Business ProfileforThomas James Homes

We were under contract with TJH for a house in ******. When we had viewed it, absolutely nothing was disclosed about the ground water issue. We were told just part of the back fence was left to do and the home was otherwise ready to move in. It was only AFTER we went under contract that 10 days later the president of the Pacific NW region called me saying there was a ground water issue and they would not be able to close. They were in breach of the contract. A conference call a few days later revealed that they HAD KNOWN ABOUT GROUND WATER ISSUES from the beginning, when they started excavating, and they had tried to fix it with an additional sump pump (that was running 24/7) and a large dry well but they could not get the ground water under control - none of this was disclosed to us when we saw the home and specifically asked what issues there were with the house. They kept trying to push other properties on us and they were quick to mention they had "talked to their attorneys" and that they had "no liability" (NOT TRUE per our legal counsel - we could have sued under a construction defect claim had we still wanted the house, and apparently people have sued *** over this defect claim in the past). They knew they were in breach of the contract, and they didn't even try to fake empathy for the situation they had put us in. At the end of the day, we didn't want to stay in a shoddy house, but dealing with them not only ruined our home buying experience, but also made me never want to set foot in a Thomas James home ever again. In short, if you do decide to do business with these people, request to see their soil reports, engineering reports, any report that you can think of. Their word means nothing. Even if it's a new build, get an inspector, engineer, real estate lawyer, whatever, to protect your own interests. I have no doubt that these people will try to s**** you if given the chance.