New Build Foundation Errors

Posted by 0x9H on April 12, 2009, 1:53 pm

I recently bought a new construction home in September of last year.
I noticed recently that my 3rd car garage is supposed to be 8ft from
door frame to door frame and is actually 6 ft. I noticed after my
neighbor said "Why do you only have three windows on your door and we
have four?" I spoke with my wife and we are talking about having the
builder come out and fix it. Sense the 3rd car garage is attached to
the house and has not structural value to it, we can have them knock
down the wall and push it out 2 feet.

What does the group think of this, is there anything I should look for
or use as ammunition to remedy this problem? We are still within our
one year window of the home beeing built.

-Paul

Posted by RF on April 12, 2009, 3:45 pm

0x9H wrote:

> I recently bought a new construction home in September of last year.
> I noticed recently that my 3rd car garage is supposed to be 8ft from
> door frame to door frame and is actually 6 ft. I noticed after my
> neighbor said "Why do you only have three windows on your door and we
> have four?" I spoke with my wife and we are talking about having the
> builder come out and fix it. Sense the 3rd car garage is attached to
> the house and has not structural value to it, we can have them knock
> down the wall and push it out 2 feet.
>
> What does the group think of this, is there anything I should look for
> or use as ammunition to remedy this problem? We are still within our
> one year window of the home beeing built.
>
> -Paul

Most likely the builder will try to delaaaaay
things until the year fizzles out. I suggest you
get legal advice before it's too late and you lose
out.

Posted by jloomis on April 12, 2009, 9:15 pm

Is there a reason why the house was built that way?
Is there a setback issue for the garage and property line?
Does the plans that came with the purchased house have the 8 ft. door
included.
If the contractor cut the corner, I would contact him and explain the
problem.
He may come out and do the work. If not, you may have to fight this one,
call the contractor license board, or see the building dpt. for plan
approval and why the house was not built according to hoyle.
jloomis

>I recently bought a new construction home in September of last year.
> I noticed recently that my 3rd car garage is supposed to be 8ft from
> door frame to door frame and is actually 6 ft. I noticed after my
> neighbor said "Why do you only have three windows on your door and we
> have four?" I spoke with my wife and we are talking about having the
> builder come out and fix it. Sense the 3rd car garage is attached to
> the house and has not structural value to it, we can have them knock
> down the wall and push it out 2 feet.
> What does the group think of this, is there anything I should look for
> or use as ammunition to remedy this problem? We are still within our
> one year window of the home beeing built.
> -Paul

Posted by 0x9H on April 13, 2009, 2:13 pm

> Is there a reason why the house was built that way?

The blue prints say 8ft from door to door edge. It's only six.

> Is there a setback issue for the garage and property line?

We don't know, it looks like there may be more open area that the
foundation should have been on, but isn't.

> Does the plans that came with the purchased house have the 8 ft. door
> included.

Yes, they say 10'-0'' from the corner to the edge of the house, and
8'-0'' from door to door.

> If the contractor cut the corner, I would contact him and explain the
> problem.

I called the builder, they seems pretty shocked and supportive. I
will keep up with it. I am in the military so I get free legal advice
and paperwork to give to an attorney.

> He may come out and do the work. If not, you may have to fight this one,
> call the contractor license board, or see the building dpt. for plan
> approval and why the house was not built according to hoyle.

Is the license board sate level or county?

Thanks for all your help, please, if you know of people or palces to
research these issues post back!

-Paul

Posted by dpb on April 13, 2009, 2:38 pm

0x9H wrote:
...

>> Is there a setback issue for the garage and property line?

> We don't know, it looks like there may be more open area that the
> foundation should have been on, but isn't.

There's certainly a place to know first -- the local jurisdiction
building inspections/permitting office will be able to tell you that w/
a phone call. If you have sufficient clearance and the foundation was
just laid 2-ft short, that's one thing; if they ran up against zoning
that's something else again.

>> Does the plans that came with the purchased house have the 8 ft. door
>> included.

> Yes, they say 10'-0'' from the corner to the edge of the house, and
> 8'-0'' from door to door.
>

>> If the contractor cut the corner, I would contact him and explain the
>> problem.

> I called the builder, they seems pretty shocked and supportive. I
> will keep up with it. I am in the military so I get free legal advice
> and paperwork to give to an attorney.

...

The question I would have is what took almost a year to discover? That
would give me pause if I were the builder certainly as to how seriously
I'd take it.

Then, the question becomes one of if they don't want to do it gratis,
what's it worth to you? Have you really been injured since you've been
in the house (apparently) for nearly a year and it took a neighbor to
point out the problem?

What's the point you're trying to make here?

Take a rebate of 2-3 months' mortgage payments and call it even sounds
reasonable to me. But, _if_ there isn't a zoning issue w/ setback as
suggested above, you might want to check w/ realtor on what they think
the resale penalty might be. Are full 3-car garages the norm in that
subdivision? What's it being used for now or was it intended as cycle
storage rather than car and there was an initial potential buyer who
backed out the deal but had the original blueprints modified for
construction? Lots of possibilities here.

--

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