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I just bought a new construction home. After 1 month of closing, I had a water leak in the attic and a flooded bedroom below. It was from the AC condenser up there because it was not installed properly by the builder during construction. The builder "forgot" to connect the primary drain line due to negligence. The condenser was literally dumping water directly on to the attic drywall. I got wet carpet and mold issues as a result. The builder is taking care of the problem under warranty. Part of the attic drywall has to be removed and replaced. Repairmen are coming in and out everyday and turning my new home into a construction zone. This is affecting my quality of life. I'm also concerned about structural damage, potential loss in resale value and health issues from inhaling the mold before the drainage defect was discovered. What recourse do I have? Do I have a case if I sue the builder for professional negligence? I'm getting nothing but grief from the new house and I want to get compensated. Thanks.
Anyone can sue anyone for anything, whether you'll be successful is another issue. You have to PROVE YOUR DAMAGES which a lot of people seem to forget. Negligent! Liable! Even if your builder admits he is 100% negligent and liable, what are your damages (THAT YOU CAN PROVE). You should probably talk to an attorney about that.
If you can prove structural damage, have the builder take care of it under warranty.
Why would this result in a lower resale value in the future? How would you quantify this, and how would you prove that? When exactly are you going to sell your house, and who is going to offer less for it? Please be specific, because the judge will want you to be.
What health damage? Mold exists everywhere. Where are your samplings that the mold in the living area of the house it at a higher level than would be expected? Did you sample your neighbor’s houses at the same time to establish a baseline? What evidence do you have that any mold spores are harmful to human health, vs the millions that are completely benign.
As the others have stated, the builder is fixing the issue. Other than inconvenience, you are being made whole and you haven't experienced any provable losses so suing for more than the repairs would probably be a fool's errand and waste of time. The builder has been responsive and is taking care of the issue. There is no expectation to go through life hassle free.
The only thing I could see you asking for would be a nearby hotel stay until the work is completed, but if the work is isolated to one bedroom, that's probably not a reasonable request either. Now if they had to shut off the water, power, A/C to the whole house for several days straight, then that's different...but I assume you would have mentioned that.
Is this something your home inspector missed? No recourse with the home inspector either, but something like that is pretty obvious and should have been identified.
Sue for construction covered by warranty work, not gonna happen. First you'll have to put up a minimum $5000.00 attorney fee to start the process, and then there would be many expenses after that, and you'd more than likely have the case thrown out as a frivolous case unless you can prove negligence. In this case most if not all attorneys would turn this case down.
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