Posted on 02/14/2007 9:00:35 AM PST by Hydroshock
(Money Magazine) -- Less than a year after moving into her new 2,100-square-foot house in Lenexa, Kans., Susan Sabin has strung up lemon lights in her front window.
The lemons, she says, go perfectly with the home's most prominent features: jammed doors, warped windows, bent pipes and cracked walls. "The house is essentially splitting in two," says Sabin.
Where to go for help If you're buying or fear a problem: These consumer groups post advice for buyers, news about home builders and the latest on construction materials: HomeOwners for Better Building (hobb.org) and Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings (hadd.com). If you need a pro: You can find a home inspector in your area at the American Society of Home Inspectors Web site at ashi.org. If you suspect fraud: Complain to regulators. Find out how to reach your state attorney general's office at naag.org; reach the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov.
At the peak of the recent housing boom, home buyers scooped up a million newly built homes every year while homeowners poured more than $200 billion into renovations. But now stories of shifting soil, leaky roofs, damaged stucco and other construction defects abound.
Though many builders have worked to improve the quality of their houses over the past decade, says Alan Mooney, president of Criterium Engineers, a national engineering firm, the building frenzy also opened the door for unskilled labor, unscrupulous contractors and untested products.
"When everyone is out there building as fast as they can, that does result in more defects," he says.
Contractor problems rank among the most common consumer complaints, according to the Better Business Bureau, and a recent Criterium Engineers study found that 17 percent of new residential construction projects inspected by the firm in 2006 had at least two significant problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
Alot of tehse houses that were thrown up in hte past 5 years will not be there in 20.
The key to doing your own home is getting the right subs. The problem is the illegals are so cheap they have driven many of he craftsman out of the field. The illegals do nto care they disappear if you come after them for cheap work.
That was a mouthful in a beautiful simple statement!!
Your experience was similar to ours -- our H&C inspector didn't even look at our furnace when we went for our C of O!
We GC'd our house two years ago. The frame is steel, 8" exterior walls with 16 and 22 gauge, and the interior is 5/8" drywall.
I keep telling my husband the only way I'm leaving our place is feet first. I'm more than familiar with new house construction practices -- and the slap and dash work of illegals -- which makes me less inclined to leave all the more...
I'm glad it worked out well for you. It sounds like you built a solid house. Enjoy!
Got any tips on convincing a wife that older is better? We are currently in "discussion" as I want something older and proven (and built heavy) while she has a huge preference for a new McTownhouse.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
That isn't what people can afford in many cases. I've seen better looking barns than some of the McMansions going up.
They may attempt to have the front of the house look nice, but the rest of it looks like part of the David Koresh Waco compound.
Illegals - doing the shoddy work that Americans refuse to do.
An obvious case of Bait and Switch . . . without the switch.
;-)
Contractors create temporary corporations to build a particular development, then dissolve the corporation as soon as it's done. Nobody to sue when all the defects start rearing their ugly heads.
It's called confidence levels. When your clients know your level of expertise and the quality of your work cannot be topped, and your rep depends on repeat business, you make sure that they're never disappointed.
Of course, 30 years in the trade helped a bit too.
Warranty and a lawyer time!
AMREP
One company (builder/developer) to avoid like the plague.
Your probably not in the construction industry, otherwise you'd be aware of the mexican invasion into home building.
Use to be that the kids would knock a baseball through a window.
Now they hit them through the wall.
The house I live in was built in 1957.
It has seen tornadoes, hurricanes, and ice storms. It survived.
A few, not many, new buildings, did not make it through Hurricane Hugo in my city.
Mind we are several 100 miles inland.
The company relocating him refuses to buy any stone-veneer or stucco houses, so before he moved he had to redo the siding.
Turned out that it was not sealed properly at the top part, near the roof, and water had been coming in behind the stucco, hitting the masonite that sheathes the house, gathering there and rotting away the wood behind the drywall.
LOLski
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