Quick question. I just had an ADU built (conversion of a garage to a 2 bedroom living dwelling). I read California has a 1 year warranty period (as well as 4 year and 10 year for structure). Although this was not listed in my initial warranty, I wanted to make sure if there is a repair needed (on this new construction) within the first year, that it should be absolutely covered by the Contractor.
Thank you,...Read More
Just moved into my new construction home this past spring and am experiencing foundational issues with the concrete and block work, they company that built my home is called Homes In Partnership and they are aware and say they are helping but have taken no actions to make any remedy to my home and the problem is only worsening over time. The exterior cracking in concrete was the first symptom but every day we find more cracking, and it is ripping into the drywall, cabinets, window and door frames, and the grout on the floor and bathrooms. The stem wall was broken at beginning of construction and builders were made aware; however, we believe nothing proper was ever done to fix the stem wall and that it is leading to the new home split apart at the seams....Read More
We are currently building a multifamily building in Southern California that is 2 stories of wood frame over concrete foundation and podium. We have engaged with a General Contractor to subcontract the frame and concrete work at the project. For the sake of clarity lets call this GC as GC 1. GC 1 has engaged with another company to perform the concrete and frame work, later on we found out that the company that GC 1 has engaged with also holds a General B license, which makes the company a general contractor. So lets call this company GC 2. So GC 1 has contracted GC 2 to perform the work and GC 2 has used its employees in its payroll to perform the work. GC 2 does not hold a C5 or C8 license. Does this mean that the company GC1 hired as a subcontractor (which is GC 2), does not have the proper licensing since they executed the job as a subcontract? The crew that GC 2 would pour concrete and then the same crew would switch their tools and work as framers. The quality of the work has caused problems such as problems with drywall not being level, windows not being level, water leak through concrete, additional stucco work to cover the concrete that was not properly formed are just a couple that comes to my mind. What is the best way to recoup some of the damages that were caused by GC 2 due to performing a trade without C5 or C8 license? And what kind of action can we take against the GC1 which has subcontracted this work to GC 2 knowing that the only license they have was a General B License?...Read More
We own a property in South Carolina that was a former big box (170KSF) retailer. We redeveloped the building for a large, single-floor office use. A portion of the exterior wall was rebuilt since it occurred where a former auto-repair use had been located. The architectural drawings do not include any waterproofing (sealing of densglass or EIFS to slab or flashing) for the walls built in this area. During a heavy rain, water is entering the building in these areas.
When the GC was challenged as to the cause of the issue, they identified it as I have described above and also said those waterproofing methods would be "typical of these systems." We don't have real experience with latent defects (fortunately) but I'm not quite sure how to triage this one.
Is it the architect's responsibility for an insufficient design? Or the GC's since they seemed to know it was atypical and perhaps should have questioned it? Or both?
Then, depending on this, where does the responsibility for the repair cost fall? If the architect had designed it correctly, we would have paid for the additional (albeit minimal) cost to construct but now the cost to repair will be much more.
Before I start the conversation with my partners on the issue, I would like to be armed with information on how to proceed. Your assistance with this will be very appreciated....Read More
I hired a handyman who fixed drywall after a flood now the fixed drywall has a crack should the Handiman fix it again for no charge. He did not give me any warranty I just paid him by the hr for work he did. Is there any implied warranted....Read More
Hi, I installed 10k ft of gutters in Fort Lee defense suply center in Richmond Virginia. Finished few days ago. The scope of work wasnt work that good and we made few changues with the goverment ingenier who was ther but nothing was in paper, just words. At the moment we decide to do few things diferent from the scope of work there where four peoples, the goverment ingenier, quality control person from the company subcontracted me and the superintendent of the job. The guy from goverment ask to the gutter look straight, i told to do that gutters will acumulate water in some points, he say is ok. Now others ingeniers from the goverment want the gutters slope in order that all water get drain. My question: If we go to court and put a case we have a chance to winn? Any change was on paper (changue order) but there where three witness when the goverment guy ask for the gutters look straigh. Thanks 🙏...Read More
I am a home-owner in Santa Rosa county florida and I had a grinder pump installed 10/2017 the company I bought it from and had it installed by hard-wired the pump and did not wire it to the box which will shut it off and alert us if there is a malfunction;causing the pump and surrounding puping to burn up and melt! Do I have any recourse if the warranty and labor was guaranteed for 2yrs, since it was installed incorrectly?...Read More
I am under contract on a new build that has lots of defects including a missing steel I-beam and support posts in the basement. The house isn't even finished and the foundation walls and slab floor have cracks. Drywall on the main floor has numerous cracks in the ceilings and walls. The flatwork in the garage is shoddy and humps in the middle not allowing the garage door to close all the way. There are so many problems and I am supposed to close in 6 weeks. I no longer want this defective pit and want my earnest money returned. I spoke to one attorney over the phone and he said if I don't close then the builder will likely sue me for the entire amount of the purchase price. How is that possible? I have engineer reports and tons of photos....Read More
I am trying to take 1 building of 4 units that have flat and shingle roofing that have had many attempts over the last 45 years to solve a flat roof problem. My approach is to tear the roofing materials on the flat roof down to decking. Then i want to study all potential solutions on how to create a better permit solution we have had over the years. Normal roof have failed many times. I am a licensed contractor but not a roofing contractor and live and set on our HOA board. I need to write a contract between 2 roofing companies one is our consultant and the other is a certified roofing contractor for GAF materials. I need a contract that allow me to control a time and material plus allowing me to purchase all materials to the potential solutions. This test building I may do 2 different solutions to the flat roof that the purpose of the t&m and I want to do t&m so i can keep track of real expenses as we have 22 other building to do and when i set the spec out i will hire 2 or more roofing contractor assigning them a building but following our specs. So its important that this first building allows me to control the job and its solutions that our roofing consultat and the vendor and myself agree to try on this test building....Read More
We are homeowners who hired a general contractor for house renovations. We both (homeowner and contractor) signed the contract so a construction loan could be secured. The contractor has failed in so many ways there are too many to mention. According to the contractor, he is owed $25,000 but not the homeowner but the bank will not relinquish the funds, because, in the bank's opinion, the contractor had not completed the work he is requesting to be paid for. The contractor tried to write a new contract after not being paid for the purpose of asking for $20,000 to complete the job with one exception, he took it upon himself to use this new contract and eliminate a large job that was in the original contract. If we signed the new contract he would send a few workers to finish what in his opinion would complete the work and give us 48 hours to sign the new contract. We respectfully denied the new contract, and this was done without the knowledge of the bank that holds the construction loan. Within the contract, we had specifically asked for a particular manufactures siding, and the contractor had the audacity to bring and install a different manufactures siding. The siding the homeowner requested was even in the contract that both parties signed. The contractor even lied about being a certified installer of the product he installed, and the reason I say that is because the manufacturer of the siding that was installed will not warranty their product due to all the installation problems. We found out later the manufacturer had no certified installers in Ohio. Eventually, when pressured the contractor admitted he was not a certified installer. So what are a homeowner's rights in a situation like ours? ...Read More
Hi, I had a mold issue in my now 6 year old home (a former model home in my development) last year. I called my insurance, they investigated probable causes and everything was ruled out. By process of elimination, the AC unit was listed as the cause. My home went through the remediation process and the AC unit was opened, found to be full of mold and cleaned. A week later, it started making noises. I was advised to get the AC unit replaced because of the mold issue inside of it and the coils were busted. When the old unit was removed, the tech said that the unit was not sealed properly and was definitely the cause of the mold issue in my home. The warm air from outside was meeting the cool air inside the AC handler and caused moisture. The new HVAC unit then started having problems within 3 months of being installed. It was found that my air ducts had a high negative static pressure and had to be replaced. I contacted Lennar (the builder) in February via certified mail with a very detailed letter of what happened, all of my receipts, statements from inspectors and HVAC company and pictures of mold on furniture, clothing, AC, improperly installed ductwork and AC handler. They contacted me twice in March. The second time, I spoke with Chris Schouff who said he used to work with AC units and that an AC unit cannot cause mold in the home. I told him what the HVAC tech said about the moisture buildup. He then said, "yes, that's possible, but why didn't you call us? I tried to tell him that all of that information was in the letter that I sent. If he had read it, it was explained that the definite cause wasn't discovered until the old AC unit was being removed. He still insisted that I should have called Lennar first. I don't understand his logic behind reinstalling a faulty AC unit to have mold blow through my remediated home while I wait for Lennar to respond. Do I have any recourse in this situation? Thank you for your time and help,
Tashara Adderley...Read More
I am a homeowner of a Rolwes Home in Troy MO. We built our home in 2020. The day we moved in (after closing on the home) a diagonal crack in our foundation from top of wall to the floor that had leaked was pointed out to me by the builder. By the end of the first week we had a couple more cracks that were leaking. Speed up to today and we now have at least 40 plus cracks in our foundation and at least 10 to 12 that have been repaired for leaking. We have a 10 year warranty on our foundation. We have gone round and round with the builder. They have sent an engineer out 3 times. First time engineer said build up around the foundation. So they added dirt. Second time the same engineer said slope the yard more. So the remove all the dirt they put in plus some. The third time the same engineer is now blaming it on one piece of tubing that we have attached to our gutter that is perforated. This was not installed until after the second time he came out. The tubing runs out away from our home and is connected to a pop up. He also is blaming our rock in our landscaping. We did not alter the grade of the landscaping in anyway, but somehow now that is the cause. The rock was not put in until this summer and all the cracks were there before. I have lived in and been in homes much older than mine with no foundation cracks. Or maybe one to two. Nothing like what we have. How am I supposed to sell this house with the walls looking this way? We are not the only people on our street having issues with this builder. Foundation issues, driveway issues, etc......Read More
Contract says 10' ceilings, my tape measures 9'6" They poured 4" of foundation which totals 9'10" still not built to spec. Do I have the ability to ask for my money back because they breached what we agreed upon?...Read More
What happens when the company pulls the permit and doesn’t inform the homeowner about the Notice of Commencement? Are homeowners just expected to know about it? The company I hired intentionally never told me about it or asked me to sign. Why wouldn’t the homeowners signature also be required for the permit? I believe much of what happened probably wouldn’t have if it was. Not only does this leave homeowners liable for paying twice, it can lead to a number of serious adverse effects. My family’s safety and well-being were completely compromised because of the health hazards from the property damage this company left behind. Without the NOC, my roof went on without a midway or final inspection. They left the permit open and refused to take responsibility for any of the damage they created when they caused my pan roof to collapse. This included a 40 foot stretch of fascia torn off my roof that exposed my home’s structure and allowed rainwater in. No one ever said anything to me about it; not their insurer nor the adjuster and I know that they knew. I started battling allergies and chronic migraines I’d never had before. Two years later, my previously healthy 6 year old dog was dead. Another year later is when I discovered the mold and I had no choice but to abandon my home of 22 years. This devastated me. I’m broke and homeless because of the entire ordeal and I’m probably going to lose my home. I’ve been trying for the past 3+ years since the day that this happened to get somebody to help me. I’m at a loss how the hell this could happen to begin with. I do have one last question though…I’d just like to know why this was allowed to happen. Why did having recourse depend on the amount of money I had when this business was licensed, bonded and insured? Suing them civilly shouldn’t be my only option when there were criminal violations as well. I later found out the people who I contacted with weren’t licensed owners as they made themselves out to be. They weren’t company employees. They were unlicensed contractors renting the owners license. There was no oversight whatsoever when their workers were busy destroying my home, not even a foreman was present. Can someone please explain how this is OK? I can’t for the life of me understand…...Read More
I built a library-style bookcase for a customer, actually two of them. The first time, built and delivered, she accepted. A few days later, she decides she wants to change the design. I sent her new price to build the new design, we agreed upon a March 17th completion date. I delivered the bookcases to her on 03/13/2022, with the plan to do the install the following week to meet the 3/17/2022 completion date.
I requested progress payment on 03/14 prior to final install...she cancelled and said she did not agree to the new contract. Then would not let me get my tools, which required a civil standby. Even then, she kept materials and tools that were mine. I gave her many alternatives to cancelling the project, including me finishing it completely, then her making payments for the balance. All of which she refused...claiming "abuse of an elder", break of contract", and misrepresentation. I was obviously blindsided by all this! On 03/23, she sent me an email with a lawyer cc'd...telling me to make an offer...and that she was going to file at the end of the week, asking for $3000.
She actually filed her complaint on 03/22, and I of course was trying to come up with ways to resolve whatever the issue was. She refused to meet me, she refused every attempt I made.
Fast-forward to 08/02/2022, the trial. Well, it was terrible. I did not know people actually lied under oath! I was prepared to defend myself with the facts...but the lies, I was not prepared for. I lost...AND was ordered to pay her $2000!
I filed a request for a new trial last week, based on "the discovery of new evidence that even with due diligence would not have been discoverable prior to trail"...the new evidence I discovered...the Customer's lies!
A few issued with this:
1. She did not serve the registered agent I have listed for my business. But now that the trial has occurred, is there anything I can do to have it dismissed for lack of proper service?
2. She made false statements during the trial that I have evidence backing up that she is lying. Could this help me?
3. This is a frivilous civil suit, which is a crime in SC. She commited perjery, said that I was, "a liar and a cheat" during the trial. Accused me of all kinds of things with her lawyer copied.
4. The judges order made no mention of my counterclaim, which was for $7500 - this customer owed me $3500 when she decided to cancel, kept my tools, kept materials that are not part of the project, refused all attempts to settle this out of court, and gets to keep an 11ft wide x 9ft tall hardwood, custom-made, gloss white, built-in library-style bookcase.
I was not prepared for trial, and the trial is over....there has to be something I can do to recover what is belongs to me. What should I do?
What I want to do is:
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