In April, 2011, we signed the initial agreement with RDA to construct a Westchester Modular home for us in Marion, MA. The actual contract to build was signed in September, 2011, when we sold our home In Taunton, MA. The house was delivered and set on the foundation in January, 2012. We were told it was delivered 2 weeks early and that RDA's work on the house would not commence for 2 weeks. The home was to be completed by April 23, 2012 - approximately 12 weeks from February 1. A minimal amount of work was done on the house during the period Feb 1 to April 23 despite the fact that we were constantly calling and emailing RDA asking them for a construction schedule and a date when the house would be finished. We advised them that lease on the house we rented during the construction period would end in May and we needed to get the house done so we could move in. We were never given a construction schedule or a completion date for the house. We were given many excuses, most of which involved RDA’s claims that the subcontractors failed to show up when they were supposed to. We were told that the plumber was working in Boston on another job, that the Painters disappeared, that work would start on ‘Thursday’ - For approximately 5 weeks, we were told that the person who would be pouring the concrete basement floor would 'be there on Thursday'. Ultimately, we were told by the sub-contractors that they would not continue working on our house because they were not getting paid. When we questioned RDA, we were told that the delays were due to ‘scheduling problems’. On April 21, Don Shulman, personally visited us and told us he had run into some cash flow problems because someone had ‘defaulted’. He asked us to advance him $19,000 for the purpose of supplying any materials and labor as needed in order to complete the house within three weeks (May 12). The advance represented a portion of the remaining funds to be disbursed to RDA from our mortgage with Salem Five. Our advanced funds would be repaid to us by RDA as the remaining funds were disbursed by the bank. The agreement also states that RDA would pay us a penalty of $100 per day for every day after May 14 that the house was not completed. We gave RDA the $19,000 on April 22 with the agreement that the house would be completed by May 14. At the time, there was approximately $36,000 left in the mortgage account, $19,000 of which was to be repaid to us. Within several days $9000 was disbursed to RDA from the remaining mortgage funds leaving approximately $26,000 in the construction mortgage. We saw no significant progress on the house after the $19,000 was advanced. We would find RDA crew sitting in trucks in our front yard doing no work. They told us that they had no supplies and also told us they were not being paid. We continued to call the RDA office asking what was going on, when work would be done and when the house would be completed. Everyone we spoke to was evasive. At one point, we had left 5 messages for Don Shulman to call us with no response from Mr. Shulman.
On May 10, the concrete basement floor was finally poured. On May 14, the house was not complete or even livable – water had not been brought into the house, the boiler and hot water heater had not been delivered, the electrical finish work had not been worked on, the sewer connection had not been worked on. We continued to ask what was going on, reminding RDA that we would be without housing soon but still did not receive any answers and no completion date. We called the bank holding the construction loan, explained what was going on, and asked them to hold any further disbursements of the loan unless we approved it because we had given RDA $19,000 in cash to complete the work. The bank agreed to do this. We also began to call the sub-contractors and were told again that they had not been paid for work already done on our home, as well as other RDA projects and would not do any further work for us unless they were paid. Ultimately, we had to pay over $20,000 buy materials and to pay sub- contractors, including the plumber, the electrician and the flooring people, among others, to have the work done that we had already paid RDA to have them do. We finally moved into the house on August 17, however, there were still items that were incomplete, the basement floor was cracking and the foundation wall where the sewer pipe comes in was leaking. We made RDA aware of these issues more than once. They sent a worker to our home once to put sealer on the foundation wall around the sewer pipe. The wall still leaked and we made them aware of it. Bill De Antonio from the RDA office said he would send someone out to look at it again, however, that never happened. The RDA contract provided for a walk-through 30 days after occupancy to address any problems that may have developed – that 30 day walk-through never happened. The contract also provides for a one year follow up which we anticipate will not happen either.
As I write this today, January 24, 2013, we now have cracks in the foundation and cracks in two of the bedroom walls. We have nowhere to turn to get these problems addressed and will end up paying for these repairs from our own pocket once more.
Beyond the additional expense, we experienced 6 months of incredible anxiety and stress as we wondered if we would see our home finished. RDA, and Don Shulman in particular, turned what should have been a joyous and exciting experience into a living nightmare.
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