Foundation Problems - Can Builder be Held Liable?

[piranha00]

We bought our house in 1983 knowing that it had some foundation problems. The problems keep getting worse and worse as time goes on. We did not buy the house new (I think it was built in 1979). I know who the builder was and alot of his houses have had problems due to shoddy workmanship. After this long of a time, is there something that can be done to the builder to make him correct the problems? Thanks for any info you can give me. I love the house but I can't keep putting money into it if the problem can't be permanently fixed.

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[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by piranha00:
We bought our house in 1983 knowing that it had some foundation problems. The problems keep getting worse and worse as time goes on. We did not buy the house new (I think it was built in 1979). I know who the builder was and alot of his houses have had problems due to shoddy workmanship. After this long of a time, is there something that can be done to the builder to make him correct the problems? Thanks for any info you can give me. I love the house but I can't keep putting money into it if the problem can't be permanently fixed.

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From the length of time that has passed (no matter what state you are in), the statute of limitations has likely passed to file any construction defect claim against the builder. You would need to hire a structural/foundation/soils engineer to determine if the conditions in fact can not be permanently fixed.
You may have a claim only if the builder committed fraud in the construction of the foundation ie. builder stated to the original buyer that the home was built on virgin soil when in fact it sits on bad fill, the land was disclosed as filled with engineered fill when in fact the fill material was debris and bad soil from another jobsite, the builder did a soil test and discovered that there was an underground stream or drainage condition but built the foundation anyway, used inferior concrete, used less than the specified reinforcing steel for concrete slab or CMU foundation wall construction, dug shallow footings, etc. These examples were actually from real cases.

Depending on that state that you are in, at the time you bought the home, the statute of limitations were quite possibly in effect. You should have completed your due diligence via a home inspection and/or engineering inspection to have the evidence to support a claim at that time. And maybe a class action lawsuit against this builder would have been possible. At the time of your purchase, you may have been able to get the original Buyer to sue the builder on an implied and express warranty claim naming you the beneficiary.

Your situation may be a shoulda, woulda, coulda scenario. The longer the time passes from date of discovery, the harder it is to prevail against the builder. Also the more excuses the builder can make to put the blame on other infuences. I have seen cases where there were proveable design errors and improper construction and the builder gave a bunch of BS (Builder Stupidity). Blamed acts of God, the weather, earthquakes, hurricanes, lack of homeowner maintenance etc. for their own mistakes and construction defects.

In extreme cases where the builder is still around and building homes, and the current new homeowners have complained of similar problems, the State Attoney Gerneral's office could step in and force the builder to correct problems on the older built homes. This is under the premise that there was a history and pattern of faulty construction with this respective builder. In the late 1970's, due to a rampant construction defect problem, the Federal government (Federal Trade Commission) stepped in and conducted their own study. It was proved that some top builders in hte nation were guilty. The builder Kaufman and Broad were under an FTC "order". Further information can be obtained by going to [url="http://www.ftc.gov."]www.ftc.gov.[/url] Other private construction defect sites of interest [url="http://www.hadd.com"]www.hadd.com[/url] [url="http://www.hobb.org."]www.hobb.org.[/url] These 2 are from homeowner advocate groups.

[This message has been edited by HomeGuru (edited July 02, 2000).]