House update

[rikki]

We are back in our house 12 months and one week after moving out. We are about 95% done but our builder has gone MIA. He won’t return calls and is not responding to emails or texts. He’s mad we won’t pay more unsubstantiated change orders and we called him out when we found out he is currently in litigation over a 4 million dollar default judgement against him where he secretly transferred assets and hid properties to avoid collection. We have already paid $145,000 over our original budget and the house was supposed to be done last August. The quality of the work is actually great but the headaches and anger he has caused is nauseating.

[rikki]

New addition

[rikki]

Having trouble adding photos now but will add more. House still needs shutters installed, door painted (open in photo so can’t see anyway) and landscaping.

[simpsongal]

I'm so sorry for the stress but it looks gorgeous! Like it was always there!

Not sure if you know bhnumbers (she posted about her kitchen), but she could commiserate over problematic builders - thank goodness for the good workmanship.

[nicolewi]

It looks gorgeous but so sorry about all the hassles and delays.

[ssmjlm]

It looks amazing in your photo. So sorry about the crappy builder.

Any chance you can go direct to the subs and just write that amount off his bid? I would be tempted to since I wonder if he's having trouble paying them as well.

[thejackpot]

Gosh, that sounds like such a headache. I'm sorry that it has been a rough go of it. Your house looks beautiful and I hope that the last things are done with ease.

[bhnumbers]

oh my goodness, what a nightmare. you have my complete sympathy. we went through hell with our contractor and were "fortunate" that we were able to settle through mediation for a good portion of what we had to pay to either finish what they didn't do or fix what they did wrong.

but with all those money issues, it sounds like getting a penny from your builder is doubtful

I had so many people tell me that having a builder basically ghost you at the end of project is common. we will never know for sure, but we're guessing that our guys ran out of money because they took our payments and used them to get other projects started, but then I think they hit a wall and didn't have enough new projects coming in.

pretty early on in our renovation, one of their subcontractors (framing crew) told me that the reason they weren't showing up regularly was because our contractor wasn't ordering enough supplies for them to finish the work. at the time, I thought he was lying to make himself not look bad, but highlight is 20/20. ugh.

but your house looks absolutely stunning. The addition looks like it's been there the whole time. I can't wait to see pics of the inside!!

[divanerd]

Looks great!

[aprilsails]

I’m sorry you are still dealing with so many issues with your builder. The place looks great and I’m certain it’s a huge relief to be moved back home. I too would suggest reaching out to subs directly to finish the work. Act as your own GC if you can. What a pain.

[boiler717]

I can’t wait to see more! Sorry the builder is a jerk, that’s so frustrating.

[rikki]

Mar 23, 2021 10:35:09 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

I’m sorry you are still dealing with so many issues with your builder. The place looks great and I’m certain it’s a huge relief to be moved back home. I too would suggest reaching out to subs directly to finish the work. Act as your own GC if you can. What a pain.

We actually did this with our millwork trim carpenter. When we first called and proposed idea to him he said that he could not go around the builders back and that he wasn’t in a hurry to get paid. Then, a few days later he called and said he would be there to do the small few things remaining and we wrote him a check directly for the 18,000 that we owed him. We have some issues with the electrician and I’m going to propose the same thing to him but I know he’s closer to the general contractor. Same with the plumber. I think those are our biggest needs right now and then we’ll move onto the smaller contractors after that.

[libbygrl109]

It really looks great. I'm sorry you're dealing with the contractor mess.

[sonrisa]

It looks great! I hope it gets sorted.