Things are not always what they seem,million dollar home, total rubbage

[atc007]

This is a friend of mine. Went through the Army,became a DR,and dumped his life savings into a home. This is what he got...We've all seen shoddy craftsmanship before. But IMAGINE thinking you have this beautiful home only to find out it's not even safe to draw a breath in.. I really feel for him and his family. This blew my mind. Be VERY careful when buying property!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5P_nX-aOog

[ATC-Eric]

Oh my god! Its a real life money pit. Those builders took the money and ran!

[just ben]

I would be suing the municipality also for allowing their inspectors to not do their job. Unfortunately permits and inspections are just to generate revenue and not to protect the homeowner. I see it all the time. The inspector shows up on the site, shoots the breeze with you for a few minutes signs and dates the inspection cert tells you to tape it to the front window and have a nice day. I had a framing inspector give me a cert. without even getting out of his vehicle, on the same project the electrical inspector told me to hang the drywall before he even inspected it. Pretty tough to see wiring behind drywall. Point is if these inspectors were doing their job the whole situation your friend is going through would have been avoided. And Stucco in the northeast? The only time stucco is used up here is to make a building look nice for a short time.

[atc007]

Trust me Ben. Lawyers are his life . I'll run that by him though. But I assume his team will get the municipality also. It is just an unspeakable mess. He has become quite the "contractor 'learning the way things should have been done. It was a beautiful home. Def not my style personally,but beautiful for sure. It will never be right... Much better, but never right.Sorta like a new car that was in the ocean a few years... He has a wife and 3 kids living in this hole..

[Ghostv2]

Its a beautiful house if your there on a day where it doesnt rain.
I did carpentry and construction for a few years and i do not know how any of this is acceptable. Granted i went to school for it, but they learn this stuff from such a young age. Especially the Amish, thats what the men do and are known for aside from farming. I think its time we call the Amish Mafia.

I did not watch the entire 46 minute video, but more than enough to see how much he got screwed. Really such a shame. I cannot imagine what he is going through. I hope he gets justice and some money to make up for it.

[atc007]

I told him from Day one. That $300,000,isn't gonna put a DENT in putting that place correct. Time will tell,,well,actually. He is already North of that and work continues everyday ...

[Ghostv2]

I told him from Day one. That $300,000,isn't gonna put a DENT in putting that place correct. Time will tell,,well,actually. He is already North of that and work continues everyday ...

I dont even think $300k begins to sum it up considering all the people coming out to look at it, lawyers, etc.
That money might just be in material alone.

[ebaccm26]

Beautiful house, such a shame that so many contractors are crooks. My parents had a very similar situation when buying their current home. It was also a house built for the Parade of Homes which they bought from the builder. With the first major storm the problems became apparent, much of the carpet in the basment was damp and there was dripping on the walls. During an even worse storm in the spring that coincided with snow melting there ended up being about a foot of water in the finished basement. Long story short the builder of the home was long gone and my parents had to pay out of pocket to replace all of the flooring, add a ventilation system to prevent mold, and to have the foundation of the house repaired. If corners weren't cut and the inspectors had done their job better this could have been avoided. It was a stressful time for my parents but they were able to get past it. I know some of you who have bought stuff from me have seen the home to which I am refering because that is where I keep the majority of my toys. I feel for your friend, I do not own a home but I was still living with my parents when they were dealing with this and there is no reason anyone should have to go through so much stress and so much hassle because some greedy people decided to cut corners.

[atc007]

He called at 9 tonight and we just hung up. It's taken up too much of MY time now lol...

[M.Pargiello]

Beautiful house, such a shame that so many contractors are crooks. My parents had a very similar situation when buying their current home. It was also a house built for the Parade of Homes which they bought from the builder. With the first major storm the problems became apparent, much of the carpet in the basment was damp and there was dripping on the walls. During an even worse storm in the spring that coincided with snow melting there ended up being about a foot of water in the finished basement. Long story short the builder of the home was long gone and my parents had to pay out of pocket to replace all of the flooring, add a ventilation system to prevent mold, and to have the foundation of the house repaired. If corners weren't cut and the inspectors had done their job better this could have been avoided. It was a stressful time for my parents but they were able to get past it. I know some of you who have bought stuff from me have seen the home to which I am refering because that is where I keep the majority of my toys. I feel for your friend, I do not own a home but I was still living with my parents when they were dealing with this and there is no reason anyone should have to go through so much stress and so much hassle because some greedy people decided to cut corners.

That's insane, my dad still comments on how beautiful that house is. I would have never guessed!

[atc007]

Always Love your input Glamy ! Rainfall here ranges from 35-55 inches a year. Why stay? They LOVE the concept of this home being done. However,,last night he realized a MUCH simpler,smaller home would have made him much HAPPIER. And that IS all that matters in life. At any rate,as with ALL of us, his life story is very complicated and he has weathered some real serious storms behind a lawyer.Having said that, they truly believe they will prevail every cent back in court. I hope they do. This was his lifes savings to give to his wife and kids. Yes, things should have been caught,but these guys were VERY good at covering everything up after a few "failed' showings. I personally think stucco,no matter HOW it's applied has no business around here. As Ben said above. They are confident in their "new" way.. Time will tell. Since this video, the entire garage has been gutted where the generator is. It was all mold and rot. And they have found even Worse damage. They are videoing everything,but don't plan on posting for a while..

[El Camexican]

Too bad the wood is too wet to burn, otherwise I would be able to suggest a quick fix Seriously, I couldn’t watch the whole thing, it just made me sick.

[up-tyte]

All I can say is wow. I have been in the residential building industry for over 35 years and this is not the first time I have seen these issues. First this is not a 4 month to build home, for me this is more like 12 months. From the beginning pictures there are a lot of areas that are problems waiting to happen and unfortunately you will find the practices that this original builder used to be very common. Anderson windows will tell you their number one leak issues are caused by improper installation. Staples are very common for house wrap and also use of the improper wrap is common. Tyvec makes a special wrap just for stucco, this home appears to even have two layers and two different brands. As for building inspectors, not all areas have any building codes, I can drive about 20 miles from my house in 3 directions to areas with no codes, some builders will only build in those areas for that reason. I do agree with some of the above comments about them not doing a very good job, although we have one inspector in our area that is very good at his job and all the builders complain about him to his boss. I could go on and on about this but it all goes to greed, the builder wants to make the most money while most home owners want the most sparkle and glitter for the least money, they don't seam to care as much about structure. I lose a lot of jobs because of this, the most important and largest investment you will make and saving a couple thousand dollars is their granite counter tops are more important than the bones of the house. First real visable sign of cheap construction are the blue plastic electricial boxes. I better stop. Hope it all works out for them.

[just ben]

No codes at all up-tyte? Some towns around us have stricter codes than others as far as remodeling but all new construction codes are basically the same. There are some inspectors around me who do their jobs very well and are very thorough. But it seems the majority just go through the motions .

[atc007]

Uptyte, please don't stop lol. Seriously. What's wrong with the blue plastic boxes? I know they are cheap and flimsy. I used them once,then went to black. But I would love to hear your opinions. You sound like you do it once and do it right. And that is the way it all should be! Again, the problems have only gotten worse as they've went. And yes, they went with 100% Anderson windows