builder built wrong house (lawyer, houses, buyer)

[mendee]

Our builder built the wrong house. The elevation that we are suppose to have is different from the one they built. We have continued to tell them that something did not look right but of course they have continued to avoid answering our questions directly. Through much research and laboring over the plans we were finally able to pinpoint the problems. The elevations are similar but are from completely different floor plans, that's why it has taken us a while to narrow down the problems. There are major differences. We want to be prepared when we meet with them and share our findings. From our previous dealings with them we already know how they can put their creative spin on our concerns. Any advice out there? Do we have any recourse?

[Sampaguita]

I have no advice but all I can say it OMG! and give you a sincerely felt "Good Luck" for your meeting.

[elnina]

Read your contract. Is there anything about disputes? Like: " Should any dispute arise relative to the performance of this contract that the parties cannot resolve, the dispute shall be referred to a single arbitrator acceptable to the builder and the buyer. If the builder and the buyer cannot agree upon an arbitrator, the dispute shall be referred to the American Arbitration Association for resolution."

[Txgal33]

Who was building it?? Go to them with your findings and demand recourse!! When building our first home we went to the site every day if we were able. Once the framing started we noticed we had a huge chunk of foundation left outside of the framing. They had poured the foundation for the plan to not have a fireplace or something not sure since it was sooo many years ago. In the base case there was huge chunk of slab on the outside of the framing and they had no idea how they were gonna fix it. They ended up taking the house back after the head of the company was contacted and then they built us at no extra charge the next house up in their line of plans which cost more because they could not build the plan we picked out with the front we wanted on that culd de sac since they were already building it. So we ended up with a floor plan that cost $25,000 more essentially for free. It was super sweet cause the hubs and i had walked thru the new plan they had been building on another street while they were building our original plan and I LOVED it so much more than the one we were building.
So stick to your guns and get the big wigs involved. I am not quite sure how it got this far if it was a totally different plan though. It would seem much more would have been off. The plans should have been pulled out a long time ago.

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by mendee

Our builder built the wrong house. The elevation that we are suppose to have is different from the one they built. We have continued to tell them that something did not look right but of course they have continued to avoid answering our questions directly. Through much research and laboring over the plans we were finally able to pinpoint the problems. The elevations are similar but are from completely different floor plans, that's why it has taken us a while to narrow down the problems. There are major differences. We want to be prepared when we meet with them and share our findings. From our previous dealings with them we already know how they can put their creative spin on our concerns. Any advice out there? Do we have any recourse?

Time to lawyer up.

[lhafer]

Originally Posted by mendee

Our builder built the wrong house. The elevation that we are suppose to have is different from the one they built. We have continued to tell them that something did not look right but of course they have continued to avoid answering our questions directly. Through much research and laboring over the plans we were finally able to pinpoint the problems. The elevations are similar but are from completely different floor plans, that's why it has taken us a while to narrow down the problems. There are major differences. We want to be prepared when we meet with them and share our findings. From our previous dealings with them we already know how they can put their creative spin on our concerns. Any advice out there? Do we have any recourse?

So - they built an entirely different floorplan, or put a different elevation on it? And I'm also confused with the bolded part. How could you not tell it was a different house? Didn't you walk through it at all during the build process??? This is your house. We're talking thousands and thousands of dollars. I'm not sure how you could tell something wasn't quite right, without knowing EXACTLY what was wrong. But I guess that's just me. If it was the entirely wrong house - you should have realized that as soon as the studs were up.

Time to get a lawyer though. In any case, the builder is under contractual agreement to built a house per the contract.

[ethanw]

We had similar issues with David Weekly but in a smaler scale. They forgot to put a door in the garage and put the cooktop by the wall instead the island kitchen area.
The cooktop was an easy fix but the garage door wasn't since they put the electrical panel in the location of the door. Initialy they didn't want to relocate the electrical panel and put the door in the desired location.
We almost walked out of the deal / contract. The builder ended up relocating the electrical panel, rewiring 80% of the house and puting the door where we initialy designed it.

Just tell them that you will walk out if they don't acomodate you in some way or fashion. Time for a laywer

[Txgal33]

Originally Posted by ethanw

We had similar issues with David Weekly but in a smaler scale. They forgot to put a door in the garage and put the cooktop by the wall instead the island kitchen area.
The cooktop was an easy fix but the garage door wasn't since they put the electrical panel in the location of the door. Initialy they didn't want to relocate the electrical panel and put the door in the desired location.
We almost walked out of the deal / contract. The builder ended up relocating the electrical panel, rewiring 80% of the house and puting the door where we initialy designed it.

Just tell them that you will walk out if they don't acomodate you in some way or fashion. Time for a laywer

Our mishap was a DW also.

[ethanw]

That is one good thing about David Weekly... They really try to make it right for the people... This is my second DW house.

Originally Posted by Txgal33

Our mishap was a DW also.

[mikeyyc]

Different house, or different elevation. Elevation may have changed due to architectural requirements for the home. eg. same plan is within a few houses so they make one look different. Not a big deal.

Now, if the plan is completely different...I can't even fathom a f up that big...