NDI Homes Of Maryland Inc.

In November of 2012 we moved into our now home in Bethesda MD. The process was challenging at times however we worked through many of issues with NDI Homes of MD. In early October of 2013 we had a site visit by NDI owner Tom Lizzo along with a new site manager to address some issues to make sure we could move in by November. One of those issues was the presence of Mold in the garage and a mold/musty smell in the basement. NDI hired a professional to remediate and remove the mold and told us the smell in the basement would eventually go away. In March of 2013 we had our 90 day walk through some general issues along with some open issues from a Site Visit dated 10-23-12. The general issues included some minor repairs, several items that were to be addressed by the subs, and several areas of drywall cracking near the trim and some on a few walls. The drywall items seemed normal considering the settling of the house. The drywall issue was repaired however over the course of the next few months some of the areas of cracking came back along with entire seems of drywall starting to appear in the Master Bathroom and Bedroom. Eight foot sections of the seems of the drywall are visible. We bought this up (in addition to the smell in the basement) in our 11 month walk through and some of the drywall repair was done however the contractor for NDI, Jeff Rock, said he would have to get approval to do the drywall seam repairs. This was in January of 2014. I had never heard back so I contacted Heidi Thomas on May 7, 2014 to which she told me she would have it taken care of and that Jeff Rock would schedule an appointment. I then followed up via email 5 times before I received an answer on June 5, 2014. Heidi said Jeff Rock had been contacted and would reach out to me shortly. On June 20, 2014 I reached out to Jeff Rock myself only to find out he was never told to preform he repairs. I contacted Heidi immediately only to get an answer on June 24, 2014 that Tom Lizzo would not approve the work order until a permit issue was resolved with Montgomery County. During the construction of my home the site conditions called for a large retaining wall that was outsourced to a Great Scapes. NDI site-super Steve Point (who was fired at the completion of my home)told Great Scapes that the wall was permitted and to start construction. On May 11, 2014 I was notified by Montgomery County Department Of Permitting Services that the retaining wall was never permitted. They conducted an investigation and issued NDI Homes a Notice of Violation along with Great Scapes for doing the work. Great Scapes acted on the information from the NDI Site-Super. Montgomery County is requiring either NDI Homes or Great Scapes to go through the permitting process to resolve the case. Of course this has nothing to do with the drywall issues in our home however NDI has refused to honor their commitment and stand by their product not to mention it took 12 emails and 18 voice mails to find this out. Unfortunately the above issue is a minor issue compared to the other outstanding issues we need addressed. I mentioned to NDI that the Hardy Plank on the exterior of the home is at grade level and I learned that there should be a minimum of 6 inches between the grade and the Hardy material. NDI Homes performed the final grade of the house and is refusing to even acknowledge the problem. In addition as mentioned above our basement continues to have a mold/musty smell. We have had several folks look at it including the HVAC company and they find it unusual that it still smells this long after construction. And finally today we found mold in our garage, something that was supposed to be taken care of back in October of 2013. This was the final straw and I have no confidence that NDI will resolve the situation. I am happy to share my experience in detail to anyone that is considering them - email me at vtohan@gmail.com We are looking to resolve these issues starting with the most basic and urgent first: 1. Mold in Garage - mold on the wall separating the two garage doors needs to be remediated and repaired along with finding the root cause of its presence. Keep in mind this was an issue NDI acknowledged on the 10-23-12 site visit 2. Mold/musty smell in basement - odor in basement needs to be resolved and root cause needs to be determined. Also an issue from 10-23-12 site visit 3. Drywall Issues - the evidence of seams coming apart in the Master Bedroom and Bathroom is clearly an issue of sub-standard workmenship and was identified to NDI within the 12 month home warranty. In addition I have email correspondence confirming that contractor was scheduled however NDI had no intention of fixing. 4. Final Grade - grade level is touching the Hardy Plank material. I confirmed with manufacture and Montgomery County that there should be 6 inches between grade and material. This needs to be addressed. 5. Permit for Retaining wall - Site-super coordinated the entire construction of the wall (I have several emails that I sent to the county) and claimed that it was permitted. Based on that Great Scapes preformed the work. Site-Super fired after the completion of the house for many situations just like this one. NDI needs to obtain permit and have Montgomery County close the case.

We purchased an NDI built home in Feb. 2012. Excellent quality and construction and the customer service has been great (when needed).