Wow I can't believe the contractor tried to get away with this. Holes in the wall, wood touching the ground what a nightmare.
There is nothing quite like a good beginning. I hope this savvy custom home owner has a penalty clause in the contract.
I am also smiling at the intrusive inspection. So many times that I just wanted to open up an area and show that there is more than a good chance of concealed damage.
I think the local building inpsector might want to outsource some work to you. GREAT JOB
Ian: I've been preaching to the agnets ever since I got involved in this house 6 months ago. Some of them are starting to see the light.
Jim: The local bulding department is not at all pleased with me. Supposedly they did the required inspections but managed not to notice steel replaced with wood, the extra room, the electical in the return air supply (bridging two floors with interstitial space), missing concrete pilasters, etc.
It was fun to get into the building what was going on. There was one bearng wall that that didn't have a foundation underneath it. We cut into walls, cored the concrete, did some excavation - alot of this was stuff that I hadn't done since I worked in a materials testing lab.
I do feel rotten for the owners. They're getting pretty well shafted on this whole deal.
Paul, as I said, I think you have done a great job here. I am sure your client is very happy you found these problems, and it will help yo in the future. Good job.
That is great. It is very interesting how the government agencys we all pay so much to keep us safe do a consistently mediocre job and have no liability.
Good stuff and keep up the battle.
Jim,
There's actually a provision in the IRC that limits suits against the Building Officials. They might get more diligent if they had more on the line. As it is, you have to prove negligence, a much higher standard than incompetence.
I agree Paul. I see people put more faith in their contractors than they do in their religion. It amazes me that people spend the amount of money they do on a new home, and DON"T have it inspected. I think most of this comes from the cliche that it's brand new, so it must be good.
It pains me to see peoples dream homes end up to be a nightmare, but we can only report what we find. I have really been trying to push for on going inspections from the actual clients while the building is going is being done. Some builders have been very receptive to it, but some not so much.