What is the name of your state? North Carolina
I am in the midst of an arbitration case involving what I consider defects in my house, in particular the hardwood flooring and the brick work. I do have an attorney.
The hardwood flooring has numerous cracks between the 2.25 oak boards which never close. Weep holes were never installed in the brick work and there are insufficient wall ties (according to code). Every area in the brick work that has a 45 degree angle has the mortar falling out.
My contract calls for a one year warranty. Within that year I have emails (several) which state there are problems with the hardwood flooring and the brick work. The contractor's responses were that they would look into the problems after they corrected another major problem they created on my house.
After 18 months I finally sued the contractor and was sent to arbitration. Just before I filed suit I had experts inspect the hardwood flooring and the brick work. The flooring experts said the entire floor would have to be torn out and replaced. The masonary experts said about half the brick work on the house would have to torn out and replaced.
The contractor's attorney is claiming that since I did not hire experts within the one year warranty period and only stated that problems existed with the flooring and the brick work during the warranty period I am not entitled to the remedies recommended by the experts, rather that everything should be 'patched'. Our experts and their own experts have stated that 'patching' will probably not work, but their attorney still says I am not entitled to full compensation because I did not fully qualify the extent of damages prior to the expiration of the warranty. My claim is that for over a year I knew there were problems and was depending upon the contractor correcting the problems within the warranty period, but that when they finally refused I hired the experts who ascertained the extent of the damages.
Second day of arbitration is set for next week, any advise appreciated.
I am in the midst of an arbitration case involving what I consider defects in my house, in particular the hardwood flooring and the brick work. I do have an attorney.
The hardwood flooring has numerous cracks between the 2.25 oak boards which never close. Weep holes were never installed in the brick work and there are insufficient wall ties (according to code). Every area in the brick work that has a 45 degree angle has the mortar falling out.
My contract calls for a one year warranty. Within that year I have emails (several) which state there are problems with the hardwood flooring and the brick work. The contractor's responses were that they would look into the problems after they corrected another major problem they created on my house.
After 18 months I finally sued the contractor and was sent to arbitration. Just before I filed suit I had experts inspect the hardwood flooring and the brick work. The flooring experts said the entire floor would have to be torn out and replaced. The masonary experts said about half the brick work on the house would have to torn out and replaced.
The contractor's attorney is claiming that since I did not hire experts within the one year warranty period and only stated that problems existed with the flooring and the brick work during the warranty period I am not entitled to the remedies recommended by the experts, rather that everything should be 'patched'. Our experts and their own experts have stated that 'patching' will probably not work, but their attorney still says I am not entitled to full compensation because I did not fully qualify the extent of damages prior to the expiration of the warranty. My claim is that for over a year I knew there were problems and was depending upon the contractor correcting the problems within the warranty period, but that when they finally refused I hired the experts who ascertained the extent of the damages.
Second day of arbitration is set for next week, any advise appreciated.