November 14th, 2009
No progress this week
Since framing finished up a week ago, there’s been no work done on the house. HVAC contractors are supposedly being scheduled. They’d better get this thing closed up before the hard weather hits.
This post is about the first home we attempted to build with Hansen and Horn. We've since terminated our contract with them, and are building a new house with Bedrock Builders. This post is kept for archival purposes.
Read what happened ›
Previously: Framing nearly complete
Next post: The situation
November 15th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Tamyra Seaver says:
Watching your story unfold is like seeing our story over again. We began a relationship with Hansen and Horn the end of January 2009. We paid them in full for our home the first of February with the understanding that they would have our home complete by the end of April 2009. They didn’t get started until the first of April 2009. There was no work done for the whole month of May. In June, they framed our house over a week and one half period. It was six week later until they put the roof on. In July and August, they did about one week’s worth on the house. We had multiple meetings with them trying to problem solve and speed them up – get answers. By September 2009 after six weeks of no work on our house, we initiated legal action. We have received multiple leans on our property because almost all the contractors who did work on our property did not get paid. All suppliers of material did not get paid either. We have since learned that contractors were not coming out to do our work because Builder owed too much money to their subs. We have since learned that there are dozens upon dozens of building suppliers and subcontractors around Indianapolis that are owed lots of money by our previous builder. For example, previous painter is owed about 60,000. Previous heating and cooling company is owed about 150,000.00 and so the list goes on and on. We were told when we gave them our payment in full that our money would go in an escrow account with our name and theirs. The money was put in no such account. All indication is that they spent our money elsewhere and then did not have the funds to complete our home. There were multiple twistings of the truth and lies to explain their slow progress. We were devastated daily when we came home to find no work done on the house to the point of being physically ill as a result as the stress progressed. We know other home builders who paid for their home and are in the same position as you or us.
After having our Attorney attempt to problem solve through the issues over a 45 day period with no success, we severed our relationship and left battling for the return of our money via the legal system. The contract we signed with Builder absolutely protects Builder and pretty much releases them from liabity regardless of how badly they behave. We had approached fall and were greatly concerned about our home being ready for winter weather. We found great builders to complete the job that are building us a home with outstanding custom quality for the price or less than the price we were paying first builder which is a bonus out of all the mess we have been apart of. Of course, currently we are paying for the home a second time as first builder took our money with no goods/service delivered as agreed upon. There were about 20,000.00 worth of repairs that had to be done on home before we could move forward with building process as previous builder are highering substandard subs at this point as they have burnt too many bridges with quality subs.
Previous builder is committing many crimes in current operation of business practice. They are converting money which is theft, they are literally stealing from subs-labor and material. They keep selling houses, taking money from people like us with knowledge that they are not able to deliver on their committment. They tie legal issues with subs and local building suppliers for about two years.
We were told on Friday that they did not pay their employees as scheduled. Our suit against them prevents them from filing Bankrupcty as one can not file Bankruptcy if one’s debt is related to criminal activity – taking someone’s money when it was supposed to be in Escrow is criminal. Plus we filed claims against individuals within the company as well.
We feel for you. I wish there could be something we all could do to stop the abuse we have experienced. They drag you along for a long time, making you think you are the bad guy/gal when you confront them. They are constantly looking for the loophole to keep your money and not deliver on their contracts. Again, we know multiple people in the same position we and you are in. If you can stop your relationship – you would be much better off – at this point, you need to do something to protect the structure of your home before the weather prevents such.
We would be open to meeting with you for coffee to share more of our story and offer you whatever help we can. We know how miserable your feeling with the lack of progress. It consumed us.
Tamyra
November 15th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Matthew Rogers says:
Tamyra–
We’ve been hearing more and more stories along those lines over the past couple months. It’s extremely frustrating, since we had done everything we thought we were supposed to do to check them out before signing a contract and it all looked good.
We are contacting a lawyer this week. We have not paid them for the house, only a small ernest payment, but we’d like to have that back obviously if they’re not going to finish the house. I don’t know what’s going to happen.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
SumGuyInIndy says:
Hey. I finally met Ward Horn saturday! 11/14/09. I told Ward that I would not have started my Blog if they had not first tricked me into doing all that work recently with the expectation of being paid for it within 1 week of completing it. And then just ignoring me and never paying me for it. I told Ward I’m not talking about 50k +, thats more than 5 months delinquent, only this last $7200 in work I did on Anson 5. I also did some vpo’s also but hey, I’m not going to quibble over a grand or two. Ward said that he was not aware of this and said he would look into it for me! He said that he is a step or two away from those types of operations at the company. Well, now that Ward knows about this injustice hopefully he will get me paid this money asap. Like this week, maybe even on Monday? I’ve got my fingers crossed. I told Mr. Horn that I’m still 2 months behind in my rent payments and I still owe one of the men $1800 for his labors. This man has 3 small children and is very desperate for money right now. Ward Horn is a preacher at a local church so I really think he is going to step up and do the right thing and get me paid right away. I’ll be sure to let everyone here know what happens.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Concerned says:
Matthew
I hope everything turns out OK for you and your family. I just ended a contract with H&H this week and I had to forfeit all of my earnest money to get out of it. My Attorney thought this was the best strategy, so we could move forward with another house. He said I probably wouldn’t get the money back anyway.
We signed a contract the same time you did and our house was never started. We found out last week they never even pulled permits. As long as I included the refund of earnest money as a stipulation for a release the Horn’s wouldn’t even talk to me. I’m glad we are away from them, but I sure would like to have that earnest money back.
If you want the name of a good Attorney who has quite a bit of experience with H&H e-mail me and I’ll send you his name. His firm just won a $170,000 judgement against them last week for a sub-contractor they refused to pay.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
AnotherCustomer says:
Again, I’m so sorry this is happening (to all of us). I spoke much too quickly when I posted that they framed our house in a week. That much is true, but they haven’t touched it since then. It’s strange – there is a sawhorse in front of the house with lumber still on it and a ladder propped up against the side of the house. Looks like someone abandoned it in mid-job. Like you, I wish they would at least put the shingles on, the siding on and the windows in to protect from weather. The second biggest kicker now is that I can’t even get our mortgage rep from Hansen and Horn Financial to call me or email me back. I’ve been trying to get hold of him for three weeks.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
VeryConcerned says:
As of today, through your realtor who contacted our lawyer, I’ve heard that H&H is hours away from bankruptcy. So, all of our fears and nightmares will finally have a outcome….we will see. Matt, will you please contact me, I need to get some information from you. Thanks!
November 17th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
indy supplier says:
Good luck, matt and amanda, sorry things ended up like this.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:32 am
AnotherCustomer says:
If they file bankruptcy, that will only be the beginning of our fears and nightmares. There won’t be any money to give us back, so we could be left with NOTHING to show for all of this. Does no one remember the unfinished homes left when CP Morgan went out of business? I pray it won’t come to that.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Erin Burkhart says:
Matt,
We are yet another customer who has been wronged by Hansen and Horn. We pulled out of building a home in Anson about a month and a half ago. They were 2 months late on beginning construction when we asked to be released from our contract with a refund of our earnest money. They also tried to change the financing terms of our contract so that we would have to get a construction loan in our names to be able to pay contractors to do the work. That was not a chance we were willing to take with all the rumors we had heard about their financial trouble. We met with Alan McCormick to request the release from our contract and the return of our money, and he agreed that we should be repaid because the construction delays were their fault. But he said it was up to Steve Horn to approve our request. That was on September 30, 2009 and we have never heard from them. I have left countless messages with Alan and Steve Horn, only to be ignored. We have since purchased another house and are moving on, but still hope that we can recoup our earnest money.
During our discussions they even had the nerve to offer us a free finished basement if we didn’t walk away. How could they give us a free finished basement if they can’t even afford to finish these other houses they started or even start digging ours? It is sickening to see how they are treating their customers and contractors.
I wish you luck in getting your money back. There is no question that they should give us ours back as they never even incurred any cost on our home because they never broke ground. I’ll keep you posted if we hear anything. I heard WISH TV is doing a story on this today and I am hoping to contact them to tell our story.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
No end in sight says:
hey, we are at the same stage and I have been advised they have no vendor to supply them with their doors and windows. Therefore, your house, like mine, will set unfinished and unsealed. Trust me, taking a house that stays in this state too long is a bad idea. untreated lumber and plywood is not meant to be exposed for extremely long periods of time. If the bones of your house are not solid, do you really want your family living in it?
November 18th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Michelle says:
I am shocked! I was at the Hansen and Horn model yesterday for a Realtor luncheon, and got no hint of any trouble. I’m speechless!