They built our house the winter of 2003. During the building process, we walked through frequently to watch the progress.
The most notable mistake they made to begin with was cutting the large hole for the attic access in the middle of the master bedroom ceiling as opposed to in the hallway where it belonged. They patched the hole, but you can still see it. They also put a pipe in the wall between the living room and garage that causes the baseboard and wall to bulge out in the living room. They refused to fix that. Our outside electrical has never worked and they came out to fix it, along with several other small issues, but they left without doing so. The outside flood lights above our garage never worked. We thought first that it was because the outside electrical didn't work, but later found that one of the bulbs they put up had a broken filament, so they loosened the other one so neither would work rather than just replace the broken bulb with a good one. Also, they never fixed the loose frame around the garage, although they did repair the lock that didn't work on the door.
There have been MANY other issues with the house including rocks, nails, 2x4s and other building materials being left in our yard and, despite being told our yard would be redone when the house next to us sold, they never touched it. But the most recent finding is what has prompted me to warn others. Our heating and air has always left much to be desired. But having moved from an apartment to a house, we assumed it was just because we lived in a two story that our heating/air bills were so high and the temp difference between upstairs and down. Well, turns out, that's not the problem.
My husband and I came home from work a few days ago to find the heat wasn't working. Pilot light was burning, it would start to cut on, but not actually push anything out before cutting off. Being that it was late and a Saturday, we bundled up in blankets and waited until morning to really look into it. It was 60 degrees in the house when we woke up. A repair man came that evening and found the problem. "When your house was being built, the builders cut the heat on before the house was finished." Basically, there's dust from them building (drywall, etc) that's all through our ventillation system. It's been putting extra strain on the system all these months and caused a problem with the hot plate.
So, it's fixed now, but we have to pay to have all our vents cleaned out. The entire system really, but they charge by vent. And, of course, the builder will not compensate because the one year warranty has expired. Too bad it takes 2 years for the heater to break from strain being put on the system because of builders wanting to stay warm while they saw and sand.
Lara
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
U.S.A.
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