Many of you know this already, but I thought I would share as it’s difficult for us to explain. Over 3 years ago now we signed a contract to build a new home in Independence, however after approximately 18 months into construction our general contractor went insolvent. Before we began, we believed we had done our due diligence; the builder we chose was suggested by a friend in real estate, had built another house in the same subdivision, and had been in business for more than 15 years. We were contacted by the bank last November to let us know of the situation, and that they wanted to help us finish the build as they weren’t in the business of selling houses. They also told us that the builder had already withdrawn the bulk of the loan (presumably to pay other debt) and the house was not even 50% finished. However, if they had to take a loss on the loan they would.

We were asked to get 3 bids to complete the project and at the last minute they threw in a 4th contractor that they had suggested, who appeared to be the lowest bid. Once negotiations started, their tone changed and they told us they wanted over $200k more than we had originally planned on paying at closing, which we just were not going to do. We were already out a significant amount of money paid to the builder as a deposit (~$90k). We asked that they send the house to auction as is so we could bid on it and it could bring fair market value, but were told they thought they could finish the build and recover more that way.

Fast forward to today and the bank is still working on trying to finish the house with their builder and sell it to try and recover their losses, not only from our build but several others the original builder had going through them. My wife and I easily won a court settlement against the builder; however, he doesn’t have any money, so we are taking a big loss.

KCTV5 had planned on interviewing us in front of the house so that we could give other potential home buyers a heads up on things like deposit trusts and ownership of construction loans; however, they contacted us 2 weeks ago and told me they were really busy with election year coverage and had decided they couldn’t run the story…

At this point I think we’re even more upset with the bank than the builder. We were told so many different things that kept our hopes up and, in the end, felt like they were just playing us to try and recoup some of their losses. Someone may end up buying the house and won’t even realize that it sat without siding or doors and had water in the basement for at least a year and a half. The bank is completing it as cheap as possible, and we know they didn’t fix several of the things they should have.

If you’re interested I wrote them a negative review you can read here: https://g.co/kgs/ZbpdqeB If you find it helpful please like it as I want as many people as possible to be aware of our situation.

Update: 4/28/204:  We were told that a vagrant was found living in the house.  She had been stealing stuff from neighbors’ cars and had a stash inside the home.  The police found and arrested her.  We drove by and noticed that a window had been broken out on the front of home.  From the HOA:  “Apparently also broke into unfinished home across street from us. Contractor found purse, cell phone, and meth when arrived today.”

Update 6/8/2024:  I’ve been following along with the progress that the banks builder has been making towards finishing the house.  Today I stopped by, and they were putting stucco on the house, and as we thought, the bank chose not to replace the worn shealing before doing so.  Back in August of 2023 when we were trying to find builders to finish the house, it was brought to our attention that the ZIP sheathing on the home was only rated for 180 days of external exposure (it was installed Nov. 2022).  We had Huber, the manufacturer, come out and inspect it – they said they would not warranty it and recommend that it be replaced.  Whoever buys this home will probably have no idea.  

Update: 11/6/2024   Pinnacle Bank finally listed it yesterday, 3 years after the original builder started on it, and they are holding true to their word; asking $1.2 million (our closing was supposed to be ~$950k) in an attempt to recover losses on several loans they held when the builder went insolvent.

Update:  11/8/2024  We toured the house and here are a few of our observations:  The electrician the bank used, Arrow Circle, had no previous experience wiring solar and the installation reflects that.  Since they can’t test the solar integration until the city grants PTO (permission to operate) it can’t be tested until it’s sold – who knows if it will work.  They chose not to put an outdoor faucet on the front of the house; this was important because best practice is to clean the solar panels twice per year, and the largest block of active tiles is above the garage. The garage door openers had to be replaced because they tried to install overhead units and there wasn’t enough room (the original plans called for side mounted openers) so you’ll see the original mounting the garage and the new ones look like they were randomly mounted.  The solar company also delivered the older model batteries that were on the original contract (new ones have twice the output), but I can’t blame them.  For some reason the Tesla Backup Gateways were installed inside the house even though the solar installer had drawn up plans to mount them outside. The importance of having them outside was that the batteries could have then been placed on the same wall as the smart panels, thus freeing up a wall for shelving and storage in the mechanical room (there isn’t much storage in the house).  The appliances don’t match (different brands), we were told they were on clearance at Ferguson appliance.  The original plans had a small circle driveway (same one as the larger house 3 doors which this one was patterned after), however the bank chose to pour just a long straight driveway.  This means that this would be one of the few houses in the neighborhood where you must back all the way out to the street when leaving.

The bank had told us they were going to finish the area below the suspended garage, however the only thing that they did was tile the floor, there’s only one vent and no return for HVAC down there, meaning the climate and musty smell will be an issue.   Communication was broken with the Geothermal installer when our builder became insolvent, and we never had a chance to finish the HVAC design for that area and it appears the bank didn’t attempt to work with them on a solution.  Also, the area below the garage shows signs of water on the floor and efflorescence on the floor and ceiling – you can even see this in the photos they posted with the listing services.   The builder chose to hire a designer that he hadn’t worked with before, which we are assuming is because he typically builds on the other side of the city.  The designer he used wanted to do almost everything in gold – it sort of reminds me of a casino, but that’s just personal preference.  We noticed that there weren’t any mirrors, but we assume at some point they will be installed.  The bar has a very large island, which doesn’t really make any sense as you must walk around it when coming down the stairs and there wouldn’t be any room for chairs around it.   The bar itself has space for a full-sized refrigerator, but no room for dishwasher.   One of the biggest disappointments for us was that the builder chose to not put sound dampening in the interior walls and floor, we had suggested that during our initial discussions and thought he agreed that adding R13 to those areas would help cut down on the noise from the area below the suspended garage which is very loud and echoy. While he did install a thicker door down to that area, the window beside it is just a simple single pain window which doesn’t provide any sound dampening.   There are many other finishing decisions that we wouldn’t have made but again, that was what we were expecting.  It was a very sad day.