Dominion Homes of Kentucky, Cloverbrook Farms, Mr. Brad Morgan Failed to honor warranty, driveway is falling apart and disintegrating, deceitful sales practices Louisville Kentucky

This complaint comes following several documented attempted to resolve and repair an issue with my defective concrete driveway, walkway and porch, built by Dominion Homes of Louisville, KY.  My home is newly built and less than a year old.

My driveway, porch and walkway were poured during the months of June and July 2013, and recently started scaling and spalling. Essentially, my driveway is crumbling and disintegrating away with gouges and large chunks coming off of the surface. It also has a large crack near the left side of the garage door.  My driveway is merely one of many in my community that is plagued by this defect.

When we first brought the issue to the attention of Dominion Homes, we were criticized for not following the guidelines in the customer care manual, stating that it was our responsibility to seal our driveways. Mind you, we didn’t get our manual until nearly two months after closing on our home because they had run out. Moreover, when we were discussing home care and seasonal maintenance with our superintendent, Mr. Rich Amarello, we specifically asked about sealing our deck and driveway. We were advised that we needed to allow the deck and driveway time to cure and to give them at least a year or full season to do so, before sealing them. Many of my fellow neighbors will attest to this advice given by Mr. Amarello.

On July 24, 2013, we signed the Warranty of Completion of Construction by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was signed and agreed upon by representatives of Dominion Homes (warrantor). In the warranty agreement it outlines the following:

“The undersigned Warrantor further warrants to the Purchaser(s)/ Owner(s) or his/her (their) successors or transferees, the property against defects in equipment, material, or workmanship and materials supplied or performed by the Warrantor or any subcontractor or supplier at any tier resulting in noncompliance with standards of quality as measured by acceptable trade practices. This warranty shall continue for a period of one year from the date of original conveyance of title to such Purchaser(s) or from the date of full completion of each of any items completed after conveyance of title. The Warrantor shall remedy, at the Warrantor’s expense, any defect(s) of equipment, material, or workmanship furnished by the Warrantor. Warrantor shall restore any work damaged in fulfilling the terms and conditions of this warranty.”

We’ve escalated this issue to Dominion Homes’ construction manager, Mr. Brad Morgan and the customer care department. Mr. Morgan visited my home and referenced a harsh winter and said that salt is to blame for the deterioration of my driveway.  I challenged Mr. Morgan and told him that we hadn’t applied any salt to our driveway. We also noted that our walkway and porch was also scaling and spalling.  Mr. Morgan said that even though we hadn’t applied salt directly, that residual salt had fallen off of our vehicles and onto our driveway, while traveling into our garage. Mr. Morgan's theory doesn't account for the spalling and scaling on my walkways and porch.

I told Mr. Morgan that this issue is plaguing my entire community, Cloverbrook Farms, and invited him to look at the other porches and driveways in the community. Mr. Morgan wasn’t interested in doing so and said the other issues in the property had nothing to do with mine. I disagreed, pointing out an obvious pattern of defective driveways and concrete within our community. I even said that if his theory about salt falling from the vehicles were true, every single driveway in our community would also be scaling and/or spalling, as opposed to the majority of homes in my community. Mr. Morgan and I agreed to disagree and he stated that Dominion Homes would not be fixing our driveway.

During our attempts to get Dominion Homes to repair our driveway and other concrete surfaces, we sought the advice of outside, independent concrete contractors.  We also contacted the Kentucky and National Ready Mix Concrete Associations. The information we obtained was consistent and surprised us. In summary and conclusion, they all agreed that our driveway (and our neighbors’ driveways) were defective because of installation error.  Some of the contributing causes leading to spalling and/or scaling are as follows:

a.               Pouring the concrete too wet.

b.               The use of non-air-entrained concrete or too little entrained air, especially at the surface.

c.               Using concrete that has a low strength that allows permeation to water.

d.               Using the improper concrete mixture or mixture proportions for the application.

e.               Application of excessive amounts of deicing chemicals, especially on newly installed concrete that tends to be saturated and of lower strength.

f.                Improper finishing procedures of concrete slabs.

g.               Insufficient curing resulting in a weak concrete surface.

After presenting our outside opinions and findings to Dominion Homes and Mr. Brad Morgan, they maintained that they were NOT going to repair our driveway, walkway and porch. I even pointed out that I had observed installers adding water to driveways while pouring them and not properly curing them. I also observed subcontractors walking/driving on the driveways within a week of installation. Lastly, I reiterated that excessive amounts of salt were never applied (nor did it fall off our vehicles) onto the driveway. Their answer remained the same. Would you believe that Dominion Homes also told me to file a claim with my homeowners insurance to get my driveway repaired.

I will not settle or accept Dominion Homes’ response to our deteriorating concrete driveway, walkway and porch. The purpose of this complaint is to get Dominion Homes to honor the warranty agreement provided by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, signed and agreed upon by representatives of Dominion Homes and I. I will continue to movement until this issue is reasonably addressed and repaired. Dominion Homes has demonstrated a derelict of duty to their customers, customer service and warranty agreements.  This simply will not stand nor be tolerated. 

Dominion Homes' representatives reassured me and my wife that our home would be covered under a one year warranty that covered "any defect". They also signed and agreed to the terms of the form titled Warranty of Completion of Construction by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The language in this form reinforced what was told to us; that everything was covered under warranty, during the first year of living in our home. As a result, we agreed to close and build this home. Dominion Homes has blatantly disregarded the warranty conveyed to me and has left me with no specific recourse. They sold us our home under false pretenses by misleading us to believe that we had a one year warranty that covered any defect related to our home. Had an individual done such to another person, it would most certainly be considered fraud and possibly criminal. We have attempted to be diplomatic with Dominion Homes to no avail.