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.

Well, and the people who paid this person to build them homes and will never see that money again. He left his clients midway through completing their houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly. I certainly hope the homeowners sue to get back the money they sunk into this mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Maybe. But they seem to take twice as long as any other builder, including higher end builders. Could have been the financial piece. And they were starting to cut corners on labor and materials. Can’t say I’m surprised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Maybe. But they seem to take twice as long as any other builder, including higher end builders. Could have been the financial piece. And they were starting to cut corners on labor and materials. Can’t say I’m surprised.

All the local builders bad-mouth each other on this forum. Worse than a bunch of 7th grade girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Exactly. I certainly hope the homeowners sue to get back the money they sunk into this mess.

Bankruptcy makes sure those homeowners will not see much, if any, of the money they gave to this builder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Maybe. But they seem to take twice as long as any other builder, including higher end builders. Could have been the financial piece. And they were starting to cut corners on labor and materials. Can’t say I’m surprised.

All the local builders bad-mouth each other on this forum. Worse than a bunch of 7th grade girls.

A builder that declares bankruptcy deserves to be badmouthed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Maybe. But they seem to take twice as long as any other builder, including higher end builders. Could have been the financial piece. And they were starting to cut corners on labor and materials. Can’t say I’m surprised.

All the local builders bad-mouth each other on this forum. Worse than a bunch of 7th grade girls.

A builder that declares bankruptcy deserves to be badmouthed.

You can have a nice meal at a restaurant that later closes, and get a nice house from a builder who later declares bankruptcy. Life goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

How do you know what client exactly triggered bankruptcy filing and also where the house is located and what size and lot it has...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You seem to be skilled in whining yourself. Businesses that change the way people live to make the most profit while lowering QOL of the surrounding community members will naturally meet resistance and develop bad reputation. Happens every time and for different reasons. Whining about this doesn't help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You seem to be skilled in whining yourself. Businesses that change the way people live to make the most profit while lowering QOL of the surrounding community members will naturally meet resistance and develop bad reputation. Happens every time and for different reasons. Whining about this doesn't help.

LOL. First-world problems call for first-world whining about your QOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Maybe. But they seem to take twice as long as any other builder, including higher end builders. Could have been the financial piece. And they were starting to cut corners on labor and materials. Can’t say I’m surprised.

All the local builders bad-mouth each other on this forum. Worse than a bunch of 7th grade girls.

A builder that declares bankruptcy deserves to be badmouthed.

You can have a nice meal at a restaurant that later closes, and get a nice house from a builder who later declares bankruptcy. Life goes on.

What a dumb analogy. Maybe the only appropriate analogy would be that you buy $2 million in gift cards to a local restaurant, and then the restaurant goes out of business shortly thereafter before you can use any of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

sounds like the builder chimed in

[Anonymous]

I was a victim and I know some of the others. I may never recover from it. They were reputable in the past, I vetted them and so did the community I was building in. However all they did was lie, and they were losing staff left and right. They were masters at pretending to work then disappearing. IMO this was done on purpose and was his exit strategy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You seem to be skilled in whining yourself. Businesses that change the way people live to make the most profit while lowering QOL of the surrounding community members will naturally meet resistance and develop bad reputation. Happens every time and for different reasons. Whining about this doesn't help.

LOL. First-world problems call for first-world whining about your QOL.

I get it, 1%-er problems wanting to squeeze 10k sq.ft into the lots designed for houses 1/3 of that size are the priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You find it sad that a biulder overextended themselves financially? I don’t find that sad, I find it to be poor business decisions. So many builders are floating a ton of lots right now that they cannot sell. They got greedy assuming this areas building/sales market would never dip.

All the lots sold around us are being built, none is sitting, but there is also a glut of new homes over 4m and they aren’t selling. IDK what’s going to happen to all these builders who have completed their homes and have others in the pipeline, but people aren’t buying at these prices.

Does it also mean that people will soon start buying older homes that used to be tear downs and remodeling them instead?

Builders have plenty of cushion with their projects. They make not earn as much or at worst break even but they will sell. No people are not going to purchase tear downs and remodel them - much cheaper to build new.

I am curious what will happen - still seems like alot of $4M+ homes out there either coming soon or available (even some mid- to high- 3s) - curious how much things might come down

Also still trying to comprehend the prices of these place from 1 or 2 years ago - get that pre-covid (2019-2021 saw tons of growth) but many homes bought in 2023-2024 have same lot prices but like a $1M more on the list price - did materials / labor really go up that much?