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Discussion group: NewsTop   Discussion group: News News    Discussion Topic: New Home Problems New Home Problems

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New Home Problems
T O P I C Discussion Started: 10-29-2003, 1:43 PM Add to the Discussion
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Have you recently purchased a new home and found problems? Share your experiences and any ideas on how to get repairs completed here.

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eric6508 02-19-2004, 3:36 PM Add to the Discussion
I HAVE FOUND THAT ALL CONTRACTORS IN FLORIDA SUCK. THEY PROMISE YOU THINGS AND DON'T DELIVER. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT GETTIN THE JOB DONE AS FAST AS POSSIBLE, GETTIN PAID, AND GETTIN OUT. THEY USE MINIMUM WAGE DAY LABORERS THAT ONLY SHOW UP WHEN THEY NEED CASH THAT DAY. WITH THE HOUSING BOOM AS CRAZY AS IT IS NOW, THEY CAN KEEP DOING LOUSY JOBS AND NEVER GO OUT OF BUSINESS. TOO MANY HOUSES, NOT ENOUGH CONTRACTORS. I'M BUILDING MY OWN HOUSE AND BUILDING IT IN A WAY THAT NO CONTRACTOR WOULD EVEN THINK OF (THE RIGHT WAY). I DID HIRE 6 DIFFERENT SUB-CONTRACTORS AND WAS MOSTLY SATISFIED WITH THEIR WORK BUT I HAD TO BE THERE WITH THEM TO MAKE SURE IT WAS RIGHT. I HAD PROBLEMS WITH THE PLUMBER BECAUSE I COULDN'T BE THERE TO WATCH HIM. I HAD TO CALL HIM BACK 3 TIMES TO FIX HIS MISTAKES. IT TOOK 2 WEEKS FOR A 1 DAY JOB. ONCE I GOT THE PAD POURED I TOOK OVER AND AM DOING EVERYTHING MY SELF. IT TAKES LONGER BUT IT'S BUILT CORRECTLY. IF YOU CAN'T DO THE WORK YOUR SELF THEN TRY TO WATCH EVERY THING THEY DO. THEY WILL CUT AS MANY CORNERS AS THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH. MOST BUILDERS WILL NOT ALLOW THE HOME OWNER ON THE PROPERTY WHILE IT'S BEING BUILT. THEY KNOW THE QUALITY THEY PUT OUT IS SUBSTANDARD. THE BEST YOU CAN DO IS TELL THEM THAT YOU WILL SHOW UP AND INSPECT THE WORK AS IT'S BEING BUILT (IT'S YOUR HOUSE), BUT CHANCES ARE THEY WILL TELL YOU TO FIND ANOTHER BUILDER. BUILDING A HOUSE CORRECTLY TAKES MORE TIME AND TIME IS MONEY. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE BUYER, THERE'S SO MUCH WORK OUT THERE RIGHT NOW THAT THE BUILDER DOESN'T CARE HOW MANY CUSTOMERS HE LOSES.

asif 12-09-2003, 5:44 PM Add to the Discussion
hey sorry i do not know your builder.

natembaker 12-09-2003, 1:31 PM Add to the Discussion
M.A.N - Things are progressing nicely at ELC. Our meeting was with our sales person and the head builder. It was a major A$$ chewing for about 45 minutes. On our side of the street, 4 homes were all at the some stage with incorrect framing that didn't pass inspection. However, I guess our head builder fixed our house and a whole lot of butt kick'n has them way head on our house. They haven't touched the other 3. We close next month. The exterior corners were patched. Come to find out, they had a crew on our home Thanksgiving Day for 12 hours. I finally started making the calls and handling the coordination of the closing, docs, etc. Just goes to show, you have to be an a$$ sometimes to get anywhere. Going to check on the electrical tonight. Say, your not building out our way are you?

natembaker

M.A.N.96 12-07-2003, 1:09 PM Add to the Discussion
To Natembaker,

I am familiar with ELC and want you to know that electric sockets are being placed right behind a tub in the master bed room with only a finger space,find out if this is your case as well and have it GFI'D.Have you heard back from the VP yet in regard to your situation with the blocks being chunked by the grader?

The elctric sockets during drywall are getting big globs of putty placed into them which makes me wonder even though i addressed this to the super and was told the putty drys up and then they just pull it out.Drywall is not being put in right it is not even meeting the interior roof of some of the bedrooms so watch carefully.

Have a nice day, M.A.N.

HADD_OK 12-04-2003, 5:01 PM Add to the Discussion
To "MISLED," try this website regarding manufactured and mobile homes: www.taismho.com The site host is very knowledgeable on the topic and has gathered a lot of info and links.

M.A.N.96 12-03-2003, 11:40 PM Add to the Discussion
To Natembaker,

Hey saw your post recently and yes, i am familiar with electrical,you need to watch when they put in your electrical that when or if you get a tub placed into your bathrooms that on the opposite side of the wall such as in a masterbedroom that they do not place an electrical outlet unless they GFI this outlet otherwise you will have problems due to the outlet not even being a finger space from the tub and this outlet.The electrical is another thing to watch carefully to when they put it in it makes me wonder if these people putting the electrical in can even read the diagrams on the blueprints,also watch where they put your phone lines and cable as it may get placed into the wrong areas.

My wife and I,are now getting our drywall into our house and as of last night it was just the drywall without patching,tonight we went back and it has been patched thruout the house due to cuts being in the wrong areas of the drywall such as where they thought an electrical outlet was but actually was not.Watch out when they start the patching process as when they use the putty to patch holes they created up they will put putty into the electrical outlets and this will need to be cleaned.Another thing to watch is when they put in the drywall you do not have gaps in the walls where the roof of the interior meets or in this case does not meet the drywall.

Watch out for thinly coated stucco when they go to stucco your house as in this case parts of the stucco were thinly put on specifically near the windows.Also watch your refrigerator water line as it may not even be close to where it is supposed to be such as two foot off the mark of where it is supposed to go or it is extended from the original pipe to extend back into your kitchen as it was wrongly placed when it was laid before it had been poured over with foundation.

Watch out for cracks that extend from one bedroom or from the masterbath all the way under the walls for the bath to the family room as in several of the houses I have watched go up have these situations.Another thing to watch out for is if you are going out at night to watch your house take shape look real close at the models and the model windows yes,they are one pane windows however,look real close at the condensation building up it is amazing wonder if mold issues are going to take form in these homes as well.Watch out for sliding glass doors that get cut too wide before they place the windows into place they are going to have to wait to fix this as well as watch out for cardboard box pieces of paper in the corners as the subs pouring the walls leave these things in place as we were told this is "NO WORRY" as we saw patches of concrete chipping away already.

Goofy must be supervising some of these projects because they sure are missing things that the building inspectors are catching in Central Florida (MCO).This certain builder is more then rushing to get this certain subdivision done in Eastern MCO.I am also noticing near by they are putting up condominiums which i am curious to watch go up and as to how fast they will "THROW" these up.I think your time frame you quoted is about right as I watch how fast this certain subdivision i talk of is going up.As of about two weeks ago my wife and I are about 2 months out from being done as of 6 months ago.It took us two months to get back our permits from the county in which our home is being built and it is one that has been quoted to be a 1 day turn around however,I contacted this county about the permits and as of the time of this call they were behind by three weeks and the framing inspections right now are running about two weeks behind.

Have a nice day, M.A.N.

kate66 12-01-2003, 11:44 PM Add to the Discussion
Here is another interesting thing, building permits. Osceola County takes about 3 to 5 days to approve a permit. Kissimmee takes about 3 days, Saint Cloud takes about 3 days. Polk County and Orange County both can take as little as one day to issue a permit. When your builder says the counties are holding up the permits its not true. They will issue the permits if the application is complete and correct.

Kate

kate66 12-01-2003, 11:36 PM Add to the Discussion
I just thought of something else....drainage problems. The counties tell the builders where the finish floor elevation will be, they tell the builders which drainage plan to use and they check the final survey to ensure the builder complied with all the requirements. After the first good rain the homeowners complain to the builder because they have water problems but the builder did as he was required. Building departments should be bearing most of this responsibility when they make the rules and won't issue a co until they are complied with.

Kate

kate66 12-01-2003, 11:29 PM Add to the Discussion
I think its great that WESH has done this report but I think it would be really great if they can do another report on how to correct some of the problems. Everyone complains about cracked concrete but no one has a solution how to keep the concrete from cracking. Now that would be worth reading. If you call ten contractors or the three largest concrete companies they all say just about the same thing....cracks happen. What is the answer??? Anyone???

Kate

ubers 12-01-2003, 7:03 PM Add to the Discussion
We are currently building a home in Palm Coast and are nearing completion within the walls of "Grand Haven". We had to build with one of their chosen builders and we are a year out and still awaiting completion..... 210 days were stated in our contract but no penalty was listed!(How does an attorney miss such things when reviewing contracts??) We have had VERY poor workmanship including dirt in our walls when they ran out of concrete during the wall pour. We have not closed yet and are in search of counsel who will stand behind us and fight for the moral of the story here!! Please forward any info you might have!

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