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We recently engaged a customer that was in a very serious predicament and really something that presents an opportunity for learning. We always stress that as a buyer, you should perform your own due diligence when buying a home from a seller. If you notice foundation issues, and the seller informs you that they are going to fix it, then it is important for you as a buyer to understand what that means. It may even be necessary for you to investigate how they’re going to fix it, and perhaps perform your own inspection, because this story that you’re about to read is not a position you want to find yourself in.
When a foundation repair issue is present in a home that is on the market, it needs to be fixed correctly and this is not the time to hire fly-by-night, one-man or two-man service. You need a professional, reputable foundation repair company that does the job right the first time.
Perform due diligence when buying a home
We had a woman call us, concerned, that the house she bought one month ago from a seller had visible foundation issues. Apparently when she was buying the home, she did notice issues and subsequently presented these issues to the seller. Whereby the seller hired apparently a cover-up foundation service, in other words cheap, in order simply to cover up the issues enough to pass inspection.
The house passed inspection and was sold to the woman. The seller is now in a different state, and although the house was relatively new, whereby the new homeowner would have recourse to have the builder fix the issue, well, the builder informs the woman that in order for the house to be fixed, it has to have a specific foundation issue that requires a specific fix. Now as a homeowner, she is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She is getting various and conflicting pieces of information and the house that she just bought has structural foundation issues.
Understand your rights as a new homeowner
The protection she thought she had in buying a new home which generally comes with a 10-year warranty from the builder, well apparently the builder is saying something else, and the seller is not around. And so the new homeowner now has to spend the time and the effort to try to understand the legalities, and regulations of her new home given the structural issues present. And this is after she had just bought the home a month ago.
Work with a professional, it your home after all.
We helped her by informing her of her options, and letting her know that there are associations and institutions where she could present her case in order to get the best information. Additionally one of the most important things before embarking on buying a home is obtaining an engineers report.
So we informed her to obtain an engineers report, and an engineers report is an impartial piece of information that governs the structure of your foundation. It is performed by a regulated and professional engineering service. With this information the homeowner can now revisit the builder and present the case with evidence and proof from an authority.
As a new homeowner, you have help.
After the one-hour long conversation with the new homeowner, we left her feeling a bit better about her options and how to move forward. But this was a case that was really striking and became the first in our series of what we call our foundation repair stories.
In our foundation repair story series, we are going to discuss and present cases that we engage in our line of work, it will encompass the different issues we face in the foundation repair space, the customers and what they tell us, and some great stories on foundation repair along the way. Tune in.