TOPIC: We Build To the Minimum Standard Required By Law!

Gerry - Before we built our house 10 years ago, I had never built or had a house built.  We were the first house built in the neighborhood.  Asking questions about what they did and did not do, I tried to do things that were beyond "the code."  I offered to pay more if the builder would wrap my house in Tyvek or another wrap.  They said no.  I offered to put it up myself, at my expense, with my guys.  They said no again, and when I asked why they said because other people would see it and want it on their houses... the same thing with hurricane straps on my roof rafters and a fresh air intake for my furnaces - other things too.  No, no, no.  They even threw out the insurance thing - I wasn't covered, they didn't want liability, etc...  What do you do?

Bob - I know!  We had three supervisors during the construction of our house.  They were all fired and upset when let go, and none communicated information to the next.  Problems that were supposed to be fixed were not.  That meant I had quite a list of things for them to "fix" after my final walk through.  These were things that had accumulated during construction that had not been taken care of, and also included newer items on the final walk through.  They were all dutifully recorded on their special form and I was given a copy.  Nothing was taken care of!  I ended up doing them myself.  By the way, I heard from my new neighbors that every one got flowers and a fruit basket at settlement.  We didn't...

Two other houses that were the same model as mine were built later.  They both incorporated architectural changes that I had requested and recommended be done on mine.

Three years later, my builder brought in a new vice president from another area.  Who do you think they recommended to him to inspect his house?