http://www.ripoffreport.com/builders-contractors/van-metre-homes/van-metre-homes-failed-to-hon-c95b2.htm


Is the article reliable? Discuss.

If it's on the internet, it must be true.

Mr. X Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If it's on the internet, it must be true.


This!

I get all of my news from theonion.com

Real Estate Hunting Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> http://www.ripoffreport.com/builders-contractors/v
> an-metre-homes/van-metre-homes-failed-to-hon-c95b2
> .htm
>
>
> Is the article reliable? Discuss.


I have done work for most of the big builders in the area over the years. I have always thought that Van Metre, Ryland and Augustine were the best mid priced builders in the area.
If price is no object the finest builder I have ever seen is Morris-Day homes of Arlington Va. You need to be rockstar rich to afford a Morris-Day home.

Not even close to the worst.

@OP - whelp, I can tell you one thing. The fact you can type "Van Metre" in the search box of the ripoff link you gave us................and that report you read be the ONLY result of that search...................well it leads me to believe that Van Metre is way more legit than not.

All production home builders have their issues, if you are expecting quality then look elsewhere. Morris Day is over priced, terrible quality, lack of knowledgeable supervision, unable to maintain a schedule. People with money and little knowledge use him because he is a "name brand" and Penny Yerks also pushes him on her clients.

All home builders are using the same subcontracted labor to do the work. Honestly, none are any better or worse than the other. It boils down to the architect that designs the layout of the house you select and the project manager you have in charge of the build of your home. As long as you have a fantastic PM and you select the right floorplan and options, everything else is really the same.

Research the property to make sure they didn't:

1) Sell the future homeowners out by agreeing to a 75 year exclusive agreement with a shitty ISP/cable company. I believe Broadlands and Lansdowne in Loudoun County are the only places they managed to pull that off. It is currently subject of a lengthy court battle.

2) Build a community on a limestone overlay which relies on well water. Limestone doesn't exactly protect the integrity of the well, so you have tainted drinking water for the $750k homes. Also there is insufficient hydrant pressure, so don't have your house catch on fire. Probably not an issue in Fairfax though.

Worst home I've been in was a Beazer. It was like 4 years old and had huge cracks in the walls. One of the other townhomes found out no one installed sound deadening material after a few years of hearing way too much of their neighbors.

On June 15th, 2010, I signed a contract with the Van Metre Homes Company of Burke, Virginia for a new single family home to be built near Vienna, Virginia. Among the standard features, was included 42" flat panel birch cabinets. However, the seller has built 36" cabinets instead. So far, the seller has not provided me with any evidence to support their claim that I ever agreed to the reduction of my 17 wall cabinets by 6 inches.

Furthermore, during our pre-settlement walk through on December 14th, we discovered that our second floor ceiling was a full foot shorter than that promised in the list of standard features. Under Flooring, our list of standard features states the following: 10' ceilings on First Floor, Second Floor & 9' Basement. The seller's response denying our request for compensation for this deficiency seemed to imply to us that all buyers of the Addison unit were similarly cheated out a 1 foot in their second floor ceiling heights.


The cabinet issue should easy to resolve. A builder will make you sign many forms for design chances, complete with pricing so there are no misunderstandings. The buyer gets a copy. If what the poster is saying is true and the builder cannot prove otherwise, then there should be a cabinet replacement. Of course the builder will fight tooth and nail because it's money they don't want to spend.

The ceiling height is a big issue. It may, MAY be worth it to go to court. I have to imagine that you're looking at several thousands in reduced "cost" to the house, since adding ceiling height correspondingly costs thousands.

In the end, what do you expect when they throw together a house in 4 months with $10/hr labor? Mass production companies like Van Metre, Ryan, Pulte, etc. don't give a fuck. They want to move on to the next development/house as quickly as possible. A complaining buyer is a annoying gnat to them. But bitch enough and they'll generally fix the problem or give you compensation to go away.

__________________________________
That's not a ladybug, that's a cannapiller.

JustanFYI, your wrong, they don't all use the same subs. There is thousands of subs in the metro area.
Sub Contractors will do production work for cash flow, there is no profit as the Builders will beat you down to nothing claiming they aren't making any money either, then they make you wait 90 days for payment and on top of that you have to perform additional work for nothing or they will cut you loose.
Some subs have learned the hard way you don't put all your eggs in one basket.

penny yerks is so 2012. Karen Briscoe is 2013 to infinity. Got HBC?

Nada

The Unions have organzing camnpaigns against all the big builders so they create those ripoff sites and have their members post all kinds of untrue stuff about them. You can ignore most of that crap.

Look at JD Power for neutral customer satisfaction scores. Or talk to other homeowners in one of their communities.

It's how they handle anad respond to problems that matters more than having problems in the first place.

I grew up in a Van Meter home across from Clermont Elementary. I don't recall my parents complaining about anything. It was bought new and they even offered options like inground sprinklers, that was unheard of in 68 mind you.

For hunting a property and homes most easy way get the best property through online by website now the after smart phone most of the viewer are watch website through mobile so many Mobile Website Builder design website for both version desktop and mobile.

That site (and hundreds of other "ripoff" sites) is run by organized labor groups who are engaged in corporate campaigns against builders. They attempt to discredit builders with such sites (as well as lawsuits and other complaints) so builders will give into their demands and organize their workforce. I would ignore anything on that site and look for legitimate reviews by real customers.

Two facts:
1) a few years ago Van Metre won the JD Power award for best home builder in the Washington area so they must be doing something right.

2) Having a union subcontractors adds between 30-50% to the cost of building a new home. Plus it nearly doubles the time it takes to build the home. (On a union job, if the drywall guy needs to move a roll of carpet to do his job, he won't touch it. He'll insist that a union carpet guy be hired to move the roll to the other side of the room before he continues his drywall work).

Expert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> All production home builders have their issues, if
> you are expecting quality then look elsewhere.
> Morris Day is over priced, terrible quality, lack
> of knowledgeable supervision, unable to maintain a
> schedule. People with money and little knowledge
> use him because he is a "name brand" and Penny
> Yerks also pushes him on her clients.


Sagatov homes or bust bitches...

http://www.sagatov.com/

@Builder
STFU about Residential Union Thugs.
I have never seen any union residential contractorsin VA, in the 40 years I have been in the trades.
DC does and MD some, in VA there is none.
Sell your crazy somewhere else.

Builder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That site (and hundreds of other "ripoff" sites)
> is run by organized labor groups who are engaged
> in corporate campaigns against builders. They
> attempt to discredit builders with such sites (as
> well as lawsuits and other complaints) so builders
> will give into their demands and organize their
> workforce. I would ignore anything on that site
> and look for legitimate reviews by real
> customers.
>
> Two facts:
> 1) a few years ago Van Metre won the JD Power
> award for best home builder in the Washington area
> so they must be doing something right.
>
> 2) Having a union subcontractors adds between
> 30-50% to the cost of building a new home. Plus
> it nearly doubles the time it takes to build the
> home. (On a union job, if the drywall guy needs
> to move a roll of carpet to do his job, he won't
> touch it. He'll insist that a union carpet guy be
> hired to move the roll to the other side of the
> room before he continues his drywall work).


What builder in their right mind would schedule delivery of carpeting prior to the drywall being hung, taped, sanded and painted?

So you've got builder/contractor grade, quality grade, custom, and ultra-custom grade construction materials...


You hear a lot of negative things about builder grade, and people talk of custom and ultra-custom, but you never hear anything about quality grade...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2014 11:16AM by eesh.

Yeah but,,, the Internet site doesn't know state boundaries. They are trying to organize them somewhere so they create these rip-off sites to generate ill will.

@zippy. It was just an example, one trade will not touch another trade's "jurisdiction" but they take it to an extreme like not moving carpet etc.

shut up shut up !!!!!

fuck the trim job in the luxury house i cheated others out of isn't perfect

f'ing hired foreigners to make it cheaper my kids are out of work

asswipes
Attachments:

rich customers are always the ones who try to stiff contractors is what i hear ?

------------------------------
it's a weak claim and final trim complains are too many to count

the didn't even say they paid or not for the extra ? foot of birch

We cannot simply discount these stories as fiction created by labor groups. I am a genuine new home buyer, buying a property in Van Metre's Aldie. I am going thru hell with them. I have hardly slept the last 2 weeks. I intend to put in a detailed writeup here and other sites. I want to warn prospective buyers and buyers waiting to close, to not take those JD Power reviews for granted. Do your homework, hire a inspector during those Pre Drywall and Pre Settlement Demos (which I did), have everything in writing and don't give up. More later...

The original intent of this thread covered a few *big* issues on Van Metre. The 2nd floor ceilings in the house were not the 9' height as promised, and the kitchen cabinets were not 42" cabinets either. If one has 10' ceilings on the main level and the builder decides to use 36" cabinets - that is a horrendous mistake. There's a lot of drywall above the 36" cabinets before it reaches the ceiling. Plus, 2nd floor - or bedroom level ceilings being a whole 1' lower than indicated earlier is another major oversight by the builder. If that were my home - I would have never gone to settlement, if that were the case. Then again, this thread started in 2012 and the report on the Web site is referenced back in 2010.

To the new buyer who is working with Van Metre on the new home (I'm assuming Stone Bridge) I think your stance is a good one. Keep your inspector involved along the whole way. Spending a few bucks now, might save you major bucks later. I know an owner of a VM home - built within the past 12 years and there were issues with the house because the sub-contractors used in building the home didn't correct some gaps during the framing process, which resulted in larger than expected (inches) for the gaps.

Each home builder can have their issues. The process in going from when you first tour their model and get drawn into their offerings until the day you go to settlement on your own home can be quite a long and painful process.

Best of luck!

yes

Van Metre Homes is a major builder throughout the area, they build tons and tons of cookie cutter mcmansions and strip malls! In fact Van Metre has built tons of communities all over Nova and the DC area. Just to name a few of their developments

Broadlands
Fairax Square
Chantilly Highlands
Clermont
Saratoga
Stone Ridge
Belmont Greene
and many many more

I lived in Stone Ridge from 2004-2014, the house was fine. They build fine homes and I have friends in Broadlands who say home construction is just fine. Now a real great builder is NV Homes, they have great designs and floorplans. I just bought a new build in Virginia Manor (Aldie) last year. I back up to parkland, it's great. NV Homes has built many nice communities throughout the area.

To name a few NV Home developments:

Poplar Tree Estates
Quarterpath Trace
Hayden Village
Virginia Run
Little Rocky Run
Fairfax Hunt
Cascades
Potomac Station
Lansdowne
Hampton Woods
Hampton Chase
Still Oaks
Tregaron Forest
Fair Lakes Glen
Ashburn Farm
Balmoral Greens


Keep in mind I mean they built homes in the above communities, other lots have homes built by other companies. Except Quarterpath Trace, pretty sure its all NV, I think Hayden Village is too, oh and Balmoral is all NV Homes also.

Just don't buy a Ryan Home - New or used. They have built nightmare housing across the country.

One says NV Homes is great the other says Ryan is a nightmare. The truth is both are same company.

by law in Virginia housign is not a rip-off sale item per say - that would be ILLEGAL

the law goes back at least 2000 to Italy maybe greece

home builders must assure the structure of a home, if the home fails (ancient time: possible death penalty) the building is ALWAYS RESPONSIBLE

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BUILDING A RIP-OFF HOME AND WALKING AWAY FROM IT

thank you for more of your democrat facist lessons "a company can build a rickety home not as agreed and after 30 days you bought it". problem is: YOUR FULL OF SHIT

I'm pretty sure the houses made out of straw, and the one made out of sticks, aren't so good.

NV or Ryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One says NV Homes is great the other says Ryan is
> a nightmare. The truth is both are same company.

I used to work for NV years ago. It was good when it was it's own company and before Dwight bought Ryan. Then it was the large fish eating the little fish. All the top positions in NV started going to Ryan exec's and that didn't sit well with the NV folks. Any job that came up where supervisors could interview for a PM position, the Ryan guys seemingly won the job. NV had it's own arch. office, but that folded and it's functions rolled into the Ryan arch. office up in Thurmont, MD. Maybe it is still that way, I don't know. I haven't kept up with them. I check the NV stock price every now and then when I want to see how much money I gave up selling all my stock for ~$250 @ 35 cent a share. IF I would have hung on to it I could tell my current employer to fuck off, but I needed the cash at the time.

Any thoughts on Comstock Homes?

Oh, and stay away from Centex. I bought one of their townhouses (second owner) and whatever elec sub they used for this community sucks balls. After 4 years, I can't find the switched outlet in my master suite. One of the outlet boxes is loose as well. Have a lot of nail pops in the floor if my living/dining room, but that could be from settling. Have a few stair treads that are loose. AC unit is pretty much maxed out for square footage. Any larger, like the end units that are slightly larger than my unit has 2 heat pumps. Builder grade windows and sliding glass door are a little drafty, especially the door.

LOLing at this thread. Having done subcontracting in this area, I can say my 40 year old, all brick fire-proof townhome in the Timbers off Hillside in West Springfield is better constructed than all these Chinese material Post-Reagan McMansion monstrosities could ever hope to be. Only downside is no insulation, since fuel was so cheap back then.

Had a new Van Metre townhouse in the late 90's. After living there a couple years the tile in the shower started pushing in. After tearing off part of the shower wall what I found was they put tile over drywall. Big surprise, the drywall got mushy and failed. Using drywall in a shower is a big no-no and not done by reputable tile companies. That said, everything else seemed fine a good enough quality.

If I was using a builder, I would try to have my own inspector checking things out during the construction process. County inspectors only check if things are to code, which is the bare minimum.

With the original article, the poster should have a pretty straightforward case to go after the builder to get some compensation for things not built to spec.

Don't you guys use home inspectors? A good one will run you up to $500, but it's money well spent, even on a new home.

Too bad Edw R Carr is no longer around. Built great townhomes, steel beams, concrete block sound walls, all wood framing. The ones built in the mid 80s were the best.

All new homes are cookie cutter.

Oh guys, I know how it feels to have a bad worker. I had a situation when he was doing the walls and broke my stud finder. To be honest he did it twice. First time it was okay, because it was a cheap finder. He told me that he needs a better finder because that one wasn't working. I decided to buy him a good stud finder to make his work easier. I checked online some articles and only one was kinda helpful among which I found a detailed review on different studfinders electricstudfinder.com. I explored which one will be the best option and bought Zircon StudSensor e50 Electronic. He has broken it in one hour. I was so angry, fuck. Dumbass

Should've been shut down decades ago.

bioclotidtai Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh guys, I know how it feels to have a bad worker.
> I had a situation when he was doing the walls and
> broke my stud finder. To be honest he did it
> twice. First time it was okay, because it was a
> cheap finder. He told me that he needs a better
> finder because that one wasn't working. I decided
> to buy him a good stud finder to make his work
> easier. I checked online some articles and only
> one was kinda helpful among which I found a
> detailed review on different studfinders href="https://electricstudfinder.com">electricstud
> finder.com. I explored which one will be the
> best option and bought Zircon StudSensor e50
> Electronic. He has broken it in one hour. I was so
> angry, fuck. Dumbass


Hey man! Is there something more I should know before the purchase?