Caution against buying from this builder

[Christopher Davis]

I would like to provide a friendly warning for all realtors and investors in Nashville reading these forums. This is a red alert against buying any new construction homes by builder Jay Ellis of Airtight Resources. I would hesitate with extreme caution from steering your buyers to his homes.

This builder sells unfinished homes, neglects completion, loses interest and disappears onto the next project. He does not respect contractually signed deadlines. He can’t finish major components or finishing details, he makes all kinds of verbal assurances, then disappears. He has lied to my face repeatedly. He hires inferior workers and does not check their work for quality control. Then he pats himself on the back. There have been inexplicably long delays, and often he just ignores repairs.

I closed on my home early last summer. I won’t go into much detail about my experience, other than summarize key points. This is a development of four homes together in Bordeaux, all built by him. I was buyer #1. Buyer #2 closed several months after me in August. He has had the exact same experience I have had. His home was unfinished as well, all while #3 and #4 are now under construction. They are beautiful homes, and structurally they are sound. But everything else has been just awful.

Overall, he exhibits poor performance, lack of credibility and lack of integrity. This has been my experience. Lessons learned on my part!

I will say to his credit that a few delays were due to supplier backlog and the pandemic. I don’t have a problem with that. And some repairs were quickly addressed when they were priorities (heating, leaks, etc.) But this represents only a tiny fraction of dozens of problems. This does not excuse the overwhelmingly frustrating experience on every other point.

Most of the issues in my home have been addressed by now. Most. But to this day, six months later, there are still a few finishes and repairs that he has known about for months (in once case, since the day we closed) that have never been addressed. When I finally snapped a few months ago and confronted him about the endless nonsense and confusion in accomplishing simple things, he threatened to punch my teeth out for questioning his word. It’s been surreal to say the least. Total frustration from top to bottom with this guy.

In this development of four homes, there are two unhappy buyers. There will likely be two more. It’s a pattern. I’m trying to do my part to prevent any future buyers from experiencing the same disappointment and frustration as I have. I am also in the process of filing a complaint with the TN Department of Insurance and Commerce.

Stay away from builder Jay Ellis!!

[Luka Milicevic]

@Christopher Davis

Haha man it sounds like you just described every builder. 

I've had the same experience with 3 builders, 2 are now out of business and 1 sued into oblivion. 

I don't know what it is about the industry, but finding good contractors, builders and subs is SO SO SO hard. The ones that start out good, quickly fade. I haven't quite figured it out. 

I'm actually getting my contractors license right now. Half way there. I'm getting it due to my experiences that I've had repeatedly similar to what you mentioned in your post. 

As my own contractor I'm still going to be behind schedule, over budget and out of money.....but I at least I won't be paying anyone!

[Christopher Davis]

@Luka Milicevic

Thanks for your comments Luka. I am interested in hearing feedback, as I've only had this one experience locally. If this is a widespread problem, I had no idea. I welcome the feedback.

Even if you are backed up and behind schedule, that doesn't mean you have to blow off and lie to your buyers indefinitely, then completely ignore finishing their house while you build two more homes right next door. There have been painters and workers next door every day, twenty feet away. Yet he completely ignored finishing my house for which I have already paid and am now living in. I mean, beyond obnoxious. 

I spoke to someone from the Home Builder's Association about the situation, and he made this comment that stuck out to me. "Every builder makes the decision (every day) if they are going to be a good builder or a bad builder. It's a choice you make." 

Buyers have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a new construction home. They expect it to get done. It's not rocket science. When you buy a car at the dealership, do they sell it with no rear view mirrors? "Oh yeah, we'll get to that." No they don't.

There is always the "right thing to do." Which means mostly, communicating. If you are delayed you tell your buyer, you tell them the plan, when things are expected, where it is on the list, and you assure them you'll get to it. It's a priority. Then you follow up. You stick to your word. It's about credibility and integrity. I had no idea contracting was such a shady biz. Granted, I made a mistake in trusting the guy at all. I fell for the big southern smile. Claims to be a "Christian" too. I had no idea he would be such a scumbag. The early delays did trigger my instincts, but it wasn't enough to change the closing. My lesson.

This guy has obviously made the decision to be a bad builder.

Good luck with your contractor license, taking the situation upon yourself to manage.

[Russell Brazil]

Why would you close if the house wasnt finished?

[Christopher Davis]

We are way past that point. But I will say that although there was cause for concern with delays in the days and weeks before closing, it wasn't enough to tip the scales and cause me to back out. My personal situation at the time was totally up in the air and everything came to timing and I was motivated to close and move in. I took a chance and got burned.

Overall I must take responsibility for the situation. That's fine. But I also blame my realtor because she did not advise me to hold money back. I didn't know you could do that. The options she presented were cancel altogether, or postpone the closing a couple of weeks. In hindsight, a "couple of weeks" would have meant nothing since these issues continue into December.
 

[Cullum Stirling]

Sorry to hear @Christopher Davis.

I am still fairly new to the Realtor career and just put a New Build under contract a month ago. Since the builders all pretty much make you use their contracts, it's pretty shameful as they are geared 100% towards protecting the builder and no one else. I actually warned my buyer that due to the builders contract, if things go south, theirs pretty much zero leverage we have on our side to legally stand ground.

On the other hand, if you guys (@Luka Milicevic) do have any great contractors to refer, I would 100% appreciate it and will do the same as I come across great contractors!

I'm finding that it's hard to find any honest and hardworking people these days, no matter the industry.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Russell Brazil:

Why would you close if the house wasnt finished?

Russ,,  just playing devils advocate here.. I suspect the only way he could close is the builder had a C O from the city so he could legally close.  I dont know about this situation.. but in all my new builds every buyer ( even if my wife is dual agent and we are the seller) we get a third party home inspection that the buyer chooses.. and this generates a punch list.. even in new construction there is always going to be punch list items.. Its why the bigger builders have their own punch list crew.. trying to get subs to come back is very hard.. especially in todays sub trade shortage and if you dont have much leverage as the GC IE only building a few homes a year.. its even tougher.

In our state and I suspect it could be the same in other states.. there is a 1 year state mandated warranty..  So what normally happens is we will wait till month 10 or so have the owners make up their punch list and go knock it out all at once..  you dont do punch list one item at a time over a protracted amount of months you gather all the little items and knock it out..  You also will ALWAYS have discrepancies in what the buyer thinks and what is industry standard.. these homes are not built in a clean room.. And as an owner builder developer you cant be on site observing every single subs working day.  

Of course there is no detail on the OP issues so we dont know if its mainly just paint cosmetics or if there are any real issues.  

So for us..  home inspection about 1 week before close.. Buyer produces punch list.. the stuff we can get to before close is done.. Other items we schedule out and try to knock them all out at once.. And certain items are to industry standard and we push back on those. 

And since my wife are the owners and realtors /  Not the GC we hire one..  But we are there dealing with the buyers and we tell them day one there are going to be little things that either will be addressed during the warranty period or will be to industry standard.. we tell them up front.. WE also have the Cortney clause.. this allows us to refund all their non refundable deposit and upgrades they paid for Plus 500.o0 if we feel as the seller we just cannot please these folks and its going to be an ongoing battle ( not worth it for us)  so out of the first 20 homes we sold of the first 30 lots we built this year.. sold 20 in 4 months and we are in the process of building them now with 3 done and closed in December.. We have given one client their money back so far.. had come to Jesus with two others that are now calm.. Its one thing for buyers to put up their own money for the lot ( which i have done) get their own construction loan  ( these are my loans I am getting and on the hook for) and then they can hire their own GC and micro manage them..  But until we close its MY HOUSE Not theirs.. so its a balancing act of keeping every one happy building a nice product and keeping a good reputation. I will say though we are right across the street from one national builder and they build at a pace we cant match at all. but our price point is 100k per house higher for the same sq ft.. but the product is no comparison given our attention to detail and quality. 

[Russell Brazil]

Originally posted by @Christopher Davis:

We are way past that point. But I will say that although there was cause for concern with delays in the days and weeks before closing, it wasn't enough to tip the scales and cause me to back out. My personal situation at the time was totally up in the air and everything came to timing and I was motivated to close and move in. I took a chance and got burned.

Overall I must take responsibility for the situation. That's fine. But I also blame my realtor because she did not advise me to hold money back. I didn't know you could do that. The options she presented were cancel altogether, or postpone the closing a couple of weeks. In hindsight, a "couple of weeks" would have meant nothing since these issues continue into December.
 

 If you were using a Fannie/Freddie loan, holding money back would not be an option. Ive done it, but only with the help of a title company willing to work around those regulations. 99% of the time, thats not a realistic legal possibility.  So closing, delaying or cancelling were the real options. 

[Luka Milicevic]

@Cullum Stirling

True on the whole contract thing, mostly with custom builders before construction begins or is done. 

My wife had that with one of her clients this year during a custom build. Builder was adamant about using their contract. 

Very good insight too from @Jay Hinrichs. 

I do the blue tape walkthroughs myself and mark everything I see and then get a specific punch list crew to fix them. Getting a contractor back to touch up paint on a cabinet (a 2 minute job) is not feasible for you or for them. 

In terms of home inspections, when I originally started building homes I thought they were a waste of time to do on a new home. Over time, I've seem home inspectors point out mostly workmanship issues during their inspections of new homes and so I do feel it's worth the time and money for buyers to get one on new construction. 

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Luka Milicevic:

@Cullum Stirling

True on the whole contract thing, mostly with custom builders before construction begins or is done. 

My wife had that with one of her clients this year during a custom build. Builder was adamant about using their contract. 

Very good insight too from @Jay Hinrichs. 

I do the blue tape walkthroughs myself and mark everything I see and then get a specific punch list crew to fix them. Getting a contractor back to touch up paint on a cabinet (a 2 minute job) is not feasible for you or for them. 

In terms of home inspections, when I originally started building homes I thought they were a waste of time to do on a new home. Over time, I've seem home inspectors point out mostly workmanship issues during their inspections of new homes and so I do feel it's worth the time and money for buyers to get one on new construction. 

our buyers will do the following.

1. radon test   even though every new home needs a radon system to get CO

2. they will run sewer scope.. I did have one sewer line that had a belly and that sub came back and fixed.

common things found.

1. paint of course..  

2. we are all crawl space  so debri in crawl and sometimes the HVAC gets loose and is laying on the ground

3. some minor issue with the roofing.

4. rare but happens something with electrical or plumbing. 

5. scratchs in the floor

6. Grout touch ups but we all know houses settle so at 1 year there is usually further grout touch ups.

[Cullum Stirling]

Thanks for all the helpful info!


Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

Originally posted by @Luka Milicevic:

@Cullum Stirling

True on the whole contract thing, mostly with custom builders before construction begins or is done. 

My wife had that with one of her clients this year during a custom build. Builder was adamant about using their contract. 

Very good insight too from @Jay Hinrichs. 

I do the blue tape walkthroughs myself and mark everything I see and then get a specific punch list crew to fix them. Getting a contractor back to touch up paint on a cabinet (a 2 minute job) is not feasible for you or for them. 

In terms of home inspections, when I originally started building homes I thought they were a waste of time to do on a new home. Over time, I've seem home inspectors point out mostly workmanship issues during their inspections of new homes and so I do feel it's worth the time and money for buyers to get one on new construction. 

our buyers will do the following.

1. radon test   even though every new home needs a radon system to get CO

2. they will run sewer scope.. I did have one sewer line that had a belly and that sub came back and fixed.

common things found.

1. paint of course..  

2. we are all crawl space  so debri in crawl and sometimes the HVAC gets loose and is laying on the ground

3. some minor issue with the roofing.

4. rare but happens something with electrical or plumbing. 

5. scratchs in the floor

6. Grout touch ups but we all know houses settle so at 1 year there is usually further grout touch ups.

[Christopher Davis]

@Jay Hinrichs
Yes there was a CO in order to close. It was not just paint however. I wouldn't be so aggravated and distraught over paint. The biggest items were an entire screened porch undone, then done poorly, then done again. Counters not installed, hanging kitchen island light not installed, floors unfinished, gas fireplace totally inoperable and had to be redone. Not to mention countless other lesser items, but way more than paint. Total neglect of a signed addendum contract for additional work and finish the house. Total lack of quality control. At the very least this guy was just the mostly disorganized, poorest project manager ever. And he didn't have any "crew," it was him and any subs he could find. He needs someone in the middle to organize the punch list and get things done, which he did not have.

As of now - six months later - I have a dead porch ceiling fan and incomprehensible electric for between three porch fans, an unpainted porch section, and jammed kitchen drawers that never opened that he has known about since day one. I mean, all these things we have stood there together and looked at and he says "We'll take care of that." Then he walks away and nothing happens. That was the scenario with everything for five months. He lied to me about sending an electrician over a couple weeks ago for the fans, and when no one showed up (as always) I politely questioned him, he stopped returning my messages. Just a total deadbeat.

I am new to working with contractors, is this normal? I'm not asking for anything special. Just a finished house since this is what I paid for.

I am happy to post images of the lists I had to babysit and manage for five months. It was like pulling teeth to get anything done.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Originally posted by @Christopher Davis:

@Jay Hinrichs
Yes there was a CO in order to close. It was not just paint however. I wouldn't be so aggravated and distraught over paint. The biggest items were an entire screened porch undone, then done poorly, then done again. Counters not installed, hanging kitchen island light not installed, floors unfinished, gas fireplace totally inoperable and had to be redone. Not to mention countless other lesser items, but way more than paint. Total neglect of a signed addendum contract for additional work and finish the house. Total lack of quality control. At the very least this guy was just the mostly disorganized, poorest project manager ever. And he didn't have any "crew," it was him and any subs he could find. He needs someone in the middle to organize the punch list and get things done, which he did not have.

As of now - six months later - I have a dead porch ceiling fan and incomprehensible electric for between three porch fans, an unpainted porch section, and jammed kitchen drawers that never opened that he has known about since day one. I mean, all these things we have stood there together and looked at and he says "We'll take care of that." Then he walks away and nothing happens. That was the scenario with everything for five months. He lied to me about sending an electrician over a couple weeks ago for the fans, and when no one showed up (as always) I politely questioned him, he stopped returning my messages. Just a total deadbeat.

I am new to working with contractors, is this normal? I'm not asking for anything special. Just a finished house since this is what I paid for.

I am happy to post images of the lists I had to babysit and manage for five months. It was like pulling teeth to get anything done.

I am probably showing my age:  but  As PAUL HARVEY would say now for the rest of the Story.. :)

we would not have gotten a final with some of those things you mentioned not working.. 

I understand being stuck between a rock and a hard spot on close dates moving etc.. 

reminds me of a time i had deposits down on 3 new builds in Jackson MS.. ( for Go Zone Tax Bene's at the time)

My wife and I fly out there do a walk through by the time we were done with the first house we had to go get more blue tape.

Then i went to turn on the water etc.. and the house was not even connected to water or power .. I had signed all the closing docs at a wet closing but once i figured out this was going to be a nightmare I had my attorney call their closer and unwind it.. the deeds were not recorded yet .. so technically its not closed.. everyone had to come back with their checks.. the builder swore at me on the phone. I told him Dude you should be flat embarrassed just because we are from CA OR and you think we are made of money and Stupid to boot.. your putting out pee poor product and no way going to buy something from you.. I proceeded to buy 12 houses from a different builder and had good experiences with them what i would expect.