Your future household existence will definitely include the issue of managing maintenance and repairs. You are the happy owner of a custom house and you have just moved in. After months and months of waiting for the contractor to finish the underlying stages of the construction process, you are now enjoying the beauty and comfort of a freshly finished home. However, although everything is brand new, don’t imagine that this is the end of your worries.
A custom house is quite similar to a custom car, the components of which have been selected one by one and have been handcrafted to create a single whole that will bring satisfaction to its user. It has emerged after a one-time effort, not after multiple attempts in which potential bugs have been worked out after years of manufacturing thousands of copies of the same prototype over and over. As a consequence, there are chances that you encounter some minor glitches in the first years of residence.
A thing to remember when you begin your domestic life in the new domicile is that all the equipment and appliances that populate it should have warranties. Furthermore, the contractor has committed to guarantee his work for a period that varies from state to state. Thus, in case you experience various malfunctions or inconveniences, do not hesitate to use these covenants in order to solve the respective problems. Ask your contractor to give you all the manuals and registration certificates for the appliances and fixtures and carefully catalog them. It might sound exaggerated, but you are advised to store copies of these documents in a place away from your home. This way, you may still use the information if, unfortunately, your residence falls victim of a flood or fire.
Usually, the builder to whose services you resorted for your custom house project has the duty to offer you a warranty that covers structural defects for ten years, as well as construction materials and defects for the first year and major mechanical systems for the second. Once this specified period expires, you will have to handle any related problems by yourself unless they clearly resulted from the contractor’s mistakes. Therefore, after the build is over, discuss with him the full details of his warranty and inquire about maintenance procedures that help one keep the house in working order. Don’t forget to ask who covers the work if the builder goes out of business.
Since nothing is perfect, it is very likely that your home may have some defects of workmanship that didn’t show up at the final walk-through. Take for instance a cracked foundation that becomes apparent only after several years from the construction or drainage or roofing issues that manifest only at the first big rain. In either of these cases, it is natural for you to feel angry and have the urge to reprove the builder. However, bare in mind that your goal is to solve the problem as efficiently and amiably as possible.
Tips to Handling Maintenance and Repairs
Hence, if you find yourself in a construction-defects situation, there is a series of steps you could take in order to solve it with a minimum of hassle.
- For starters, you need to relax and let the steam wear off. The last thing you want to do is to contact the contractor responsible for your custom home project in an agitated state of emotions and, most probably, generate a real conflict. It is better for you to be calm and self-contained. Thus, there are bigger chances to have a reasonable discussion and reach an agreement sooner.
- Secondly, talk to the builder calmly and politely ask him to come out to the house and examine the problem directly. Discuss the possible causes that may lie at its roots and search for solutions in a calm manner. Normally, it is in the contractor’s interest to get the issue solved and collaborate with you because he wants to protect his license. In case he doesn’t want to take the responsibility for the matter, you go to the following step.
Get an outside, objective opinion from an expert in the field in question. Yes, his services might get pricey and this is why you need to monitor your expenses. If you are dealing with a cosmetic issue, such as cabinets, hire a finish carpenter; if it is a structural defect, get a structural engineer. No matter the type of specialist you will be needing, be prepared to spend a few hundred dollars in this respect, but consider it as a worthwhile investment, because you can submit his statement in court if necessary. Make sure he agrees to testify. If possible, get two such opinions that should suggest solutions to the problem as well, thus making a stronger case.- After covering the above steps, contact all the involved parties and propose mediation. The meeting should be held at your house so that the problem can be studied directly if necessary. Analyse the situation, present your case to the contractor and start negotiating. If the builder agrees to repair the defect at no costs, make sure you get it in writing. In case he takes the job upon himself with some cost to you in the process, compare the respective amount to the expenses that you would contract if resorting to a lawyer. If you don’t get any positive response, go to step five.
- Contract an attorney and approach the matter in court. However, mind you not every lawyer would do for this type of litigation, so choose wisely. Avoid general practitioners or family attorneys and aim for a specialist in construction defects. Otherwise, you risk suffering losses because the lawyer’s lack of expertise in the related field.
Hopefully, you won’t be forced to employ this last resort, but if you do, be careful and minute about handling the expenses, as they might add to those needed in managing maintenance and repairs.