We have been in our New Home in Hanover PA for 2 Months, now.
We created a Punch List before move-in. There was never a walk-thru inspection performed at move-in and it took several weeks before anyone began to work on the issues we reported.
Several issues have been resolved since by the Install crew, with many days in between visits. The crews are still spread over several of the 11 new homes here and multiple other job sites as well.
Several of the issues must be handled by what they call “Factory” of which none have yet been observed by Champion Home Builders to date, nor is there any estimate of when they will be here to look at our home.
This has been reported to the Sales/Property manager time and again and she has responded saying she has reported it, several times as well.
A PUNCH LIST detailing the items of concern was provided to Sales/Management several times. We have been requesting a walk-thru inspection to go over these issues since July 25!
SIX WEEKS AGO, On Sept 1, Site Manager (and sales rep) said she sent the list to the project manager. Project manager sent the list to the Site Supv. They will be involving Skyline (Home Builder) on it as well because there are things on the list that both of the companies will have to go over.
We have been beyond patient!
No one has gone over any of the documentation about Warrantee or processes for reporting issues. From reading the documentation I have derived that the process should be first to Sales (DONE). Any attempt to escalate to Sales Management above the on-site rep receives the response, “Talk to OnSite Manager”. They refuse to correspond at all! Next, to Retailer/Installer (DONE).
I was assured that the Retailer/Installer notified the Manufacturer, on multiple occasions.
HVAC was installed and the Top Soil arrived for final grading and seeding 17 weeks after house delivery and 8 weeks living in a Hotel.
Summer vacation was practically over.
July 12, Home inspection PASSED
July 13, township discovers the house is one foot too close to road and will not issue Occupancy Certificate! Hearing was scheduled for Aug 18 for variance. Another month to wait in hotel!
Aug 18 Variance granted for front setback but not for the left side of the house, which was less than 10 feet from setback. The Township required the 6x8 step porch on the left side of the house, so they had to tear down the steps and porch and rebuild a 4x4. This was done within 24 hours so the township issued the CO on 8/18/22, after 90 days living in a hotel.
With all that behind us, we then move in only to find out a week later that the plumbing was not checked, and the main drain into the sewer system had been separated. A week of running water caused a collapse which backed up sewage into our home.
This was corrected the next day in a coordinated effort between Champion installation crews and the property’s plumbers.
We then discovered that the HVAC duct work was leaking in many places under the home. It was determined that 2 Gaskets were missing and every crossover had significant gaps which the install crew worked for 2 days to repair.
With all that done and for no known reasons there was still barely any air flow to the registers.
Upon further investigation by the Install crew, it was discovered that there was significant debris below the vents, chunks of wood, bags of Screws and other objects were apparently swept into the holes in the floors at the Factory, since the install crew doesn’t not even open those vents.
There were also large amounts of shredded insulation found throughout the duct system during the repairs of the gaps.
Nothing has been done to remove these obstructions.
Just before preparing this report, I contacted the on-site Manager since we are due some very COLD weather this week, the response was to provide Space Heaters in the interim, while we await a Factory response. This is not only and expensive (our electric bill) and unsafe in a Manufactured home, but is against the rules here and likely illegal in the state of Pennsylvania!
I am confident that anyone would agree that although the onsite supervisor did everything he could and worked very, very hard to avoid and then alleviate issues which were not able to be avoided, (he and his crews are constantly being pulled from this job to do several on other sites) In my opinion, there has been an inordinate amount of incompetence and a complete lack of attention to details and quality of initial construction, installation and an almost complete lack of inspection of the work being done both at the Factory and on site.
Skyline and Champion both have a superior reputation, but this home (and several others in this particular project) was extremely sub-par and beneath the normal quality expected from such reputable companies.
Being the first house to completion on this project, many problems were discovered along the way which provided an opportunity for Champion to avoid repeating them on other homes here and possibly on other jobs in the future and those in progress, today.
And our troubles are not over, yet!
There were several older homes in this community which became available during this long Summer. Many were bigger with more amenities and at a more affordable price.
But did not want an older home.
We wanted a NEW Home!
And we were sold a Brand-New Home,
NOT a fixer-upper!
We suffered loss of an entire summer, which my wife working for the school system had off and we had allocated that time to move in and prepare our new home and the property around it.
We moved out of our Condo before the last school year ended and weren’t in our new home until after this school year started. the entire summer was wasted!
Money can be compensated, but time, especially at our age, is lost forever.
We are therefore requesting immediate attention to rectifying the remaining issues!
We are not only due a rapid and complete resolution to the remaining issues, but we believe we are also inarguably due considerable compensation for the these problems and the extremely long and difficult time we had to endure due to the delays and complications of this construction and installation.
Desired outcome: Immediate response to the reparations that need to be done, both on the home, and to us personally.
I have many more pictures, but unfortunately, I am limited to the size of the files which can be sent.
I have many more pictures and videos, but we are limited to the size of the files we can send.
A paper version of this report, 58 pages long with many pics, was received by Champion at 10AM yesterday. By NOON the local install crew here on site had already been sent a copy and read it!
I did not get a call, email, nothing from Champion!
Been waiting over 3 weeks for a response to my escalation of the heat issue, but within 2 hours they were able to notify the local crew here that I complained!
Amazing how quickly they can react ... when they want to!
48 hours after the written complaint was received by Champion, I have received nothing from them. No confirmation, no apology, no plan to respond. Nothing!
75 days without a response!
The local management recommendation is for us to use space heaters in the meantime!
Space heaters in a mobile home!
It’s against the rules and probably against state law as well!
What does someone have to do to get a response from a builder who puts a house together so incompetently and then cannot even respond when requests are made to make things right?
This is insane!
