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Would you bother pursuing this? And if so, how? (long)
I may DD this later...just looking for a WWYD response in the meanwhile...
We moved into a brand new house 7 months ago. We had the walk through a few hours before closing. There was a small punch list given to our lawyer and the builder's lawyer before closing. The list was: 1 window didn't lock properly, one shelf in a cabinet was screwed up, no screen door on the sliders (there was one in the garage, but it did not fit), and we were also promised a garage door opener which was not installed yet. The only thing we got was the door opener. Nothing else was taken care of. Ed took it upon himself to fix the window and the shelf in the cabinet (he's handy and it didn't cost him anything other than some time, and he did not mind). We're still without a screen door for sliders.
I emailed our lawyer about the door. He drafted a letter to builder's lawyer. Builder lawyer replied that there was a delay with the company custom ordering the screen door and we'd have it in a few weeks (no exact time given). Told us to wait a few weeks. It's now been 5 months and nothing. Ed happened to run into the builder outside right after Christmas finalizing stuff with the landscapers on the house next door. Builder acknowledged the letter from 5 months prior and said "oh sorry my guy forgot to order that door for you". (really? before or after it was on back order?) Ed didn't even bother to ask for details. Told me the guy's a shady liar, we are not getting the door, and that he gives up and doesn't care. Me on the other hand, I am pissed. Everyone else in the new lot here gets a screen door, we don't...it was on our punch list and we got screwed. Ed tells me it's now "my fight" and to discuss with the lawyer again if it bugs me so much, he's over it and doesn't care.
What's the lawyer going to do? Continue sending letters? Continue to relay excuses back to us? They didn't charge me for the first letter they sent but I don't feel like having them chase the guy down (eventually they will start billing me for the time I am sure since they won't do it out of the goodness of their heart). It's probably cheaper to just go buy a screen door myself instead of paying for a lawyer to go after him. My MIL of course tells us our lawyer sucks and should have "held money in escrow" until everything was finished. Well, they didn't.
I definitely want to mail a dissatisfaction letter to the lawyer for not holding money at closing, kick myself in the ass for not knowing demanding that we hold money would have been a good idea, and then perhaps just go buy a new screen door, send the builder the bill and hope maybe he has some conscience and will reimburse us. My coworker told me to go to small claims court but again that will cost money and time that I don't have. And really, over a door? I know it's just a f*cking screen door but it's the principle of the matter.
WWYD?
Mommy to Stephanie Lena - 2.13.07 and Evan Ralph - 9.23.10
Angel Baby (m/c at 9 weeks) - 1.2.09
Christmas Card Picture - 2011
(aka: the only picture I could get of them together that was not blurry and had them both sitting still!)
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The Stephanie Song...click here to listen!
Re: Would you bother pursuing this? And if so, how? (long)
1. For punch lists, generally, money isn't held in escrow, so don't fault the attorney for that;
2. Small claims will not actually cost you $$$ in most cases. The bigger problem is actually collecting but if you file to show you are serious, they might be more likely to take care of it or compensate you for it. So I would do that.
I would go to small claims court. Not sure what the cost(maybe only a filing cost) would be but if you have the agreement from the lawyers that the builder owes you a door. I think you should win.
It's also possible that once they get a letter that they are getting sued at small claims they will get you your door.
GL
If this is the case then I'd do this. Sometimes all you need to motivate people is a letter from a court that someone is suing.
Don't you have a warranty? For our new construction house the flow went like this:
* before closing -- inspection
* 30 days after moving in--- we provided a punch list and they took care of the items.
* a little less than a year -- another punch list we generated and some items that did not stand up to either new construction code or to the builder's standards (which was everything we complained about) was fixed
* at one year -- they fixed all nail pops that resulted from a year of house settling.
ETA: And this is a pretty standard new construction contract -- nothing we did special and nothing special with our builder.
My neighbors got an entire new driveway at past one year because they claimed it was an installation issue. We even got a discounted repair of broken pipe that wasn't covered by warranty but that the builders felt was unacceptable to have broken in < 3 years and they didn't want it to give them a bad name. They repaired the dry wall at no cost all all after that.
First of all thanks to all the PPs for the advice. LisaD, that is especially good to know so I will be sure to tell my real estate paper pusher MIL about that. We do have a warranty but figured it was for bigger ticket items and things that break (not necessarily screen doors that were never installed). And really? They fixed nail pops? We may look into that since those are driving Ed nuts already!! He gets that it's quicker and easier to build that way but says they need to just use screws instead of nails! LOL.
Mommy to Stephanie Lena - 2.13.07 and Evan Ralph - 9.23.10
Angel Baby (m/c at 9 weeks) - 1.2.09
Christmas Card Picture - 2011
(aka: the only picture I could get of them together that was not blurry and had them both sitting still!)
Click here for My Bio
The Stephanie Song...click here to listen!
We had big crap on our list (like uneven floors and some heating issues) but we also had little things. Like when I turned the hot water all the way on in my master tub it makes this awful squeaking noise. I thought for sure they'd laugh at me. Turns out its a common plumbing issue and was fixed. Likewise they fixed the squeaky floors.
I would say a missing screen door qualifies.
The nail pops and drywall repair for that was standard to and separate from our "punch list". They will only repaint in the builder's white though so we waited a full year to paint. And they only do it once so we waited the whole year.
My brother was in a new house in a new development when he developed a water problem in the basement. He brought it up to the builder who promised French drains. Well, the problem got worse and the builder did zero. So one day on a weekend when he know everyone was driving -thru looking to buy my brother put out a plywood sign and spray painted, "ask me about the water problem in my basement that the builder won't fix". Guess what, the builder fixed the drains within 2 weeks.
My brother isn't usually an a-hole, and he pursued the builder who just refused to acknowlege him. This obviously did the trick! GL!