ROYAL OAKS BUILDING GROUP LLC

Royal Oaks built a house for us and it was the worst experience ever. This was the second house we had built and the first experience was MUCH better with another builder. The owner (Rich) is a jerk and I know many people who had the same experience in our subdivision. I will NEVER recommend them to anyone. STAY AWAY!

I would recommend anybody considering having a house built from them to avoid it if possible.

My wife describes our experience best as " the worst experience of my life". This builder advertises quality with the motto "Homes that move you". Talk is cheap. Our home was late, of poor quality, and warranty service (now entering 19 months) is just as bad. Since closing we have suffered from numerous issues including: inside and outside warped walls, warped and uneven floors, damaged hardwood floors, cracked and uneven concrete, damaged cabinetry, widespread careless workmanship issues, and improper installation of HVAC system. I will submit numerous pictures to validate these claims. During the build process we had numerous issues with the project manager. The most outrageous being promises made during the build that were later found to be untruths. As example, I have email where I specifically ask if gravel and re-bar would be installed prior to pouring concrete. I was told "yes" by the project manager. Later during warranty work we found neither to be installed when the concrete parking pad had to be torn up and redone due to cracking and sinking. At one point the build sat idle for six weeks which later caused my wife and I to extend our temporary housing by two weeks. We also had two pre-closing inspections performed and most items noted (i.e. bowed studs, improper framing) on the inspection reports were ignored. As a result, the builder was frantically attempting to address bulging walls at closing (to no avail). Also witnessed were unprotected "finished" hardwood floors and painting over finish carpets without ANY drop cloths. The entire basement carpeting had to be replaced when a painter dropped a bucket on it. One might ask "why then did you close?", but we literally had no choice but to close seeing as we lost our temporary housing lease and the truck from the moving company was already in route from five states away.. The home as received from the builder had many many issues including: cracked and sinking concrete; scratches,nicks, and over-spray in cabinetry; scratches and dents in hardwoods; HVAC problems; missing light-switch in bathroom; warped and sloping floors; bulging inside and outside walls; dented range hood; hose bib installed six feet off ground ( my wife is 5'); popping and crackling speakers for in-home audio system; unsupported porch pillar; lack of weatherstrip for outside basement door; re-bar sticking out of basement concrete; two inches of dirt in the unfinished basement; carpet pile installed in different directions; toilet installed five inches from the wall; and general poor workmanship. We realize any new home will have some issues and/or imperfections and this builder has attempted to rectify some of the issues, but almost always only to the extent they can hold a sub-contractor accountable. To be specific, if an issue involves bringing a sub-contractor back to correct poor workmanship, then the builder will have the issue corrected ( often creating a whole new problem during the fix). However, if the fix involves the builder spending any dollars of their own they will fight tooth and nail to avoid their own responsibility to fix the issue. Currently we are fighting over correction of our hardwood floors that are both damaged and warped, uneven, and sloping. The builder is unwilling to pull the flooring up to correct the underlying problem because that would involve spending money to replace the hardwoods ( that are clearly damaged anyway). Instead, the builders solution is to insert numerous wood shims between the floor joists and underlayment. So far they have installed countless shims on two different occasions making the problem worst than original. Now the hardwoods are buckling in other areas, squeaking and crackling, and separating from the underlayment. The builders solution to the creaking and squeaking is to screw the hardwoods from underneath with hundreds of screws!! In addition, the builder insists that installing even more shims is the only solution to correct the floors. They continually avoid their responsibility to provide a quality product to the customer; Something we paid a great deal of money for. I would NOT recommend this builder to anyone. Once they have your deposit you're stuck. This experience has left my wife in tears and continues to caused heartache 19 months later. What more can I say... Hopefully my photos will demonstrate the magnitude of this nightmare.

They started it a year ago and we moved in last October. They lied to us and the delivery date of the home was pushed back a couple of months. It is very hard to get them to resolve any issues with the home. Their price was fair like any other builder. I wouldn't recommend them to anybody and I would never use them again. I filled out their survey and gave them a bunch of F's. They never had the decency to call me back to see why I was an unhappy customer.