Does HEARTLANDS trailers have a high quality build?

ACZL wrote:


Care to elaborate more?

Where do I start!
Immediately after delivery I noted no heat coming out of the vent in the steps to the upper level and that the entire steps were collapsing under my 180lb weight.
Climbing into the basement behind the wall presented me with heat duct's which had fallen off the furnace due to the lack of any mechanical fittings to hold the duct's onto the furnace outlet's, pieces of wood bracing supporting the steps and the pieces holding the heat vents were split and falling off due to their undersized design and poor quality. Not to mention only a couple staples and no glue. I had to re-inforce the entire stairs to stop them from flexing under our weight.
As mentioned before I also found many loose plumbing fittings throughout the coach as well as fitting behind the utilities cabinetthat were just a vibration or 2 away from leaking.
The bathroom sink drain was assembled backwards and would barely drain water from the sink at all.
Most door fitments were so poor besides not lining up they rubbed against the next one and would not close well.
The door jamb material around the door leading to the bedroom came loose on one trip preventing the door from closing entirely and had to be re-attached.
The tiny piece of wood held by a couple staples holding the closet clothes rod to ceiling tore out on one trip allowing the clothes rod to collapse scratching the cabinetry as it fell. Replaced the clothes rod with a piece of PVC piping with a support in the middle down to the floor.
Besides the drawer bottoms falling out and the pantry shelves collapsing. The drawers in the cabinet between the stove and the entertainment centre would not stay closed while towing and would slide open dumping their content's into the trailer.
I was forced to find and install catches on the drawers to keep them from sliding open.
Every recessed light in the ceiling was full of either wood or foam dust that kept falling out for the first year until we dismantled and clean every one out.
We could not walk on our carpeted area in our living room wihtout shoes for the first 6 month's without having poor secured staples jabbing into our feet. I finally spent an afternoon rubbing the floor with my hands looking for loose metal staples and pulling them out with pliers.
I had to re-secure many pieces of loose interior woodwork in the first year or 2 of travel.
The black valve leaked sewage while closed and would slosh a bit out every time you took the cap off to hook up the utilities.
Water leaking into the basement around all the door seal's. The bottom corrugated cover coming loose and fall in several places.

This is a abbreviated list of a few of the thing's I have had to repair over the past 4 year of ownerships.

I was spoilt be owning old smaller quality built fifthwheel's many years ago by Jayco, Citation and Newmar that were built like brick outhouses with substantial size materials with solid oak and quality wood products secured with glue and screws.
Wanting to buy a new unit order with the features we wanted to have as we moved into retirement we ordered the Landmark.
Now after 4 years I am chasing structural water leaks even with more than normal maintenance and a roof material installation issue.
I do not full time and have towed the unit no more than 20K miles.
They have wonderful layouts and look good with nice amenities but I cannot recommend these unit's be used for anything other than seasonal trailer park queens.
Just don't try towing them long distances and expect them to stay together.
Unfortunately the RV industry has turned their back to Quality. I too was trained in quality control in my profession before retirement through a Japanese inpsired LTQ "Leadership through Quality" initiative that sadly seems to have been abandoned in many industries these day's.
People who register and post on forum's like this are here either because of their love of the RV experience or because they have serious problems with an rv and are looking for help.
As a passionate RV'er it is very discouraging and saddening to see what is happening in our passion of choice. Companies are pounding out poorly designed cheap unit's slapped together as fast a possible by low skilled poor trained and poorly inspired employee's that have no hope of loyalty from their employer as they will be instantly layed off when the next downturn comes around.