Shoddy plumbing in new construction

[jbwerfl]

My folks bought a new home in 1999 from a national homebuilder. Since then, on four separate occasions, and in four different locations inside the home, they have had water pipes leak, crack or burst and cause water damage inside the walls and surrounding flooring. Some of these events occurred within the 2 year “warranty” period, and some occurred after the warranty period had passed, but in all instances the builder did arrange to repair the damage at their cost.

After the latest incident, the builder sent the damaged section of pipe to an independent laboratory for evaluation. The feedback my parents received was that during original installation, the pipe had been improperly sprayed with termite repellant, and this had somehow weakened the pipe.

As a result of this, the builder has offered to re-plumb the entire home at their cost, rerouting all the piping through the ceilings (the house sits on a concrete slab). This is a project that will take a week or more, and they have even offered to put my folks up at a local Holiday Inn while the work is being done.

My folks attitude is that "the builder is agreeing to fix the problem, so what more can we expect?". They are also worried that if they don’t take this deal now, after the builder eventually leaves the work site they will be far less responsive to fixing future problems, and of course they would like the problem fixed for good. They are not aggressive or litigious people, so when I suggested that they pass this by an attorney before agreeing to the deal, they were reluctant to do so. They are worried that if they seek legal alternatives, then the builder will withdraw the offer they’ve already made, and they might be left to deal with future problems on their own. We compromised by having me post the scenario here. The work is tentatively scheduled for later in January.

My gut feeling is that they are owed more than this for the shoddy quality that they paid good money for. I’m also not comfortable with the plumbing being reconstructed in this manner, and the resulting potential impact on resale, which they will not face until later.

Any feedback would be appreciated. They live in Florida. Thanks.

 

[HomeGuru]

My folks bought a new home in 1999 from a national homebuilder. Since then, on four separate occasions, and in four different locations inside the home, they have had water pipes leak, crack or burst and cause water damage inside the walls and surrounding flooring. Some of these events occurred within the 2 year “warranty” period, and some occurred after the warranty period had passed, but in all instances the builder did arrange to repair the damage at their cost.

After the latest incident, the builder sent the damaged section of pipe to an independent laboratory for evaluation. The feedback my parents received was that during original installation, the pipe had been improperly sprayed with termite repellant, and this had somehow weakened the pipe.

**A: then you must be talking about some sort of plastic piping.
********

As a result of this, the builder has offered to re-plumb the entire home at their cost, rerouting all the piping through the ceilings (the house sits on a concrete slab). This is a project that will take a week or more, and they have even offered to put my folks up at a local Holiday Inn while the work is being done.

My folks attitude is that "the builder is agreeing to fix the problem, so what more can we expect?". They are also worried that if they don’t take this deal now, after the builder eventually leaves the work site they will be far less responsive to fixing future problems, and of course they would like the problem fixed for good. They are not aggressive or litigious people, so when I suggested that they pass this by an attorney before agreeing to the deal, they were reluctant to do so. They are worried that if they seek legal alternatives, then the builder will withdraw the offer they’ve already made, and they might be left to deal with future problems on their own. We compromised by having me post the scenario here. The work is tentatively scheduled for later in January.

My gut feeling is that they are owed more than this for the shoddy quality that they paid good money for. I’m also not comfortable with the plumbing being reconstructed in this manner, and the resulting potential impact on resale, which they will not face until later.

Any feedback would be appreciated. They live in Florida. Thanks.

**A: did they get a home inspection before they bought? If not, have them get one done and include a condition to have the builder repair all the defective items on the settlement list. And they should consult with a construction defect litigation attorney, not to sue but to get a general idea of their options in settlement. Check out www.hadd.com and you will see that you are not alone with the problem and with that specific builder.

 

[jbwerfl]

Thanks for your reply.

To answer your questions, yes it is plastic piping. No, they did not get an independent home inspection when they originally bought the home. At that time, they did just a walkthrough themselves with the builder, and worked up a "hit list" that the builder addressed as problems arose. Maybe I wasn't clear when I wrote my original post, but the piping problems have all been inside the walls. Would an inspection have made a difference? I wasn't aware that inspectors are commonly contracted to inspect new construction (although it's probably not a bad idea...), and I've never heard of one that breaks through the walls to inspect pipes.

I have forwarded your recommendations to them. Unfortunately, I have not been able to persuade them to do anything more than accept the builder's repair offer.

 

[HomeGuru]

Thanks for your reply.

To answer your questions, yes it is plastic pipin1