I know there are some jacks of all trades here and some jack offs so please all chime in as I describe this nightmare.

I built a new house from Jan 2021 to Aug 2021 moved in Aug 7 2021. It is almost 3100 sq foot (cost $540,000) all one level on a four foot fully encapsulated crawl space in the middle of 100 acres 2 mins from the city limits (no inspections no code enforced). The house was designed by house plan drafting architect and had a fully set of floor plans from foundation to roof prints. It was designed to have the crawl space encapsulated meaning no air vents, it is sealed and a swimming pool like liner is installed up the walls and a humidifier keeps the crawlspace a conditioned humidity of about 45 to 55% year round.

In July before we moved in the crawl space pool like liner was installed as well as the humidifier unit. Typically they also install a sump pump system under the liner however when they arrived to do the installation the crawl space was bone dry. The installation of the sump pump would require the trenching of 3100 foot of pipe below the footer inside the crawl space and chiseling thru rock as well. The big company who was doing the job $23K who has crews in 5 states said that I did not need the sump pump system and that it would keep the bill from being $8k more as I lived completely on a hill and drained from all sides. They said they would come back in 6 months and peel back the liner and check for moisture and if there was any revisit installing the pump. I had an outlet put in for the sump pump and pipe sleeve put in for the pump however the job foreman didnt want to install it because he and his crew didnt want to trench for 3 days on their hands and knees for 3 days. I took his advice and thought he would recheck it in 6 months. Once they seal the liner you are not in any way allowed to open or view the crawl space below it or you void the 25 year transferable warranty and the 25 year free service inspection. My General Contractor thought it was insane to pays $23k for anything in a crawl space and surely didnt think I needed a sump pump in the first place.

In August we moved in. By the middle of Feb we noticed the sub floors were cracking a little when we walked in spots. They told me they might crack when the dehumidifier had dried things out below and call and the crawlspace people would come out and check the dehumidifier and check wood levels for moisture and adjust things as you are not allowed to adjust the settings on the dehumidifier. I had forgotten that no one had actually been out in 6 months. It was now just 7 months. The service guy showed invited me to the crawl space and tested everything. The moisture in the wood was perfect and the humidity was 47%. He asked to see the inside of the house where the floors where squeaking. He asked if doors we sticking I said yes and we checked some. Then he called his HQ and arranged for a free inspection of my homes foundation and wooden frame as he said my humidity was fine.

A week later things started getting worse in the house floor louder doors sticking and the guy shows up to do the free inspection. He goes in the crawl space with laser levels and says you need to come down here. He shows me that some of my 24 piers have settled and that it is because my general contractor/concrete crew poured some off center and had the spans to wide at 10 foot instead of 8. They ask to see my blue prints. It says 45 piers and I have 24 they say there is your problem they deviated from the plan and now the weight is not spanned correctly, ground not compacted properly before being poured on. He says a few of them have settled almost an inch. He says that I need foundation repair. It can be fixed for $12K. I thank him and start calling the concrete guys and my general contractor. The concrete guys wont answer and my general guy says he doesnt have time to mess with it that it is normal settling and he will check on it.

I call two other foundation companies who laser measure they all say the same thing my piers are "settling due to poor construction". My builder wont show. No one can figure out how my house has all these issues its 7 months old. In the middle of March, now my doors wont close at all, my house sounds like its 100 years old in the sub floor, my sheet rock is cracked all over, screws popped, my kids bath tub is slanted with water in it. I keep calling the foundation company back who did the encapsulation and they keep saying we need to fix it now. However all three foundation companies want to fix it totally different. I am confused. I contact my insurance and nothing will cover it. I have my wife who is a lawyer start to go after the contractor and the concrete guys. We send legal notices, have to allow ten days for them to view it before we fix it, 5 days to respond and 10 days to pay repairs before we fix it legally or we forfeit our right to hold them liable in court so we send out legal notices. My contractor also says he has no insurance and that he let it lap during the pandemic even though he told us and the bank he did carry insurance. He has zero dollars for any repairs. He says none of this is his fault an he isnt paying anything. He says the piers are correct for the material he used and if they are sinking its not his damn fault.

In April my granite counter tops break away from the wall, damage goes way up inside most of my wood trim joints have separated at every joint. The company who I hired to fix it the same company who put the liner in has a plan 18 permanent jacks under the beams, a 25 foot section of steel beam that has to be added with 5 jacks under it now the cost is $28K. I have to put down a $6k deposit to order the steel and jacks to get a $2k discount for pre-order.

As I am waiting out the legal time period to fix it. I decide to hire a structural engineer to look at why my house is sinking and how to repair it as well as to have an independent person look at it for the law suits. The engineer says he can come out, start in the attic and go down to the dirt in the crawl space and factor everything and tell me why it occurred, how to fix it, how to make sure it doesnt occur again and it will take 4 to 5 weeks for a full report. I explain I dont have that kind of time. I have massive damage in less than 3 months. He says tell me about it. I tell him. He says after 5 mins, son you have a serious water problem under your house nothing sinks an inch without water. I say its dry as hell under there. Its sealed, I have no leaks, no high water bills, the grade is sloped perfect, there is no water. He says your not listening. Did you open the liner or listen to the jack salesman. I say that I cant open the liner. He said do two things right now. Hang up call them and make them come now and open the liner. They have been to your house 5 times since Feb and have not opened the liner make them come now and send me every construction pic you have of the foundation before they back filled it then send me pictures of your house and land. Then give me and hour and call me back.

I do what he says. They seem like they dont want to open the liner they say they will come in three days. The guy calls me 15 mins after getting the pictures and says I found your problem son. I said what is it. He says who is the [bleep] who plumbed your gutter drains to the same drain exit pipe as your foundation drains? He then shows me a picture that he had blown up. I tell him my contractor did personally as he bragged on running the gutter water away from the house in an underground system. The engineer said he took all that roof water and put it in the crawl space. With his design in heavy rains its spraying under your house, if the pipes were crushed during back fill its spraying full time, and he used the wrong pipe that pipe is not rated to be used for water under ground under pressure. He basically said this is a foundation sprinkler system its against code go outside and cut all the gutters off your house until I can come on May 9th. He says the water it forced under your house from the force of the rain and the gutters then slowly drains out later taking dirt from under the piers, its the spring rains sinking it. He also says you were set up by the foundation/encapsulation people they knew there was water under there in Feb. The first thing they should of done was open the liner. You need to ask them why they didnt. I tell him about the span of the piers, them not pouring all the piers, the things the foundation people pointed me to originally. He reviews pier data says they seem fine for beam material used and concrete guys get a free pass due to water. Those jack salesman are good son. Why dont you ask them who makes the jacks they sell and I am sure they make them in house as they sell thousands yearly. He said its a scam. I am sorry but I will help you fix your house and make sure structurally its sound.

I remove the gutter pipes. I start raising hell with the foundation people and they come and open it the next day. The whole foundation is fully flooded under the liner in the gravel. I am pissed, I mean, I wasnt allowed to look under the damn liner in my own house. Then we have a war that last days. If they would have put the pump in then it would have caught the water or fired off so much then I would have known about this issue. They say there paper work says that I refused the pump out right. In the end, I end up buy the sump pump package now with two pumps and have to pay to have the liner removed and reinstalled $18K. There is no one else in my area who can install these pumps and get the water out in the next 30 days which the engineer says is critical. I also have a non refundable deposit with these jerks to jack the house. My wife has found a lawyer who will take them on later on a contingency basis. These [bleep] gave me some discounts but I still had to do business with them. I feel like I was setup.

I inform my contractor about his great pipe design and what the engineer said and that he basically pumped water under the crawl space. I also talk to my current insurance company. They wont help me. I explain again to my general contractor that I owe $50,263 in the next 90 days to fix my home and that I also still have to make about $6,000 in repairs after that. I explain to him that I am going to have to follow thru with the lawsuit as I had to go last week and use my 100 acres that was paid for and get a loan for $40k to pay to fix everything because no one had insurance and none of my insurance would cover it. At this point, he blames it on a guy that I hired to install the septic system. Additionally I was there when he told that guy to bury his drain system and convert it into one six inch pipe instead of two 4 inch pipes, which was not what I hired him to do. So the septic guy converts the pipes and buries the six inch drain pipe in the same ditch as the septic pipe then day lights it out into the woods. (I can tell that the General Contractor is thinking that he is going to put the blame on the septic and guy and try and get out of it because I did hire the guy) All because the guy he hired sent a part time guy who admitted he had never put a septic system in when he showed up to dig mine and I stopped him.

So I get a camera the next day. They run the camera and about 60 foot up the 6 inch pipe they hit a wall of water. The 6 inch pipe is full totally full of water for 42 feet. They say there was not a lot of back fill under the pipe and its holding water like a bent straw. The guy who is running the camera is a master plumber. He says this wall of water would cause my [bleep] designed gutter/foundation system to fail before we even moved in and to spray water under the house every single time it rains. He says the design my builder made he should be shot for making caused this problem, but the massive wall of water caused the instant failure of the system. The 40 foot section of pipe needs to be replaced to let the remaining pipe fiasco drain water away from the foundation. The guy running the camera feels so bad for me he wont take my money. He gives me his card and tell me to have anyone call him he will save the footage on his computer.

I contacted the guy who put in the septic line and he has insurance. However his insurance agent said he only had insurance for "digging" not plumbing. They tried to tell me he didnt do plumbing and I told them he does do it he is just not good at it apparently because he told us that he was certified to do septic and after my septic failed inspection he acknowledged he let is license go a few years ago and I had to pay someone else $2000 to fix the lagoon. I have been told that dirt digging line only the agent used is BS because any one that digs has general liability insurance if they hit anything, damage anything, cover a pipe wrong, cause water damage, which should cover my damage. Also this guy digs alot for the city and county as he has a large machine and someone told me he probably has an umbrella policy which will cover my damages as well. I sure could use a break. I have not heard from his claims adjuster yet.

SO after all this bull [bleep] I still may have to pay to dig up and replace 40 foot of pipe as well. Sadly with the additional damage and pipes if I have to pay for it all it will be $75k. I feel bad for the septic guy. He buried a pipe and he didnt know it would cause a total house foundation failure due to some know it all contractor building bull crap drain systems. I checked again none of my current insurance policies will cover it and none of the policies that I had while building will cover it. I am not allowed to touch this pipe until his adjusted comes to look at it.

In the end, I paid all my bills and none of this is my fault. I will have to try and get money back from someone. My contractor says he is broke but he has a lake house, bass boat, couple of trucks and works at a dog food plants as well for $35 an hour in addition to building 4 hours right now. I am having to mortgage land to pay for all of this and make 5 years of payments. Any advice is welcomed.






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JHFC. some people depend on this site for too much.

Stupid hurts...

Lol

I been coming here for a lot of years. I expect a lot of dick head comments out of the 100 of those I might get a pm or two. Or some people might make a good comment. This place is full of builders, contractors. excavators, people who work in insurance, people who been in lawsuits over home builds, the list goes on and on. I roll with the punches. Never be afraid to seek advice or put yourself out there because of a couple of dip [bleep] who sniffed too much gold paint in that run down trailer on their mom's mom's 4 acres while conquering their keyboard.

Sounds like you need a lawyer more interested in going after people. If the clowns who let their licenses and insurance slip (and committed fraud and blatant code violations) are set up to shield their personal assets from a business-related suit, I'd be surprised...

Looks to me like you have some lawsuits to file.

Sorry for your troubles.

Trailer.

Wait a few years then shoot his ass.

I guess that I am just hoping to catch a break from the insurance. If I have to sue anyone like the septic guy and my contractor that is a personal investment of another 10 to 15K my wife is not that kind of lawyer and 2 to 3 years to get anything back if you do.

I found a lawyer for the foundation company that would go contingency but that is also 2 to 3 year deal.

lol

Dude I’m savin’ that…!


Good luck with your troubles. Sorry about em’. I really do hope you come out of all of it the best you possibly can.

What a horrible situation. Maybe Cash will chime in. He is as knowledgeable about materials and construction as anyone I know.

You need to contact whatever licensing board issues those clowns licenses and SEE FOR YOURSELF if they're licensed or not. Chances are that fucquer is lying to you about letting his license lapse to protect his license. If he's licensed he has a bond and you can file a claim against it. The state licensing board is a strong advocate for consumers and will drag that/all those contractors through the mud before they're done with them. Might also contact the state labor board and see if he's paying payroll and taxes on the up and up or if he's got under the table employees. If he's skipping his obligations, they'd have a run at him too.

It's not ok what's happening to you and you need to get the state involved.

I went through a similar situation years ago. File a complaint with the state contractors licensing board. It gets attention. Here a good construction attorney and engineer. Be vocal every chance you can where you have a large audience. Hit them in their pocket book and they’ll submit.

Light a match

Good write up. That sucks.

No dick comment but they screwed you.

Hope you get some of it back as well as some peace of mind.

I guess that I am just hoping to catch a break from the insurance. If I have to sue anyone like the septic guy and my contractor that is a personal investment of another 10 to 15K my wife is not that kind of lawyer and 2 to 3 years to get anything back if you do.

I found a lawyer for the foundation company that would go contingency but that is also 2 to 3 year deal.

Did you vet your contractors. Cant believe this Is a first time mistake

I'll admit I lost steam about halfway through the OP - gotta ask, where the fugg was your inspector in all this? Thats the first ass I'd be wearing as an overboot frankly.

If you didn't have inspections, well, hard lesson learned I guess.

One needs to do some serious research and find a proper lawyer. Not a similar issue but a distant friend and his new wife built and paid for house. A year or two later there's a 30K lien on the place because the contractor never paid for materials. The lien locked them out of all kinds of financial doings even though the materials debt was not their responsibility. Thoughts were the title insurance folks should cover such but they balked. About 8 lawyers deep and 6 months later and things were still the same. Eventually he had a casual conversation with a lawyer at the local gym, who said he'd give it look. A week later the title insurance folks came through but with a stipulation that he not publicize the specifics.

Few if any insurance companies cough up coin on first submissions. Two or three rejections will wear most folks out. Stay after them, however, and eventually many will come through. Near all of us avoid exercising our insurance companies as policy costs will go up. I suspect that thought train is the same throughout the construction industry.

Have no idea where one is but building/construction inspectors should also bear some responsibilities. Here in Oregon, their fees are quite high, and it's their job to assure that every aspect of construction is up to code. I just gave them $425 to assure that my new septic tank and 245 ft of drain field are up to snuff. They should earn those dollars.

I'm all for over engineering and tolerating some higher costs on the front end than trying to fix the short cuts later. Some folks use the argument of saving you money, when the real deal is saving them time and effort or a ploy to void a challenge to their expertise.

In a newer neighborhood here, and several houses around us are less than 15 years old. A couple are on their third roof and most are at least on their second. One of those still had the cellophane tape left on the underside of every shingle.

Have a neighbor that's presently building his forever home and he's insisting on meeting Oregon coast earthquake codes even though we're on the east side of the state with 600 ft of basalt as a foundation. His house will not have any structural issues.

Good luck on your end, but at best it's going to be a tooth pulling ordeal with so many contractors and subs involved. Thirty years back, one signed up a contractor and he addressed every aspect of the build. Now days most of those folks are just construction managers and sub everything out.

Do keep us up as an occasional venting might help your mood a bit.

Man, what a tough deal. Hope things work out. Please keep us updated.

any mold issues?

Sorry for your predicament...
The operative syllable in Con-tractor is "con"

There are a subset of them who go out bid a bunch of jobs, and get in over their head. They go over budget then start taking new jobs to stay afloat while slow walking the jobs that they are underwater on. Eventually they just go out of business and start another with a new name. An aqaintence of mine had that happen and was left with a tarp over the roof when rainy season came around long after the job was to have been completed..

Have you looked into whether your contractor was hired as a general contractor with the rights and responsibility of directing both his subcontractors an yours?

This. Wow. BTW, I did read all of it.

Arizona has a registrar of contractors recovery fund paid in by every contractor. The contractor must be licensed through the state registrar, you must seek recovery off his bond first, if denied then file for recovery. Any money paid from the fund, the state will then charge the contractor for times 3.

If he is not a licensed and bonded contractor you are screwed.

Kent

Can you post the picture showing the underground pipes?

That is a real nightmare. It is true that your foundation columns need to be 8 feet OC and not 10 feet. Big mistake. Good luck I don't have any bright ideas.

you have no idea what you are talking about...you are spouting off bullshit ...only thing you have said that is true is" you dont have any bright ideas"......to say you know what the placement of the piers should be based on because thats what you think shows how little you know....bob

Sadly in our State General Contractor dont have to have a license with the State and are not regulated. There are zero inspections out of the city limits other than a final home inspection at the end. which it passed with flying colors. They cant see the pipes that are buried.

We used tripled 2x12 for beams both the architech and engineer said a 10 foot span was 10. There is a couple 10 mostly 9 and a few 8. I am trying to post a picture of the pipes.

That is the code here in North Carolina, Bob. You need to relax a little.

H5farm......listen to your engineer....while it all seems dire your house can be made whole ...fixed....

unless you hired someone on your own your general contractor is at fault......I say this as a general contractor.....he is the one who is responsible for over seeing and ensuring that all the work is done properly......but if you hired and or paid anyone...you just acted as a homeowner/builder.

listen to the engineer........bob

an engineer said it was ok yet you say it is wrong......listen to the engineer.....bob

Lawyer up.

BobMt is on it.

Bob is very smart (so I have gathered from his op-eds on a multitude of topics).

Pics, location, more specifics... and such would be tremendously helpful.

Settling foundations on improperly compacted soil... Oh Boy...

Reminds me of this tower over younder in Italy... small town called Pisa.

All In can do is Pray for you.

Lots of people hate government over reach and think building codes and permits are just for bureaucrats to keep a job with benefits (and it is that too). I worked plumbing in a county that had little code enforcement for years, and many, many homeowner/contractor builds ended up with "fatal flaws." A lot of general contractors spent as much time in court as they did at the jobsite. The upside was a fellow could build a lot of house for less money, but the downside is like the OP describes.

Cash while I appreciate the words of support...I cant help but feel I am being set up....lol thanks....bob

Excess spans don't cause piers to fail. Beams fail due to excess spans first. Based on the write up, I would say the piers are failing. Piers generally fail for a couple of reasons... poured on pour soil or in this case, the drains are causing erosion and or pour soil under the piers.

If the guy doesn't have insurance because he couldn't afford it, then you won't be getting anything out of him any time soon because he doesn't have anything to give. If you can afford it, get your house fixed, hired a great attorney and take the guy to the cleaners later. Take his house or whatever you can, but you need to focus on fixing your house first. the longer you wait the more expensive it will be!

That Sir... is excellent.

I hate Code... I have always seen it as a minimum... and a "One Size Fits All Solution" that really really wrecks logic.

On my buildings in WV (no code)... I dug ZERO footings... a total violation of "Code" everywhere...

Why?

The soil is SOLID ROCK with massive virgin compaction bearing.

Any footing would have "loosened" that virgin compaction. No Wacker Packer would have gotten me back to even 50% of virgin compaction.

Frost heave... that was dealt with by other methods.

LOL... not at all Sir...

If the guy isn't a licensed/bonded general contractor, and/or the state doesn't regulate unlicensed 'contractors', then he was a hired superintendent. If his 'business' is an LLC good luck suing him.

Wherever this is it's bazaar going by what's explained here.

Kent

H5farm read the the very top again......good insight.....bob

krp....I will take a guess and say there is some good old fashioned settling going on ....fix the settling and the reasons for it then the house is fixed......sounds like poor soil prep and water drainage...bob

I understand that, I've done concrete for 40+ years. I'm talking about the 'contractor' situation, either he's a licensed contractor or superintendent. One you have recourse against with the state, the other you hired and it's you who are the contractor.

Kent

Is this in Canada or where is this?

Kent

About where I am as well... but pics will tell much more.

OP... make up a random Gmail account. Any name you want.

In that account, top right... there is a

In that pull down... is link to "Google Photos".

Make an album and post pics there...

Then...

LINK that album... like this BS link of my WV buildout.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/D3EVwsEsLJMVdgDz9

Without pics there is no way anyone can help you here.

Mid Missouri

If your general contractor subcontracted to these other companies, I'd say that he is primarily responsibe if he hired them, insuring that they followed the building plans, and that the materials and workmanship is to spec. That's why you hire a general, to manage the project in a professional, competent, manner.

If you personally hired any portion of the job done, other than hiring the general, those portions were you're responsible to manage and insure quality control. I always hire a general and never let any contractor do anything without having a hard copy of his license, his proof of insurance, and the building permits if he was responsible for getting them.

Any deviation from the original design should have been fully documented as to what was done, why it was done, who recommended it, and who approved it. As with many things, the devil is in the details. Building contractors are in business to make a profit and if they can cut a corner and keep the money, their profit is greater. Better yet, if they can get you to approve the cutting of a corner then any liability falls on you, not on them. I grew up in the concrete business and we were sued many time because we were thought to have deep pockets, but we always poured to spec and wouldn't pour if the general and the masonary contractors wasn't there to approve the pour in writing. The standing order for the drivers was to dump the load if they couldn't get those signatures and if they made the pour without signatures they would be fired on the spot. I think that during the 28 years that we owned that company, we fired 2 drivers for taking it upon themselves to make the pour without the necessary signatures. By doing so they put the company in a bad position if anything had gone wrong, so they lost their jobs. Those firing weren't lost on the rest of the drivers. My Father was quite happy the day that we sold the delivery side of the business off to one of the senior drivers, as now the majority of any potential liability fell on his company, no longer on our's.

Your story is sad and it appears that you were inexperienced in the construction business and trusted people who weren't worthy of you trust to make some decisions that weren't in your best interest.

IMO, you need to hire a good attorney to navigate the legal system for you.

There are 515 soil types found in Missouri.

https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu:355185

https://www.gardenguides.com/13406954-what-type-of-soil-is-in-missouri.html

Some will bear excellent when re-compacted... and some will not.

Ok a quick search...

To get your general contractors license in Missouri, you will have to apply for approval at the local level. Similar to specialty trades including electrical and plumbing, Missouri does not offer a statewide general contractors license, so your application process, requirements, and fees to become a licensed general contractor will depend on the local issuing authority of your city. As you can see below, getting a contractors license in Kansas City will be much different from becoming a general contractor in St. Louis.

To further convolute things, business entities operating in the state of Missouri will need to be registered with the Missouri Secretary of State as well as have obtained all tax ID numbers, a certificate of insurance, and contractor bonds for all projects. Additionally, if you are aspiring to perform contracting services in St. Louis, you will need to meet the city’s contracting business requirements to do so. Many factors will have to be accounted for when becoming a licensed general contractor in Missouri, but knowing what cities carry which requirements can make becoming a general contractor much easier.

Just to confirm... was he a licensed general contractor?

Kent

I know you have.....got it about the contractor situation......bob

Help us out. What State do you live in and what has been the rain fall since the house was built ?

kwg

I see it now, mid Missouri. You get a lot of rain there. I see you built on a slope. That should of helped. Someone was just inept. I think your biggest beef is not getting the piers you paid for. 24 instead of 45. My bet is someone got a kickback on the concrete. If you can find that guy you need to get him to confess and sue the concrete guys. I hate to say it but you should of been out there every day making sure they were building to plans. You need a good attorney. Good luck.

kwg

He doesnt have to have a license in our area. Only St Louis and Kansas City. No he does not have a State License on file only commercial builders have them on file in our county. There is only two home builders who have them on file with the State that I know of. Everyone can be a contractor here. He also lied at the beginning and said he had insurance. I guess looking back I should of requested a copy in writing. General Liability Ins for him would have been less than $1k a year. No one would believe he didnt have it. People I have told do not still believe he does not have it.

I've seen crappy homes built that met "code".

Code is "minimum standard" and only means a home is "built to minimum standards".

Ok, liability insurance is for injury and property damage while building. A bond would be for completed work integrality.

(business entities operating in the state of Missouri will need to be registered with the Missouri Secretary of State as well as have obtained all tax ID numbers, a certificate of insurance, and contractor bonds for all projects)

Check that out, see if he was really a business, pursue a bond if he was.

I have a bad feeling he wasn't.

Now that you know what needs fixing concentrate on that, a bitter pill for sure.

Kent

Well, the International Codes that many places have adopted sure seem minimal when compared to the Uniform Codes that they replaced. All part of the NWO so that we may assimilate somewhere into a lower standard of living.

H5farm. It’s not hard to see who the good guys here are. I’m blown away by the time some have taken to offer their respective expertise.

Without a doubt you need specialized legal support. Why? Every state and locale operates under different laws, codes, etc. which equates to different levels (for lack of better terms) of legal culpability.

Secondly, I expect that legal team will need a team of experts (I’d call them subcontractors, but that would be a cruel joke) that would advise as to specifics such as the piers, floor joist span, drainage requirements, etc.

I’m a visual guy so I’d say visualize a storyboard from a police or detective show where they put photos of all the bad actors on the board and then list what each is responsible for. Also a flow chart and timeline. When all this is filled in you’d have an overall strategy for your approach.

This obviously is an over-simplified explanation and description because there are so many other activities to be captured such as the steps you’ve taken, the time you’ve expended, and the crisis actions you’ve had to take to get you to this point.

Lastly, and I know you know, this is just f’n exhausting and like working a second full time job, so you’re going to have to have a laser focus and the tenacity of a bulldog. You’ll hear a lot of people who will want you to settle for less that a full win. While that is your decision to make, I say BS. Go for the jugular on every one of them. I’d be owning all the property the guilty owned. But then I’m an ornery old bastard.

Best of luck.

I'm not a fan of government, or many of the countless preposterous restrictions, codes, regulations and laws citizens are subjected to in everyday life. That said, this I do believe: sometimes there are very good reasons for certain standards, such as building codes and inspections that are designed (mostly) to protect people from getting hurt, screwed or doing things that are potentially really stupid, dangerous and/or costly. Example? Being able to have a home built that falls apart/self-destructs within a single year after spending a pile of dough on because no meaningful standards were in place and scrutinized to protect the consumer/owner...

Your use of 'nightmare' seems appropriate, and if nothing else may serve as a warning to others. I've nothing to offer beyond that other than, sorry for your troubles and best of luck, OP.

Italian lightning, anyone?

There's shady folks in all occupations and contractors sure seem to have more than most.

I can't add anything in terms of advice but damn, I sure hope you get some resolution without having to get someone in a choke hold.

Hope you get things fixed up.....good luck to you!!

Sorry to hear about your house problems.I have had several homes built ,plus I used to build cabins.I sure don`t know the laws in Missouri,but it seems you got a shady contractor.Around here you could never get a home loan with out the bank checking the Contractors Insurance and bono fides.Something I do my self anyway.On new construction you must be on site every day to see what the contractors are doing.It really is up to you to know the building codes in your area and make sure they are followed.
Yes, you for sure need a lawyer familiar with real estate and building codes.If you have a written contract on how the home should be constructed you should be good to go.How ever if the contractor is a LLC,I don`t know if you can go after his personal property.My daughter lives around St Joes and knows some good contractors.Maybe they could help you?

If the “contractor” doesn’t have a business license I’m thinking he doesn’t have a LLC either. I’d lawyer up and make damned sure you own everything he has. It’ll take years of misery but it is the only satisfaction you’ll get.

Yeah like mil spec, thats bs, code is all about health & safety. Plumbing & electric completed to a standard, engineering verified, for load bearing, spans, deflection. Code protects people that dont have a clue or the wherewithal to check why there are fewer posts than planned, why the drains have been changed and plumbed under the house.. doesn't mean code inspections and enforcement are the same everywhere, which is unfortunate. Bottom line, you spend 540k, caveat emptor

As an aside - (and maybe in that area it's common, ) why would someone not have a concrete basement poured; both floor and walls?? If the soil conditions are such that water can be an issue, there's tiling that's laid and a sump pump removes excess..

I'd be mad enough to get revenge. I don't know how you haven't blown a gasket by now.

Best of luck getting your house fixed. After being in business most my life I guess I would advise spending your money where you might see actual results. I would want to know there was a good chance I could collect on any judgement you pay legal fees to win. May be best if he doesn't have a business license or if he misrepresented he did so you might be able to sue him individually or personally. Its too easy for him to bk the business. I would contact your state attorney generals office. You may never collect a dime through that office but they might put him out of business on their dime instead of yours if he violated state law. Collecting on a judgement can be tough especially if he has little money or a family. If he is single he likely doesnt have the level of protection against collection of a judgement.

What is the advantage of an "Encapsulated Crawl Space"? I had to ask.

A good bet is that everyone that built that house is judgement proof.

The "veil" of liability protection can be pierced if the LLC is sloppy with accounting and procedures.

1. I actually did read the whole thing, just can't quite picture the entire fiasco just yet.

2. I smell bankruptcy's in the near future.

3. You need all the professional help you can muster including lawyers,

4. When you tire of screaming at people, scream even louder, No one is going to find the solution(s) but you, and you're going to have to become merciless.

5. Are you talking erosion from storm water? from the gutters and downspouts? If so immediately disconnect the downspouts, But I'm sure that's been discussed already.

Where is all this water coming from and why is it not being diverted properly?

Even with a sag in the building drain It takes greater pressures to back up, (overcome the static head pressure) and then how is the water from inside the drainage system backing up into the crawlspace? Broken pipe or open receptor somewhere?

Might be some dumb questions here but I just cant visualize the scenario your trying to describe.

Underground erosion, sinkholes and stuff, enough erosion that counter-tops are pulling away from walls?

You're in for a hell of a fight.

Best of Luck.

It wouldn’t cost anything to send the description of events you have posted here to your state attorney generals office. Perhaps there would be some form of help from them? Won’t hurt to try.

For all the issues you have posted and If I knew of them and was still purchasing the property as is, I would be putting in the correct foundation next to what’s there. I’d hire a home mover to slide the home over. The utility lines and hook ups can be extended. Then I would doze and scrape the old out and fix it as yard.

It’s much easier and faster to fix in the open versus work underneath, plus the existing soil under current is compromised.

Not sure I understand the pumping suggested. If your on a hill one or even two horizontal bands of drain piping with saturation rock could be run around the perimeter and fed out downhill. Gravity is your friend. Having dehumidifiers in the basement or crawl spaces is very common here, set up to dump into buried drains, solid pipe discharging into a rock pot somewhere outside and away.
Apologies but hind sight is as they say….

Osky

Fireball2/krp/bobmt, know how a legitimate construction business operates.

Folks saying ''lawyer-up'' and take everything the CONtractor owns, yeah, and the lawyer will get most of what is retrieved.

The three coastal counties in Mississippi, one had no code enforcement >Hancock county, the fly-by-night bunch gravitated to it.

H5farm, I have nothing to ad that hasn't already been said, I do agree with the comment, put getting your house straightened out first and foremost.

And oftentimes in the end lawsuits and the stress & time involved just aren't worth it.
View it as, the amount you spent over & above the contact price, is what you would have spent by going with a first class outfit. Like hiring an engineering firm to oversee the project.

Good luck during this stressful time.

Here is a pic. The top pipe is the water from four gutters sitting on top of the footer on each side. The bottom pipe is the foundation drain sitting below the footer on each side. If you zoom in you see the bottom pipe it is perforated and has holes in it. I took the picture which is the only proof that I have of this stupid ass system today. I had forgotten I had the picture until Monday.

The septic guy came a few days later and ran a 6 inch line out of the middle void in the picture in the sleeve in the bottom of the footer 6 inch heavy duty septic pipe 190 foot directly into the septic lagoon,

The contractor had him take the two lines he created with the plumber which were two 4 inch pipes one each side (in the picture) and join them with a fitting then put them into a into one 6 inch pipe the same pipe that the septic line uses that is rated to be buried and run out one long 6 inch heavy duty pipe right next to the septic pipe. Because the guy was burying all the pipe and all he carried was 6 inch pipe. He stopped the gutter/foundation drain pipe at 160 feet which day lighted into the woods.

So basically he took two 4 inch pipes into a 6 inch pipe changing the plumbers work as this reduced the line of pipe by half because the plumber had 4 gutters per pipe. He now had it back to 8 gutters one pipe. This [bleep] ass system was supposed to handle all the rain water from a 3100 square foot house with a 10/12 foot pitched roof.

The sad fact is that it never even got a chance to work because the guy who buried it basically crimped it 20 foot from the house trapping a 40 foot section of solid water making it just like you had put a cap on the end of it causing it to spray back through the holes in the drain pipe against the house and under the sealed liner in the crawlspace. Then when the rain stops the water leaches out taking the soil from under the piers sinking the house every time it rains. In theory the contractors system would have work up to certain volumes of heavy rain and was greatly reduced when he changed the plumbers calculation by putting it into one pipe after he left. The main problem was if a turtle or a log fell and blocked the pipe or they damaged it during back fill its only way out is against the house this was a ticking time bomb. It never comes out the gutters or shows any signs other than under ground. It was doomed before we moved in.

Monday the Engineer was adamant about the water. I found out Tuesday there was water for sure under the house. Wed that this guy had crimped the pipe. I hope his insurance helps out.

Either way the gutters are cut off and redirected no more water pumped under the house. The system was always doomed but broken before we moved in. All because of a stupid design that had its one fatal flaw engaged before it was ever fully installed.

Snow storms in Missouri, A total whiteout.......

Dude, you can't catch a break at all.

Osky makes a good point. Get the Attorney General involved. Heck, may even the state rep for your district?

You have a tough decision to make. Spend the money on your own and get the house fixed and call it good…or spending the money to get the house fixed, hire a lawyer to sue and hope you break even at the end of the day.

At the least, get a lawyer to subpoena records of insurance, etc. at the time of construction. Easiest way I know of to put that issue at rest.

That is an engineering cluster F!!!

Kent

Still trying to visualize this,

I have see no problem with the design or install,
A 6 inch pipe has greater volume than 2, 4 inch pipes,
If a 6 inch drain can not handle the flow, what size gutters do you have??????

No way the gutters could carry that volume either,

The 'trap' is the main suspect, but still,,,

More than meets the eye here.

We have oversize gutters and down spout pipes. The fact that its basically plugged just 15 to 20 foot total of the 6 foot pipe from the house is the problem. The force of the water causes it to spray under pressure under the footer of the house it has sunk some of the piers and the right side of the house almost 3 inches in 9 months. There are spots on the beams where there is one inch of fall in two foot. The design is against code as it allows the water to drain against the house instead of just backing up in the gutters. It basically screws the foundation if it gets plugged and it did.

Some water gets out of the pipe at the end but it takes force to move the entire 6 inch full pipe of water 40 foot before it empties and comes out the other side. In heavy rains it can come out the other side. I wont know for sure how much or what until the engineer can look at it and calculate. I know since the gutters are off its stopped and we can get it dried out hopefully.

Additionally the cameras show the 4 inch gutter pipes around the foundation are constantly full of almost two inches of water because they are not pitched to drain properly which they probably got moved around when back filled. I am not sure how that effects what calculation but its not a full pipe of water to begin with. I am just the guy stuck with all the bills.

A 1 foot piece of 6'' K-style gutter holds 2 gallons of water, during an extended rain event a one story 3,100sf house would dump thousands of gallons of water.

I'm likely way off base here, but that volume of water, coming from 10/12 feet overhead did not have the head pressure to overcome the accidental 'trap'?

There seems to be some serious back pressure issues here, in fact reverse flow.......

Regardless, Hope you get it all corrected.

Jeebus!
That sounds horrible.


Time for a big woodworking project. Lots of varnish, apply with old rags, stack next to furnace.....

If I can find the time I'll run sizing on roof drains,,,,,4 inch roof drains are very common, on a flat roof....

And again, sounds like the people on site are starting to figure it all out,

Other than who's paying for it.

Volume has nothing to do with head pressure, in this scenario. 10’ vertical of any size pipe or line can only build .433 psi. 12’ would only build 5psi which is not near enough to move the volume of water in the horizontal line. Water always takes the past of least resistance. In this case the line back u see the house.

We would backfill that foundation drain pipe with drainage rock here and probably all the gutter discharge pipe at least a good compacted aggregate bedding to prevent settling and breakage. This is often skipped though to “save money”.

Look at the bright side. You could have bought a 30' boat for the same money.

You have three real choices.
Good attorney.
Learn to live with it.
Fix it.

(And any plumber will tell you that rule number one is that [bleep] don't run uphill.)

The original post, is for people who live where no codes and enforcement are applicable. Makes one wonder about the electrical install. As far as the footings not matching the plans, the owner should be checking work each day. My 2 cents!

H5farm......going by what is shown and your description.....my guess is the line wasn't bedded right and if it had been you would have been fine....looks like a clean job.

as far as day lighting in the woods.....if done right no tree or turtle can stop the flow.......in a nutshell....extend line out....dig deep hole.....put washed rock in....take line elbow down in washed rock...top off with washed rock...cover with fabric so no dirt filters in...cover up....something to that effect....bob

yep pinched line ...just made water flow uphill......the system will work if bedded right and pointed downhill....bob

I'm just curious, but are there no building inspectors in your area to enforce codes? Seems some of that stuff should have been easily caught. As a contractor for the last 41 years I'm no big fan of inspectors, but in this case they could have saved you and your contractors a lot of money and headaches.

Ummmm….he said the county he built in doesn’t have code inspection or enforcement. Right in the first post.

Bingo. Not that I expected Bob wouldn’t be right on the money. Even if the system was undersized, it would have still been working to some degree. Maybe a silver lining that the kink illuminated the bad design and bad work rather than slowly eroding over time?

OP insurance companies have lawyers on the clock, 24/7. After the receptionist denies your claim, the adjuster will, next. They don't stay in business by spending money. If you want an adjustor to think twice about your losses, that will require an experienced attorney. Nothing, and I mean nothing else gets their attention. They are already lawyered up. Why would you not be?

Get a good lawyer, yesterday.

Hired a lawyer to head claim with insurance company. The adjuster is coming out tonight to look at the buried pipe. Thanks for the advice.

Best of luck to ya!

Any update?

This.. in spades.

Your as much as fault for not verifying and vetting all contractors as they are for the shoddy work
You cut corners to try and save money on building it by not checking their work history and proper licences and permits .
They cut corners knowing you wouldn't question it until it was to late

Sounds like a nightmare. I guess my question is, did you not go to the job site to check progress along the way? 24 pillars when the plans called for 45 should've jumped out immediately. I don't understand how this stuff went unnoticed.

Well?

It would be nice to hear how all of this turned out. Contractors can be pretty sketchy at times. Unfortunately, I think there is a code of silence around contractors just like other professions. It's just my observations that lawyers are the worst/best at taking care of each other. They all went to the same law schools and drink at the same country clubs. I hope he found some lawyers who would be willing to buck that trend.

kwg

I always get a kick out of guys who start out saying, "I built a new house", when they really mean they hired a contractor to build a new house. Builders and contractors on this site might be able to tell you how they would build the house but there is no reason to think they can tell you whether it is your contractor who is a fool, or you are for using him. I built my house. When something isn't right, I know who to blame and I do my own remedial work. GD

I didnt read the rest of the comments , so the legal responsibility goes something like this. General contractor, sub contractor , supplier. Generalcontractor is responsible for all those under his contract. If you hired a GC without getting a certificate of insurance, You now are part of the problem. Hire a GOOD lawyer.

Hope this fellow has come out somewhat on it. Times change, there isn’t much of anything I have done of any substantial cost that I don’t require a bond and current certificate of insurance from the sub.

I only read the first page, this is the first I saw it. My main concern over any would have been stabilizing the building. I’ve had two done in Minnesota where they excavated to the foundations then went down from there and lifted with permanent hydraulic jacks. They do them here under singular piers as well. Works great.
I have a corner of a building now that is starting to drop due to infiltration of water, the lake being only feet away. That will get jacked this summer as well.

Im not playing captain hindsight, im just throwing out a viable option for any who read this and may have similar structure problems. This may be mentioned in these pages before, sorry if im redundant.

Osky

^This. I had a similar situation where the contractor overexcavated our foundation, cracked it, caused water damage, restucco'd the house without waterproofing reulsting in more water damage, mold etc. fraudulent billing etc caused $$$$$$$ total damage. It took about $250K in legal fees and 3 years to revover about $$$$$ and the contractor continued working, never got his [bleep] bond of $10K. As Diggerman said, "Hire a GOOD lawyer.". We went through two law firms before we found a lawyer who was a real expert.

My brother and his wife are currently having a house built. The general contractor is well known in the area and he has a good crew. But, they live in a county of 16,000 people and everyone knows everyone and knows their capabilities if they do contract work.

I pity you folks who have to deal with literally hundreds of contractors and I would venture that 20% are amateurs'. In my brother's case his wife has pretty much spent every day at the house. When the house was closed in she moved her business into the house even before the floors were laid or cabinets installed.

With a good contractor it's still possible to get shoddy work short of being there every minute the day making sure you are getting what you paid for. She has rejected a number of products that came from the supplier wrong or mis colored or broken. The general contractor just can't do that if he has more than one project going on or just doesn't care. It's hard to sort that all out. I worked for a painter for a year and we did several houses and commercial buildings. You just have to be there making sure it's done as per the plans.

kwg

There is that.

The only thing you need is a lawyer who goes for the throat.

Not a nice guy who is prone to settle, but a shark that smells blood in the water.

Your builder and contractors who are at fault should all have liability insurance. Your lawyer can go down the list of those culpable and determine in short order what the limits of those insurance policies are, and pursue that like a pit bull on a poodle.

Given that your wife is a lawyer, perhaps she knows an attorney who specializes in these kinds of problems. If it were I, I'd want an attorney specialist on this matter.

Good luck.

L.W.