McLean Custom Home Builder Files for Bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what I heard in the construction field and people that work for them. They will not see a penny and all labor and materials are lost. Many small contractors are out of thousands of dollars and will not see a penny since they filed bankruptcy. They will walk away with tons of money it’s the way the rich stay rich. The blue collar workers are the ones who are gonna take the hit.

Trust me I don’t have much sympathy for the subs either. Most don’t know or care and thus reflected in the workmanship innocent homeowners pay dearly for. They want to rush the job, get paid tons and then you may never see them again. There is no effort to build any goodwill. Easy in and outta here. I’ve been in the industry over 30 years and the subs now control the building process, not your builder who is always in fear of losing the subs. It’s a racket

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I heard in the construction field and people that work for them. They will not see a penny and all labor and materials are lost. Many small contractors are out of thousands of dollars and will not see a penny since they filed bankruptcy. They will walk away with tons of money it’s the way the rich stay rich. The blue collar workers are the ones who are gonna take the hit.

Trust me I don’t have much sympathy for the subs either. Most don’t know or care and thus reflected in the workmanship innocent homeowners pay dearly for. They want to rush the job, get paid tons and then you may never see them again. There is no effort to build any goodwill. Easy in and outta here. I’ve been in the industry over 30 years and the subs now control the building process, not your builder who is always in fear of losing the subs. It’s a racket

Three decades in the industry and I see a very different side of things, but the industry has all kinds and many tiers - as you clearly know. I guess I'm just glad to work with people who care about what they produce, of which there are plenty.

[Anonymous]

Bankruptcy is a strategic tool used by rich people who don't care about screwing over others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The blue collar workers are the ones who are gonna take the hit.

+1

If you walk on any job site the majority of workers you see will be subcontractors. From concrete workers to framers, plumbers, electricians, then finish carpenters, stair + cabinet companies, tile + stone... few will work directly for the builder. I don't know anything about this company, but have known a number of subs who've gotten pinched hard in situations like this.

Pinched hard how? Builder underpaying them while collecting most of the profit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RE taxes on smaller homes are way less-- until they are renovated and the taxing jurisdiction re-assesses them and the taxes increase.

You can remodel to your tastes but you can't get some of the features such as 9 foot ceilings on an older house unless you raised the roof at great expense. You can't always add on because of building restriction lines, lot coverage, and setbacks.

If your lot is not a cookie-cutter rectangle flat lot you likely will have similar limitations anyway when building. IDK the cost of building another floor TBH, is it comparable at all to the costs of demolishing and building a new house and changing all the landscaping that itself can cost a lot? Construction is likely going to cost as much as buying an entire tear down property for a basic builder grade stuff. Maybe if you are your own builder and use piecemeal subcontractors you could make it worth it, IDK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No sympathy for these builders who are building 20,000 monstrosities to sell to foreign governments and foreigners as their 5th home and hogging land and increasing housing costs for people who actually WORK here.

Joy was building houses that got bought by law firm partners, doctors, and tech and trade association executives - all American. Like every other builder in the area, it seemed like the size of the houses was always getting bigger.

They were hated for building houses that occupy most of the lot and for chopping down trees supposedly unnecessarily. I remember seeing the name of this builder in various Nexdoor posts.. I don't think other builders are any different though, the houses that would occupy most of the lot would not leave any of the previous front yard foliage unscathed.

[Anonymous]

I have sympathy for any actual workers (carpenters, plumbers, and so on) who didn't/won't get paid.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have sympathy for the builder but the complaint in the underlying litigation )that apparently triggered the bankruptcy filing) also makes the clients seem like impossible people to deal with — hard to feel too bad for people complaining about changes to a six-car garage or the view from their loggia. Seems like they bought a tough lot to build on (due to setback and environmental requirements) and had impractical expectations for their house, and that the builder did a poor job of recognizing the limitations until they were $100l+ into the project.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have sympathy for any actual workers (carpenters, plumbers, and so on) who didn't/won't get paid.

Don’t feel bad. They will
More than make up for it on the next job. I only have sympathy for the poor unsuspecting homeowner left with the mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just say who they are instead of making people click the link? It’s Joy Custom Design.

Their homes are gorgeous. This is too bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No sympathy for these builders who are building 20,000 monstrosities to sell to foreign governments and foreigners as their 5th home and hogging land and increasing housing costs for people who actually WORK here.

Joy was building houses that got bought by law firm partners, doctors, and tech and trade association executives - all American. Like every other builder in the area, it seemed like the size of the houses was always getting bigger.

They were hated for building houses that occupy most of the lot and for chopping down trees supposedly unnecessarily. I remember seeing the name of this builder in various Nexdoor posts.. I don't think other builders are any different though, the houses that would occupy most of the lot would not leave any of the previous front yard foliage unscathed.

The fussy old people living in small houses in every inner suburb, whether it’s Arlington, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, or McLean, specialize in whining about removed trees because it’s more sympathetic than just admitting they don’t like change of any sort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not just say who they are instead of making people click the link? It’s Joy Custom Design.

Their homes are gorgeous. This is too bad.

But evidently they were sued by a customer, and they were worried enough to declare bankruptcy. So maybe not so gorgeous after all.

[Anonymous]

We used Joy to build our home and had a very good experience with him. He was very thoughtful and did quality work.

I'm sorry to see him go. He had a great team too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We used Joy to build our home and had a very good experience with him. He was very thoughtful and did quality work.

I'm sorry to see him go. He had a great team too.

Hello, Joy! Nice to see you pop up in this thread. Why did you declare bankruptcy instead of honoring your obligations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We used Joy to build our home and had a very good experience with him. He was very thoughtful and did quality work.

I'm sorry to see him go. He had a great team too.

Hello, Joy! Nice to see you pop up in this thread. Why did you declare bankruptcy instead of honoring your obligations?

DP. What a dumb post. Joy built nice houses and they had a lot of satisfied customers. Doesn't mean they may not have had problems with other customers or suppliers.