Complaint Review: KINGSBOROUGH FINE HOMES Kingsborough Custom Homes Kingsborough Fine Custom Homes SBC Kingsborough - Round Rock Texas

This is my personal and corporate rebuttal to an article posted on the Rip-Off Report website from an anonymous source warning any readers about using my services as a custom home builder in the state of Texas. I will address each of the 4 points the complainant attempts to make. I.The first section in the complainant's article is entitled: Identification. The complainant attempts to make the argument that I might be hard to identify personally. The complainant goes on to list thirteen variations of the name of my one building company in an attempt to cause the reader to believe that there has been some deception on my part to hide my true identity and the identity of my building company. Nothing could be further from the truth. With the slightest investigation, anyone can see that I have had the same cell phone number, (512) 940-9008, the same e-mail address, [email protected], and the same business mailing address, 2400 Deertrail Circle, Round Rock, Texas, 78681, for the last 13 years. I have no desire to hide my identity as the complainant suggests. Both my homeowners and I are proud of the 358 high-end custom homes that I have designed, built and sold in Texas since I started building in Dallas in 1977. These homes and the positive history behind their design and construction are who I am from a business standpoint and represent my legacy and reputation as a custom homebuilder. It would be crazy on my part to try to hide or disguise my identity because for the last 28 years I have depended solely on positive word of mouth advertising and referrals from my previous homeowners. You can't build or sell custom homes on a website or by going door to door and prospective clients don't care if you have a mustache, what kind of golf cap you are wearing or if you have a Bible in your truck. They can tell fairly quickly if you know what you are talking about and can easily find out from your previous clients if you can and will do what you say you will and what your contracts legally bind you to do. The complainant also says I claim to have built a mansion in the Cimarron Hills subdivision of Georgetown, Texas, which I sold to baseball star Nolan Ryan. As far as I can tell, this is the only true statement in the complainant's article. In 2002, I designed and built an 8200 square foot home for the Greater Austin Home Builders Association Parade of Homes. About 6 months after the Parade of Homes, I did sell and close that home to Nolan and Ruth Ryan. I did the minor warranty work that the Ryan's had after closing and we have become friends over the last 3 years. I told the Ryan's about this report and they have offered to give a personal and business reference about me, my ability as a homebuilder and my character as a man, to anyone considering using me as his builder. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to disclose the Ryan's contact information on this website, but I will provide it to qualified, prospective clients. If you do talk to Mr. or Mrs. Ryan, I assure you that you will learn that neither of them believes that they got ripped off. I have also posted some pictures of their home so that you can see the quality of work that I do. II. The second section of this report is entitled Individuals (and their phone numbers) who have first-hand experience with this homebuilder. Then it says, conveniently enough, that the names and phone numbers have been redacted for many reasons. Since this website service is free of charge and Rip-Off Reports readily admits it doesn't verify the claims made, it seems unreasonable to me that at a minimum the complainant and his contact information isn't disclosed. If the complainant had a real, verifiable issue against my company, and me, doesn't it make sense that he would hire an attorney and pursue his complaint in court? And since the complainant lives in a $700,000 home that I designed and built, he obviously has the funds to hire an attorney, especially if his claim is valid, he would surely be awarded damages, court costs and attorney's fees. As a matter of fact, this complainant did hire an attorney and through his attorney, we reached an out of court settlement and all parties signed a mutual release and hold harmless agreement. If anyone has violated his contractual obligations, it is the complainant. This anonymous website is the only venue he has, without risking our release being deemed null and void and his being required to pay the balance due on his contract. It is also interesting to note that the complainant does not have even one quality or structural issue to tell the reader about, either in his home or any of the other homes that I have built. The complainant simply dislikes me for whatever reason, regrets having settled with me, and wants to try to harm my family and me by putting me out of business. III.The third section in the Rip-Off report lists websites where the complainant suggests anyone can gain additional information about me. Most of this information has been a matter of public record for 20 years. The complainant had access to this information prior to entering into a contract with me to build his home. But since the price I quoted him on his COST PLUS CONTRACT was over $75,000 less than the other bids he received, his greed allowed him to overlook this website information he now sites as unfavorable. In fact, we discussed the websites and my legal issues at length and he was satisfied with my explanations and recognized that all of the issues, except the tax liens, had been resolved. Again, his greed allowed him to set aside any concerns because he was eager to get the same quality he saw in the Parade Home, for a fraction of the price. I have followed the complainant's instructions to view this information and this is what I have found. First, there are 10 mechanics liens granted to me from clients whose homes I built. This is a standard procedure designed to protect me, the builder, during the construction phase. The amount of my lien is reduced each time a construction draw is paid. The complainant fails to mention that I released each of these liens at closing, including the one on his home when we signed our mutual release and hold harmless agreement. The title company CANNOT and WILL NOT execute a closing with liens outstanding. Secondly, there are 6 abstracts of judgement dating back to 1985 and several IRS tax liens dating back to 1985, with yearly updates for penalties and interest. These are the result of a failed business venture and have been part of the public record for more than 20 years. Many of the tax liens have now been removed or will be removed soon due to the statue of limitations. Thirdly, there are 13 liens with associated releases for Lot 63, Block C, Cimarron Hills, Section II, Phase I. The reason I gave you the legal description for the home that I sold to the Ryan's is so that you can see it is the same legal description that appears several times in the Williamson County Clerks office lien records. There is a simple explanation for these filings and the complainant that wrote this report knows it. The companies that filed these liens did so by agreement with me, the builder. These subcontractors and suppliers represent vendors that agreed to provide labor and materials over and above the original construction budget so that these vendors could participate in the advertising advantages associated with having 15,000 people walk through the house during the Parade of Homes. These vendors were all happy to take a partial payment- the amount of the original construction budget, and a mechanics lien for the overage to provide labor and material for the parade house so that they could showcase their products in hopes of selling them to other homebuilders and future home owners. For the 3 week open house period of the Parade of Homes these vendors had their representatives and literature in the house and were able to talk to the 15,000 people that paid $12.00 each to view this and the 4 other parade homes. The complainant did not bother to tell you or show you how to find out for yourself that all of these liens were paid in full from the proceeds of the sale, and released as per agreement when the house was purchased by Nolan and Ruth Ryan IV. The final section of the Rip-Off report is entitled, One Last Valuable Piece of Information. This section encourages you to contact unnamed subcontractors and suppliers in the Round Rock area to verify the complainant's story. If you can find one single builder that has never had a problem with a subcontractor, supplier or homeowner, I would like to meet him and shake his hand. Homebuilding is a very complicated business, with thousands of written and verbal agreements for services to be provided and fees to be paid. I've managed to stay in business for over 28 years and made a payroll every Friday by choosing good subcontractors and suppliers and requiring that they do a high quality job, on budget and on time and then paying them accordingly. The construction lenders and homeowners that have trusted me over the years have done so because of my reputation and my ability to deliver a quality product. They also understand that all homebuilders are going to have problems and misunderstandings along the way with some homeowners, subcontractors and suppliers. This is to be expected when you consider the sheer volume of business that I've done with over 200 million dollars paid out to hundreds of different vendors and subcontractors. There has never been a single homeowner unable to close or move into one of my homes because I didn't pay the bills or for any other reason. It would be nearly impossible to stay in operation continually for 28 years and build and close on more than 358 high-end custom homes without making some mistakes. If I had it to do over again, there are certainly things I would do differently and clients that I would simply refuse to do business with, like this complainant. But, the bottom line is this. I can honestly tell you that every one of my 358 homeowners loves their home and has realized significant appreciation when it came time to sell. I hope you liked the pictures of the Ryan's home as it represents the culmination of my 28 years of design and construction experience. Remember even the critic that posted this article on Rip-Off reports, could not find one quality or finish-out item to complain about. Please call me at (512) 940-9008 or contact me at [email protected] if you have more questions about my company or me. Thank you.