I bought a townhome from Ryan Homes in 1995. Mine is third in a row of eight homes on a gradual slope. My biggest complaint is the grading in back of the home. The landscape is such that when it rains, the water is channeled through the middle of my back yard. Mine is one of the last homes on the slope, so the rain I get, on top of rain from the neighbors higher up, turns my yard into a five foot wide stream. Plus the slope seems to "flatten out" when it approaches my house, so alot of water just gets trapped there for days. One five foot swath of my back yard is just mud all the time. Ryan has tried to fix it twice.
Their efforts haven't improved the situation and the building supervisor has made it clear to me that he's done all he's going to do and he doesn't want to hear any more on the matter. So, thanks to their poor design, I'm left with a backyard I can't walk through without sinking.
I haven't been able to reach Ryan Homes yet, but now water is seeping into my basement. I called a professional to come out and take a look at the problem. He said that whomever sold me the house must have been aware of the problem because they tried to cover it up by caulking along the basement floor. When I told him I bought the townhome new from Ryan Homes, he said he wasn't a lawyer, but that he thought Ryan Homes had an obligation to disclose the problem to me when they sold me the home. There was no such disclosure. To fix the problem from the inside will cost $2,200. From the outside, $18,000.
The model that I was shown, and the sixty or so other townhomes built before mine are on flat ground with no steps. The homes in my row are on a severe incline with plenty of steps and no hand rails. The eighty or so townhomes built after mine are on flat ground with no steps. It's frustrating that no one, not even the sales representative, thought to tell me to expect this. I didn't anticipate living on a small hill.
The townhome model had crown moulding in it. But when they built my home they didn't install any moulding.
And when I chose "upgraded" appliances, I wish I had asked the question, "upgraded from what?". The dishes in my dishwasher have never come clean, not even when the dishwasher was brand new.
Shortly after we moved in, my two-year old had a close call when he tugged on a belt that was hanging from shelving in the walk-in closet. The shelf is the length of the closet. When he pulled on the belt, the shelving, the clothes, and everything sitting atop the shelf fell to the floor. The shelving Ryan Homes installed in my next door neighbor's walk-in closet gave way several weeks ago.
Less irritating, but still expensive, was when I chose a "red" color scheme for the exterior. I was given a red door, but Ryan Homes painted the window shutters black. Within two years, the Community Association notified me that the shutters needed to be repainted. Cost $400.
When I complained about the trim to Ryan Homes, they told me that they fired their last trim guy, but not until after he did the trim in my home.
I won't go into all the minor things, but one last thing that really irked me is that when I'd go to visit the site (and you have to call ahead and let them know you're coming), I'd find beer cans in the wall frames. I pointed this out to the fellow doing our walkthrough, and he told me that if the workers were drinking, that it wasn't "during hours". Judging from the finished product, I found that hard to believe.
After you purchase a Ryan Home, they give you a questionaire to fill out, to see how satisfied you are with your new home. The home Ryan Homes built for me had a number of deficits and I said as much when I responded to the questionaire. The same fellow that performed the walkthrough came to see me about my respones. He said no one had ever given Ryan Homes poor marks. That I was the only one. Once I got to meet my neighbors, I learned this wasn't exactly true. Of the eight townhomes in my row, three homes had water coming in through the roof when it rained. So I wasn't alone in being disappointed with Ryan Homes.
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