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Just wondering if anyone had any insight about new home warranty coverage. We have a builder that is failing at every turn to meet our needs as far as corrective action is concerned. We have large gaps and nail holes in our hardwood floors and a leaking shower that he keeps doing half fixes on. Does anyone know if there is a point where I can hire my own contractor to do it right and charge the builder in court if necessary? We are now past our one year but our punch list has failed to be taken care of. If anyone has any experience with this I'd appreciate your insight.
There are many different builder warranties out there. I would suggest that you meet with an attorney to discuss any legal recourse that you may have. Please be sure to have a copy of your warranty with you also. Good luck!
Just wondering if anyone had any insight about new home warranty coverage. We have a builder that is failing at every turn to meet our needs as far as corrective action is concerned. We have large gaps and nail holes in our hardwood floors and a leaking shower that he keeps doing half fixes on. Does anyone know if there is a point where I can hire my own contractor to do it right and charge the builder in court if necessary? We are now past our one year but our punch list has failed to be taken care of. If anyone has any experience with this I'd appreciate your insight.
Andy
I would agree with Sheri Sanders on this one. Another item you need to consider is if the problems are causing other damages as well, i.e. the leaking shower. Whatever happens you need to get those items corrected quickly if you know about them. Waiting for the builder might limit what kind of damages you can get as a result of it.
Good luck and let us know how it progresses so others can learn.
I don't like brand new constructed homes unless I myself or my family is the one buying the supplies & building it ourselves.
An great excuse for the contractor:
I didn't build that material (maybe contractor did not even choose the materials, maybe the homeowner chose it & selected it because it was an option for them or it is "cheaper" hence easier on the budget, maybe the contractor did for his budget). When it (the material) fails, it is beyond my control.
(eg. Chinese drywall, cheap faucet, plumbing fittings)
It could be that contractor's own failings, maybe he is not experienced in that "new" material that just came out, maybe it is really really the defect of that build of that material....
Working with builders, contractors, my FIL built 3.5 houses himself via a few hired Amish help and he himself is a bridge engineer...
so via my own experiences tell me never to purchase brand new construction houses unless built via oneself or family past the certain modern years when material is sub-out to foreign factory to build.
Being in so many older homes and seeing the quality of old artisan craftsmanship of the old (like that 1920s Italian granite/marble carvings, that great detailed carved oak/cherry/walnut staircases etc.) in US and also in other country... really really taught me one thing.
Quality work via quality materials via cheaper labor is possible in the old days.
Same quality via same quality materials via same cheap labor = impossible in today's market.
Not only do you get what you paid for (cheap slap on quality of a McMansion via cheap labor which can also be illegal or unqualified labor)... You could still get what you did not paid for (High priced but medium to low branded material with still the maybe under qualified labor).
The chinese can build an apartment highrise in less than a month in my country which they won by the lowest cost bid... but would I want to live in that highrise???
My personal choice IMO will be a no.
Good luck with OP's new home.
When in doubt and you need quality good old american craftsman that can cut & produce their own wood & materials... look no further than your own Amish country men... made in the good ol' USA!
The vast majority of builders are NOT using "third party warranty companies" but rather merely making a "promise" that they themselves will make things work...
I would NOT contact an attorney until / unless you research the terms that you agreed to when you bought your home AND you understand the limitations that your state has for new home purchases. Builders donate a lot of money to local legislatures to ensure that the "warranty" they offer is not as comprehensive as other kinds of guarantees of performance.
In most cases unless the builder was willfully negligent in delivering a home that was unsafe you will not be able to recover any costs associated with getting things fixed to your satisfaction. OT1H I can understand how builders want to limit the "naggy ned & nellie" home buyer that does not know that shower curtains are needed to keep water from ruining the rest of their bathroom and "polly & peter perfectionist" that expect all the grain in their hardwood floor to line up (even though this is not how flooring would work even if harvested from a single tree...) but OTOH if there is evidence of improper building techniques you won't be able to prove that without getting a third party involved. If you hire a qualified professor of building science or something to testify in court that could cost thousands of dollars and still would be the guy to actually fix your floor. The builder knows this. 99.994% of all new home buyers just accept the fact that they'll never get complete satisfaction from the builder. The tiny fraction that end up wasting money in court also end up hiring actual qualified craftsmen to fix the defects to their satisfaction, often at huge expense, for items that no one else would notice unless pointed out to them...
Not saying that there are never any serious defects, just that most folks did not go through the hassle of dealing with a junky builder will not appreciate the grief that either serious or minor defects cause to the people that spend a huge chunk of time / money agonizing over.
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