R J MAYER DEVELOPMENT CORP

Based on word of mouth and a couple of references, we were lead to believe that R J Mayer Development Corp was capable of building a premium custom home to our specifications. The builder owned the lot and we chose the architect who designed the home after lengthy discussions with us. During the course of the home construction, several things became apparent: (i) the builder had never built a home with a geothermal system, (ii) the foreman and the builder did not provide sufficient oversight and supervision of the sub-contractors and were inexperienced (corroborated by several subs), (iii) the builder did not obtain multiple bids to chose his sub-contractors. There were numerous work orders and extra charges which inflated the final cost of the home well above the price range pre-specified by us prior to starting construction. Additionally, we were charged for a geothermal loop to heat a pool which we told the builder (early in the process) that we had decided not to build. After we closed on the home and moved in, we were assured that R J Mayer Development Corp would assist us with any and all repairs to the new home for the first 2 years. The builder insisted that all communications be via email and that we not call his foreman directly. He also discouraged us from providing him with monthly punch lists. While we did receive some assistance for the initial few months, the builder quickly abdicated any and all responsibility and did not act as our advocate. When we had the painters come back to address settling and 'nail pops', they were advised by the builder to spend as little time on the work as possible. We hired a different HVAC company to assist us with exorbitant electrical bills despite having geothermal and discovered that the geothermal and water heater were connected incorrectly and that the air ducts were undersized. We also hired another contractor who advocated for us, corrected a major drainage problem (which R J Mayer Development Corp only addressed by 'seeding'), upgraded gutters/downspouts to the appropriate size, and worked with the original subcontractors to repair the concrete driveway and front porch which had started to degrade almost as soon as we moved in. When we approached R J Mayer Development Corp recently (prior to repairing the driveway and porch), we were informed that this was not their responsibility. As a result of our experience, I seriously doubt that we will ever consider building another home. R J Mayer Development Corp is not representative of all builders since we know of many homeowners who have had excellent experiences and long relationships with their builders. Unfortunately, that was not our experience.