RLS BUILDERS

Initially, we liked Rich Sapio with RLS Builds. Unfortunately, he pulled out of our project after charging us $6,000 for a design and spending 6 months finalizing it. We liked him because he seemed to be a good guy, had good references, and quoted us a price in our budget. He completed a design that was reflective of what we wanted in a remodel and new home, but it took a lot longer than expected. After completing our design and about four months, we were told that he would submit permits to begin construction before leaving for vacation, but he did not. After a lot of our time was wasted in the process (including time for him to go on vacation), Rich told us that he could not do the construction because one of his contractors had pulled out (or retired) unexpectedly. That was after two weeks of not returning our emails or phone-calls when he got back from vacation. A lot of time had been wasted, as well as money on the design contract. We had a strong gut feeling that he never intended to do the project at all -- or that he realized it wouldn't come in on budget, or if he did, he was not going to be on time, on schedule, or capable of managing the magnitude of the project at that cost. Or he wasn't prepared to work with us on a construction loan, which would require him to comply with a schedule to get the payments. He did give us half of the design cost back (the total was originally $12,000) and the rights to his designs and files, but the designs were ultimately useless. I believe that he should give us the full amount of our money back, because he wasted a lot of our time and wasn't going to do the project. I think that would be fair business practice. We are now with another company that is going well so far - but we had to pay for new designs, because it's a new project with them, and they needed to do a different design to keep us on our budget. We're very happy with them - but we definitely lost about 6 months by going with RLS. I believe Rich Sapio wanted to help us and do a good job, but when he decided to pull out for whatever reason, I think he should have refunded the full amount of money. I still believe that is the right thing to do, but I did not demand that or decide to sue his company. A lawsuit would cause a lot of emotional strain and additional time and money for both parties. It is not a good thing for karma, and I wouldn't want to do it. But it would be nice if he had come to that conclusion on his own and refunded the full amount of money to us for good business practice. Who knows, maybe we can pray for Rich so that he has a good year of construction, and then he can decide to send us the $6,000 for a Christmas present. He seems like the kind of person whose conscience might inspire him to do something like that. Who knows.

I AM HAPPY WITH ALL THAT HOME BUILDER DID ON BUILDING MY HOME. I HAVE A THREE BEDROOM HOME WITH POSSIBLE A POOL BEING ADDED. I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS BUILDER TO OTHERS.