Hi everyone. Apologies for the long post. I just want to describe everything that has happened because frankly I don’t know what the next step should be. I don’t trust the builder anymore.
I got under contract for a new build in April 2021. I’m a first time homeowner, so there are still many things I do not know.
The house closing date was set for 8/12, and they let me bring a third party inspector on 7/27. When my inspector visited the property, there was no landscaping or irrigation system installed yet. The inspector noted on the report that the backyard grading looked a “little flat” but “impossible to tell for sure if there were violations since the sod was not in yet. I didn’t think much of it at the time, I guess I trusted the builder.
One day before closing, I get a call from the builder and they tell me that the sod had not been installed yet. They then said they would put the sod in on 8/12, and push the closing day to 8/13 instead. I said I didn’t have a problem with that.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I notice that after the first rain my backyard is flooding. I assumed it had something to do with what my inspector had pointed out in the initial report, and I asked the builder about it.
They said “it passed inspection before the sod was installed. if it bothers you put a little dirt on it, but not too much because you don’t want to change the drainage pattern”. I did not do this because it gave me a bad feeling. I kept pushing, until eventually, I convinced the builder to bring out an engineering company to re-do the grading inspection with sod in place.
A few days later I get a text message from the builder saying that “there are problems with the grading” and that they “would fix it”. That was over a month ago. I asked them to send me the new report, but they never did, so I called the engineering firm directly to get it. Here it is: https://imgur.com/a/KP19Yks
I pushed the builder again after about a week, and told them that I received the report from the engineering firm and wanted to know how the planned to fix the drainage issues. They told me they would meet me at the house in a week to discuss the next steps.
During the in-person meeting, the builder rep said that “the problem was not that bad” and that “the report was dramatized”. They also brought a “grading expert” with them, who said that re-doing the backyard grading was impossible and that the next best solution would be an underground drainage system using catch basins. They asked ME to pick out the locations of the catch basins. I responded with “I am not a drainage expert, can you design the system so that it addresses the issues on the report?” They then pointed out two locations (it was very hand wavy). After that, the builder rep stated that once the drainage system was installed, the builder would no longer be responsible for any drainage issues.
That last interaction gave me a very bad feeling. How can I trust them to do good work after that? How can I best cover my rear? I feel like I’ve been screwed over by the builder already.
Thank you for reading this far.