Bretts
05-21-2004, 12:49 PM
Hi,
We have a real problem that has grown way out of proportion. We signed a contract to have a Custom home built in Oak Hills, California 2 yrs ago. It took the builder Majestic Homes 10 months to get the pad (slab) down and then the problems really started.
The quality of the framing was horrible quality and trying to get the builder to redo the problems left us with no other alternative but to stop bank drafts to complete the house unless our
concerns were corrected. The bank basically laughed at us and said they had zero problems with the builder. We paid off the loan to stop foreclosure by the bank. We had a city inspector (from another city) come in and look at the house over and confirmed the quality and now structural problems. A civil engineer also confirmed we have structural problems. Our trusses are in fact cracking from the weight of the roof. The double truss on each side is leaning inward and not going straight up. Each truss on both side's of the house is affected by the leaning double truss. The domino affect is taking place in our house. Every other truss that is making direct contact with the roof is sitting on interior (not weight bearing) walls. The trusses are also nailed directly to the inner walls, toenail style! I can stick my finger under a truss between the wall and truss and other one next to it, is touching the inner wall. I learned they are not supposed to touch. Every other truss is like that on both sides of the house. This house is 45% complete and lucky for us, we are not living in it. We have gone to building and safely in our county but they can't red flag the house unless they have the approved plans the builder posses. We gave the county a copy of our reports so they are a least on file. The house was almost ready for the combo inspection and I know the inspector would not have caught our leaning/ breaking trusses. It's not real obvious until you look from the correct angle. The double truss on each side is leaning inward and not going straight up. It has gotten progressively worse over the last 10. And guess what? As a bonus there are 2 cracks in our slab over 15' long that we can stand quarters in. Why are we sticking this out? Its our dream house. The location is awesome. We have been waiting 15 yrs for this house.
The builder is suing us to let him complete the house and that they have not touched since June, 2003. We originally said fix the problems and you can finish the house. 2 deadlines passed and zero contact from the builder. In August we decided not to let the builder finish the house. After that, in October we found the roof problems in our house. Now here is the reason why we will not let them finish. There Are 7 Homes within a block Of us with obvious roof problems, all built by the same builder. Some have cracked tile on the floor, (3 months after moving in) crooked walls, leaks in windows and fireplaces, mice in the wall in the first month and cracks in outside stucco in less than a year. They use unlicensed contactors and that means no Workers Comp. In our letter to the builder last June, 2003 we asked for a list of their subs. They would not give us this information to us. The builder forces people to go through a "unnamed bank" or they won't build the house!!! The bank does not care because they have ongoing projects with the builder. An employee of the bank is "in bed" with the builder and acts as if they would have a house built by the builder if they were building one! Makes you confident in the beginning with recommendations from a bank employee. She was working at a credit union before the current bank and took a client files to the new job with her, and forced (convinced) the home owner to work with the new bank even though they were approved at the credit union. Needles to say that home owner was mad but they gave in so they could keep the process going. Yes we were guilty of not looking into the builder enough but the home's in the area were all being built at the same time and there were not enough "signs".
The other home owners are hoping the builder will finish / fix their problems. Lie after lie keeps them on the string. The builder even told them all to wait a year before filing a claim. One home owner (credit union / bank one) has just won a Contractors State license award ($5,600) due to their problem (s). Our problems exceeded $7,500 (max bond amount) so we let our case with CSLB drop. We are thinking of refilling the CSLB all over again to least be a thorn in side of the builder. Our whole roof will have to come off. Even the sheathing on the roof has no spacing between the sheets even though the recommendations are written right on the sheets! They used 7/16" thickness on our roof and track homes nearby are using 15/32" and it's amazing how much stronger it is. We have a tile roof, so stronger would make since. Not with this builder! Cheaper seems to always be better! Maybe the dips in our neighbors roofs would not be there if they didn't cut corners.
Well, we started putting signs on our unfinished "wreck" that "Majestic Homes is Unfair" and they are suing us for $250.000 in damage to their day to day business. Our signs are "harassing" them. A judge would not issue a restraining order (to stop us from having the sign up) but they still sued us. This suit is on top of the original one!! No one will hold this builder accountable. We are a ship taking on water. I feel good about our attorney but this new suit, is a frivolous one. He said if we win( anti-slap ), they have to pay attorney fee's. What if we don't and the builder prevails? Sometimes I try not to think about it. How am I going to get another contractor to finish this thing? My 76 yr old father-in law who is supposed to be living in this house with us by now is losing faith. We feel we have zero rights. This builder is trying to outlast, and financially destroy us. We are not nuts but this builder is!
Thanks for taking the time read this.
We have a real problem that has grown way out of proportion. We signed a contract to have a Custom home built in Oak Hills, California 2 yrs ago. It took the builder Majestic Homes 10 months to get the pad (slab) down and then the problems really started.
The quality of the framing was horrible quality and trying to get the builder to redo the problems left us with no other alternative but to stop bank drafts to complete the house unless our
concerns were corrected. The bank basically laughed at us and said they had zero problems with the builder. We paid off the loan to stop foreclosure by the bank. We had a city inspector (from another city) come in and look at the house over and confirmed the quality and now structural problems. A civil engineer also confirmed we have structural problems. Our trusses are in fact cracking from the weight of the roof. The double truss on each side is leaning inward and not going straight up. Each truss on both side's of the house is affected by the leaning double truss. The domino affect is taking place in our house. Every other truss that is making direct contact with the roof is sitting on interior (not weight bearing) walls. The trusses are also nailed directly to the inner walls, toenail style! I can stick my finger under a truss between the wall and truss and other one next to it, is touching the inner wall. I learned they are not supposed to touch. Every other truss is like that on both sides of the house. This house is 45% complete and lucky for us, we are not living in it. We have gone to building and safely in our county but they can't red flag the house unless they have the approved plans the builder posses. We gave the county a copy of our reports so they are a least on file. The house was almost ready for the combo inspection and I know the inspector would not have caught our leaning/ breaking trusses. It's not real obvious until you look from the correct angle. The double truss on each side is leaning inward and not going straight up. It has gotten progressively worse over the last 10. And guess what? As a bonus there are 2 cracks in our slab over 15' long that we can stand quarters in. Why are we sticking this out? Its our dream house. The location is awesome. We have been waiting 15 yrs for this house.
The builder is suing us to let him complete the house and that they have not touched since June, 2003. We originally said fix the problems and you can finish the house. 2 deadlines passed and zero contact from the builder. In August we decided not to let the builder finish the house. After that, in October we found the roof problems in our house. Now here is the reason why we will not let them finish. There Are 7 Homes within a block Of us with obvious roof problems, all built by the same builder. Some have cracked tile on the floor, (3 months after moving in) crooked walls, leaks in windows and fireplaces, mice in the wall in the first month and cracks in outside stucco in less than a year. They use unlicensed contactors and that means no Workers Comp. In our letter to the builder last June, 2003 we asked for a list of their subs. They would not give us this information to us. The builder forces people to go through a "unnamed bank" or they won't build the house!!! The bank does not care because they have ongoing projects with the builder. An employee of the bank is "in bed" with the builder and acts as if they would have a house built by the builder if they were building one! Makes you confident in the beginning with recommendations from a bank employee. She was working at a credit union before the current bank and took a client files to the new job with her, and forced (convinced) the home owner to work with the new bank even though they were approved at the credit union. Needles to say that home owner was mad but they gave in so they could keep the process going. Yes we were guilty of not looking into the builder enough but the home's in the area were all being built at the same time and there were not enough "signs".
The other home owners are hoping the builder will finish / fix their problems. Lie after lie keeps them on the string. The builder even told them all to wait a year before filing a claim. One home owner (credit union / bank one) has just won a Contractors State license award ($5,600) due to their problem (s). Our problems exceeded $7,500 (max bond amount) so we let our case with CSLB drop. We are thinking of refilling the CSLB all over again to least be a thorn in side of the builder. Our whole roof will have to come off. Even the sheathing on the roof has no spacing between the sheets even though the recommendations are written right on the sheets! They used 7/16" thickness on our roof and track homes nearby are using 15/32" and it's amazing how much stronger it is. We have a tile roof, so stronger would make since. Not with this builder! Cheaper seems to always be better! Maybe the dips in our neighbors roofs would not be there if they didn't cut corners.
Well, we started putting signs on our unfinished "wreck" that "Majestic Homes is Unfair" and they are suing us for $250.000 in damage to their day to day business. Our signs are "harassing" them. A judge would not issue a restraining order (to stop us from having the sign up) but they still sued us. This suit is on top of the original one!! No one will hold this builder accountable. We are a ship taking on water. I feel good about our attorney but this new suit, is a frivolous one. He said if we win( anti-slap ), they have to pay attorney fee's. What if we don't and the builder prevails? Sometimes I try not to think about it. How am I going to get another contractor to finish this thing? My 76 yr old father-in law who is supposed to be living in this house with us by now is losing faith. We feel we have zero rights. This builder is trying to outlast, and financially destroy us. We are not nuts but this builder is!
Thanks for taking the time read this.