Hey Folks! It’s been
a while! We are settling nicely into our
new home. Things are coming along
well. Of course there is a long to-do
list of things we want to do to our home, but those things will come in time.
Let’s get down to business…..this will be long.
I am EXTREMELY unhappy with our Ryan Homes “starter lawn”. I will use that term lightly considering our “starter
lawn” is more like a rock garden. When
we closed back in February, our entire yard was covered in snow. It stayed that way for a few weeks because
the snow kept coming! Finally the snow
cleared and we could see our yard. I’ll
start with the front….we got sod in the front and it looked nice from what we
could see. Taking a closer look, our sod
is patchy, some of the sod is very thin, and then there are uneven places. Told PM, he told us to wait until our 10
month. Fine.
Now let’s talk about the back and side yard. In our community, we only get sod and
irrigation in the front yard. On the
sides, we get what is called a “starter lawn”.
This consists of dirt, grass seed, and hay. Now we have a really big back yard. Bigger than what Ryan Homes includes in their
grading and starter lawn. Our lot is unique
because before there was a house on our lot, there was a huge mound of
dirt. This dirt was the holding place
for a retaining pond on the two lots beside us.
Our lot also has a utility easement which they are currently doing a project. There are several huge pipes in this area. Now back in September/October, the pond was filled in with the dirt on
our lot and the land was smoothed out. During
the course of our build, I noticed several places where water was collecting on
the lot. Our PM told us that we would
have to get those places fixed since it was outside of the 25 feet. We kept bringing it up, and he kept telling
us the same thing. The problem is, our
lot past the 25 feet was disturbed by construction. Why won’t Ryan Homes fix this issue?
Now remember, we couldn’t see our starter lawn when we had
our walk-thru and when we closed. When
the snow melted, I added our yard to the list of things that needed work. At that point I noted that there were tons of
rocks and construction debris. I noted several places in our back that were holding water past the 48
hour mark and other things that were not right.
Our PM told us that he would send the landscaping company back out and they
would power rake the yard and put down new seed, but we didn’t need hay. He also told us about how great our back yard
would look since we got two rounds of seed.
Sounds good, right?! I know we
were excited! He also told us that he would talk to the
developer about the holes/ponds in the back yard and that they would be fixed. Well when the landscaping company came back
out, something wasn’t right. One of the
guys was riding around on his machine smoothing out the dirt. Ummmmm…..weren’t we supposed to get a power
rake? So my husband went outside to talk
to the guy who said no one told him he was supposed to power rake, but his guys
could rake the sides and back by hand. When
they were all done everything looked great and it was raining so that was even
better!
Now, here we are a month later and my yard looks absolutely
HORRIBLE! While I know it takes time to
grow and establish a yard from scratch, Ryan Homes should be ashamed of what
they consider acceptable. The amount of
rocks in the dirt they put down is unreal!
How is anything supposed to grow with a layer of rocks?!?
I put in a service
request about the yard and waited the 24-48 hours. No one contacted me. So I put in another service request with some
additional issues with our front and back doors. My service manager (SM) called back in less
than 24 hours and had someone out that day to resolve my issue. I asked my SM if he was responsible for the
yard concerns and he said that my PM was….. My PM called about the yard and
left a message. I called him back and
left a message and didn’t hear back before the end of business that day. Another
day went by….no phone call. The weekend
went by, no phone call. Monday morning,
I call him and we talk. He says he will
go by and look and give me a call that afternoon. He calls back that afternoon and says that
everything was done properly and that there is nothing else Ryan Homes can
do. I ask about the places that hold water and he said nothing can be done until the county is done with a project they are doing in our back yards. He did offer to give me names of some
landscaping companies who could come and fix my yard!! SERIOUSLY?!?!? So Ryan Homes won’t fix it and I’m supposed
to pay someone else to come give me a starter lawn!
There are rocks everywhere and barely any grass. There is still plastic and trash from construction in our yard. In addition, since no hay was put down the
second time they came out there is some erosion going on. This is absolutely unacceptable. This is what Ryan Homes considers a “starter
lawn”. We have a beautiful house, a
decent front yard, and the crappiest back yard I’ve ever seen. It’s really sad and disappointing. And what’s even more disappointing is that
Ryan Homes will not correct the situation. Stuff like this is exactly why Ryan Homes has
a bad name.
Here are pictures......
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| Back Yard |
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| Side Yard |
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| Water |
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| More water and pipes |
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| This picture is from the day the landscaper came out....we had plenty of rain for those seeds to grow. |
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| Rocks and trash |
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| Anyone need some rocks?! |
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| patches in our sod |
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| Big hole exposing more rocks in our sod |
