Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 01-04-2017, 10:42 AM
 
Location: South East Austin
122 posts, read 93,990 times
Reputation: 166

Advertisements

Hello All -

I have been in my new house since April '16 and the builders have been really good about fixing issues in my house. Recently they finished building the house on the lot right next to mine and I now have drainage issues on my side lawn. There is water pooled in the yard right along the fence line. This area is not just damp, we are talking about several inches of water covering the grass. It is not a water leak of some sort since it just appeared with all the rain over the weekend.

So my question is how hard can I push the builder on this. The contract states that they are not responsible for "landscaping" issues and I could not find anything in the contract or homeowners documents specifically addressing drainage issues.

Any thoughts?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-04-2017, 12:16 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,238 posts, read 35,431,654 times
Reputation: 8572
Are you within the city of Austin? I am not sure on the specific rules that may govern what HAS to be done, but I am pretty sure they need to have a runoff plan submitted prior to the development approval. I don't know that it goes down to the level that you are dealing with, but it might. If for nothing else, mosquito prevention, etc.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-04-2017, 02:18 PM
 
Location: Austin
7,244 posts, read 21,705,405 times
Reputation: 10013
"Positive drainage" of your lot is not part of "landscaping". You should have been given a drawing that shows the flow of water around your property. Unless you changed the flow by adding landscape beds that aren't draining properly or anything else that would divert water differently, the builder DOES warrant the drainage.

With that, most won't do anything unless the water sits for more than 48 hours. On heavy rains, you have to allow the water time to drain where it's supposed to. Also, you should stop watering your side yards as much because most people water regular time, and when both neighbors water a "normal" time as other areas of their yard, the side is actually getting twice the water. The sun doesn't dry that area as quickly as front and back.

Take pictures and contact your warranty rep.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-05-2017, 10:47 PM
 
Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
3,039 posts, read 8,325,322 times
Reputation: 5652
Quote:
Originally Posted by eqshadimar View Post
Hello All -

I have been in my new house since April '16 and the builders have been really good about fixing issues in my house. Recently they finished building the house on the lot right next to mine and I now have drainage issues on my side lawn. There is water pooled in the yard right along the fence line. This area is not just damp, we are talking about several inches of water covering the grass. It is not a water leak of some sort since it just appeared with all the rain over the weekend.

So my question is how hard can I push the builder on this. The contract states that they are not responsible for "landscaping" issues and I could not find anything in the contract or homeowners documents specifically addressing drainage issues.

Any thoughts?
From your description it is possible during the build of the house next door the builder has caused an inappropriate change to the swale drainage between homes. This is something they would be responsible for correcting. Discuss this with your neighbor next door and the both of you can approach the builder for a correction.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-09-2017, 10:04 AM
 
Location: South East Austin
122 posts, read 93,990 times
Reputation: 166
Thanks for the replies everyone. The water all drained off within a couple of days so it sounds like that this is acceptable, correct?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
Similar Threads
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top