from here to replace a damaged or missing one at another build since New Era nor any of your vendors would fix or replace them since they had not been paid. I won't even get into the pee poor drywall work that was done here, it's just not critical me, anyone who visits here can see it for themselves.

At one time Russell you probably could produce a quality product but you get what you pay for...except for me. I paid $600K + for headache of the likes never seen before and am looking to ten's of thousands more to remedy the issues left behind. When you started with money problems on your private community at the Lake you sucked me and others into it along with the contractors working on MY HOME. This is an ASSUMPTION, everything else here I have facts and proof so I will say again this is my educated guess. When you started running out of good contractors to work for you since everyone else refused to continue work for no more pay (can't blame them!) the quality of your homes became pea poor. That's the other reason that many of the contractors that started a job never finised it and you had to find other suckers I mean contractors to finish it.

I'll end with any homeowner that owns a Superior Custom Home product that would like to see the hundreds upon hundreds of pages, photos, video and legal documents you are welcome to ask. I of course will need to verify you indeed are who you say you are but other than that I'll be happy to meet with you. I have nothing to hide and can back up my claims with proof, I will be more than happy to assit anyone in any way I can. Just PM me.

Russell, I have been nothing but honest even though honesty can hurt. I can put myself in your shoes to an extent but I still can't accept it. People make mistakes but most of the time people will admit to them and fix them so they can move on. I can accept you making some mistakes but I can not accept you just NOT making things right. Remember the Superior Custom Homes motto ?? Well at least it sounded like a motto, anyone else hear it ? "We will make it Right" well none of you have made it right and I still don't belive you will. I'll give you that chance and if you do I will state that fact to everyone. But placing myself in your shoes I would not be a happy man. I believe in Karma, and while picturing myself in your shoes I'd be scared to you know what about the people you have hurt finantially and personally in your life. You can screw up a business and walk away but if you screw up someone's home they have to live in it and get reminded of the problems on a daily basis, a persons home is just that PERSONAL. PUT YOURSELF IN THOSE SHOES

[RF Smith]

Rich I am really glad Jeff and I were able to meet you and your family at your house and go over your concerns and issues that are gettng in the way of you fully enjoying your home and feeeling that you made a good investment when you build a home with myself and the team. I believe that the meeting was very productive and I believe that we were able to clear up and clean up alot of misundertsandings and theories on how you and your family will be taken care of. I am very pleased with what I seen at your home at our walk thru and our plan of attack to service and warranty your concerns. First of all your biggest concern was the cracks in your concrete slab in your basement. After personally inspecting the cracks in the concrete and having a professional flatwork contractor (Mcgee Brothers of Charlotte NC) inspect the concrete, I am happy to conclude that the their is no structural problems with the concrete and that a simply application of concrete filler and sealant will take care of your concrete issue and you will then be able to install your flooring which I will be more than happy to assist you with doing so that you and your family can enjoy your basement as you intended. The second issue was your sheetrock in both your SCH and your moms KLR home. I again was very pleased that in your moms home built by KLR that you have a ceiling crack that is were 2 pieces of sheetrock are joined and not a structual LVL beam coming thru your ceiling like you previously thought. After inspection in the attic of the home and me hitting my head pretty hard on a ceiling rafter while jumping up and down in your moms attic I am sure that there are no structural issues with your moms homes. I am very displeased with the crack in the ceiling especially since it has been repaired once before shortly after completeing the home. So we are going to cut that seem out and replace it with new sheetrock and make sure that we get that area taken care of to hopefully eliminate any future cracking. Once we get it replaced next week along with a few other sheetrock repairs in her master bathroom and in her guest bedroom ceiling where the HVAC systems leaked and left a stain in the ceiling we should have her 100% good as new and hopefully other than a little aggrevating sheetrock dust left from the repair that we are doing next week will be the only thing that she has to deal with. We will clean up afterwords but there will be evidence of the sheetrock work for a few weeks after due to the dust going air bourne. As for your home there are very minimal cracks in your home. I have seen homes of your size with many more cracks than you have. I was very pleased with the number of cracks that were present but i was not pleased at all with some of the finish work that I seen in your home especially in your stair well coming up from the basment and in your bathroom in your basement. We are going to go thru your home and do a very exstensive year end sheetrock rerpair and redo the areas that you and I agreed upon during our walk thru. I believe that after my guys are complete with your year end sheetrock and paint service and warranty visit that you and your family will be very pleased and will be able to remove that thumb tac in thesaddle feeling that you exspressed to me and Jeff. I was also very pleased that after your wife an you reviewed your 54 item service list written up by Jeff and yourselfs at the final pre settlement walkthru that there were only 3 items left uncomplete or repaired to your satisfaction(1. Screens for 2 windows and a sliding glass door, 2. Sheetrock touch up in the stairwell and basement bath, 3. Crack in the concrete slab in the basement) I was very happy to see you and Jeff back on good terms and in agreement on his completed of most of your service issues that were found at your final walkthru with him. I was also very pleased with the respect that you and your family displayed to Jeff and Myself during the walkthru and I hope that you were pleased with ours as well. I know that you will be more pleased after we complete the sheetrock and the repair to the crack in the concrete and install the 3 screens that you are still missing. I believe that we also cleared up the issues of the contractors that will still be performing warranty work on your house and now that you and I are communicating and working together to complete your service and warranty items I believe that we will be able to eliminate the ability for a contractor to use the false statement that they were not paid in order to get out of performing service work on your home. I have spoken to Jason at Comfort Zone and he is 100% willing to warranty and service your HVAC system with any issue that is covered under American Standards Warranty Porgram and I am taking care of the water stains in your sheetrock from the HVAC unit upstairs leaking as noted on your walk thru. I look forward to taken care of your Service and warranty items this coming week and I am anxious to get a positive reply from you after the issues are completed and prove to you and your family that I am not running from my responsibilities. I also hope that after our meeting that you have a better understanding of the circumstances that lead to me closing SCH and I hope that you will continue to support me in my attempt to get back up and dust myself off after my fall and make a full recovery. Only after facing my resposibilities and correcting them through hard work and service to my previous customers as well as my current and future. I undertsand that with this whole situation I am left with a cloud of doubt by many but I am dedicated to clear the cloud of smoke and make it clear and sunny again. I know that it will not happen overnight but I will continue working everyday to make this situation right as you stated and hopefully you will be convienced by my actions that I am headed in the right direction. I am sure that after building over 600 homes that there will be a couple of people that I can not satisfy but I will not stop my efforts to correct any issue that I have left with any family. Thank you for the opportunity to make this happen and I look forward to talking with you in the future. Russell Smith 803-242-0332.

[new2rockhill]

Hello all!

We just bought a home in Rock Hill....and we love it!! Funny thing, we actually just found out it was a modular...you really can't tell!! It is a CBS home built by Superior (at least I think). Anyway, I will tell ya, it is a better built house than any house I have ever bought (5 houses previously)...just wish I knew more about the "history" of it....I contacted CBS who doesn't have records that go back to 2005 when my home was "built"....it is over 5,700 square feet and some of it is just tooo custom to be totally modular....I just can't figure this thing out!! lol I am modular stupid because 2 days ago I thought a modular was a trailer! Don't stone me, I'm a little more educated on the subject now!! Anyone know how I could get information on this house? Do you have to have permits initally? Maybe I could pull those and get some info...

Also, I didn't know it was a modular when I purchased it (it was not disclosed) do I have to disclose it when I sell it, if I ever do? Anyone know?

Thanks!

[CarolinaWoman]

Originally Posted by new2rockhill

Also, I didn't know it was a modular when I purchased it (it was not disclosed) do I have to disclose it when I sell it, if I ever do? Anyone know?

Thanks!

I don't know anything about modular ... you may try going to:

yorkcountygov.com

On that page on the right you will see Top 10 Most Popular Pages ... click on GIS Online Mapping and Property Search ... next page scroll down to Click Here to Access ... you have selection at top of the map page to type in owner, address, development ... type in your address and you will pull up your home ... click on tools (side bar) and click Identify and then click on your address ... another window will open with basic property info and includes reports you can look at ... this might be confusing ... probably is ... but you can give it a try.

[new2rockhill]

Actually had found that site a while back but didn't know it had all of that information and kind of forgot about it. That was a a little bit helpful!
Thanks~

[FLRich]

Just a quick update. I have refrained from posting till' I had something solid to post on the situation that Russell and I are trying to work out but this is taking a bit longer than expected so I'll give in and do an update.

We all did meet and we had drywall people here along with his painters for about 1 week. It should not have taken more than 2-3 days but bottom line is that it is completed. Nothing except a COMPLETE redo will resolve all the issues but I am satisified at this point with what I have on the drywall. If anyone has done drywall repairs in a house currently lived in you will understand, you need to pick and chose what will be fixed since it creates a huge mess.

We are still awaiting the screens, the repair of the crack accross the basement floor and repairs on the roof. Roofers were there and made some repairs but did not complete the job. Several months ago a concrete specialist was there to look at the crack so we can fix it and let it settle so we can put flooring in the basement but nothing yet. The only very minor final thing was a siding issue on the porch that Jeff identified and is going to get resolved. The siding is falling out due to the edge not having anything substantial to attach to but I am sure he will get that fixed up.

Once everything is completed I will return and give a final update for everyone that has been monitoring the subject. Russell and Jeff have been attentive and are trying, I know that back during the early part of the year things were a bit tense but they have made an effort. Hopefully soon this will all be resolved and everyone involved can get on past this.

Rich

[razzuli]

This is Mark in Lexington, my roof is still leaking and the gutter is still dumping water on my steps- I've lost the contact numbers, please e-mail me at msnelgrove@windstream.net.
Thanks

[lancastermom83]

wow, what a dramatic thread? how many handles did Russell actually use here? whew

[jazzed]

Hi All, There is a home on lake wylie, on sunset Dr. I think it is a superior home, it is going for a short sale. Can anyone give me any information on it. JAZZED