A talk with a Ryan Homes VP

 I received a phone call today from Dave, a VP of something here in North East Ohio, who wanted to talk to me about an email I sent to crelations@nvrinc.com.  Now before I get into the conversation I should probably explain why I sent the email. 

  A little while ago, I was on Ryan Home’s Facebook page and I came across a posting they made saying, “The time to stop renting is now. Rental prices are way up (and that’s only good news if you’re a landlord). Come visit the beautiful and affordable options at Ryan Homes.”, to which I had commented “Just expect to hear the word "No" a lot when requesting very basic items, including features that you see in the model or blogs of other Ryan Home builders.”  In response to this comment, whoever monitors their Facebook page responded saying that Ryan Homes strives to make every customer happy, and encouraged me to contact them at the above email address, so I did.

  Now I didn’t expect to get anything out of this or be able to change their minds on any of the change request denials that we received, but I figured if they made the effort to contact me, I’d do the same in return.  Well, long story short, after a 26 minute long conversation, I got exactly what I was expecting, no approvals on any of my change requests.  What I did get was a long lecture on just who/what Ryan Homes is, which is an “assembly line” (Dave’s words, not mine) home builder and it is simply not possible for them to make room for anyone’s requests.  Dave went on to explain that basically Ryan Homes is very focused on their demographics, and if you want anything close to a “high end” home, you were better off using a custom home builder, and to this point he offered to give us back all of the money we put down and we could all go our separate ways.

  I was shocked by the refund offer, since I was not trying to get out of the deal, but it does leave me torn and confused.  My wife and I both love the Jefferson floor plan with the elevation C.  It checks off almost all of the boxes on our dream house list, a large master suite, 4 bedrooms, office, dining room, media room in the basement (with the big bonus of this lot being a walkout), and a lot that backs up to a tree line, but there are a few places it falls short.  I’d really like the office to be closer to the garage entrance (because of my work, I carry lots of things in and out), I’d prefer two walk in closets instead of just one, a guest bedroom with an attached bathroom, a two story family room, and a few other things.  And before anyone asks why we didn’t choose the Waverly, or some other floor plan that might have met some of these wants, it had nothing to do with money, it simply came down to “feel”.  We both enjoyed being inside the Jefferson model more than any other we toured (and we toured a lot), the way it flowed from room to room, it felt right, not perfect, but right.  As to why we didn’t go with a custom builder, it was multiple factors.  We liked the fact we could see the “finished” product by touring a model, Ryan Homes would be able to build much quicker than a customer builder, and it felt less daunting.  The idea of finding a sizable lot in a convenient location to our jobs, working with an architect and engineer to design the layout, and then finding a builder that I could trust seemed daunting, so Ryan Homes was the easier way out.  The offer does say a lot about the company wanting their customers to be “happy”, but it also makes me question to whom they are attempting to sell homes.  If the first time my wife and I toured a model, the sales rep came out and said, “Welcome to Ryan Homes.  We specialize in building homes as quickly and cheaply as possible, so you won’t get many options, but it will be a great value.”, then we would have known that Ryan Homes wasn’t for us.  Instead they dazzle you with fully decked out homes featuring upgrades/options that you can’t get, no matter how much you are willing to spend. 

  I hope this post doesn’t offend any former, current, or future Ryan Homes builders, because that is definitely NOT my intent.  My wife and I had agreed, before this phone call, that maybe we could live with putting in granite into the bathrooms, changing the kitchen faucet and a few other things all after closing, and we may still proceed as planned.  We both know that the Jefferson isn’t our complete dream house nor will it be our last home, but will it be “good enough” for now if we just build it as Ryan Homes demands without our personal touches.  That’s the question we will be asking ourselves tonight.