Mike E.
BUYER BEWARE
BUYER BEWARE! Poor quality construction, poor customer service, horrible delivery, dishonest and predatory corporate practices, and poorly trained personnel are what you get with these folks. With so many builders and dealers out there, choose one with a better reputation. Southern Backyard Living should choose a different vendor to get their buildings from as well. We purchased a building from Pineview Buildings under a rent to own contract through Southern Backyard living in July 2024. Our intention was to outfit the building as an office for a small business we were opening. When it was delivered it, the driver ruined a section of our driveway, our drainage slash, pasture, and in the process basically dropped the building in the driveway and put a hole in the side of the building. We had to replace the gravel, have it re-graded, re-dig drainage routes, and re-plant an edge section of pasture. After delivery, we had to fix the level of the building (which was also damaging the doors) and fix the wiring. All of this caused us to delay opening, so we lost business revenue and came out of pocket on these repairs as well. After weeks of waiting, they did send someone to fix the wall and the poorly installed doors, but we still had to make the other repairs ourselves, costing us approximately $3,000. After 6 months of trying to reason with Pineview, they offered a $1000 discount which still put us out of pocket $2000 due to no fault of our own (other than choosing to purchase from Pineview). One thing they have proven to be very efficient at is demanding the monthly rental payment though; they sure have been very timely in sending me the rental bill every month. Here's what happened - Upon delivery, the driver put deep and long ruts in the driveway, my drainage slash, and pasture. He was poorly trained and this caused him tear up the newly packed gravel in the driveway until he essentially got stuck and tried to muscle his way out. Then he decided to use the portable “mule” to get the building the rest of the way up the driveway. Unfortunately, he dropped the building and tipped the mule over onto its side in the process; when the mule went sideways, it tore a big hole in the side of the building. Then he tried chains and several other methods to basically drag the mule upright with his truck…..causing more and more damage to the driveway and drainage each time. I had to use my own tractor to put it upright, almost tipping the tractor in the process, and narrowly injuring myself. After that, I called Pineview and told them to send someone else to finish the delivery. They told me they didn’t have anyone else and it would take weeks to get someone else to finish the delivery…..but the building was now sitting in the middle of my driveway, so that was not an option. After 5-6 hours, when the driver finally got the building to its spot, it was installed poorly, not leveled properly, had a huge hole in the building wall, and my electrician noticed that wiring was not to code (they used a 15-amp wire going to a 20-amp fuse). Apparently, there are three entities involved when you do choose a rent-to-own contract. The dealer (Southern Backyard Living), the builder (Pineview Buildings), and the rental entity (Pineview Rentals). We were given the run around for months about this issue all the while, they demanded rental payments while refusing to address this issue with Pineview Rentals and Pineview Buildings each claiming the other was responsible. I did my part by paying for everything and making payments on the building, prior to purchase, I even had them come out and look at the delivery site to make sure there wouldn’t be any issues as it’s a rural area. I was assured, the delivery would be “no problem.” Unfortunately, they refuse to do their part in making this right. Their personnel are poorly trained, the quality is poor, the customer service is horrible, and the corporate greed they exhibit is akin to predatory. They are poorly organized and, in my view, dishonest in the business sense. Save yourself the hassle and expense of dealing with these folks. 6 months after delivery and we are still dealing with this mess. This was our second purchase through Southern Backyard Living and Pineview. The first delivery was excellent. Perhaps there have been leadership changes at Pineview or some other issue that has caused the drop in quality in service, or maybe the first experience was a fluke. In either case, I will never use any of these vendors again. The folks at Southern Backyard living were fine, but unfortunately, they have hitched their wagon to Pineview as their builder. Hopefully this review saves someone else the hassle and money.