This I am new to the forum and unfortunately another victim of Paul Manley.

If even one person reads this thread and decides not to use Paul Manley, it's worth the time it took to write.

At many, many points through the building process, it was evident that Paul was not a reputable or good builder. But we were in a contract and tried to make it the best we could. In hindsight, walking away was probably the better option.

Now 6 months into the house, piece by piece the house is breaking down. Foundation. Cracks in drywall. Ac unit.

One thing that was evident from the beginning, he does not have good contractors. The finish work on our house is atrocious. It's as if the person who did the trim work was doing trim work for the first time.

The warranty may as well not exist. It takes months of emailing and calling to get him and his one employee to respond.

I'll share some pictures to help paint the picture. Keep in mind this is 6 months in. If you want to download further please message me and I'm happy to connect.

Well that just sucks I am so sorry for your house and the sleepless nights that you are having and will probably have over the next three years although they will be further apart as time goes by

Agsforlife1988 said:

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This I am new to the forum and unfortunately another victim of Paul Manley.

If even one person reads this thread and decides not to use Paul Manley, it's worth the time it took to write.

At many, many points through the building process, it was evident that Paul was not a reputable or good builder. But we were in a contract and tried to make it the best we could. In hindsight, walking away was probably the better option.

Now 6 months into the house, piece by piece the house is breaking down. Foundation. Cracks in drywall. Ac unit.

One thing that was evident from the beginning, he does not have good contractors. The finish work on our house is atrocious. It's as if the person who did the trim work was doing trim work for the first time.

The warranty may as well not exist. It takes months of emailing and calling to get him and his one employee to respond.

I'll share some pictures to help paint the picture. Keep in mind this is 6 months in. If you want to download further please message me and I'm happy to connect.

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Oh man I am so sorry. I recently had a house built too and I cannot imagine these issues popping up 6 mths in especially things like foundation.

Did you have a real estate agent representing you??
Was a home inspector involved before closing?

What was your reason for choosing Manly to build your house ?

JP76 said:

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Very few agents have a through knowledge of all the facets of construction that become a finished house. I have seen 7 figure houses that were pure junk just because the builder had a good rep and the customers felt there was no need for a third party inspection at various stages. The reality is most builders in BCS are no longer hands on and usually delegate oversight to someone who either does not know what true craftsmen ship looks like or they just don't care anymore.

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This right here. If I ever had the funds to build new I would have multiple inspections by a home inspector throughout the process.
I have had crappy remodel work done and had to bring in a home inspector to testify in arbitration since they would be a third party professional opinion.

nice of you to opine 9 years later

JP76 said:

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Very few agents have a through knowledge of all the facets of construction that become a finished house. I have seen 7 figure houses that were pure junk just because the builder had a good rep and the customers felt there was no need for a third party inspection at various stages. The reality is most builders in BCS are no longer hands on and usually delegate oversight to someone who either does not know what true craftsmen ship looks like or they just don't care anymore.

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Yep. Ronnie White was one of the best custom home builders in the area. He was on the job every single day. If you are building a house, spend the money for an independent inspector. It will save you in the long run.

I'd 100% recommend a custom home have a 3rd party inspector involved along the way. Even some good builders will absolutely take short cuts and get over on customers if they don't respect the person's knowledge and think they won't get called out. Better to let builder know they are being watched all along.

RIP Ronnie. Great guy.

maddiedou said:

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You really just need good contractors but of course clients do not know the builders contractor's and builders use whoever can show up


I could build a house today and never look at the job and it would be done almost ton perfection

Now I would look almost everyday but that is because I am committed to the customer and can not stand any problems

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Yeah I was just about to add, better home builders with great track records use good subs and have, and here's the important part, LEVERAGE with those subs because of the amount of work they do with them.

Some of the complaints had on this recent bump could be extended to even some of the semi-custom home builders building these new neighborhoods like Greens Prairie and what not.

I thought about making a bigger post pointing out flaws with builders, but my goal is to not ruffle any feathers but more so help educate people.

I would say that my knowledge of construction is limited to the construction science courses I took at A&M and what I've experienced from building my own home, helping clients who are building their own and walking through construction sites with the wife as a past time. I've also got a disgusting habit of watching home building videos (ok mostly This Old House) late at night/early in the morning when I can't sleep....

The numbers of corners cut is just egregious and quite frankly would devastate some of the builders here if they tried to do this/cut them in bigger markets like Dallas or Houston. That's not to say they are all bad because I recognize they have a limited pot of funds and have to be smart with allocating it - but it's still not an excuse.

I think one of the best solutions to protecting yourself are the following:

• exactly as others mentioned with hiring an independent 3rd party inspector. We need more in this town IMO, but they need to be used more which is a catch 22.
  
• You also need to be able to play hard ball with the builder if you notice things are wrong. That means "I am not going to approve anymore withdrawal/funding requests with the bank until you fix XYZ issues". If you are paying for Level 5 Drywall/Finish out, you should expect Level 5! Even if this means buying a high powered light and placing it against the wall to see all the blemishes and pointing them out.
  
• Walk your homesite and the job MULTIPLE times a week, if not every day. Do this randomly on each visit and at least a few times while the workers are there.
  
• Take photos of things that look suspect and ask your GC questions. Don't be afraid to ask the sub's foreman questions as well. If you ask it, that means they are going to be more mindful. They want to be avoid getting called out, but even more - they want to avoid having to comeback and re-doing the work at their expense.
  
• Don't be afraid to use google and determine how things should look or be constructed. Not asking to become an armchair QB/expert but enough to educate yourself and ask the questions. This can also extend to taking a photo and asking Texags what they think (I have done this quite a few times...).
  
• Your goal here should be to find out what you don't know and ask to learn. If you don't even know what you don't know, that is not good....

means "I am not going to approve anymore withdrawal/funding requests with the bank until you fix XYZ issues". If you are paying for Level 5 Drywall/Finish out, you should expect Level 5! Even if this means buying a high powered light and placing it against the wall to see all the blemishes and pointing them out.


Lordy, I'd hate to be the builder of your house! Construction is not and never will be perfect. It's made by human hands and not under factory conditions. There is a level of acceptance but your definition exceeds that. What is Level 5 Sheetrock btw?

crbongos said:

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means "I am not going to approve anymore withdrawal/funding requests with the bank until you fix XYZ issues". If you are paying for Level 5 Drywall/Finish out, you should expect Level 5! Even if this means buying a high powered light and placing it against the wall to see all the blemishes and pointing them out.


Lordy, I'd hate to be the builder of your house! Construction is not and never will be perfect. It's made by human hands and not under factory conditions. There is a level of acceptance but your definition exceeds that. What is Level 5 Sheetrock btw?

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Didn't say Level 5 Sheetrock, I said Level 5 Drywall. Which is the finish out on the drywall with a smooth and clean surface that's been skimmed with a couple of layers. Typically seen on higher class homes.

Link: https://www.alstapingtools.com/blog/what-is-a-level-5-drywall-finish-a-look-at-the-different-finishing-levels

I understand that construction is not and never will be perfect, because it is made by humans who themselves are not and will never be perfect.

and I don't think my definition should be considered unrealistic or exceeding. If you are paying huge sums of money for a new home, should it not be reasonably assembled with quality and care?

Would you expect cabinets to be built with MDF or actual wood?
Would you expect the floors to be laid properly?
Would expect the paint shouldn't be watered down to get more coverage that causes it to crack and break off in a bathroom over the shower?
Would you expect the quality matches the premium you paid for higher level finish outs?

Am I crazy for wanting to make sure the end product matches the price?

Yes and no

I had a giy I did sheetrock for just a patch that we spent 40 min on ladders and with flash lights at all different angles because he thought the textured did not match

I never saw what he did and I spent alot of time looking to try to make sure I did not screw up

Now I get it was a sheetrocknpatch not a 500,000 plus house

Also I would not ever be an inspector because now all the blame has gone from the GC to inspector if he does not see anything that could have been missed

Perfect example of what I am talking about….

This is my master bathroom and afternoon project. House was built by a local reputable builder and is just under 5 years old.

Very likely it's from the Mrs. taking steamy hot showers without the exhaust fan on combined watered down paint combined with improper surface prep? I won't fault the builder because it's just surfaced recently and gotten worse over two weeks.

and as a construction professional I can say with certainty that most 3rd party inspectors only know what's in the book and there CE classes. They do very little for you for the buck, most bankers have more knowledge. Just sayin. 3rd party eye balls aren't the key to this, the key is to not be cheap when hiring contractors and hire the one who have been around and have good reviews.

Red Pear Luke (BCS) said:

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Perfect example of what I am talking about….

This is my master bathroom and afternoon project. House was built by a local reputable builder and is just under 5 years old.

Very likely it's from the Mrs. taking steamy hot showers without the exhaust fan on combined watered down paint combined with improper surface prep? I won't fault the builder because it's just surfaced recently and gotten worse over two weeks.

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I dont believe that is paint problem it is a mud problem

maddiedou said:

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Red Pear Luke (BCS) said:

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Perfect example of what I am talking about….

This is my master bathroom and afternoon project. House was built by a local reputable builder and is just under 5 years old.

Very likely it's from the Mrs. taking steamy hot showers without the exhaust fan on combined watered down paint combined with improper surface prep? I won't fault the builder because it's just surfaced recently and gotten worse over two weeks.

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I dont believe that is paint problem it is a mud problem

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or a water leak in that joist cavity where the tape is failing

Looks like they did a patch at your shower head also

Did you by chance add a shower head after it was sheetrocked

maddiedou said:

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Looks like they did a patch at your shower head also

Did you by chance add a shower head after it was sheetrocked

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We purchased it and it was like that.

My favorite part not shown is the plumbers tape around the downpipe from the ceiling where the rainfall shower head connects.

I'm on the way to Lowe's to go get some stuff to fix it. Think it goes deeper than the mud? My plan was to just scrape the entire seem and re-mud, primex2 and paintx2.

Never had this issue in any of my houses so hoping it's not a bigger issue.

I can texture it for you if you need me to for free and it will not take long if you have it sanded but you need to scrape back a bunch but it is your call and good luck that texture is easy to matxh most of the time

Red Pear Luke (BCS) said:

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maddiedou said:

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Looks like they did a patch at your shower head also

Did you by chance add a shower head after it was sheetrocked

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We purchased it and it was like that.

My favorite part not shown is the plumbers tape around the downpipe from the ceiling where the rainfall shower head connects.

I'm on the way to Lowe's to go get some stuff to fix it. Think it goes deeper than the mud? My plan was to just scrape the entire seem and re-mud, primex2 and paintx2.

Never had this issue in any of my houses so hoping it's not a bigger issue.

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I'd bet it's just from humidity. But I'd also try to take a look at it from the attic to confirm there wasn't a minor leak, if you can get to it.

In high humidity areas, you would want to be sure to use moisture resistant drywall tape.

You would also have better longevity if you used a satin or semi-gloss paint in lieu of matte or eggshell.

Shout out to Maddiedou for helping me figure out walking me through the steps that I need to go through!

Pulled the tape til it ripped. Tried to look at it from the attic but I can't squeeze down the narrow section it is in.

Problem is on the far side or right side of the seam (towards the shower head) - the drywall is really soft and sort of damp. It's damp along the seam, but also onto the drywall part up to the waterfall head. Makes me think we may have a leak…

Sorry for derailing the thread!