Our 4 year old townhouse building has a major structual defect. The 10-year structual warranty provided by the builder won't cover our unit becuase it is not uninhabitable, even though there is a major structual defect.
Another unit, that we share a foundation with, actually began collapsing down a hill, and pulling our unit with it. The warranty company covered their unit - becuase of the unsafe condition - but will not cover ours, or fix the damage caused to ours by the other unit. Our home actually seperated from another unit, we had brick damage, and our floors have separated on the first floor. The builder will not take responsibility, and the warranty company claims we don't meet the unsafe living conditions yet. Gateway just points us back to the warranty company and will not stand behind their work.
During the initial builder warranty period, we had our flooring (hardwood) mess up on the first floor, and Gateway sent someone out to repair it - stating it was just a settlement crack - which we find out is not the case, after the floor moves again, this time not only messing up our 1st floor, but cracking our 2nd floor tiles directly above.
We've had engineers come out, and the believe it is due to improper soil compaction and/or poor drainage, but they need to inspect the entire building and door soil samples. The warranty company will not do that - they will only consider units on a case to case basis, not as a whole - iike the engineers say has to be done. We were considering fixing our on unit and being done with it, however according to the engineers and founation people we've had out, it would be useless unless the entire inspected and found to be okay - which is not the case. Gateway just says we need to follow protocal and go through arbitration with the warranty company (and they charge $1,000 for it) becuase that is what we've agreed to in the warranty. But that puts us back to square one, even if we win and repair it, with the entire building being at risk - our unit is still not okay.
We want Gateway to take responsibility for the poor workmanship, and pay to have a reputable engineer come out and inspect our entire building as a whole (which backs up to a retention pond) and give us a report that says the moving building has stopped because of the end unit being secured now. Or, if there is a problem - the more likely case - repair it. They can't deny that there was a major oversight on their part that caused a significant issue with our building. No 4 year old home built properly on a properly poured foundation should start collapsing down a hill within the first few years.