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February 1, 2010
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our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh home. Please click the image above. It is our entire Heartland Homes review timeline.
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review our Heartland Homes home - Pittsburgh on YouTube.
This is our first video outlining our 2004 Heartland Homes details.
Stay tuned for more videos and more details. We
plan on creating a specific area on our website
so we can post the image stills from each of our
Heartland Homes - Pittsburgh videos we post.
Overall it makes more sense to put together our
entire history showing our water problems via
videos.
There is
certainly a lot to cover and we've had a lot of
inquires from folks not being able to fully read
the text on all of the screens. We are sorry
about that and are working to correct the text
in upcoming videos. We also plan on posting
every still for every video we post, here
shortly. Please stay tuned for more of our
Heartland Homes custom built home details.
The biggest investment OF YOUR LIFE. To
us, as the home owners, we still find it
difficult to wrap our minds around our entire
experience. We have pictures, emails, complete
documentation to valid everything we have
posted.
We even went as far as
chiseling brick out from the front of our home
after our trial and almost 5 years after our
water issues started, just to verify if our home
was at least up to a building code regarding
flashing and weepholes (weep holes). Our
home was constructed in 2003, we also have the
building permit and occupancy permit to validate
that. As a reminder, we do not work in
construction, however in our opinion we have
water issues with our custom built home.
We didn't start documenting
anything until we noticed our water issues were
getting worse, not better. See emails a little
further below, from our custom home builder,
stating Heartland Homes was working on our "Wet
Basement remedy" and "We will continue to work
towards a solution, etc."
See section further below
titled Emails From Our Custom Home Builder
Heartland Homes.
Our brand new Heartland Homes at 3 months, 4 months, 5
months old.
We DID know that
Heartland Homes warranty does not cover "damp
spots on the foundation walls". Look at our
photos, even close up you can see water, not
damp spots. We followed every guide line
Heartland Homes had in our warranty.
Heartland Homes even told us they
wereworkingonourWetBasementissues. See emails directly below or
select link above called "contact
Heartland Homes emails".
Review our Pittsburgh custom home builder
contact.
Click image directly above to review emails from Heartland Homes stating they were working on our Wet Basement issues. Including the signed document from our
custom home builder Heartland Homes to the Better Business Bureau back in 2004 - 2005.
The current President of Heartland Homes Marty Gillespie has even been to our home shortly
after we filed our complaint with the
Better Business Bureau in June 2005. At that time Marty Gillespie was the VP of Heartland Homes if I recall correctly. You can read the
emails along with digital photos I sent to Marty Gillespie shortly after his visit to our home.
See section further below titled Emails to
Marty Gillespie of Heartland Homes.
... please read this
IMPORTANT NOTE...
Instead of starting into
our entire history chronologically, we would
like to work a little backwards from 2009.
Then kick off into 2004 when we first
started with our water problems. The reason
for this is there is so much history our
water issues have spanned over 5 years.
In 2009 we chiseled away bricks
from the front of our home to see what was
behind the brick veneer front of our home.
In our opinion we potentially uncovered WHY
we have water issues with our custom built
home. So basically we are working
backwards with what we feel is the end
reason why we have water issues since 3
months after closing on our custom built
home.
We had our court
trial
December 2008.
We received the court verdict in January 2009 in our
favor. We won our lawsuit against our custom home builder Heartland Homes Pittsburgh. Within the 10 days of the verdict Heartland Homes appealed
the monies portions of our verdict, not the actual verdict only the monies portion.
Our
verdict was only for
$11,700.00. We
already spent over
4+ years pursuing our builder
(Heartland Homes did state our Wet Basement Remedy was to begin, Heartland
Homes will continue to work towards A
Solution, We met with Mr. Romesburg and
discussed solutions for his door and wet
basement problems, etc),
thousands of our hours, over 1,000+ digital
photos, over
$19,416.38
just in legal fees alone, our home still
leaks and the
$11,700.00
monies portion of our verdict was appealed.
If we had it to do
it over again, we would have made 100%
certain our Structural Inspection report
submitted as evidence was
a lot more granular in details. Since we've
never been to court we had no idea
of the details required or details that
should have been in our Structural
Inspection report. So I told our Structural
inspector his report simply needed to be
high level, period.
What we did NOT know is every thing HINGES
on every detail in that report. IF it is NOT
in the inspection report, then it was thrown
out of the proposal to repair our home. We
had no idea this is how it worked until our
trial started and over 1/2 of the items in
our proposal were thrown out because it
wasn't in the Engineers report. We
learned some very valuable lessons during
this entire custom home builder experience.
We do not blame our Structural Inspector,
we told him what we needed based on
what we understood.
With that in mind,
that is the reason why I would like to start
with 2009 and sort of work backwards.
After everything we've already been through,
I was determined to find out what was behind
our brick veneer and behind our vinyl
siding. Our course when you are in court and
you hear very clearly "You have no idea
what is behind your brick do you,"
I am paraphrasing that quote, but it was
very similar, that sort of makes you think.
Also in our opinion and because Building
Codes were referenced many times at
our court trial; when you start doing
research YOU can uncover a lot.
February/March 2009 we manually
chiseled brick from the front of our home.
See current photo below from January 2010.
Our home was built in 2003 - 2004. Almost 6 years after closing
on our brand new first owner custom built
Heartland Homes home.
Please NOTE: in the photo below, the
taped areas are where we chiseled brick from
the front of our home.
Welcome to
our Heartland Home.
January 2010 photo 5 years of water infiltrating our brand new
home, what does it matter if we chisel
bricks out of the front of our own home? We
have to fix our water problems sooner or
later, right? So what does it really matter
at this point? Our court trial is over.
We've endured not being able to finish our
basement, trenching, water in our electrical
panel, depositions and thousands of hours we
can never get back nor get paid for. Please
know as home owners we never altered the
front of our home until AFTER our 5+ year
history and most importantly AFTER our court trial.
The photos you
see below show what our home looked like in
February/March 2009 (photos directly
below) and the same today January
2010 (photo directly above).
Please remember we do not work in construction.
We are simply presenting the facts we have,
along with our photos. How can a brand new home
literally leak water all this time? In our
opinion we have WET areas on our basement walls,
not simple little damp spots. Look at our photos
and judge for yourself. Please also keep in mind
the emails from our custom home builder;
Heartland Homes would Continue To Work Towards A
Solution, among other emails and letter we have
posted.
I do realize this seems extreme and it sort
of is; however after 5 years of water coming into our custom built home almost every time it rains, there had to be a
reason. After the brick was removed, I had our
Structural Engineer come back out to provide us
with a more detailed inspection report. Brand
new home, water issues this long. Why would
anyone chisel brick from the front of their
custom built home that was built brand new in
2004? Sort of crazy to do, however we have to
repair our custom built home one way or another.
Because we have had waterinfiltration
issues
since THREE months after closing on
our first owner brand new custom home. Some
times you have to think outside-of-the-box! Our Pittsburgh custom home builder was notified every time we had water issues as I've mentioned
quite a few times. Please review emails to
Heartland Homes, including emails to Marty
Gillespie of Heartland Homes after his visit to
our home.
Please remember to click each image to view larger picture.
We wanted to validate and prove we never altered the front of our Pittsburgh custom built home until after our court
trial in December 2008 and also after reporting water issues since May 2004.
See the photo on the right.
Click to view this photo that will
validate what our home looked like in
December 2008 then in February 2009.
Pittsburgh custom home builder our first owner home.
our Custom home builder of our home Heartland Homes.
Click to view
photo so you can see where we removed
brick from our home. Review the notes
about flashing below as well.
our Castleview Estates Heartland Homes review photo of
our custom home.
Review image showing brick removed from our custom built home. Custom home builder.
According to
building codes, according to the Structural Engineer we hired and according to the
window manufacturer of our windows Andersen Windows read the following about flashing specifically.
I will get into weep holes later, however we
have no weep holes installed either. Another set
of homes built in Castleview Estates does have
weepholes (weep holes) installed in their home,
we have photos of their weepholes (weep holes)
as well.
our Custom built dream home.
2000 and 2003 Building codes
Picture our custom built home inspection. our custom home Structural inspection report.
Custom Home building details we have documents that validate and verify.
our home was built in 2003, we closed on our home February
2004.
We do have the
building permits
as well, just
ask we can post
them as well.
2000 / 2003
Building code
section 1405.3
Flashing
Flashing shall
be installed at
the perimeters
of exterior door
and window
assemblies...
etc. NOTE:
our flashing is
missing behind
our brick veneer
& around our
dining room
window behind
our siding.
SEE our
custom home
photos below. section
1405.3.2 Masonry
Flashing and weepholes shall
be located in
the first course
of masonry
above finished
ground level...
etc. PER the 2002 Andersen Windows document posted
below: flashing and
installation
flanges DO
NOT take the
place of
standard window
and door
flashing...
Unit must be
properly
flashed... This Andersen Window document is what we received from our custom home builder Heartland Homes during our
pre-closing walk through. Please
note the date
and details
about window
flashing.
Review Heartland Homes documentation we received regarding our installed Andersen
Windows.
Click on the
picture above to
enlarge the
photo and see
the details for
yourself.
To see more photos of our home where the bricks are removed,
please go to the link below;
Click to view
photo so you can see where we removed
brick from our home. This photo shows
brick removed from around our front
window.
Again verifying what is behind our
brick. See Andersen Windows note above -
installation flanges DO NOT take the
place of standard window flashing. The
grey you see IS the installation flange.
Our front
door showing where we removed brick.
Review our custom home builder Heartland Homes Castleview home in Kennedy Township.
Bottom part of our front door, again showing no flashing installed, period. Custom built home in Pittsburgh with water problems.
Review our new custom home with water issue.
Water infiltration issues start 3 months after closing on our brand new FIRST owner Heartland Homes home.
Our Pittsburgh custom home. Click photo to see the start of us chiseling brick from the front of our custom built home.
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh-our custom home builder.
Welcome to our home.
Photo shows where we removed brick to see how our Andersen Windows were
flashed.
Heartland Homes - our custom built Home.
After 5 years of water infiltration we decided to remove brick from the front of our home. Per Andersen Windows documentation we received with our home "... unit must be properly flashed.."
Pulled back vinyl siding to see if flashing was installed around our Andersen Windows. Note the grey is the installation flanges. This
window is the double window on the side of our custom built Heartland Homes home.
Review the side view of our custom built home Pittsburgh, PA. Note we removed some
slats of vinyl siding. Again we were interested in seeing if "standard
window flashing" was installed, per the windows manufacturer, Andersen Windows.
We've had major water issues since 3 months after closing on our Heartland Homes built home. Heartland Homes told us they were working on our water problems from 2004 through 2006, 2007. The
current President of Heartland Homes Marty Gillespie even visits our home. Heartland Homes attempts to finally correct our water issues during our Heartland Homes complaint to the Better Business Bureau. Instead our
water issues were not resolved, then we find water in our electrical panel. Heartland Homes does respond that the electrician found a compromised conduit.
r />
Review our complaint Heartland Homes response, that the production manager, who has been to Mr. Romesburg's house previously concerning issues... The Electrician found a compromised conduit which housed wiring for
the breaker box was allowing water in.. etc
In our opinion, the MOST significant components would be to show every thing we had to go We did close on our custom built Heartland Homes home in 2004. Our water problems started in May 2004 and as you can and will see we contacted Heartland Homes and as should clearly be able to see. into
our basement, that was in
May 2004. We notified our custom home builder immediately the first time and every time thereafter.
Read every time we contacted our custom home builder Heartland Homes.
We were told by our custom home builder Heartland Homes; "Wet Basement remedy to
begin", "Due to the Extreme Amount of
Water", that Heartland Homes "Continue to
work towards a solution" in January 2005.
Even after Heartland Homes state in the 3 emails below they
were working on our water issues and would
"continue to work towards a solution", we continued to have water infiltration issues that were never resolved.
Emails From Our Custom Home Builder Heartland Homes
Review emails from Heartland Homes our custom home builder.
(click image
above to read
all three
emails)
July 22 20042 months after our water infiltration issues start:
our custom home builder Heartland Homes states -
"WETBASEMENT
remedy to begin in the
next few weeks. We are
working with
Supervisor."
September 21 20044 months after our water infiltration issues start;
Heartland Homes states -
"Due to the EXTREME
AMOUNT of WATER
Friday, etc."
January 21 20058 months after our
water infiltration
issues start. 11 months
after we closed on our
brand new Heartland
Homes home;
Heartland Homes states -
"...We will CONTINUE
to WORK
TOWARDS a
SOLUTION. The
weather is a factor now,
etc"
May 2005 we sent a certified letter to the owner/founder of Heartland Homes Pittsburgh.
We never received any response until we filed our Heartland Homes complaint with the BBB.
click to review our Heartland Homes timeline. June 2005 we filed complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
Around October 2006 we filed a complaint
with the State Attorney Generals Office. December 2007 we filed our Heartland
Homes lawsuit. December 2008 we had our non-jury court
trial. January 2009 we receive the verdict in
our favor from the Judge for $11,700.00.
January/February 2009 our custom home builder Heartland Homes filed an appeal for the monies
portion of our verdict. Please keep in mind
our water issues have been going on now since
May 2004, almost 5 years at this point.
Cost we spent to date (end 2009) in legal
fees, deposition fees, Structural Engineer
inspection(s) and expert witness testimony,
including replacing our electrical panel, cost
for materials for our BBB arbitration hearing =
over $24,000.00. No outside repairs as of
yet.
According to the bids we received for repairs to
correct our first owner, brand new home water
issues = over $22,000.00+. NOTE: none of these bids were before we removed the brick and pulled back siding from our home.
Our Total expenses will be roughly $46,000.00,
minimally. Regardless though; we've been working on our water issues since May 2004 (3 months after closing on our new home). We've already spent over $24,000 of our monies,
thousand+ hours of our time, our home still leaks water and we still haven't repaired anything on the outside of our home yet.
Our Heartland Homes review of our expenses, fees, etc. please note we are still waiting for the final bill from the detailed Structural Engineer report we received. We estimated that
cost in the details below. Please keep in mind, this is after we remove brick and pull back our siding.
We are awarded $11,700.00 by the Judge.
Heartland Homes appealed the monies portion of the verdict, we filed to discontinue our trial,
I think in April 2009 perhaps. We will already be upside down over $40,000 - $50,000 by the time we repair our home. We've already spent over $24,000.00 in monies and we haven't touched
one outside repair, why go any further?
Review the details of the verdict we won against Heartland Homes in our lawsuit.
Review appeal by our custom home builder.
our legal fees alone cost us $19,416.38, not including anything else!
our discontinuance we filed because of our 5 year history with our water issues in our Heartland Homes custom home builder of our home.
Since we discontinued our trial, we started posting our details,
photos, emails, history. So IF you are wondering why we bought our home all the way back in 2004 and you are just coming across our information
now? It is because this entire time we were
hoping our issues with water infiltration would
have been resolved by our custom home builder,
like they told us they would. See emails further
below... Never at any time did our custom home
builder send anyone structural engineer into our
home to investigate our water issues. We
have solid proof of water infiltrating our home
for at least 5 years our brand new custom built
home. We were told by our custom home builder
Heartland Homes, Heartland Homes was working on
our Wet Basement issues.
Never at any time did Heartland Homes make any
recommendations or "suggestions" to us as home
builders. We continued to have water issues.
We continued to have water issues that were
never resolved. Shortly after our court trial
we chiseled brick from the front of our home and
pulled our vinyl siding back. There has to
be a solid reason why we have water infiltrating
our home., right? Here are some of our
photos and more details will follow, I promise.
Please know as home owners we never altered the
front of our home until AFTER our 5+ year
history and AFTER our court trial. Had we known
we should have submitted more detailed evidence
at our trial, I would have removed brick sooner
and been more prepared with our evidence.
Please NOTE: in the photo below, the
taped areas are where we chiseled brick from the
front of our home. This is AFTER almost
5 years of water issues
and AFTER our
court trial in December 2008.
Welcome to our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
home.
January 2010 photo
Even after the Heartland Homes Pittsburgh complaint we filed with the Better Business Bureau and the Heartland Homes Pittsburgh complaint with the Pennsylvania State Attorney Generals office we continued to have water infiltration issues with our new home.
In our opinion the Heartland Homes emails
directly above & further below clearly state they will resolve our water
infiltration issues, without any doubt.
Heartland Homes new home warranty? Heartland Homes Pittsburgh Founder is Alan Gillespie.
Current Heartland Homes Pittsburgh President is Marty Gillespie.
In June 2005, shortly after we filed our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh complaint with the BBB, Marty Gillespie Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
called me to discuss the issues we were having with our home. Even thought we did send the certified letter prior to filing the BBB case, asking for a response within 3 weeks, we heard
nothing.
Marty Gillespie does come to our home June 2005, along with Craig from Heartland Homes. Marty points out various things in our home to Craig and I am told Craig is our
point person for our repairs, etc. July 2005,
August 2005, two different times in September
2005 are the emails below with digital photos, I
sent to Marty Gillespie to his Heartland Homes
email address he provided to me.
Click on each email below to review the larger
image with the details. I shortened some of the
emails and removed some photos just so the
images would be smaller. As always, every single
email is available at the top link
Contact Heartland Homes Emails
THANKS to everyone that visits our websites and
shows us support.
Some time on Sept. 14th or 15th we hit 3,000 visitors for
this SITE!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Its nice to know your
voice can still be heard and based on our number
of visits, folks are interested in our
experience.
Heartland Homes custom
home builder of our home.
Emails To Marty Gillespie of Heartland Homes
Review email to Marty Gillespie of Heartland Homes July
2005. Showing our water issues
with our Heartland Homes custom
home 17 months old. Click to
view larger photo.
Marty Gillespie Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh photos I sent to him
after his visit to our home,
August 2005.
Sept 21 2005 photos of our water infiltration
issues in our Heartland Homes
home, we sent to Marty Gillespie
of Heartland Homes.
September 2005
Review our Heartland Homes home in Pittsburgh major water issues.
Email with photos of our Heartland Homes home sent to Marty Gillespie of
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh.
After our trial in December 8 2008, we filed a
discontinuance on our trial in 2009.
Beginning of 2009, we decided to remove brick and
pull back siding on our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
built home. We wanted to see what was behind our
brick and the siding installed. You will see our
photos on our website showing bricks removed and
vinyl siding pulled back. what we mainly wanted to
see was if flashing was installed behind our brick
or around our Andersen windows. per Andersen
windows, window flashing is to be installed.
according to 2000 and 2003 building codes we have
posted, flashing is to be installed around doors and
windows, etc. this was the only time that we altered
the exterior of our home.
We did not intend on spending
the hours, monies, or the time on our brand new home
experience that we did and continue to. As of
September 2009 we have major home repairs to do that
originate back to the water infiltration issues that
started with our brand new heartland homes home 3
months after our closing.
We bought a brand new first owner home with the
expectations of moving in and enjoying our brand new
home. Emails indicated further below from heartland
homes clearly indicate to us heartland homes will
"continue to work towards a solution."
our
5 year history with water infiltration
issues in to our brand
new Heartland Homes home. Review our
Heartland Homes details, photos and all
of the emails we have posted. Water issues
started 3 months after closing on our
brand new Heartland Homes house.
Heartland Homes was notified every
single time we had water infiltration.
Read the emails below from Heartland
Homes stating they were were working on
our water issues. Shortly after our 1
year warranty was over, we never heard
back from our builder Heartland Homes
until after we filed our BBB complaint.
We never had anyone even ask us IF our
water issues were resolved or IF we
continued to have water issues, nothing.
Nor did our water infiltration issues
stop, they continued to occur.
Even the certified letter we sent to the
Heartland Homes office, that was signed
for, was never responded to. It wasn't
until we filed a case with the Better
Business Bureau, then we heard back from
Heartland Homes.
See our 2009 update below regarding
Andersen Windows flashing and the bricks
we removed from the front of our home to
see IF flashing was actually installed
behind our brick. There has to be a
reason why we have had water in our home
since 3 months AFTER closing on our
brand new Heartland Homes home.
We pay almost $200,000.00 for a
brand new 1st owner home.
We have major water infiltrating our
new home since 3 months after our new
home closing.
Read emails below where we are told
specifically three (3) times by
Heartland Homes they are working on our
issues. Shortly after our 1 year
warranty is over, Thousands of hours
we've spent over the past 5+ years
taking photos, following up, trying to
get our water infiltration issues
resolved in our brand new home. Not to
mention over $25,000.00+ in
monies we've spent between legal
fees, deposition fees, photos, replacing
our electrical panel and other expenses.
We haven't even started repairing our
now 5+ year old Heartland Homes home
as of yet.
June 21st
2005 (2005
the VP of Heartland Homes)
Heartland Homes President Marty Gillespie came
to our home to see our issues. Marty introduces me to
Craig, our foreman (if
you will)
and shows Craig what needs to be taken care of, this is
after our Better Business
Bureau complaint we filed.
Better Business Bureau
timeline history.
You will
see later how our "WET BASEMENT"
& "DUE TO THE EXTREME AMOUNT OF WATER"
per Heartland Homes emails above , turns
into simply "DAMP SPOTS"
per Heartland Homes on October 17 2006.
Over two years AFTER our water issues
started with our brand new home with
none of our water issues were resolved.
Heartland Homes quote from Marty Gillespie President of
Heartland Homes. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette April 2009.
Our
custom built Heartland Homes. email from January 2005 stating, we will
continue to work towards a solution, etc.
Photo
is from July 8 2008. Heartland Homes our builder.
basement in our custom built Heartland Homes home.
our
Heartland Homes foundation wall.
The image
below is a list of additional costs we've incurred after
buying our brand new Heartland Homes 1st owner
custom built home.
We've had water infiltration into our brand new home
since 3 months AFTER our new home closing.
DURING our 1 year warranty
Heartland Homes references our water infiltration issues
as
"WET BASEMENT", "DUE TO THE EXTREME AMOUNT OF
WATER" during the 1 year warranty period.
We will also post photos that we feel do not show (in
our opinion)
much/any change with the amounts of water coming into
our home during our 1 year warranty period.
During that 1 year warranty period when Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh told us they were working on our water
infiltration issues
(again see emails below).
AFTER our 1 year warranty is over, none of our
water infiltration issues are resolved in our opinion.
For now review photos above on this page (2004) & below
from June/July 2005 in the lower section of this page.
Mid May 2005 we send a certified letter to the
founder or owner(s) of Heartland Homes Alan
Gillespie or Marty Gillespie.
Heartland Homes
101 Commerce Boulevard
Lawrence PA 15055
Lawrence, PA is around the Bridgeville, South Hills,
Bethel Park area.
our Heartland
Homes Pittsburgh review of our custom built
home.
6 months after
closing on our brand new Heartland Homes
built new home.
Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh founder, owner(s) notified of our
water infiltration issues.
The
letter is signed for, however after almost 3 weeks we
receive no response.
June 2005 we file a consumer complaint with the
Pittsburgh Better Business Bureau.
We file a consumer complaint with the State Attorney
Generals Office as well.
June 2005
I called and spoke with
Donna from
The Meritage Group in Pittsburgh. At that time they
handled our homeowners association for our Castleview
Heartland Homes community. Click directly below to view
the letter we sent to The Meritage Group Pittsburgh.
From my understanding at that time and from reviewing
their website there is a collaboration between The
Meritage Group and Heartland Homes for Castleview
Estates.
The Meritage Group did not build our Pittsburgh custom
home. From my understanding and from interfacing with
Heartland Homes, I believe Heartland Homes was our
custom home builder. We did contact The Meritage Group
because we thought perhaps they could assist us. For
whatever I can post here on our website, I was told
something different that I will not post due to not
having this in writing.
2007
we file a lawsuit against our builder Heartland Homes in
Pittsburgh.
As you can see from the legal fees we have listed below,
this goes on for a some time,
our entire legal case 2007 - 2009.
The final outcome of our lawsuit is we won the trial,
the verdict was in our favor. However the monies portion of our lawsuit was
minimal, less than $12,000.00. According to all of our proposals for repairs, the
4 proposals were around $21,000 - $26,000+.
The monies portion of our verdict was appealed
for a lower $$ amount.
Just in legal fees we've already spent over
$19,000 and that does not include the
deposition fees, Structural Engineer report or his time for our
trial, also does not include the monies we had
to pay to replace our electrical panel due to corrosion.
AS you can see by clicking on image below; we spent
an additional = $26,026.83
and this does NOT include the repairs we still have to
complete.
After I, Dave Romesburg attended the "damages only"
portion of the appeal; since 3/4 of our
proposal for repairs was tossed out due to the lack of
details in our engineer report (again please keep
in mind, I told the Structural Engineer we only needed
to prove we have issues with our home), whatever
was not granularly listed in our Engineers report, was
tossed out of the proposal.
Since we would already be over $50,000.00 in the hole
once we complete the repairs
why waste any more of our monies. We didn't find out
until after our trial started what was tossed out and
once
your trial starts, you can not submit additional
evidence at least from what we were told. We will
just leave our trial at that statement..
Here is what we spent in legal fees to try to get our
water issues resolved. Please keep in mind, during our
1st year, we were told specifically by Heartland Homes "WET
BASEMENT
remedy to begin...", "DUE TO THE EXTREME AMOUNT OF
WATER..." & "WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK TOWARDS a
SOLUTION..." SEE
ABOVE...
2007 legal fees we paid = $5,188.2525 2008 legal fees we paid = $10,998.78 2009 legal
fees we paid = $3,229.35 all totaled we paid $19,416.38 just in
legal fees and our water issues were never
resolved. Total out of our pocket paid
including deposition fees, BBB arbitration materials,
etc = $26,026.83
** note click on image below to see full details.
Additional costs we've had
to incurred with our brand new 1st owner home and our
new home problems.
Including replacing our electrical panel due to
corrosion and our water infiltration issues that
started 3 months after our closing, not being resolved.
See above, according to emails from Heartland
Homes, the would "continue to work towards a solution."
Here is 1 of our contractors
proposals to repair the issues with our home that was
builtbrand new in 2003 into 2004. We
closed February 2004 on our brand new home, 3 monthslater May 2004, we started
experiencing water infiltration issues into our home.
Hopefully you read the emails above from Heartland Homes
stating our "WET BASEMENT remedy to begin..." & "Due to
the EXTREME AMOUNT OF WATER..." &
"We will CONTINUE TO WORK TOWARDS a solution...", we
never see that solution, here is
what 1 of the bids we received figured it would take to
resolve our issues.
Please keep in mind the following key NOTES:
1. For our trial in December 2008,
we received and submitted 4 bids.
We showed each contractor all of our photos,
showed them around our home and explained that our water
issues started only 3 months after
our brand new 1st owner home closing.
2. As I mentioned before, for our
trial I specifically told our Structural Engineer our
report simply needed
to prove we have water issues with our home, so he did
just that. We were told AFTER we
submitted all 4 estimates, we only needed to pick 1
estimate to work from. They were not going
to call all 4 contractors to testify on the witness
stand. So we picked this same contractor we would have
picked anyhow. Once our trial starts we find out, over
3/4 of his proposal is thrown out
because our expert witness, the Structural Engineers
report does NOT detail out all of his items
in the proposal, so whatever is NOT in the Structural
Engineers report will NOT be permitted
as a repair in the proposal or however they worded this.
3. We file our discontinuance for
our trial, because we've spent over $26,000.00 already
and we haven't done any
repairs to our home other than
replacing our electrical panel. We chisel out brick,
pulled back
vinyl siding and ask our Structural Engineer and this 1
contractor to come back out and look
at what is behind our brick and vinyl siding. See the
photos above, as you will see there is no
flashing installed, etc..
4. Even though we still have a lot of photos and details
to post, however you can easily see, we have
problems with our home that started 3 months after we
closed. I don't see how that can be mistaken or
contradicted?
In our opinion we did get 4 bids
from 4 different contracting companies.
We picked 1 bid because we were told to for our trial.
Because 3/4 of his proposal was tossed out we figured
there is no reason to go any further with the trial, so
we filed a discontinuance.
This proposal below is what we feel is actually what it
will take to fix our water infiltration issues.
According to our Structural Engineer, 2000 & 2003
Building Codes and Andersen Windows, our
window manufacturer; FLASHING is to be installed. We
removed 5 bricks and pulled back siding and found no
flashing.
According to our Structural
Engineer and the 2000 & 2003 Building Codes, weep holes
are to be installed;
we have no weep holes in our bottom rows of brick or
anywhere below our windows to allow water to drain.
Review a repair proposal for
repairs to correct our water infiltration issues that
started 3 months after we close
on our custom built Heartland Homes home. This proposal
is based on our Structural Engineers granular detailed
report (click
photo to enlarge the picture)
Here are
the granular structural engineer report we had
completed when
Heartland Homes appealed the monies portion of our
verdict. THIS IS THE TYPE OF REPORT WE SHOULD HAVE
INITIALLY SUBMITTED TO THE COURTS.
We thought
we would be able to submit more granular structural
details to support what was needed to correct our water
infiltration into our home. Unfortunately we were not
able to submit any expanded reports once our evidence
was already submitted. However you can still review this
more detailed report stating step-by-step details of
what will be required to correct our issues.
ONE
IMPORTANT NOTE TO REMEMBER: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU
SUBMIT THE MOST GRANULAR OF DETAILS INITIALLY ANY TIME
YOU GO TO COURT. IN OUR COURT TRIAL I ASKED OUR
STRUCTURAL ENGINEER FOR ONLY HIGH LEVEL DETAILS, NOTHING
GRANULAR. IF IT WAS NOT IN OUR STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
REPORT, IT WAS TOSSED OUT OF ANY PROPOSAL. IF i HAD TO
DO OVER AGAIN, WE WOULD HAVE ALSO REMOVED THE SECTIONS
OF BRICK AND SIDING PRIOR TO SUBMITTING ANY COURT TRIAL
EVIDENCE OR DETAILS.
Structural Engineer report we had completed on our
Heartland Homes new home issues-page 1.
(click to view larger image)
Structural
Engineer report we had completed on our Heartland Homes
new home issues-page 2. (click
to view larger image)
We were never told
about anything they were
working on to correct our
water issues. We were never asked
if there were changes to the
water infiltrating our home.
Nor were we even told
they were done working on
the outside of our home to
correct our water
infiltration issues,
nothing. We were
told nothing, we heard
nothing, we were asked
nothing!
Even after we sent a
certified package, that
was
signed for to the office of
the
owner(s)/representative of
Heartland Homes, Alan
Gillespie or Marty
Gillespie, we hear nothing.
After we filed a case with
the Better Business
Bureau, shortly
thereafter we hear back from
the builder.
Marty Gillespie then called
me to discuss our issues and
came to our home to see
our new home issues.
I was told they would
resolve our issues and I was
introduced to Craig Faulkner
to be the person we work
with.
During our BBB case filing,
we saw Heartland Homes
attempting to repair our
water infiltration issues.
The work Heartland Homes did
was at grade level and
below, nothing above grade
for whatever reason.
They did seal the lower
brick on our home, that was
it.
None of our water issues
resolved by the builder that
built our Heartland Homes
home.
They never resolved our
water infiltration issues
during our BBB case, our
next step was the court
system.
All details are outlined in
our website, which I am
still working to complete.
We won the verdict from the
Judge in our lawsuit.
It will cost us an
additional $50,000.00+ with
the brand new home we
purchased
once we complete the repairs
required to our Heartland
Homes home.
We will post the estimates
for repairs to our brand new
home this week.
Electrical conduit disconnected. Permitted rain water to
infiltrate our electrical panel on 5 occasions.
Eventually we pay to replace our
electrical panel due to our Structural inspector
noting corrosion in our electrical panel due to water
infiltrating our electrical panel numerous time.
NOTE: READ email from Heartland Homes to the Better
Business Bureau during our case stating the electrician
found a "COMPROMISED CONDUIT, etc...."
Review this photo of one of our electrical breakers with
water on the breakers due to the conduit being
compromised. In our opinion, we are not sure how else
water would get in our electrical panel.
Part
of our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh complaint we filed
with the Better Business Bureau. our Heartland Homes new
home issue with water infiltrating our electrical panel.
Review letter from our custom home
builder, Heartland Homes stating they found a
"Compromised Conduit" that was allowing water to enter
our electrical panel. Eventually we (the home owners)
pay to have our electrical panel replaced.
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh our custom home builder.
Heartland Homes in Bethel Park area.
Water infiltration
into our electrical panel. Love Heartland Homes in
Pittsburgh built our custom home.
Love Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh
New Home construction.
Review our
Heartland Homes-New home-water issues in our electrical
panel.
We feel...
The more
information you have...
notes we feel are important to keep in
mind:
we wanted to be sure to
state the following facts:
1. from the start of our
water issues in may 2004, until before
we filed our
better business bureau
case in June 11 2005;
- no one from Heartland
Homes ever asked to see the inside of
our home or asked to come inside
of our home to see our
water infiltration issues, no one.
2. during our 1 year warranty, since we
first started reporting
our water infiltration
issues in may 2004;
- heartland homes told us
- "wet basement remedy to begin" &
"due to the extreme
amount of water..."
& "we
will continue to work towards a
solution" (see all emails above).
3. no one from heartland homes ever came
to our home to make suggestions about
what we needed to do to correct our
water infiltration issues. the reason we
went to trial in December 2008 was
because our water infiltration issues
were never resolved.
4. We hired & paid a structural engineer
to assess our water infiltration issues
with our brand new heartland homes
custom built home. additionally john,
our structural engineer was our expert
witness at our trial as well.
5. so everyone is aware we have not been
"in and out of court" many times. in
case you are told we were!
- we had our trial
December 2008.
- we
received the judges verdict on January 8
2009 in our favor.
- Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh filed an appeal for the
monies portion of the verdict on January
20 2009.
- we had a damages only
trial (due to the $11,700 we were
awarded) sometime in March or April
2009.
- we
filed a discontinuance April 27 2009.
we have already spent
over $25,000.00 in fees (legal,
deposition, structural), electrical
panel replacement, etc. because all of
our estimates to repair our home
estimated cost from $21,000 -
$28,000.00, we will be upside down over
$50,000.00 of our own monies once our
repairs to stop water infiltration are
completed, we filed a discontinuance
April 27 2009. so we are done with
everything. we've spent so much monies
already, there is really no reason to
spend more.
6. the reason we did not post any of our
information prior to this year (2009) is
because we believed our water
infiltration issues would have been
resolved. brand new 1st owner home that
cost lmost $200,000.00 leaks water
inside?
7. We are not sure why our issues were
not resolved? We do know we contacted
HEARTLAND HOMES repeatedly without a
resolution. we know heartland homes
warranty does not cover damp spots.
however we feel & in our opinion & based
on our photos above, we believe we have
a wet basement, same as what heartland
homes told us during our 1 year warranty
period, same as what heartland homes
stated in their emails we have posted
above. also note response to the better
business bureau states "wet basement" as
well.
You can really appreciate our
experience when you see the
full size image.
We
notified Heartland Homes
continually every time we had an
issue with water in our home.
Heartland Homes told us
"basement remedy to begin in the
next few weeks",
"Castleview is still a work in
progress", and finally "We will
continue to work towards a
solution".
Our testimonial: THIS IS our
first Heartland Homes home,
bought February 2004.
(please click picture to enlarge
the photo) NOTE:
We are not working on our home at this time, nor doing
any updates to our home.
The
black areas on
our brick veneer is duct taped
because I removed brick to
verify whether flashing was
installed, per Andersen Windows
(see middle column under
ANDERSEN WINDOW DOCUMENTATION
for details)..
August 2 2009 Structural Engineer
reports we paid to have completed.
- Our
Structural Engineer
reports ARE the ONLY
Structural Engineer reports we've seen. No other
"inspectors" have been in our home.
NOTE: No other
Structural Engineers have asked to come into our home to
see our issues!
...
see below
FACT:
NO inspectors came inside our home to see our issues or we
would have known. We were
never asked to give any
"inspectors"
access to the inside of our
home!
The
ONLY Structural Engineer to come to our home was
John, the Structural Engineer we
paid, to inspect our Heartland
Homes built home.
We
sent a certified letter
to the owner of
Heartland Homes.
May 17th/May 19th 2005
Alan Gillespie or Marty
Gillespie.
Instead of posting
all 4 pages of the
certified letter we
sent, I decided to
post only the
signature page.
Our intention is to
show we made
numerous, numerous
efforts to get our
water infiltration
issues resolved with
our brand new
Heartland Homes
built home.
2003
International
Building Code
excerpt
regarding
flashing & weep
holes.
According to our
building permit
above the
construction on
our home
started in 2003. We closed on
our home
February 2004.
section1405.3
Flashing
"Flashing shall
be installed at
the perimeters
of exterior door
and window
assemblies...
etc"
NOTE:
SEE
our flashing is
missing behind
our brick veneer
& around our
dining room
window behind
our siding. Photos
further down
this column.
or go to our
aloveheartland.com
click the link
directly above
to see all of
the photos
showing exactly
what is behind
our brick and no
flashing is
seen.
section
1405.3.2 Masonry
"Flashing and
weepholes shall
be located
in the first
course of
masonry
above finished
ground level...
etc"
Our first
course of
masonry is about
10" below
ground. photos
will be posted
on this site as
well.
2003 building
code regarding flashing and weep holes. In our opinion
this would be the same building code that should have
been used by Heartland Homes to build our new home?
MAY 2004
3 months after closing on
our
Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh home
(NOTE: the WET areas glistening
on our basement wall.)
MAY 2004
3 months after closing on
our
Pittsburgh Heartland
Homes custom home
(NOTE: the WET areas glistening on our
basement wall. ) MAY 2004 3 months after closing on
our
Love Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh 3 months after closing on our brand new first
owner Heartland Homes custom built home.
(NOTE: the WET areas glistening on our
basement wall. )
July 2004
5 months after closing on our
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh custom home.
(NOTE: the WET areas glistening on our
basement wall. ) August 11 2004 6 months after our closing on our new home. Love
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh 6 months after closing on our brand
new first owner
Heartland Homes townhouse. August 21 2004 6 months after our closing on our new home.
Custom designed home by
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh. August 21 2004 6 months after our
closing.
Love Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh's #1 custom builder. August 21
2004
Custom Built home by Heartland Homes Pittsburgh. September 18 2004 6 months after our
closing.
Heartland Homes new home
community in the Pittsburgh area.
Our Heartland Home
Castleview Estates townhouse.
Heartland Homes - 6 months after closing.
Photo dated August 21st 2004
6 months after closing on our
new home. (please click
picture to enlarge the photo)
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh #1
Custom Builder
PER the
2002 Andersen Windows document posted below:
"flashing and installation
flanges DO NOT take the place
of standard window and door
flashing..."
"Unit must be properly
flashed..."
Review photos below to see where
Click on the picture above to
enlarge the photo and see the
details for yourself.
The
2002 Andersen Windows document above came with our
windows and was in our new home packet provided to us
by Heartland Homes;
Today here
is a picture of our Heartland Homes custom built home
showing 1 brick removed around our Andersen Window in the
front of our home.
(please click picture to enlarge
the photo)
IN OUR OPINION and based on the documentation from
Andersen Windows initially -
IF
the window manufacturer Andersen Windows specifically state
in their
"CAUTION"
statement "flashing and installation
flanges DO NOT take the place
of standard window and door
flashing..."
there must be a reason flashing needs to be installed or
should have been installed?
Window
flashing was not installed in the areas where I removed
bricks from the front of our brand new 1st owner custom built
home.
Since we've had water infiltration since 3 months
after closing on our Heartland Homes home.
After our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh complaint with the Better
Business Bureau and during our court trial I decided to
physically chisel out bricks from the front of our home just to
see what was behind our brick.
See digital photos below. You will see
where I removed the brick, there is NO flashing installed.
Later I will post the IRC 2000 & 2003
building codes specifically for
flashing and weep holes.
Below is a picture of one of our front windows. I
removed the bricks to see IF flashing was installed or not.
PER the photos below, you can see
NO flashing was installed in the areas where the bricks
were removed.
This is another window in front. Below
our brick veneer windows is part of the area where water
infiltrates our basement.
1 brick removed from each of
the 3 front windows, none of the areas show
our Andersen Windows
were flashed per manufacturers "CAUTION" statement.
our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh home.
3rd window in the front of our
home, verifying there was NO
flashing installed, where the brick was removed.
Flashing is to be installed across top and down sides of all
windows.
Heartland Homes custom home
builder
Heartland Homes Custom Home
Builder Andersen Windows this is the side of our home.
side of our Heartland Homes new
construction home. We pulled back the siding around our
Andersen Windows to verify IF flashing was installed. Take a
look.
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
Custom Home Builder
Andersen Windows side of our home.
Andersen
Window no flashing installed or visible in the areas where I
removed the siding and pulled back the window trim.
...ADDITIONAL MISC
PICTURES...
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh New Home construction
Water infiltration into our foundation since 3
months into our new home.
our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
review custom built home.
(please click picture to enlarge
the photo)
Electrical conduit crushed due to injecting
conduit with foam...
Love
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
(please click picture to enlarge
the photo)
End of trenching work. Our
entire Heartland Homes front of our house filled with 120 ton of
stone.
Front of our Heartland Homes townhouse.
Brick veneer removed to verify IF there is
flashing installed around any of our windows. The brick that
were removed show no flashing was installed in those areas.
our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh review of our custom home built
experience.
Rain water into our Heartland
Homes garage block foundation.
Water you see is ABOVE GRADE. Love Heartland
Homes our custom home builder.
(please click picture to enlarge the photo)
Front of our Love Heartland Homes townhouse Brick
removed to verify there is no flashing installed around our
front door.
Heartland Homes Castleview Estates Luxury
Townhouse.
Love Heartland Homes Pittsburgh #1 Custom Builder
Love Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
Heartland Homes townhouse
Huge gap above our ornamental trim. No caulking as you can
see from the photo below.
Heartland Homes townhouse new home
construction
Trim around window sealed shut, causing
water to remain inside frame. When you click on the
picture to enlarge it you will see water running down the siding
that was trapped inside the trim because it was sealed closed.
December
2008
Rain water infiltration into our
garage block foundation in 2008.
Most of this is ABOVE GROUND.
Heartland Homes new home
construction.
We have all
documentation, all original documentation; including emails,
certified mail signature, inspection reports, State Atty.
Generals office filing, BBB filing, Court ruling, Andersen
Windows original documentation, receipts for legal fees,
electrical panel we had to replace, etc.
our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh review of the
BBB complaint we filed.
our custom built
Heartland Homes home.
Pittsburgh custom designed
and built home. Our 2 years old
custom built Heartland
Homes home.
Heartland Homes custom
built new home.
TO CONFIRM
The
Structural Engineer we paid
was the ONLY Structural
Engineer to ever come to our
house to compile a report
detailing our issues.
If anyone else would have come into our
home, we would have known.
No inspector or structural
engineer outside of ours ever
asked to
come in to our home.
(click link directly
above to read letter & see all
of the digital photos showing
water infiltrating our
electrical panel multiple times.
Letter is from Heartland
Homes Warranty Dept. to the
Pittsburgh Better Business
Bureau.)
Heartland Homes Townhouse
community.
Heartland Homes Castleview
Estates Outside brick veneer
of our townhome. Click on
picture to see larger photo. NOTE: the wires from outside feeding into our home
in this picture.
ALSO see the following picture showing the
inside view of our basement
where there wires are inside
of our home.
our new home construction. Outside view of brick
where wires enter our home.
Heartland Homes Castleview
Estates Inside foundation view
of our townhome. Click on picture
to see larger photo. NOTE: the wires coming IN from outside in this
picture.
ALSO note when you click and view the
larger photo the hole opening.
Heartland Homes our new home basement foundation. Inside view of foundation where wires enter our
home.
FOLKS WE decided to post a list of facts.
Specifically as it relates to our 5 year ever-evolving
issues with our home that was built brand new, over 5 years ago.
Facts that are substantiated via
the details, photos, emails, timeline, everything you see on our
website, right here.
As
I've mentioned many, many times, our water infiltration issues
started 3 months after closing on our brand new Heartland Homes
home and continue to this day, in 2009.
We wanted to
make sure you were presented with all of OUR facts and
details.
I think it would be difficult to dispute
the photos we have covering our entire timeline, which I need
to do a better job at organizing.
I am working on that as well.
After reviewing our site,
hopefully you will see everything was done very systematically.
I work in Information Technology, so
I am used to organizing details & processes to better assist
the customers I support.
Our Heartland
Homes Luxury Townhouse
Rain water
running underneath our door frame & filling up the foyer of our
townhouse.
Love Heartland
Homes Pittsburgh custom home builder. Photo dated September 29 2005 19 months after closing on
our new
Heartland Homes home.
Love Heartland Homes Pittsburgh our
newly built townhouse.
"Remember that most builders
are seeking customer referrals and repeat buyers. They want
you to be satisfied. If a problem develops, remain calm and
approach your builder in a reasonable manner. By following
the procedures described above, chances are that you will be
able to resolve the problems."
IF you have any questions, please do not
hesitate to email us.
"More than 20 years ago,
Heartland Homes was created with the desire to be the very
best.
...our goal was then - as it is now
- to exceed customer expectations on every level.
Today, our company remains
resolute in our commitment to excellence.
We take great pleasure in offering
exceptional value for every dollar spent in building your
home.
What's more, we treat each and every
customer with honesty and respect.
If it's important to you, it's important to us.
Heartland Homes Mission
Statement: To create custom homes of the
highest quality at an affordable price with excellent
customer service that exceeds expectations."
The same Structural Engineer
provided
both reports.We did not realize how
detailed the initial report should have been. When we initially
requested the engineer to come to our house, we told him we
needed a report that basically outlined we DID have issues
with our home, that was it.
We had no idea what to
expect for a trial.
Once we started our court trial, then we realized
our Engineer report was not granular enough, report should have
included every single granular detail. The 1st report did not.
I asked John to please expand on the details of his
initial report. That is why you see 2 reports below in PDF
format.
- Since the
structural report was not granular/detailed enough most of work
required to correct our issues was thrown out. So the monies
awarded were less than 1/2 of the cost to repair our home.
- We are already over $25,000.00 invested legally as
well as other costs for replacing our electrical panel,
inspection, expert witness testimony, etc.
What we've
invested just in costs and fees doesn't even include the costs
to get our home issues repaired.
-
We never had an opportunity to submit the more granular
report. We discontinued our court trial AFTER the monies portion
was appealed by Heartland Homes.
I attended a damages only portion of our trial for
the remaining monies because of their appeal.
We had no idea until after our trial started and all of our
evidence was submitted, we should have submitted the granular
details.
Since we already spent so much monies in
legal fees with our initial trial, as well as replacing our
electrical panel, etc, we figured why spend more monies on
legal fees.
We are so far upside down in monies we had
to spend, we will never come close to our expenses to date or
what we will have to spend to repair our home.
The Judges VERDICT was still in our favor that we
have issues that should have been corrected and were not.
So that VERDICT still stands.
So instead we eat over $50,000.00,
have our house repaired on our own and move on with
things. Finally after 5 years to know our issues should have
been resolved, but weren't is a good feeling finally!
All TOTALED (legal fees and to do the repairs) will
cost us over $53,000.00 on top of the $196,000.00 we paid
for our Heartland Homes home.
- Please keep in mind,
at no time during any period, did Heartland Homes have any
"structural inspector or engineer come to our home and ask to
see the inside of our house where our issues are. At no time
were we ever asked or notified. Once we closed on our home, this
never happened.
NOTE: I will post a break down of our fees, etc
in the upcoming weeks. We want to make sure we have all of
our facts posted and we want to provide everyone with our
details.
If we added our house + everything we've spent and will have
to spend before we can sell our house, we will be looking at
over $250,000. Not sure about the value of our home, I guess we
will cross that bridge when we come to it..... From our
experience what a 1st time new home buyer experience!
MAY 2005
15 months after closing on our
Heartland Homes home.
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh cinder block foundation of our
home.
We believe our building was the
last building in Castleview with cinder block foundation
installed.
8 - 10 more new buildings were built after ours. From our
observation the foundations were poured, no block.
Signed Rick Murray Heartland
Homes Warranty Manager
JUNE 2005
16 months after closing
on our Heartland Homes
home. Our 1 year
warranty expired Feb
2005.
Caulking cracked, gaps in wood trim.
Love
Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh new
construction, new home
builder.
JUNE 2005
Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh
WET spots on basement wall directly beside and behind electrical
panel.
See pockets of water in photo below.
(paraphrasing) This would indicate a "WET spot, not a
DAMP spot." If you touch the spot and your "hand is wet when you
remove your hand from that spot you have a WET spot, not a DAMP
spot."
JULY 2005 17 months after closing on our
Love Heartland Homes home. JULY 2005 17 months after closing on
our Heartland Homes custom built home.
More rain water
infiltration into our foundation.
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh custom home builder of our home. SEPTEMBER 2005 18/19 months after closing on
our Heartland Homes custom built home. Heartland Homes townhouse. SEPTEMBER 2005 Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh
Cinder block foundation of our home. Our walls
are wet, not just damp.
19 months after closing on our brand new townhouse built by
Heartland Homes.
(please click picture to enlarge
the photo)
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh Better
Business Bureau
Repair Photos
- None of our
water infiltration issues/problems were resolved.
- We never received any follow up or inquiries about our
water infiltration issues at any time.
- Never had a
Structural engineer or any type of engineer or inspector look
inside of our home to see our water issues and for a possible
resolution to our problems.
- Never asked
whether our issue's were ever resolved at any time. Open hole in brick
for outside wires.
Front view of our Heartland
Homes house. Removed brick to confirm
flashing
was not installed in those
areas.
Heartland Homes new construction
No flashing installed
around Andersen windows.
JANUARY 2006
Rain water infiltration into our garage block foundation. Most
of this is ABOVE GROUND.
Heartland Homes new home
construction.
AUGUST 2006
2004 - April 2009 - no problems
resolved! Water staining around media center.
Heartland Homes our custom built new house.
Per Heartland Homes service procedures, we
emailed Heartland Homes every time water
infiltrated our home. We followed their warranty
instructions.
February 2004 we
close on our 1st owner brand new custom built
Heartland Homes home.
our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh complaint, our Custom Home builder.
Heartland Homes home 3 months
after our closing. We are the 1st owner of this
new home.
3 month old brand new custom home.
5 month old custom built home.
Welcome home.
Heartland Homes builder 3 months after closing 1st owner new home closing.
3
months after brand new Heartland Homes closing. 1st owner new home closing.
Heartland Homes builder 4 months after closing 1st owner new home closing.
4 months after brand new Heartland Homes Pittsburgh closing. 1st owner new home
closing.
July 2004 Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
built our new custom home. This photo is 5 months after our closing, we are the
First owners of this newly constructed home.
Heartland Homes our home
builder. 1st owner of this Heartland Homes home.
our Heartland Homes home
photo dated August 11 2004.
our
Heartland Homes basement we enlarged this photo
to show the wet area in more detail. In our
opinion and according to Heartland Homes our
basement area is wet.
Picture of our Heartland
Homes home at 6 months old.
our Heartland Homes new
custom built home.
our Heartland Homes new
home construction February 2004.
Photos in this section are
from August 2004, 3 months after we started experiencing water issues with our
brand new built home.
Review our Heartland Homes home-6 months old in this photo.
Photo shows our Heartland Homes home 6 months
old, built brand new.
our custom built first owner Heartland Homes
home.
Heartland Homes warranty does not cover damp
spots. According to our email from Heartland
Homes July 22 2004, Heartland Homes state "wet
basement remedy to begin in the next few weeks."
Welcome to our Heartland Homes home.
our Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh review of our home. Our foundation
trenching work during our BBB case.
Review our Heartland Homes new home 3 years
later.
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh's #1 custom builder.
our Heartland Homes review of our new home
experience. Collection of photos showing water
infiltration into our new Heartland Home.
(This
photo is a combination of multiple photos
showing where the water infiltration comes into
our new Heartland Homes home.
Collection of photos showing bricks and siding
removed and we did not locate any flashing
around the Andersen Windows, door. Per Andersen
Windows, per 2003 International Building Code,
per the Certified Structural Engineer we paid to
look at our new home issues; flashing and weep
holes are the building code.
Our custom home builder Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh, PA. Heartland Homes Pittsburgh
photos of our new home.
Our custom home picture above
is a combination of multiple photos showing
where the water infiltration comes into our new
Heartland Homes home. This is a large size
file.)
Heartland Homes Pittsburgh-17 months after our
first owner custom built new home closing.
custom built
Heartland Homes Home Castleview Estates in
Pittsburgh
our custom home built by Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh review our photos.
3
months after closing on our new custom built
town home. our Heartland Homes review of our
custom built home.
6
months after closing on our new Heartland
Homes Pittsburgh custom built townhome.
our Heartland Homes Pittsburgh review. Photo of
our custom built house.
Heartland Homes custom home builder Pittsburgh.
Heartland Homes - our Pittsburgh Heartland Homes home less than 2 years after our closing.
Heartland Homes home Pittsburgh. Castleview
Estates Kennedy Township
No structural engineer
has ever asked to come into our home on behalf
of or representing Heartland Homes.
We have never been asked to
let any structural engineer into
our home from Heartland Homes.
Heartland Homes our home builder told us; WE
WILL CONTINUE to work TOWARDS a solution,
weather is a factor now..."
IMPORTANT:
IF you want to read all
emails to and from us to
Heartland Homes Warranty
Department.
Click envelope
to review, read all 58
emails.
We did send Heartland Homes
digital photos along with
almost every single email we
sent them.
Imagine spending over 3 1/2 years looking for
the perfect home to buy.
Imagine taking 6 - 8 years to save the monies
for a down payment for a new home.
May 2004 & continuing
to today's date in 2009...
CAN you dispute major water infiltration for
over 5 years into a brand new home?
We realize there are 2 sides to every story, why
wouldn't there be?
I am not sure how you can
paint a different picture?
We are simply presenting our facts,
timeline of events & a lot of detailed photos.
Not sure how or why our issues were never
resolved? You can see all of our FACTS, nothing
is hidden.
Love Heartland Homes
Custom Home
Part of our Heartland Homes
Pittsburgh complaint we filed with the BBB. Our door threshold
Heartland Homes Custom built our new home
This is the corner of our townhouse. Note this
is where the bulk of the water comes into our
foundation.
Heartland Homes complaint we filed. Better
Business Bureau repairs.
Heartland Homes custom home builder, trenching
repairs on our brand new home due to our
Heartland Homes complaint we filed with the
Better Business Bureau.
3 months after
closing on our brand new Heartland Homes custom
built home we experience water issues. Our water
issues in our custom built Heartland home.
Heartland Homes our home
builder. 1st owner of this Heartland Homes home.
Imagine being able to decide on what options you want
for your brand new home.
"Pittsburgh's #1 Custom Home Builder.
More than 20 years ago, Heartland Homes was created with the desire to be the very best.
Whether a single-family home or an entire community, our goal was then - as it is now - To exceed customer expectations on every level.
Today, our company remains resolute in our commitment to excellence.
We take great pleasure in offering exceptional value for every dollar spent in building your home.
What's more, we treat each and every customer with Honesty and respect. If it's important to you, it's important to us.
Quite simply, we at Heartland Homes are passionate about what we do.
In turn, we hope to share that passion with you throughout the creation and building of your dream home.
Our Mission Statement: To create custom homes of the highest quality at an affordable price with excellent customer service that exceeds expectations.
Heartland Homes wins Three Housing Excellence awards - 2008 Click on picture below to see their BUILDERS Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh awards!
The link directly below will open in a separate window.
"Heartland Homes has always been known for its attention to detail and fantastic home designs, but on Friday December 12th - Heartland was awarded with three concrete examples."
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