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"MSH Homes was hired to build our dream home in Chesapeake in 2016. Steve Hartman, owner of MSH Homes, came highly recommended by a friend who had previously used him to build their home. We initially felt comfortable with Steve and his willingness to build a custom home for us. His price was very competitive, which should have been our first clue. After about 6 months on a project that was projected to take 4-6 months to complete, we realized that the project was months behind schedule, and that we would be lucky to have a finished home within 12 months total time. The situation was made worse by the fact that the home we would be moving out of would need to be rented, and it was virtually impossible to time a renter with completions of a project where very little progress was being made, and where the was no end in sight. Thus begins our saga. Our home was finally completed after approximately 11+ months of construction, which as mentioned before was about 5 months past the estimated time. In addition, there were multiple problems with the home that Steve assured us would be taken care of after closing. The most pressing problem became a failed septic system. The system was installed by Renew the Bay, owned and operated by septic engineer Mike White. Our drain field failed as soon as the system was started. Septic effluent began to bubble up on the surface of the drain field, and eventually ended up creating puddles, which became mud pits, which became a swamp. The swamp is a wonderful medium with which to breed mosquitos, other insects, and frogs, which invade the house every night during the spring/summer/fall. Mike White has a trail of failed septic systems throughout the Chesapeake area, which at this point are too numerous to count. Steve worked closely with Mike and Renew the Bay, using them on several new construction projects throughout Great Bridge and Hickory. After we were shown the plan and location of the septic system, Mike and Steve claimed that they were unaware that our property was subject to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation rules, and decided at the last minute to redesign our system, while at the same time relocating the system as well. We later discovered that this was in fact a lie, and that they elected to design a system that was significantly cheaper than the original system we were shown, which was designed by Kim Harper. Not only that, originally it had been slated to be placed in the back yard, but was relocated to the front yard for some unknown and fictitious reason, which we later discovered was also due to cost. Needless to say, our system failed from the outset. To make matters worse, Steve and Mike tried to blame a tree removal company that we had hired to remove a large pine tree in our front yard. The tree had restricted the location of where we had to place the driveway relative to the drain field, such that a wayward vehicle would not accidentally drive over and damage the drain field. Mike and Steve tried to say that the tree company had damaged the drain field, despite the fact that the tree company had been given strict instructions to avoid that portion of the yard, and that my neighbor had observed the entire tree removal process while it was happening, and verified that they had come nowhere hear the drain field. The failed septic system was first detected in January of 2017, and yet now, in October of 2019, it has not been repaired or replaced by Steve Hartman, MSH Homes or Renew the Bay/Mike White. In fact, it is rumored that Mike White has left the state, but I cannot personally verify that fact. I do know that Renew the Bay has several active permits with Chesapeake Health Department that are awaiting installation, so theoretically, he could still be out there installing new systems for unsuspecting homeowners. Finally, when it seemed that we were not going to reach any kind of agreement with Steve Hartman on our own, we engaged legal counsel with attorney Albert Hartley, located in Great Bridge area of Chesapeake. After approximately 12 months and $15,000 in attorney fees, we were ultimately advised by Mr. Hartley (and a parade of his associate attorneys), to continue to wait for MSH to repair the drain field. This despite multiple plans by Mr. Hartley et al. to file suit, then delay filing suit, then plan to file, then delay again, then plan to file yet again, then delay filing, and on and on. After attempting to express our dissatisfaction with his advise, Mr. Hartley instead chose to cease representation for us in our case against MSH Homes. As would be suspected, we were extremely disappointed with not only the representation we received, but also the continued lack of action by Steve Hartman and MSH Homes. We found new representation with Pender and Coward’s Chesapeake office, and are now on our second lead attorney with them, due to the appointment of our first attorney to a judgeship in Chesapeake. Despite another $20,000+ in fees and 18 months time, we are no further along in our suit against MSH Homes than we were 30 days after moving into the home. Steve Hartman has, on multiple occasions, agreed in principle to repair the septic system, repair structural deficiencies of the home, and to otherwise follow through with actually finishing the project as per our contract with him. However, NOTHING has been completed. In fact, he has blamed US for not allowing him access to the property, which he cannot prove. Our only requirement for him to have access to the property was that we wanted to arrange our own expert to observe any action he or Renew the Bay took in repair of the septic system, so that we could have independent expert verification that a) it was not the tree service that damaged the drain field as they had claimed, and b) that work completed by them was done properly, so as to avoid further failure of the system. He continues to refuse to bring our septic system into compliance with Chesapeake City code. The system that was originally installed was approved using the daily per-bedroom capacity used in North Carolina, which is too small for the number of bedrooms in the home based on Virginia Code requirements. (Long story as to the details, but suffice it to say, it has to meet Virginia requirements if there is repair to a septic system, regardless of how it was originally installed. Ours was installed with a capacity of 120 gallons per day, when the Virginia Code requires 150 gallons per day. Again, this change was made for cost savings, and we were not notified or asked to approved the change by MSH or Renew the Bay.) When completing the grading of the yard, Steve decided that it was a good idea to bring in 30 truckloads of sand to do the job. His explanation was that sand was the only fill material that would work at that time year (it was a very wet winter at that point) in order to allow for drainage and drying of the soil. Not only that, the yard was graded by MSH so as to have septic effluent draining directly into the front yard to collect at the front door of the home, seeping into and contaminating the crawl space with partially treated human waste. After the fact, we were told by actual QUALIFIED grading contractors that sand was the LAST thing we wanted to use, as it HELD the water, and would not allow it to dry out unless it was graded appropriately with adequate drainage. We ended up with neither appropriate grading nor adequate drainage. However, we did have the benefit of living in a yard completely comprised of sand, with the wonderful experience of having sand tracked throughout the house every time we walked outside for almost 2 years, from the time of moving in until we were finally assured by our attorneys that we could start repairs on our own without damaging our case against MSH. What a joy to live with sand without even the benefit of the being at the beach! Steve’s plumber failed to connect the drain from the shower of the guest bathroom to the central drain system, so that the shower was draining directly into the crawl space onto the plastic vapor barrier, leaving thousands of gallons of water just sitting in what was supposed to be a seal"