Michael Odom

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• By Deborah

  April 30, 2012

  Micheal Odem LLC of 57 Sixty Oaks Lane SC 29045 built our home in Lugoff, SC. Although what was built was done well, with the exception of some items on the punch list that were not corrected there were many other issues ignored and passed over as we were lied to from the beginning of our contract.
  Being our first time to have a house built and being in RI and building in the South we would have never considered building so far away if it were not for our future neighbor who has completed the inside of his own home and had a close friend who was a builder but could not build our home but both would over see the building of our home and keep us well abreast of happenings with photos and videos and emails which they did.
  In the beginning with the signing of the contract Michael Odem said to bump our house out 4 feet (which we requested) he would have to charge us an extra 10K and we were upset as we previously were quoted a price 10K less by another builder who actually built the same house but was too busy to build ours at the time and when we told Mr. Odem this he said he could not do it for less but guaranteed us he builds a solid home a home he would be proud to live in himself. When Mr. Odem prepared the contract and I read it over and saw the bump out/extra square feet was not listed and I said I want that in the contract he said the bank will only allow him to submit the contract with the original plans and that he would have to add the bump out as a supplement. (which he never did). After a long debate and not knowing if this was true or not we agreed to sign the contract but told Mr. Odem we reserve the right to void the contract within 10 days if he did not submit the supplement to the bank. Only days passed and we received a call from Mr. Odem asking us to let him clear the land while we were still in the midst of getting bank approval. We approved the land clearing feeling very confident about getting our loan approved which we did. We discussed what we wanted cleared when we were there the day we signed the contract and although most went well Mr. Odem left a large 4 foot high dirt pile clear across the back yard which he should have taken out and was considered debris as in the contract he was to remove all debris from the clearing once the house was finished and leave the yard ready for landscaping. During the building of our home everything seemed to go very well until our neighbor sent us photos of the framing and showing the windows were in and I saw in my master bath that there was a huge clouded window over my large master bathtub. I called Mr. Odem and said I specifically told you I wanted a clear window and reminded him I bought 4 acres and kept it wooded for privacy and reminded him of our conversation and that I told him I was an outdoor person and wanted to be able to look out that big window and feel like I am out doors while I am bathing. He insisted NO such conversation took place and that if I wanted the window changed out I would have to pay for a new window and the cost was $300.00. VERY upset about this and we told him to change that window or we would hold back the next draw. My neighbor kept us informed and the window was not being changed. Finally it got changed when we told Odem to charge us as we were at this point close to the house being finished. In our contract we submitted kitchen plans and he left 2 cupboards out, a lazy Susan and in the corner where a large Lazy Susan goes he put 2 separate cupboard doors very small instead of a door that looks like 2 doors but is one and kind of slides as you pull it open for a large opening to be able to get in the corner properly. So we have to get on the floor to put things in and out of this area as it is very deep. At the point when we noticed the master bath tub window we began to pay closer attention and noticed he was not putting the wall wains cote in the dining room and when we questioned this he said "I'm not putting that stuff in that is expensive". We said when we went over the contract we told you we wanted wains cote you knew this you are charging us for it and he fought like a baby over this for a month and suddenly I saw it was going up in photos that were sent to me by by my future neighbor. Everything became a cat an mouse game he even chuckled on the phone when he saw I was upset like he enjoyed this. The smooth building experience became strained. To sum things up in the end when I flew to SC from RI because he said the house was done and ready for a walk through and I got there only to find numerous paint issues and many other things that needed to be corrected I was so not happy as it is not cheap to fly from RI to SC and rent a car cost about $400.00. He said "that is what a punch list is for". I said I can not afford to come back again to check to see if things are corrected before releasing the final draw and told him my SC neighbor will have to send me photos and told him as my husband could not come with me that he would have to review the punch list also to see if there is anything he wanted to add to it before the final draw was released. He agreed and I flew home to RI. A few days later I received a call from my neighbor who went to check to see if things were being corrected and he told me the door locks were changed and bolted. I called Mr. Odem and he did not answer I left a message he did not call back. About a week past and the bank said we were running out of time and needed to modify our loan from construction to a regular mortgage and if we did not that we would have to re-apply for a loan all over again and pay closing costs. We were forced to release the last draw. Once we did our neighbor informed us the origianal locks were put back on. We began to move our items from our RI home to our SC home and on our first visit there I called Mr. Odem and left a message saying " although some items on punch list were corrected some were not and we need you to call us". He never called us. In fact I filed a claim with the South Carolina Construction board. On my second trip down to my new home to move things in there was a knock at the door a man who said he did the plumbing in our new home and Mr. Odem won't pay him till he does an inspection and wanted us to let him in to check the plumbing. When I asked him for a license he said I don't have one I worked under Mr. Odem and when I told the construction board this they looked up Mr. Odem's license and said he was not licensed to hire an unlicensed contractor to do any work as Mr. Odem is not a commercial builder but a residential builder. While there the plumber informed me of another couple who Mr. Odem built a home for and said that couple took Mr. Odem to court and I asked for the phone number and called the people and they verified this and boy did they get screwed! 60K worth and wife said her husband and Mr. Odem for best of friends for years and now they do not talk at all.
  Mr. Odem seems to be a nice guy very social till you hire him and then he seems to be forgetful and dishonest and all he keeps saying is I am a church going man YOU can trust me. RIGHT!

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