Padilla Homes - Rafael Padilla President Padilla Homes Inc. sells itself as a high end homebuilder but cuts corners, abuses and intimidates their customers, and violates city code. El Paso Texas

In 2004, my wife and I purchased a home from Padilla Homes Inc. in El Paso, Texas. The home was to be built in a new subdivision located in a hilly area of town. During the initial process, Rafael Padilla, the owner of Padilla Homes, Inc. was very polite and patient as this was our first time having a house built.

After we had paid the initial earnest money and a down payment on the lot, we were informed that there would be no refund if we changed our minds and cancelled the purchase. No problem, we loved the location and liked (and trusted) Mr. Padilla. After we signed the contract Mr. Padillas demeanor changed. When we found mistakes, like when the workers did not insulate our garages (we paid extra for the insulation), Mr. Padilla would become aggressive towards us. Padilla Homes, Inc. would call us during the build and ask if we would prefer (for instance) tile or carpet in a certain area of the house and we would choose.

They would tell us there was an extra charge for our decision because of this or that and we would pay the cash they required. Then they would tell us there was a fee for the change order (why a change order? We did not change anything, they asked us what we would prefer). We would pay, mostly because we had no experience in these matters, but also we thought maybe if we fought back, Mr. Padilla would cancel our contract and keep all the money we had put into the house. He had mentioned to me that someone else offered him a lot more for my house that we were paying. I dont know if he meant to scare me or what his motivation was but it really made me nervous. He later threatened to cancel our contract and keep the $10,000 cash we had already invested when I told him my pool was only 6 feet deep and I paid for a 7 foot deep pool. At that point he actually yelled at me and I really thought he would assault me! He really flipped out and it was frightening.

Eventually, the house was near completion, late of course (but when has a builder ever been on schedule), and Mr. Padilla began demanding the money for the house. He actually called my wife on her cell phone and cursed at her demanding the money. He did the same to me so I asked him what we were waiting for to close on the house and he replied that we were waiting on the lender. He called our lender and treated her the same way. The lender stated that the buyers (my wife and I) had told her that the house was not completed and would not allow us to close on it until everything was done. Mr. Padilla stated that the house was done and that my wife and I were liars. The fact is that the house was mostly done, it was only about a week from completion, but the VA wont close on house until it is totally done. Something Mr. Padilla didnt know was that one day prior to his tirade our lender (and a good friend of ours) visited the building site and saw what the condition was. She told us she refuses to ever do business with Padilla Homes, Inc. again. Again Mr. Padilla was abusive towards us, his customers, and he was abusive towards our lender.

After closing on the house, we were instructed to fill out and fax warrantee repair sheets whenever we found a problem with the house. We did, and the foreman, Jesus, came to the house to see what the repairs would be. As I showed him the discrepancies he instructed me to initial next to each item on the worksheet. He explained that it was to indicate that I had shown him the items. I did as he instructed and he said someone would be over in the next few days to take care of the problems.

A week went by and I called Padilla Homes, Inc. and inquired as to when someone would come over and fix the problems. A few hours later Jesus showed up and showed me the worksheet with my initials next to the items and stated that my initials indicated that all the problems were fixed or that I did not want them fixed. Come on, did he think I was as stupid as he was? I told him it was a nice try and to get someone over here today to fix the problems.

One of the problems we noticed was a crack forming between our rock wall fence and the cool decking of our pool. The rock wall retains about 5 to 6 feet of soil (and our swimming pool) from tumbling down the hill at the rear of our property. Padilla Homes, Inc. sent out a guy to fill the crack with cement while ignoring the fact that this was a structural issue. Long story short, I had the property inspected by the El Paso, Texas Chief Building Inspector, the Chief Residential Building Inspector, and commissioned an Engineers Report. This report stated the wall was built wrong, did not have any of the required permits or required Engineering Plans, and would fail in the next five years.

As a side note, as I said before, the wall was rotating since we moved into the house. In 2006 we had a real bad flood in our town and it did a lot of damage. Mr. Padilla stated to everyone that a wall of water crashed through our yard and pushed on our wall. Thats right, a wall of water at least 3 feet high, miraculously missing our house, my neighbors house, and my pool, crashing over my neighbors short wall and pushing mine outward. A complete fabrication.

We contacted the BBB (who I will discuss in another report), and lost the arbitration. They stated that even though the wall is built incorrectly, it is built correctly (yeah, you try to figure that one out). We got all our ducks in a row and contacted the Texas Residential Construction Commission (they are very fair and can help consumers a lot better than the BBB) who told us that we didnt qualify because of the time it took to present the case to them (again, thank you BBB). Our lawyer told us that since we went to arbitration, however messed up it was, that it would be an entirely different battle we would have to fight in court. Then we would have to fight the breach of contract in court. He told us it would probably be easier to just repair the wall and just let it go. He said it just made sense monetarily.

Now here we are, facing a $15,000 repair project that would have never happened if Mr. Padilla had built the retaining wall correctly. It would have required an engineers design, a little bit of extra material, and the backfill that would have held the wall in place for the life of the house.

To sum it up, Mr. Padilla charged us for work that was never done, cut corners and used shoddy workmanship (too much to list, but it is documented). He was hostile and verbally abusive towards us, using profanity and intimidation tactics to attempt to chase us out of the deal, and he refused to fix some warrantee items. When the repairs were made, they were substandard and very messy. We actually had to clean up after the workers and re-repair some of the items. I finally just gave up and started doing the repairs myself.

I paid to have the plumbing repaired in the upstairs bathroom, I paid to have a drain put in my pool since Padilla Homes, Inc. failed to include one, I repaired my leaky roof myself, I repaired all the cracking grout in the bathrooms and kitchen, etc, etc, etc. All while the house was under warrantee. It was just easier and I knew it was done right.

Every claim I have made in this report is documented with the exception of his verbal abuse and statements that were made verbally by Padilla Homes, Inc. and their agents. The only proof of the verbal abuse is my word, my wifes word, and our lenders word.

I would not buy another house from Padilla Homes, Inc. even if they were to sell it for $5. It was not worth all the sleepless nights and the difficulty it caused my wife and I.

Run4thebrdr
el paso, Texas
U.S.A.