Looking for info on Richmond American Builder/ good or bad (Surprise: sales, apartment) - Phoenix area - Arizona (AZ) - City-Data Forum

isabella20948 · 01-14-2008, 09:13 PM

Very close to signing a contract with Richmond American Homes in Surprise AZ Classics at Surprise Farms Can anyone give me any insight on this builder and this area to build in. Recently relocated here Any info would be helpful thank you

SOON2BNSURPRISE · 01-15-2008, 12:43 AM

We bought in the Heritage collection at Surprise Farms. My wife and I liked what we saw. Our home is finally out of the design stages and is waiting for a building permit. Still at least 6 months to go. That being said, and from what I was told here you want to make sure that you watch the build allong the way. Everytime there is an inspection meeting, you or someone that you choose has to be there. May even want to hire an inspector to go along with you during these trips. There are some companies in the valley that do this.

In the past RA and many of the other builders were slapping these homes together becasue of the demand. Lucky us, we are having there best people build the home. Because things are slow you can bet that they kept there best guys working. It is my thought that those that buy now reap the rewards of that. Also they are taking more time to put the homes together. As far as I can figure out that is a good thing.

One issue that we didn't like is with there design center. We let our designer know our budget and we went through the place picking out what we wanted. At the end of the day we had a contract for $14,000 over our original budget. Ended up cutting things that we could add on our own at a later date. Stuff in there isn't cheep. Chances are you could get some things cheeper on the outside. It is always easy wrapping all that into the price of the home I guess. For us we wanted to keep the price down to a minumum. At the same time I work in a field that gives me the ability to do certain things. Also not sure on the Classics, but for Heritage they only offer one other interior color for wall painting. We figure we can paint the home in the colors we want before we move in.

My best advice is to take an active role in the building process. Make sure that you are there during each inspection. If you can't be there see if you can have an independent inspector take part in the process. Price things out before you visit the design center. Make sure that the $500 faucet that they are trying to sell you isn't a model that you could get at Home Depot for $199.

Don't worry if the price of your home declines. They are good about resetting the price before you close on the home. We have had our base price decrease $30,000 since we signed the original paperwork in November. I am hoping it goes down again before we close.

altus2006 · 01-15-2008, 07:37 AM

If you go to the Register of Contractors site and put in the ROC # for this builder, there are a lot of complaints about them.

I would do a lot of due diligence before buying something from them. As I remember, they are building under two different ROC numbers, so check out both.

altus2006

isabella20948 · 01-15-2008, 09:00 AM

thank you for the replies I am reallly nervous to sign any contract with a builder From what you see on the outside looks great, but I wonder about afterwards. I already visited the design center just to see the "standards" and they were very closed mouth about giving prices. I wanted a price on one banister for the 2 story we are interested in They wouldn't quote the price until after the contract was signed and our design center appointment was made. I told her if they want to sell a house someone better call me with a price. The next day I heard from her with a price on the banister Alittle scary. Anyway we shall see I will do more homework before going forward thanks again

altus2006 · 01-15-2008, 10:10 AM

If it was not possible to get a quote on what additional add ons would be, I would run rather than sign a binding contract.

There are too many houses to choose from around the area to put up with any Mickey Mouse from builders.

altus2006

dlpres · 01-15-2008, 03:24 PM

I purchased a Richmon American home in Cave Creek(Chapparral at Lone Mountain) about 4 years ago.

The home was great, I had a couple of issues that came up(nothing major) and they were very responsive. I would not hesitate to purchase a home from them.

altus2006 · 01-15-2008, 08:31 PM

There is a Richmond American thread on the Arizona forum that you might like to read.

altus2006

OctoberMoon · 01-15-2008, 10:26 PM

I am currently in contract with Richmond American and we have been having nothing but trouble with them.

We signed the contract in August. We were told the estimated finish date for our home would be February 2008. Well, they haven't even STARTED to build it yet. My husband and I keep getting the run around. Their realtor that we worked with keeps telling us they're having meetings and he'll call us "next week." We don't hear from him EVER when he tells us he will call us. So we have to hound him. We've NOT been given a reason why they haven't started. We've been approved for our loan, and we have a 20% down payment and yet nothing is happening. On top of it, he tried to ask us for more of an earnest deposit to show we wouldn't walk away from the deal. WHAT? If they wanted more than our initial $2000, they should have asked for it up front. We're at our witts end.

If you do sign a contract with them, make SURE you get some sort of written time frame on when your home will be done. We were told February, but it was never put in the paperwork. So really, there is nothing we can do but wait. Now, we have to rent an apartment in February (we're moving from California) until whenever they decide to finish our home. They need to start, though, first.

SOON2BNSURPRISE · 01-16-2008, 09:15 AM

[quote=OctoberMoon;2526400]I am currently in contract with Richmond American and we have been having nothing but trouble with them.

We signed the contract in August. We were told the estimated finish date for our home would be February 2008.
If you do sign a contract with them, make SURE you get some sort of written time frame on when your home will be done. We were told February, but it was never put in the paperwork.

I know in our paperwork it gave them 1 year to complete the project. Our sales rep told us that it takes about 6 months to build the home. We also have only seen dirt in the lot and no action as of yet. Our contract was signed in December. From the wording in the contract they don't have to turn over the home untill December of 2008, one year from the date we signed. I think you are correct in the fact that they gave you an estimated time frame. I bet if you were to read your contract you also will see a note that they have one year to complete the home.

We were also told that in Surpsise that it can take anywhere from a month to 2 months for the builder to get the building permit. Not sure if that is true or are they just blowing smoke. We were told though last week that the permit process has started, so we will see. If that is the case then our home can be completed anywhere from 7 months to 9 months from now. I am kind of hoping that we will be there by the start of the next school year. Then we can at least get used to the weather over time.

isabella20948 · 01-16-2008, 09:25 AM

Octobermoon

Wow that is unbelievable We wanted a certain lot that wasn't opened yet so finally they released it to us but wanting 5% down pmt After hearing your story I think we shall walk away and not do business with them Which community are you building in? What a nightmare. The only positive side is the rents here are very affordable, I think we moved here from Florida 6 months ago and our rent here for a 2000sq ft house is only $950 3 years old in a really nice community.