Sean Brumley
1/5
RLP Investments LLC, under the direction of Russel Lee Plumley and Danielle Richardson-Elam are now working under the name S&R Construction LLC. Here are the details of our encounter with them and why we STRONGLY recommend avoiding them for your next home purchase or home improvement projects.
Here is our story:
We fell in love with the home they were building in Bella Vista. We made an offer and after a little negotiation we reached a fair deal and felt we could move forward with the purchase. The contracts were sent, initially, under the RLP name then later updated to the current S&R Construction LLC name. This was the first mistake but not the last...
Per the contract, the seller was required to provide full details and renderings of what our new home would look like. We asked for these items on multiple occasions but we're not provided the real details of the property. We were provided a set of prints for the property but all dimensions had been covered up. We asked for the dimensions of certain rooms, to order furniture since there is a back log in the supply chain, and were told "if they want dimensions they can bring up a tape measure and measure them". We were also told that, "we pay for the plans and if we provide the dimensions, someone can steal them".
Next issue was on deposits and upgrades:
In our contract we agreed to a non-refundable deposit plus, we didn't want to finance upgrades to the house so, we had those items on a separate addendum. We mailed checks to the builder, with tracking numbers from the post office within our agreed upon time frame. The post office showed the checks had been picked up by someone who wasn't from their office. We agreed to stop payment on that set. We mailed another set of checks to them, certified mail with a single recipient and confirmation receipt. During this time, the initial checks showed up so the negligently cashed them and stated they shredded the replacement set, so we put a stop payment on those checks as well. They stated, to their attorney and ours, that we were negligent and in breech of contract because we failed to provide them funding. We have written proof of the funding being sent and the conversation from their realtor to ours and our realtor to us. We successfully proved our point when our realtor asked us about the payments.
The primary issue of the property, and what drove us to cancel the contract, was related to builder negligence. The home was a two story home built on the side of a mountain. To build the home, the builder built a retaining wall and back filled it with ABC. Then the lower level concrete was poured and the house was built. We live about 5 hours south of the property and had taken a trip up to inspect the property. Upon arrival, we found that the whole lower level had pulled away from the exterior walls of the home (horizontal separation). We also found multiple one and two foot plus cracks up the exterior retaining walls (vertical structural damage). We sent the photos to our home inspector who immediately responded to call out a structural engineer. We asked the builder about this and were told that if WE wanted it inspected then WE would have to pay for the structural engineer. We did! His findings proved the concrete slab shrunk on the lower level, most likely from not post tensioning the slab. He also concluded that the structure did have bond beams and rebar but the cinder block retaining walls were damaged during the back fill and compacting process. We asked the builder for multiple pieces of information for our structural engineer and the only thing they provided was the previous engineering certification letter that was created before the first winter when the ground would freeze and thaw.
Throughout the whole process they were not forthcoming with any details. They were quick to agree until you were under contract and then very combative. They had offered to fix the cracks but the most recent reviews prove they were more concerned with building the next property instead of taking care of their current clients.
