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Maronda Homes started doing business in 1972. Over the years we have built over 20,000 homes. We now build in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Our goal today is the same as the day we started in business. We build a quality Easily Observable Better Value, and service it.
The test as to whether we have succeeded or not lies with you the customer. When you tour our model homes, you must readily agree that we do have a quality Easily Observable Better Value, or we have failed.
We have been taught that if something is too good to believe, it usually is. Please let me take this opportunity to explain to you why our quality built Easily Observable Better Value is real!
Our homes are designed and engineered to transfer square footage into maximum livable area or future living area. We are able to provide greater bathroom facilities because the efficiency of our design is better; stacked plumbing, as it is known in the trade. Heating and air conditioning units are centrally located, reducing the amount of length air must travel before reaching its destination. Our customers are pleasantly surprised when they get their heating and air conditioning bills. Great care is taken in laying out our foundations to be sure they can be turned into dry, bright living areas. These are only a few examples of good design and engineering that create a quality Easily Observable Better Value. Our salespeople will be happy to give you more examples.
Many builders cost out a home by submitting the plans and specs to subcontractors for bids, then adding a markup for overhead and profit. That is the price you pay. Not at Maronda. We ascertain the cost, quantity, and time it takes to install the materials that go into your home. We have a plan showing a detailed layout of our mechanicals. Because of our volume of business we are usually able to purchase material at a better price than our subcontractors. We then meet with each subcontractor, explain the efficiencies that we have provided that will make his job easier, agree on a reasonable profit, and the savings are passed on to you.
Maronda Homes supplies most of the materials and produces many of the components that go into your home. The volume of our business gives us substantial purchasing power. Producing components in a controlled environment allows us to incorporate many efficiencies that are not possible on individual job sites.
Maronda Homes has a sincere, fairly compensated, well-trained highly motivated sales staff that work directly for us. WE DO NOT CO-BROKE WITH REALTORS because we do not have the confidence that they will represent us as well as our own sales force. Because of our marketing skills, we are able to get most potential buyers out to our models, thus eliminating the 3% to 5% of the purchase price of your home over 30 years. It is astounding the thousands of dollars of savings you will come up with. It will go a long way toward college education, or retirement. Our sales people would be pleased to have the opportunity to make the calculation for you.
Substantial savings and better quality are achieved through standardization. We go to great lengths to design and engineer out homes to fit properly and erect easily. We provide many options from which customers can choose to meet their needs, and pocketbook. We get lower costs from our contractors because they know it will be built the same way every time. Due to the fact that any change in our standard plan or options would have a domino effect on lowering our quality, and increasing our costs, WE DO NOT ALLOW ANY CHANGES. As an example, suppose you wanted us to move a wall. We would have to notify every contractor of the change and how it would affect his job. The wall you want moved may have wiring, plumbing, or heat runs in it. Recognize how complicated and costly this would be. Our "NO CHANGE" policy is the only way we can assure you of a quality built Easily Observable Better Value.
All materials and building practices used in completing your home meet national and local building codes. We recognize the importance of the FHA and local building inspectors. We have found them to be fair, honest, and very knowledgeable. In addition to these inspections, we have a trained knowledgeable productions staff that inspect every phase of construction. We use quality control check lists which are used to aid them in their inspections. It has been our experience that contractors do higher quality work when they know it will be inspected.
You are probably aware there has been a trend by builders to pass off their responsibilities on warranties to a third party. This is beginning to change due to the negative publicity suggesting these warranties don't really provide a substantial safeguard to the customer. It appears that the decision of the FHA to do away with inspections under these warranties has not been in the best interest of the consumer. It has always been our belief that the best protections you can have is to know that your home will be built right in the first place with quality materials, skilled workers, and inspection by highly trained, knowledgeable people. Five days before you settle on your home, you will be asked to attend a pre-closing inspection with your construction supervisor. At this time he will explain the operation of the home to you, the maintenance it will need and warranties that go with the home. They will also cover our homeowners booklet with you. If there are any items that need to be corrected, he will list them. Weather permitting, he will have them corrected before closing. After you have lived in your home six months, we will make another inspection. Please note the items for correction. We will get the work done promptly.
Savings and loan failures, junk bonds, and leveraged buyouts have created a financial crisis in the home building industry. This crisis has limited the ability of some of the nation's biggest builders to operate effectively. A major builder who has over a billion dollars in annual sales defaulted on junk bonds, delayed payment to subcontractors by 45 to 60 days, reduced the major cities it builds in from over ten to two and lost over 280 million dollars in two years. You can understand the anxiety it has caused employees, subs they do business with and customers that are hoping their home will be completed. This financial crisis has not seriously affected our ability to operate. We attribute this good fortune to our conservative philosophy of doing business. We limit our risk, control growth, and are not highly leveraged. As a result, we have a strong financial statement. Banks are willing to loan us money, allowing us to take advantage of the steep drop in interest rates when many of the high risk leveraged builders are stuck with high rate junk bonds. The savings are substantial, and passed on to you.
Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to explain to you why you can be assured of a quality built, Easily Observable Better Value from Maronda Homes. I make it my business to spend time in model homes. I do this because most of our homes are designed by me, and it is important that I know what you are saying. I hope during one of my visits, it is you who I have the opportunity to meet. It would be a most pleasurable experience to do so.
William J. Wolf,
Chairman.
