We moved into a development in which we had to use a specific builder. We researched him on the internet, but we found nothing and figured "no news is good news." Throughout the home-buying process, Niel Jones held himself out to be the sole owner of the business known as The Builders Group.
He referred to The Builders Group as "his business" and even had us pay him directly via personal check (made out to Neil Jones) when we went over our building budget. Nowhere on our sales contract are the words "Incorporation" or "Inc." to show that The Builders Group was a corporation.
This is a big deal because after we felt "ripped off, " we obtained a lawyer and found out that The Builders Group is actually a corporation — checks are to be written to the corporation and not any one individual personally.
Needless to say, the house was incomplete at settlement. He assured us that we would have a completed home within 6 weeks. It never happened.
Drywall tape peeled apart, our well ran dry and he refused to fix it for 3 weeks, our dishwasher flooded our kitchen, the landscape crew barely seeded our grass and we lost a lot of dirt as time went on (ruining the grading around our home and exposing some of our septic systems sand), subcontractors failed to show or did such a bad job that we had to have them back multiple times, and plastics which were burned and buried on my property (which took me quite a while to clean up).
Before settlement, we asked (at least twice) if Neil Jones would have the property surveyed. He refused, saying they already did all of the measurements and knew exactly where the property lines were. Not so — Neil was also building our neighbors' home at the same time as ours. He dug their well and paved their driveway WAY over our property line.
I had to personally pay a surveyor to mark the lines. My neighbor is angry now at the placement of his home. It has caused quite a rift between my neighbor and me. When we demanded reimbursement for the surveyor bill from Neil Jones, all we got was a lot of profanity.
As previously mentioned, I had to retain an attorney, file a writ, and have Neil Jones and The Builders Group served with papers before the home could even be close to complete. Some items were already fixed by me by the time the papers were served. We have tried to pursue reimbursement of our expenses and attorneys' fees in civil court; however, The Builders Group and Neil Jones seem intent on dragging this out.
The cost for me had reached the point where pursuing a civil action is no longer economically feasible. Basically, I'm S.O.L.in the area of a civil action case. I've lost thousands in attorneys' fees and in repairing my home because The Builders Group would not do so willingly.
I am currently in contact with the legal section of Pennsylvania's Department of State to see if there is any action that can be taken for Neil's "acting" as a sole business owner rather than as a corporation. I'm also in contact with the IRS regarding the same.
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