We started the process of building this custom home last March. We are now in March have faulty foundation and have to have everything torn down and redone. We are in over $100,000 and have fired the builder, hired a new one and had the foundation core samples tested. They failed to meet all min. Psi requirements. We were told we have to tear out everything and start over.
We filed a claim against the builder's insurance company. They accepted a test result from Transit Mix who poured the concrete. That result somehow had acceptable results. They denied our claim...
We have to pay for a 3rd test to be performed. It's visibly obvious that the foundation is cracked and bowed. Our new builder will understandably not build on the foundation without someone acknowledging responsibility stating the it is strong enough to support a structure.
The company that submitted the "passing" analysis said they would absolutely not accept responsibility because the core samples were delivered to them capped and trimmed and they didn't collect it themselves. Our engineer collected their own samples and insist the concrete is absolutely too weak to support a structure and are well below minimum psi requirements.
The reason this has all taken a year? Our previous builder dropped the ball on city codes, requirements and was not very attentive to the build. We didn't even close on our construction loan until September! We had to let the builder know at the end of October that the city had finally approved the plans (after rejections) and that he had to go pick the dang things up!
We finally broke ground in November and in December got slammed with 4 blizzards. The foundation was poured anyway and this was our red flag. We were told by a family member in the business that this wasn't wise considering the temperature and moisture. Sure enough, there's visible cracking and bowing.
Also, people ask, but we found the builder through a mutual friend that he had built a home for. Our friend loves their home and had a great experience. We also loved the home he built for himself. He and his wife work as a team and were very reassuring before we signed a contract. That was about the last I ever heard from her. They totally threw us out to handle things on our own. The bids they gave us have almost all come in way under at this point so we've paid more than we counted on in that regard also.
His communication was horrible. He was admittedly at the site twice a week and we were his only project at the time. He never called us, we had to call him and they never returned emails either. Once we signed his contract, he was no longer the same responsible contractor we met. He claimed to not know city codes because he was used to building outside city limits. Inspections were rarely complete. They were mostly rejected or partial.
There were numerous other issues and decided it was best to fire him since he was not doing things to code and his communication skills are severely lacking.
We are still paying interest on this loan and can't afford to move forward since we have to pay for tear down and pay again for everything done to this point. We have to move out of our rental home because it's been a year, and our lease is up. We have 2 storage units we continue to pay for because we moved out of our 3250 sq ft house into a 1300 sq ft rental house. We'll have to pay new contractor fees and this has turned our lives upside down.
We are desperate for assistance and are truly trying to just keep it together. The financial impact is indescribable and we have no idea what direction to go in now. No one will accept responsibility and the only thing we can do now is get a 3rd test. We don't know what will happen regardless of the outcome.
We can't afford an attorney because of all the debt we are incurring and even if we sold the property, couldn't come close to breaking even with the expense of the build paid out so far. This has really turned our lives upside down.
There are many, many other smaller details that led to our decision to fire the initial builder, but it's impossible to list them all here. Please, please let us know if there are options for us out there somewhere.
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