If You Own A Richmond American Home, You Better Check The Insulation In Your Attic!
Posted on Mar. 01, 2010
Frickin Mom just let me know that Richmond American is at her home right now blowing insulation into her attic.
What’s wild is that there currently isn’t enough insulation to pass code in the state of Utah… That should have been caught by the inspector before the certificate of occupancy was issued. The insulation company also found that there was absolutely no insulation over the master bedroom, master bath, and master closet. No wonder why they have to have huge space heaters in addition to their gas furnace to keep their young children warm at night.
This is just another example of how Richmond American cuts corners and expects to get away with it. If you own a Richmond American Home, please check your attic and see if they shorted you insulation. If so, submit a request on their website to have it fixed. To make sure that it gets fixed, you should probably reference Utah Scams on your request.
ABC 4 Investigates Richmond American Homes Tomorrow Night
Posted on Feb. 28, 2010
From what I have heard, our story from ABC 4 is going to air tomorrow evening at 10:00 PM. This is going to be a two part series about Richmond American Homes, so I am assuming Monday and Tuesday of this week… Not sure yet though.
I will keep everyone posted… should be interesting!
Poli Peters Is Impressing Me
Posted on Feb. 26, 2010
Late last night, I got a personal phone call from Poli Peters to follow up with us about our HVAC unit and our plans to open one of our walls and check out the insulation, vapor barrier, etc.
I really appreciated his willingness to get things moving and stay moving. He and our new home care specialist are really starting to step things up. It is sad that it has taken this to spur action. If Richmond comes through, I will be one of their biggest advocates for their customer service. I’m still not sold on the quality of their homes, but over the last few weeks, Richmond American is coming through.
Richmond American Taking Action?
Posted on Feb. 25, 2010
Holy Crap… Richmond American had the HVAC guys out to take care of our improperly installed and very inefficient furnace. This move on their part has really caught me off guard. They were also out at Frickin Mom‘s house doing some work on their dry wall, which, really surprised me since Richmond just went out there yesterday. Apparently, they haven’t taken a liking to our blogging about them quite yet.
So, back to the HVAC guys…
They came out because our heater, which is in our attic, is leaking massive amounts of heat into the attic because it wasn’t properly installed. They spent about two hours sealing it all up properly and I’m quite satisfied with their job. We will see how much that reduces our insane gas bill this month.
What’s really interesting is when they came down to talk to me before leaving. One of the guys told me that he was very surprised that the heater passed inspection at its previous state. He said it definitely shouldn’t have passed Energy Star certification… So weird right? Those guys over at Energy Rated Homes of Utah never cease to amaze me. He also went on to say that they have been fixing a lot of furnaces in Utah county due to Utah Energy Star not living up to their name or their promises. It really blows my mind that obtaining an Energy Star certification can be so easy and effortless. Maybe I’ll get certified to give certifications (did I say that right?) and do it full time in addition to my current job. I mean pulling in $250 a test when you don’t even test at all… That is a posh job!
I’m very interested to see which card Richmond plays next. Will they start the next project that they promised me? Or will it never happen?
More Richmond American Videos Surfacing
Posted on Feb. 22, 2010
These videos are all from one Richmond American Home that was built just four months ago.
Every door in the Richmond Home has huge gaps in it. This is one of the bedroom doors, but it gets better… The doors going outside also look like this leaking tons of warm air produced by their heater unit. This isn’t just a Richmond American problem, but a huge problem when it comes to an energy rated home… Huh… guess Ben Belk and Energy Rated Homes of Utah should have caught that one.
This is our favorite video by far. This is happening in our home and many other homes in our neighborhood. The ceiling on the top floor is pulling away from the walls. When a Richmond home care representative came to look at it, he said, “oh this happens all of the time because the house was framed with wet lumber”. Interesting… of course it happens all the time on Richmond American Homes…. cause they allow their lumber to get soaked by rain and snow and then keep building without letting it dry out. Retards!
This video is a great example of how Richmond American cuts corners. This closet is not square, was not originally built square, and now one of Richmond’s “engineers” say that he cannot fix it. Stuff like this reduces the value of the home immediately.
This is a tub in a Richmond American Home. This tub has been used just a few times over the last few months. It is pulling away from the floor and if their toilet overflows, which, is a regular occurrence (stupid low flow toilets), this will be the source of a major mold problem under that tub.
Our Richmond American News Story Is Getting Juicy
Posted on Feb. 19, 2010
So… ABC 4 came by the house the other night to interview me and three other neighbors about the problems we are having with Richmond American and Energy Rated Homes of Utah. Prior to that, they had spent about 3.5 hours in another Richmond community (Frickin Moms community) near by and got a lot of juicy material to air on the news.
I got word today from Frickin Mom that Kelli O`Hara, the reporter who interviewed us, is hopping on a plane and heading to Denver to speak with some executives at the Richmond American headquarters. This seriously keeps getting better day by day.
From what I know, this is going to be a three part series on ABC 4 10:00 news. I will post additional info about the day it will air and any info I get back from Kelli after her trip to Denver.
Also, I’m still looking for more videos and more pictures of other Richmond American Homes… If you have any and would like to put some of them on UtahScams.com, please email to utahscams@gmail.com
Richmond American Caught Wind Of Our Videos & Content – Who Gives A Crap?
Posted on Feb. 17, 2010
I got a call from a guy named Poli Peters who apparently heads up all construction and customer satisfaction for Richmond American Homes in the state of Utah. He let me know that he saw our videos on YouTube and that he really didn’t like them. He said that he wanted to get things taken care of right away so those videos and any other negative content about Richmond could be removed from the internet.
At first, I was excited, but after a visit from Poli with no follow up, I am just as concerned, if not more, as I was before his visit.
Last Wednesday, February 10th, Poli and our home care specialist came to my home and the home of two others on my street to discuss concerns and problems we are experiencing with Energy Rate Homes of Utah and other problems with the quality of our homes. I attended two of the three visits and his message was the same… We will get this taken care of right away by doing this, this, and this. Here we are a week later with no follow up from Poli or our home care specialist. Guess what…. I’m officially PISSED! As far as I’m concerned, Poli just came over to put out some fires and give us lip service with no plans to take action any time soon. This is total B.S. The good news is, I recorded our whole conversation on my Blackberry… I got some leverage now suckas!
I guess we will see what plays out over the next few weeks or even months… Kelli Ohara of ABC 4 is coming over tonight and I am going to continue my course against Richmond American Homes and Energy Rated Homes of Utah until I am satisfied with the solution. Do I really give a crap if Richmond doesn’t like our videos and this site? Nope! In fact, I’m thrilled that they know what we are up to and it is going to continue until they take action!
ABC 4 Coming To Visit Tonight – Richmond American Is Getting Blasted!
Posted on Feb. 17, 2010
So… I just got off the phone with Kelli Ohara of ABC 4 and she wants to come meet with me and other Richmond American home owners about our problems that just aren’t getting resolved with these guys.
I am also going to make sure that Energy Rated Homes of Utah get brought into this investigation because they really need to go down hard. An update on that… I contacted many of the organizations that they are associated with and they currently aren’t members of about half of those due to not paying membership dues or flat out being removed from those organizations due to violations, etc. I also contacted Energy Star at a national level and they are very interested in speaking with me regarding their pure laziness and errors they are making. They don’t want their name tarnished by these guys. It is going to be interesting to see what plays out… I hope they lose their license and get hammered by Energy Star and other organizations.
I will keep you posted on both of these investigations. I am very excited to see that my rantings and rantings of other Richmond American home owners are starting to spur some action.
Shame On You Richmond American & Utah Energy Star – Furnace Not Properly Installed
Posted on Feb. 10, 2010
This is a video about an Energy Star home built by Richmond American Homes. This home was certified by Ben Belk of Energy Rated Homes of Utah. This furnace is leaking so much heat into the attic of the home causing natural gas bills to be through the roof.
Tell me, is it normal for a home that is brand new, 2,100 sq. ft., kept at 65 degrees 24 hours a day, to have a gas bill of $210 + each month? There are definitely some problems that need to be fixed and some questions that need to be answered.
Who is going to take responsibility for this? Richmond? or Ben Belk and Energy Rated Homes of Utah?
Update On Ben Belk…
Posted on Feb. 10, 2010
So… apparently this Ben Belk guy doesn’t even work for Utah Energy Star… He works for a company called Energy Rated Homes of Utah. I’ve updated my last post to reflect that.
I am not exactly sure what ties they have to Utah Energy Star, but the certificates that they issue say right on them “Energy Star” so they obviously have some affiliation with them. In addition to that, when I contacted Utah Energy Star about our home, Ben Belk was the individual who emailed me back, so there is something there… When I searched Energy Star’s website, I found this… they are definitely a “partner” whom they back.
Upon review of Energy Rated Homes of Utah’s website, I noticed that they are members of nine different organizations in which I will be reporting them to, in addition to Get Gephardt. I will also be filing a complaint with Utah Energy Star and Energy Star at a national level.
These guys have gotten away with their crap for far too long!
