August 19, 2008 – 5:01 am
At least a few of those swirling rumors about Royce Builders appear to have been on target. Yesterday, Fox 26 reporter Isiah Carey camped out in the parking lot of the company’s offices across Beltway 8 from the Sam Houston Race Park — as a stream of just-laid-off employees loped out of the building carrying boxes.
We’ve also learned Royce has had at least 70 [liens] placed on their properties and homes that have been sold.
Court records indicate the company has failed to pay a contractor for work done. Tax records also show Royce owes the tax assessors office at least $95,000.
How extensive were the layoffs?
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Read more about: Homebuilders, Layoffs, Royce Builders
August 18, 2008 – 3:45 pm
It sure is hard to keep up with all the rumors being floated about Houston-based Royce Builders over at the Implode-Explode forums. Has Royce Homes declared bankruptcy? Have recent Royce homebuyers in SouthFork been having problems with undiscovered liens? Were company parties truly that wild? Are layoffs imminent? Is Royce about to move its offices to a more . . . uh, residential setting?
An abortive news report by Fox 26 Reporter Isiah Carey, scheduled to air last Friday, doesn’t appear to have cleared up any of the questions. The Fox 26 news site reported that Carey was threatened with arrest by a Royce employee — identified by some posters on the Implode-Explode forums as VP Shawn Speer, son of company president John Speer. It’s likely the threats didn’t end there, however: the story has since mysteriously disappeared from the station’s website.
As one poster on the forum angrily suggests, it’s all probably just a big misunderstanding:
Just like the analogy of a run on a bank, things like this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy when too many people buy into it and effectively give up - blowing off walks or closings, and otherwise just flat not doing their job. Did you not get paid today? If these things I have read posted are truly your beliefs, at least resign and stop being paid for nothing…
Photo of SouthFork Information Center: Royce Homes
Read more about: Hazards, Homebuilders, Royce Builders
