Stuck in a Bad Foundation

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acarrozzino

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Hello, my husband I built our first home with a contractor in Ohio. We picked our lot, all of the colors for our counters and flooring yet we did not have to obtain a construction loan. The builder required a down payment and then we purchased the home finished.

We noticed that our basement floor started cracking immediately, which the builder said was completely normal. No cuts were made to reduce the stress so now our floor is extremely cracked and I vacuum pieces up weekly. Also we have floor to ceiling cracking in all of our basement walls except in the wall in the front of our home. We have horizontal cracking in the rear wall (and cracking vertically stepping-down and through the blocks), on the side walls we have 3-4 vertical cracks on each side (again stepping-down and through the block) and some of the cracks meet the cracks in the floor. In the rear of our home where the cracks in the wall meet the cracks in the floor, our floor has started to fall 1/2 inch down.

My builder has visited repeatedly over the last two years and states that nothing is wrong and that my home is just "settleing" and that it is completely normal because our walls are not bowing, yet I found the one to not be level. I have called several home improvement companies but no one will look at a home that it 2 years old... they tell me to contact my builder. One company did come and told me that my builder is not willing to correct the problem with my neighbor's basement because it will cost over $7,000.00. My neighbor's basement floor has fallen 2 inches and he is not interested in fixing their home properly.

We have lived in our home for 25 months and wanted to sell it to build another home, because it jumped up in value from $110, 000 to $143,000. My husband and I placed our trust in this builder. He has a great reputation in our area. My cousin, who was in construction for 30 years and had worked for my builder's father), told me that we have "BIG" foundation problems. My husband and I used all of our retirement funds on the small down payment, and we were happy to see that we could sell to build a little bigger home. Two other people on our street with similar homes (with less upgrades and lesser lots) sold their homes for $132,000 within one month of placing them on the market. All of our homes are beautiful for the price. I was told by someone that we can only sue for $110,000, but we can not even build our current house for that amount.

Someone else said that since my builder has such a good rep that he may be willing to purchase the house back and build us another home. I am trying to find info and our different options on how to make the "wrong" house situation right. We are now stuck in this house; if it had been properly constructed, we could have sold it and already been in the other home. We are stuck and any advice on how to correct it would be greatly appreciated.

I was told by some friends to have the house inspected and to obtain a lawyer, but I am not sure what kind of lawyer (e.g., real estate). I was told by someone else to look for a construction engineer, but many of them are not willing to go to court.

Thanks for your help!!!
 
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This is not a simple matter as it will probably require expert opinions. You have contacted a lawyer for a consultation and it seems that he has told you a few options -- what alternatives are you seeking? Unfortunately, the first step to most any resolution is retaining the attorney and contact being made with the builder. A real estate lawyer would probably be most familiar with this area as they deal with conditions of homes on a regular basis during purchase and sale.

That said, the first thing that probably should be done is to get independent opinions from an engineer regarding your problem. We have not yet established that the problem was caused by negligence of the builder/engineer. I'm not sure that this was done. Additionally, I'm unsure how your neighbor is related to this incident.

You would probably be able to obtain more than what you paid for the house since the negligence of the builder would likely yield significant, foreseeable consequential damages. The alternative not discussed here is insurance, yours or his. A pre-suit letter may be your best option and hopefully it will never get that far.

Best of luck!
 
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