Hit From Behind
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? WI
I'll try to keep this brief. DH and I were trying to get our house up for sale as we had just put an offer on another home. Needed to finish remodeling our basement and bath in basement. Hired a licensed home inspector in our state (so we relied on his advice on how to correct certain things around the house), to remodel our bathroom. We told him we had some water leaking around the shower drain and he said they'd dump a bag of cement around drain to fix the problem and block water from coming up. He and his "helper" spent 1-1/2 days installing shower, new floor (ceramic) and toilet, and never came back on 3rd day (but we paid them by the hour, so we were not out any money). DH installed sink & fixtures himself to finish bath. About a month later we noticed ceramic tiles they did were hollow and uneven. Called them back and they ripped out part of floor and told DH we had some moisture under floor, but that they had "fixed it" and would be back next night to regrout. Never came back. We finished grouting ourselves.
Several weeks later we had some heavy rains for a few days, and noticed grout in bath was getting wet in places. DH removed the wall behind shower they installed and there was water pooling on floor. Hired plumber (not a plumbing issue--referred us to a basement waterproofing co.). Got 3 estimates (this time checked them out on Angie's List), and all concurred it was a plugged drain tile. About $1700-$2900, depending if we needed sump pump (we do).
Now DH had to rip out entire bathroom down to the wall so waterproofing co. can come in and do work (this week). Our realtor's partner (a RE attorney) told us we can't sue original contractor for the drain tile issue (as it was an existing condition), but we could go after him for what we paid him originally, plus labor for DH and his son to gut the bath and reinstall everything once the work is done (probably not for 2 more weeks). This is adding up fast (the labor--I'm assuming I'd charge them what they charged us--$20/hour).
We did not pay them in cash--wrote them checks for the work. Will our case stand up in Small Claims Court? I would imagine that they're going to use the "preexisting problem" excuse, but this guy is a licensed WI home inspector and should have known better. And yes, I have just filed a complaint with the State of WI (don't know if that'll do any good). We've talked with him ... he just basically said, "go ahead and file a complaint."
I have pictures of everything (before and after), including the water damage. Basically he covered up a problem that we told them about beforehand and he told us how he was going to fix it. Then when he came back a month later to rip up the floor, he told us he "fixed it again." Hmmm, that should have been his first clue there was water coming up under the tiles.
I'd appreciate anyone's take on the best way to take this to Small Claims (i.e., do we have a reasonable chance of winning?). Thanks!
I'll try to keep this brief. DH and I were trying to get our house up for sale as we had just put an offer on another home. Needed to finish remodeling our basement and bath in basement. Hired a licensed home inspector in our state (so we relied on his advice on how to correct certain things around the house), to remodel our bathroom. We told him we had some water leaking around the shower drain and he said they'd dump a bag of cement around drain to fix the problem and block water from coming up. He and his "helper" spent 1-1/2 days installing shower, new floor (ceramic) and toilet, and never came back on 3rd day (but we paid them by the hour, so we were not out any money). DH installed sink & fixtures himself to finish bath. About a month later we noticed ceramic tiles they did were hollow and uneven. Called them back and they ripped out part of floor and told DH we had some moisture under floor, but that they had "fixed it" and would be back next night to regrout. Never came back. We finished grouting ourselves.
Several weeks later we had some heavy rains for a few days, and noticed grout in bath was getting wet in places. DH removed the wall behind shower they installed and there was water pooling on floor. Hired plumber (not a plumbing issue--referred us to a basement waterproofing co.). Got 3 estimates (this time checked them out on Angie's List), and all concurred it was a plugged drain tile. About $1700-$2900, depending if we needed sump pump (we do).
Now DH had to rip out entire bathroom down to the wall so waterproofing co. can come in and do work (this week). Our realtor's partner (a RE attorney) told us we can't sue original contractor for the drain tile issue (as it was an existing condition), but we could go after him for what we paid him originally, plus labor for DH and his son to gut the bath and reinstall everything once the work is done (probably not for 2 more weeks). This is adding up fast (the labor--I'm assuming I'd charge them what they charged us--$20/hour).
We did not pay them in cash--wrote them checks for the work. Will our case stand up in Small Claims Court? I would imagine that they're going to use the "preexisting problem" excuse, but this guy is a licensed WI home inspector and should have known better. And yes, I have just filed a complaint with the State of WI (don't know if that'll do any good). We've talked with him ... he just basically said, "go ahead and file a complaint."
I have pictures of everything (before and after), including the water damage. Basically he covered up a problem that we told them about beforehand and he told us how he was going to fix it. Then when he came back a month later to rip up the floor, he told us he "fixed it again." Hmmm, that should have been his first clue there was water coming up under the tiles.
I'd appreciate anyone's take on the best way to take this to Small Claims (i.e., do we have a reasonable chance of winning?). Thanks!