ST JOHNS, Fla. — A new community, more complaints. We’ve been tracking complaints about Richmond American Homes from Middleburg to Yulee, and from Fernandina Beach and not to St. Johns County.
Residents living in the Grand Creek South neighborhood are desperate for help after living with cracks and mold for more than a year.
“It's crappy work, crappy workmanship, this is what I think of when I think of Richmond, crappy homes,” Homeowner Duana Brown said.
Inside Duana Brown’s home there are cracks, mold, and unsealed grout.
“I clean it and it comes right back,” Brown said. "We did have a mold company come here and they want to take and remove the whole bench which I'm okay with because we have to find the source of the mold because it keeps coming back and they have yet to approve them to do that. I have tried to contact the corporate office when you go into a vicious loop. You can't get a warranty at all, you can't get a hold of anybody higher up in the company."
First Coast News attempted to contact Richmond American Homes by calling the corporate office in Denver but no answer. We visited the sales office inside the Grand Creek South neighborhood in St. Johns County during business hours, but the doors were locked. Employees at Richmond’s regional office in Jacksonville also said they were not allowed to comment.
“Those minor things, as minor as some might say, just come out and repair them, fix them,” Brown said.
Brown’s neighbor, Gracie Lopez, is also feeling the frustration and to her, it’s not all minor, it’s a safety issue.
“I am just concerned about the roof because if the little pieces are coming down, what else,” Homeowner Gracie Lopez said.
Brown says she wants the quality she and her neighbors paid for.
“You want your dream home,” Brown said. "When you go through a model home, that's what you see. And then they build it. And that's not what you get. It's very unprofessional and it's very disappointing."
As we’ve reported previously, having an attorney review a new home contract can at least give you clarity about what you are signing.
But the On Your Side team has contacted the Florida Attorney General to see what other options might be available to these homeowners.