I could use some perspective from complete strangers on our situation; we're ten days from closing on a new build and VERY stressed out about some of the things happening with our home.
We did our last informal walkthrough today (we had two in a six-month period), and we found a lot of little things wrong with the house. We also found some issues we feel are more major. The builder's rep was very nonchalant about it all and actually told us we needed to let go of the idea of our home being perfect and accept that there were going to be problems. I feel this is kind of a crap attitude for them to have when the build isn't even finished -- if things are going wrong at this point, there is a chance to fix them, so... why not fix them? They're basically saying our standards are too high, but to me when you sell me a high-end, semi-customised home at the upper-mid range of the local market you should damn well back up all those claims you made six months ago. Shoddy work and cut corners aren't okay in any house, but I feel especially justified in being extra pissed off when they're charging an arm and a leg because everything is 'premium' this and 'extra' that.
Down to the nitty gritty, the actual issues, in no particular order.
We saw under-cabinet lighting in the model home, and said we would like to have it in our house. The rep added it to our package. The model home has LEDs that run the length of all the cabinets, but when we saw our house today, we've got cheap T8 fluorescent fixtures under our cabinets every four feet or so. NOT the same thing, obviously. The problem is, it's not specified anywhere that we ordered LEDs, just under-cabinet lighting. The rep said 'eh, yeah... in some of the houses they've put LEDs, in some they put the fluoros... it's sorta luck of the draw. Nothing I can do really.'
We ordered decorative tile accents in the upstairs bathrooms. They used the exact pattern we ordered in one shower, and substituted a similar but noticeably different pattern around the tub and the other shower. The problem isn't that they won't fix it -- once we pointed out to the rep that they didn't match, she said 'oh, they'll have to fix that.' The problem is that the substituted tile is done beautifully, and the one in the master bath shower looks like crap -- the tiles themselves are actually offset stamped, they look like factory seconds, and there's ONE crooked tile right in the middle. That's the area we'd like them to fix, and we figured it'd be a slam dunk; one area rather than two, less labour, right? But the rep said 'we'll have to check which tile you actually ordered, and that'll be the one that gets left in, the other will get taken out.' At that point, I honestly felt like she was kind of trying to be dickish. I pointed out (as did two other people present) that the tiles themselves were low quality, and shouldn't have been used at all, and she dodged the issue entirely.
We have quartz countertops, and ordered holes drilled in them for soap dispensers. They came without holes. Nobody seems to give a crap. I paid for the drilling, and the dispensers, but got a bit of an eye roll when I asked about the mistake -- 'yeah, they'll have to drill them, it's probably not going to get done before you close though...' Well, honestly, why not? The house is basically done, there are ten days left, we did this walkthrough to look for things like this (I thought), so... why wouldn't you try to get it done before closing?
We noticed the water line for the refrigerator is also missing; asking about this earned no more than a shrug and an 'oh, yeah, I don't know why, sometimes he waits until the end. He should do that earlier.' In other words, I'm guessing they forgot.
There are cracks -- many cracks, in both the north-south and east-west directions -- in the basement floor. Now, to be fair, I have NO idea if this is normal, abnormal, but as a first-time homeowner I found it alarming. I think that's justifiable. Rather than being kind, rather than explaining anything, I just got poo-pooed and told 'yeah, every house has that, it's normal, there's a tolerance, they'll check it' and ended up feeling like an idiot for even pointing it out. The goddamn floor has cracks in it, I shouldn't have to feel like an ass for asking 'so... um... do they patch this, or... yeah, so what happens about cracks?'
We visited the house last week, and saw from the outside (because there are no garage doors yet) that the garage ceiling leaks like a sieve. It's shingled, insulated, drywalled, it shouldn't leak... should it? We were told that this was because the flashing has yet to be installed, it will dry and be just fine. We're just scared that something that became THAT soaked might not dry, or might develop mold... I wish I knew enough to have some confidence in what I'm being told.
Our house is partly brick, partly siding on the outside. We chose the brick pattern from a sample board, just like we chose the siding from a little sample piece, and the shingles from a sample piece of shingle. I think it's reasonable to assume that, like a paint chip, what we chose is what will go onto the house.
What we chose is NOT what went onto the house. The shingle colour is right on. The siding, window trim, doorknobs, door finishes, tiles (other than the tiny detail tiles in the bathrooms), countertops... ALL match the samples we chose EXACTLY. Our brick, however, is WAY off. The brick pattern we chose is a mix of a few muted colours, it's very pretty, subtle but not boring.
When the pallets of brick showed up at curbside we lost our minds. (We drive by the house all the time, so we saw it the day they dropped it off). It did NOT appear to be a stack of blended colours, it looked very uniform. We were told to hold on; people said brick tends to come covered in dust from the yard, and isn't true to colour until it rains a few times. When it went on the house it was slightly better but still way off, so we held our breath and waited. It rained a few times, but salvation never came.
Our brick should be subtle greys, browns, and terracottas blended together. Instead, it's basically ...oatmeal. It's actually pretty with our siding, we like it, but it's not what we chose. That's the point; it's not what we picked out. So we addressed that today, and holy crap. No love, once again. 'Look, brick has dye lots, you choose from a sample board, yes it's different, but it's in the contract...' blah blah, lots of ass covering bullshit. No 'gee, you're right, I see the picture on your phone, it is off, I'm glad you're okay with it, thanks for understanding' or anything, it's as though they can do no wrong even when we show them pictures or direct evidence like the tiles.
Lastly is something tiny, but still irksome. The house has banks of light switches that control lights along hallways/into rooms.... and both upstairs and down, they've got a place where there are four switches in a row that control four lights in a row, and lights 3 and 4 are reversed. It's driving my husband nuts. The rep looked at him like he'd grown a third eye and said 'yeah, they're not going to change that, the lights work...' but I can see my husband's point. If I was wiring it I'd naturally just put switch 1 with light 1, and so on. The electrician(s) have also screwed the switchplate covers on crooked, and it's visibly noticeable. The rep said some of them will be fixed, some won't because 'they're within tolerance'. What the heck, why is it okay for them to be x amount off? if you can SEE that it's crooked, why would you not fix it?
It was a frustrating day, but as I said I may be too close to the issue. I am not at all a princess by nature, but I feel almost ready to call somebody and start yelling. My husband and I have held our tongues, remained in good spirits, we're that 'fun couple' that the builders never mind seeing around the site because we've always been so happy with everything up until this point. Now we feel sort of like they're taking advantage of the nice people who never complain, and I want to call our lawyer and see if we can open a can of whoopass and get some things fixed.
It really upset me to hear that I should let go of the idea of having our home be beautiful and perfect (her word, not mine; I never said it had to be perfect, I just think it should be to a higher standard than they're working at right now). Why? Why shouldn't everything be straight, without noticeable cracks, with things where they're meant to be? Why would a builder not want to have pride in their craft, and present the very best home to the buyer? Am I missing something? Why am I being told that it's okay to have marks and dings in the drywall before I move in, or a scratch in the baseboard? Those are things that are supposed to happen after you live in the house, aren't they? And crooked tiles, wrong brick and tile patterns, forgotten water lines... it just all comes together to feel pretty darn sloppy.
This isn't a treehouse, it's supposed to be a high-end build, and we've been dreaming about this for a decade. We went with this builder for a reason - they're supposed to be so much better than many of the others. To be fair, none of the things we're upset about are truly disastrous (it's not like the roof just blew off or they built the house on the wrong lot), but at the same time I think when you buy something as important as a house it's okay to be picky about your purchase.
Maybe I'm just tired, frustrated, and my inexperience is getting the best of me. I'm hoping some of you can help us figure out where we may be justified in feeling upset, and where we might just be too picky. We've never done this before, so please be gentle!
Submitted August 20, 2016 at 10:54AM by my_random_thots http://ift.tt/2b6PUH4 homeowners
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