BBBandBadBuilder
USA#2Consumer Comment
Mon, June 20, 2011
Warranty service
Springdale,#3UPDATE Employee
Mon, June 28, 2010
United-Bilt did not promise to have the customers in the home by Christmas. The contract which they signed on October 14, 2009 clearly states, on page 10 - THERE IS NO AGREED COMPLETION DATE OR TIME PERIOD FOR CONSTRUCTION. They initialed right beside this paragraph and also initialed at the bottom of the same page, and received a fully completed copy of the contract. They then had 3 days to rescind, meaning they had 3 days to read every word of the contract and rescind if they disagreed. They did not rescind.
Contracting to build a house on 10/14/09 and getting into it by Christmas would be a pretty fast clip - not impossible, but very difficult to do during the bad weather months. We did complete our portion of the home construction within exactly 97 days from the date we signed the contract.
The customers on 1/19/10 signed and received a copy of a written Completion Statement that said as follows, in all bold 12-point type:
"I have inspected the home and the building site. United-Bilt has completed all work and fulfilled all duties outlined in the Home Building Agreement in a complete, satisfactory, and acceptable manner. I accept as complete and satisfactory any and all improvements, materials and construction work, including any apparent or visible deviations from the Home Building Agreement, floor plans, specifications, or building plans, any obvious or apparent defects, and any fixtures, equipment, appliances, wallpaper, paint, carpeting or other floor coverings installed as part of the Home, in their now existing condition. As set forth in the Home Building Agreement, I retain responsibility for all site maintenance and drainage, including the installation of gutters, drains, or swales, and it is my responsibility to maintain the soil and property under and around the home to minimize the risk of damage from soil movement. I agree that the terms of all warranties which may not yet have commenced do now commence. By signing, I am not waiving or releasing any warranties I currently have. I have received a fully completed copy of this completion statement."
So on that date, we were done. The allegation that we were still not done as of June 13 is untrue by nearly 6 months. It is true that we have gone back to respond to some warranty claims, but the signed statement from the customer states clearly we were done on 1/19/10, and they took possession. At that point, the contract was complete and the warranties on the home began. Any claim that came after that point does not mean we are still performing the construction contract - it means we are responding to a warranty claim. Stating otherwise is a misrepresentation.
We have as of this date responded fully to all valid warranty claims and have not refused in any respect to address legitimate claims. We have refused to modify or remodel parts of the home for free because the customer has determined he wanted some things done differently after the fact.
As to the specific allegations of flaws, here are our responses:
1. Front Door leaks The front and back door leaked after a 100 mph wind and tornado rain storm blew water in straight lines at this home as well as other homes in the area. Door has been re-caulked & Storm Door installed at our expense, and as of today (6/21/10) door has not leaked since, and this has been confirmed by speaking with the customer.
2. Back Door leaksThis door also has been re-caulked & Storm Door installed at our expense. This door also has not leaked since.
3. Crawl Space Door New factory made Crawl Space Door was installed quite some time ago. There is no code or contract requirement for this but we installed it anyway when the customer complained, again at our expense.
4. Roof Leaked Master Bedroom Sheet Rock tape turned loose--- We re-taped, bedded, floated, & re-textured, after repairing roof, & removing some wet insulation which was replaced with new insulation. The roof leak was due to a 100 mph wind storm and tornadoes all over the area, which is not covered under warranty and should have been an insurance claim. Regardless, we repaired.
5. Bar was built in wrong placeNo it is not. This bar is installed exactly where it is shown in the signed plans.
6. Refused to trim out double ovenYes, we refused to do this when they brought it up for the first time during construction, and demanded it be done for free.
7. Sheet rock missing above ventWe repaired this several weeks ago.
8. Was told fireplace must be on the floor then wanted to raise it--- The contract does not say anywhere that the fireplace will be raised, this complaint developed after viewing one of his neighbor's houses that we built with the fireplace raised. On that other project, we agreed in advance to raise the fireplace prior to installation and did so. This customer here wants us to do it now, after installation, for free, which we have declined to do.
9. Forgot to build room for water heaterThis is just not true. It is there on the signed floor plan and the water heater is there in the home.
10. Sheet rock started to crack throughout the houseThere were a few very minor joint hairline cracks, common in a new home but we have addressed all complained about. These are normal and do not require repair unless they exceed a certain width, which these didnt at last inspection. Customers need to move in and start running their HVAC consistently to keep the house from expanding and contracting due to excesses of cold in early winter and now excesses of heat due to not having a consistent state of temperature in the home.
11. Missing two cabinet doorsNever was missing any cabinet doors, two of the cabinet doors had a small crack because customer did not stain nor seal them properly. They have already been replaced by the builder, again free of charge, quite some time ago.
12. Need to move light vent in guest bath closer to shower--- The light vent meets code in the guest bath. It does not need to be moved. Customer has tried to persuade us to move it, for free, once again, to a place he would prefer it to be. We have declined to do so.
13. Ground wire off in breaker boxThis is not true. It is there.
That responds to the numbered items, as nearly as we can tell. As to the allegations about contractors defecating in the yard, we do not believe this occurred but acknowledge we cannot swear to it. We never found any sign of such on the property. The framers used an RV with an included restroom for their personal business. Our point is, there was none there when we turned the home over to the customers.
The allegations that we do not communicate are purely unfounded. We've had lots of communications with this customer.
We did not contract to build the customers a fully completed home. We are in what is called the On-Your Site and Sweat Equity home building industry. We build on the customers land to an agreed state of completion. These customers still have some items to complete before they can occupy the home, including installing their floor coverings and the installation of a private sewage disposal system (septic tank system). They have not done these yet to our knowledge. Their first payment came due in April, 2010, which gave them from January April to get the home finished before starting to make mortgage payments. But they did not accomplish that. Now their mortgage payments are coming due and they are not in the home because they have not completed their requirements under the contract, so they have instead been calling us. They have threatened us and demanded that we postpone their monthly mortgage payments. We have already told them repeatedly we will not do this, as the home has been completed in accordance with the contract, they acknowledged such in writing to us in January.
We presently do not know of one current valid complaint about the home, and the president of our company spoke to the customer by phone just last week and confirmed that. We have completed our contract in accordance with its terms, we have responded to all legitimate warranty claims, and will continue to do so in accordance with our legal, contractual, and ethical obligations.