Mandala Eco Homes

On October 13th, 2019, I went into contract with Bruce Douglas of Mandala Eco Homes in Pa’ia, Maui. He originally sold me on the promise that it would only take a few months for the houses to be made in Bali, disassembled, and shipped to my Maui property. He told me that it would be effortless to put back together, and my 20-year-old son would be able to do it in just a few weeks. (Two weeks was the phrase most often used.) Bruce convinced me not to get the houses permitted because he said they didn’t need to be, that it would just cost me more and he didn’t want to cause the county to look at his homes. I didn’t really understand the ramifications of this. I mean, why wouldn’t one want the county of Maui to look at his homes? But I figured he was trying to avoid the competition learning his secrets, or something. After all, he’s a successful architect and engineer, right? He must know what he’s doing. But the parts didn’t arrive in two weeks. Or in two months. Or in a year. Every time I asked, Bruce would email me a “progress email” showing the cottage, still assembled, in Bali, with an explanation that he was still making corrections to the design. This was, I now learned, the first time he’d actually sold one of this particular model. Finally, in February 2021, Bruce sent an email saying the house had shipped! It actually arrived in April. The original contract stated that the home would be shipped in a 20 ft shipping container right to my property in Hana. That didn’t happen. Instead, Bruce explained to my father, because of “options” I had requested (and of which he knew all along), I would need a 40-foot container…and I would have to buy it! At this point, I was out of money and could not do so. I had to rent it instead. Zach did his best to protect everything. Bruce sent me a message every few days telling me the construction team was delayed. The team did not make it to the property for two months after the house was delivered. By then, exposure to weather had ruined the bamboo components. Most of them were now covered by black mold. It was now June, 2021. As my father pointed out to Bruce, if we’d had the know-how to build a waterproof building for the parts, why would we have needed him to build a house? And, for that matter, why did the parts for the outside of the cottage get moldy? Weren’t they supposed to be weatherproof already? Well, the parts were ruined, so Bruce has continued to send over workmen to “repair” them by scraping off the mold and putting new sealant on them, and so far—because they’re still doing it—it has cost me over $50K to have repaired. Not only have I had to pay people to do it, but I was required to buy and have erected at least five tarp-and-steel temporary sheds so the workers could set up an assembly line for re-treating the bamboo. This cottage is still under construction and the second unit has still not been shipped. Something needs to be done to address this. I am asking for a firm date to have both houses completed, with some sort of guarantee that that date will be met regardless of anything short of a tsunami or a meteor strike. If both houses are not completed within four months I will need a full refund, and that’s including the extra money I poured into Bruce’s wallet for repairs that shouldn’t have been needed. The shipping cost needs to be paid on the second house. I want these homes to be permitted (legal) as well and need for Bruce to see to it this happens. I have been more than patient with this process, but I am done being treated as an wallet with nothing to show for it.