Did not follow house plans

[fita10501]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

We just built a new house this year and moved in in September. We just noticed on the floor plans that the builder gave us that he changed the way our staircase should be without our knowledge or permission. The bottom half of the staircase should be open but we have a wall on both sides. Does the builder have to fix this since we do not have anything in writing stating that we agreed to change this? There are also a couple of other things that are different also but this is out main concern.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

We just built a new house this year and moved in in September. We just noticed on the floor plans that the builder gave us that he changed the way our staircase should be without our knowledge or permission. The bottom half of the staircase should be open but we have a wall on both sides. Does the builder have to fix this since we do not have anything in writing stating that we agreed to change this? There are also a couple of other things that are different also but this is out main concern.

Why didn't you notice this before on your twice daily visits to the site?

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

We just built a new house this year and moved in in September. We just noticed on the floor plans that the builder gave us that he changed the way our staircase should be without our knowledge or permission. The bottom half of the staircase should be open but we have a wall on both sides. Does the builder have to fix this since we do not have anything in writing stating that we agreed to change this? There are also a couple of other things that are different also but this is out main concern.

**A: is there a code or as-built condition preventing construction per plans?
If not, demand full compliance with the approved plans and specs.
If he give you hassles tell him feng shui.

 

[fita10501]

Why didn't you notice this before on your twice daily visits to the site?

Well like I said we didn't notice that it was supposed to be open until now. We didn't look that closely at the plan. It's actually kind of hard to notice unless your looking for it and I was. Our builder is building the same exact house in our subdivision and he did open the staircase in that house but not ours. Needless to say we had many problems with this builder starting from the very beginning.

 

[fita10501]

**A: is there a code or as-built condition preventing construction per plans?
If not, demand full compliance with the approved plans and specs.
If he give you hassles tell him feng shui.

Not that I'm aware of. When I asked him about it he just said that there is too much weight on out second level to do the staircase that way eventhough the houseplans call for it. I didn't think that those walls were load bearing walls. But like I said he did nothing but give us problems and lie to us from the very beginning anyway so thats probably another one of his lies. And plus our drywall is already cracking and he acts like that is normal.

 

[HomeGuru]

Not that I'm aware of. When I asked him about it he just said that there is too much weight on out second level to do the staircase that way eventhough the houseplans call for it. I didn't think that those walls were load bearing walls. But like I said he did nothing but give us problems and lie to us from the very beginning anyway so thats probably another one of his lies. And plus our drywall is already cracking and he acts like that is normal.

**A: and where is your project architect or engineer? If you don't have one, you need one like last year.

 

[seniorjudge]

"...We didn't look that closely at the plan. It's actually kind of hard to notice unless your looking for it and I was...."

I guess it comes down to this: you must decide if this is just a cosmetic defect or if it is a structural defect. You also need to know how much money you want to spend and how much time you want to spend suing the contractor, knowing that at best your chances are 50-50.

 

[fita10501]

**A: and where is your project architect or engineer? If you don't have one, you need one like last year.

Well I don't have either. I wasn't aware that I needed one. I have someone coming out tomorrow to give me a bid on the work. My real estate agent told me that we could take this to arbitration or I could contact the attorney general and file a consumer complaint for relief. What do you think?

 

[HomeGuru]

Well I don't have either. I wasn't aware that I needed one. I have someone coming out tomorrow to give me a bid on the work. My real estate agent told me that we could take this to arbitration or I could contact the attorney general and file a consumer complaint for relief. What do you think?

**A: I think you need to read my past posts.

 

[seniorjudge]

Well I don't have either. I wasn't aware that I needed one. I have someone coming out tomorrow to give me a bid on the work. My real estate agent told me that we could take this to arbitration or I could contact the attorney general and file a consumer complaint for relief. What do you think?

No house built ever fully complies with house plans. That's the nature of housebuilding.

You haven't given one fact that would indicate you have any kind of case for anything.

 

[HomeGuru]

No house built ever fully complies with house plans. That's the nature of housebuilding.

You haven't given one fact that would indicate you have any kind of case for anything.

**A: what about the case of not monitoring one's own construction on one own's home.

 

[fita10501]

No house built ever fully complies with house plans. That's the nature of housebuilding.

You haven't given one fact that would indicate you have any kind of case for anything.

Well I don't see how you can say that. I'm not a builder. I don't know how to read blue prints. He basically took the cheapest route on the whole house. He changed multiple things without our permission. And they weren't little things either. There were some changes that we did verbally agree on. Besides that me walls are cracking and the water in my backyard runs towards my house and sits up against my foundation everytime it rains. No case huh?

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? Illinois

We just built a new house this year and moved in in September. We just noticed on the floor plans that the builder gave us that he changed the way our staircase should be without our knowledge or permission. The bottom half of the staircase should be open but we have a wall on both sides. Does the builder have to fix this since we do not have anything in writing stating that we agreed to change this? There are also a couple of other things that are different also but this is out main concern.

Well I don't see how you can say that. I'm not a builder. I don't know how to read blue prints. He basically took the cheapest route on the whole house. He changed multiple things without our permission. And they weren't little things either. There were some changes that we did verbally agree on. Besides that me walls are cracking and the water in my backyard runs towards my house and sits up against my foundation everytime it rains. No case huh?

You've changed your facts; your main concern was something different when you posted this thread.

So, I give up. Bye.

 

[fita10501]

**A: I think you need to read my past posts.

Thanks you were alot of help.

 

[HomeGuru]

Ok............