Another day in the construction process

Anonymous · ‎05-14-2015

Though never built a house before, nothing ever goes according to plan in the construction phase.

Before going to Olive Garden yesterday DW and I went by our under construction new home. Things are moving nicely, and pace is picking up. Driveway and walk in place, crown molding up, cabinets and granite tops in BUT-

Wrong backsplash!!!

"This is NOT what we picked out" wife says.

"No its not" We picked out smaller kinda squares of several neutral colors, this was subway tile like with these aged kinda white bricks. To honest it looked good and I liked it.

I said, "yanno, I dunno if I don't this better"

"Me too, lets just leave it and not say anything."

So today I went by the office to tawk to the agent, who gets tired of me hanging around. But hey I'm retired.

I came in looking glum. "Well I got some bad news."

"What???"

Gonna be the wrong tile on the backsplash'

"are you sure?"

"YES" I whipped out the contract we signed at the design center. It plainly gives the description and SKU number on a stand alone line.

"here are the stats, get whoever on the phone and compare"

Agent dialed up the man and he confirmed it is the WRONG tile. "Ok we'll get the correct tile on the way and fix it." The entire job is finished and perfectly layed. So I sprung this on him.

"look here, just leave it and we'll make do, but in return don't charge me the 1000 bucks for backsplash I'm paying in the contract. Strike it and we'll call it even."

"well I dunno"

I can be serious when I need to. "Well its y'alls call. You can yank it out, or just leave it. Otherwise you gotta pay the labor and reorder new tile, and I dunno what you do with the tile you pull off, not sure it can be used again, so you got the double whammy." What I'm NOT gonna do is pay to have the wrong tile in my kitchen. This way you're only out 1000 bucks, option 2 and you're out about 2k, maybe more using my numbers.

I made it sound like I was doing them a favor. LOL

"Are you sure you're good with the tile"

"Like I said, we can make do, I'm just trying to save a guy a bunch of work, and y'all some money. Draw up the paperwork and I'll sign off on it."

"ok I'll do the addendum to reflect 1000 dollars off"

Back in the car, I called my wife at the office.

"We just got free backsplash" LOL

"LMAO, no we didn't"

"oh yes we did"

So sometimes better to be lucky than good.

mynameainttracy · ‎05-15-2015

Good job.

We are 4 weeks past close now and still waiting for the landscaping/patio pavers to go in. So far we have had a room that constantly throws the breaker, two other rooms that threw the breaker and wouldn't reset, an AC compressor that wasn't working (turns out they didn't turn it on) and a compressor unit on a pad...on bricks. We have been so aggravated by the big stuff that the little drywall dings don't even phase me now. Yeah, it is all under warrantly and they have fixed these things, but once you close it is a much bigger pain in the butt to get corrected.

LynGene · ‎05-15-2015

Bama. You are my hero. THAT'S AWESOME!!

Anonymous · ‎05-15-2015

Get 'em, Bama!!!! Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!

homeinfuture · ‎05-15-2015

Good job Bama, We got the upgraded tile in the 2nd bath by mistake and I have just kept my mouth shut so far.

ezdriver · ‎05-16-2015

As a builder, we require all buyers to signoff on completion of the house. If they don't sign, the closing is postponed. One of my buyers thought he was being smart. He squeezed us for $1k but we pushed the closing into the following month...costing him a month's rent. Remember that it's a partnership when you engage in building a new home. Working together in good faith results in the best total experience.

StartingOver10 · ‎05-16-2015

EZ, the builder put in the wrong backsplash. So the buyer just renegotiated the extra he was charged. It is a happy circumstance that the new backsplash is something the buyer likes, but it is still the wrong backsplash.

I know you are 1000% for the builder, but your response suggests that the builder should not be responsible for their own errors. Even production builders have a checklist and show some quality control. Of course, some builders are better than others. This was clearly an error by the builder and the builder should be held responsible for the error. The solution offered by BamaGuy was a win-win for both the builder and the buyer.

Anonymous · ‎05-16-2015

Agreed, SO. This was a fair/reasonable fix all around. You're getting close, bama!

Anonymous · ‎05-16-2015

Yeah, I didn't wanna make em tear out the backsplash, reorder the correct, and waste another day or 2. I'll say this, the installer did a excellent job, it was good work. Now if they had insisted on tearing it out and putting in the correct, I'd a let em. LOL.

Who knows, maybe they'll put in a different floor that we like better, and we get free hardwoods too. LOL

ezdriver · ‎05-17-2015

@StartingOver10 wrote:
EZ, the builder put in the wrong backsplash. So the buyer just renegotiated the extra he was charged. It is a happy circumstance that the new backsplash is something the buyer likes, but it is still the wrong backsplash.

I know you are 1000% for the builder, but your response suggests that the builder should not be responsible for their own errors. Even production builders have a checklist and show some quality control. Of course, some builders are better than others. This was clearly an error by the builder and the builder should be held responsible for the error. The solution offered by BamaGuy was a win-win for both the builder and the buyer.

================================

That is your interpretation. I was responding to people who deliberately wait to report something with which they are unhappy and I can only assume that they think they will likely achieve a financial gain if they wait to report it. All builder contracts provide for a timeframe to correct mistakes. I have recommended a delay in closing several times because I believed that buyers were playing games. In fact, I had a buyer walk into my office yesterday claiming that the grout lines in his shower were crooked and he hated it ... but he's hoping that we could give him some money so he can keep it the way it is. Really? If it is such a problem, why is money a solution?

BamaGuy is the type of customers that I like. He was clearly playing it straight.